Free Drawing Software For Mac

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Free Drawing Software For Mac

So, to cut your long chase short, here is a list of the 15 best free drawing software for Mac in 2020. Krita is a free open source drawing program that offers all the necessary tools to make a smashing art. Despite being free, Krita is a darling to most professional designers looking to create unique illustrations, comics, arts, and more. SketchUp is a premier 3D design software that truly makes 3D modeling for everyone, with a simple to learn yet robust toolset that empowers you to create whatever you can imagine.
by Kayla Morrison • 2020-10-28 17:49:45 • Proven solutions
We are living in an era where digital artists are highly appreciated. Luckily, there are so many free drawing software for Mac and Windows that can help turn you into an Oscar Award-winning digital artist. But finding the right tool from the myriad of options available can be a serious challenge. So, to cut your long chase short, here is a list of the 15 best free drawing software for Mac in 2020.
1. KritaKrita is a free open source drawing program that offers all the necessary tools to make a smashing art. Despite being free, Krita is a darling to most professional designers looking to create unique illustrations, comics, arts, and more. It features a customizable UI with lots of fantastic features like pop-up pallets, brush stabilizers, dockers, color themes, etc. And without forgetting, you can make custom brushes and share them with Krita friends.
Pros:
Open-source program.
Customizable resource center.
Constant updates.
Cons:
Lacks documentation.
Poor touch controls.
2. Autodesk SketchbookAutodesk Sketchbook is another popular drawing app among professional designers. Some of the features that place this app among the best are its simple UI and advanced sketching tools. Speaking of tools, there are more than 140 brushes, multiple layers, and various blending models. Additionally, the software supports predictive and perspective strokes and rulers.
Pros:
Excellent brush collection.
Professional tools.
Simple to use.
Cons:
Not for beginners.
Slugging on older Mac versions.
3. MediBang PaintMediBang Paint is undoubtedly one of the best free drawing software for Mac you can find currently. The key advantage here, apart from simplicity, is the compatibility with all desktop and mobile platforms. For example, you might begin drawing on your iPhone and then finish up on Mac, thanks to the free cloud storage. However, some specific tools that you'll enjoy on the desktop version might not be present on your phone or tablet.
Pros:
Cross-platform app.
Fantastic brush presets.
Free cloud storage.
Cons:
Must create a MediBang account.
Tutorials are mostly in the Japanese language.
4. SipSip offers you a professional and straightforward way to collect, organize, and export your colorful arts. It boasts of universal shortcuts that allow users to manipulate colors effortlessly. Sip also enables you to choose the precise shade you need and organize them neatly to form palettes. Additionally, you can duplicate colors and even create snapshots for remembering colors when required. Plus, the app will detect and align color formats with whatever app you're using.
How to lock your macbook. Pros:
Supports multiple color formats.
Universal keyboard shortcuts.
Simple to use.
Cons:
Not entirely free.
Lacks important features.
5. InkscapeAre you still looking for a free drawing app for Mac with vectors? Try Inkscape! With this open-source drawing powerhouse, you'll enjoy a simple design layout with multiple features to make professional vectors. It can design and manipulate notes, objects, and colors. You'll also get multi-line text support, support for standard image file formats, and anti-aliased display. Overall, freebies can't come any better!
Pros:
Open-source app.
Multiple drawing tools.
Helpful online community.
Cons:
Lags with large files.
Cluttered UI.
6. GrafX2Honestly, I can't get any easier than GrafX2. It is a free and straightforward online tool for making unique pixel arts. This 256-color bitmap app allows you to draw up to 60 varying resolutions. Surprisingly, the last reboot was in 2007, but GrafX2 has still managed to offer advanced sketching tools for modern designers. You'll get grid settings, shading tools, animation options, and shape tools.

Pros:
Best for game developers.
Simple to use.
Free app.
Cons:
Outdated UI.
Lacks important tools.
7. Adobe IllustratorAlthough overshadowed by its sibling, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator is still one of the complete apps for drawing vector designs. Here, designers and artists will create everything, ranging from billboards and product packaging to book illustrations and web icons. You'll get all the essential tools to change simple shapes or colors into sophisticated logos, graphics, or icons. Also, you'll get beautiful typography and drawing tools.
Pros:
Smooth and fast operations.
Multiple drawing tools.
Supports PDF files.
Cons:
Not for beginners.
Free trial with the paid version.
8. Clip StudioURL: https://www.clipstudio.net/en
If you primarily work on manga, Clip Studio should be your go-to option. Although you can use it to design standard animations and illustrations, Clip Studio excels in the manga space, just like Manga Studio. The app offers advanced features like pen-pressure detection to allow you easily create drawings of intricate areas, quick colorings, and so on.
Pros:
Smooth and natural brushes.
Excellent dark theme.
Customizable interface.
Cons:
Unintuitive key binding.
Stifling price.
9. FireAlpacaIf you want a lightweight tool for your old computer, choose FireAlpaca. Please don't dismiss this tool, however, because it comes with some pretty essential drawing tools. This free digital painting program is available in up to 10 different languages and runs smoothly on Mac and PCs. It comes with simple tools such as Pen, Pencil, and Watercolor to draw illustrations and arts professionally. And best of all, FireAlpaca is free forever!
Pros:
A free, open-source app.
Basic drawing tools.
Multi-language platform.
Cons:
Best Free Mac Drawing ProgramNot for pros.
10. Adobe PhotoshopClosing our best ten is Adobe Photoshop, which is undoubtedly the most popular drawing tool of the lot. Here, you'll get access to hundreds of brushes with smooth strokes. Unlike the perception out there, Adobe Photoshop is super-simple to use but might require some learning curve first. You can use it to make banners, websites, icons, logos, convert images, and so on. Moreover, you can upload local photos and start from scratch.
Pros:
All-purpose software.
Multiple design tools.
Supports all image formats.
Cons:
Resource hungry program.
Not for beginners.
11. BlackInkIf you're still experimenting with your art but not afraid to take risks, here's the perfect app for you. The app offers a straightforward controller system for making unique and custom brushes. You can also customize the default brushes and use them to paint images. Even better, you can share your custom brushes to the community. This way, you'll never lack a paintbrush to work with.
Pros:
Perfect for beginners.
Create custom brushes.
Share brushes to the community.
Cons:
Steep price.
Not for advanced users.
12. ArtRageArtRage is an intuitive and uniquely realistic app for real artists. Although it's designed with simplicity and fun in mind, this app offers powerful tools to match. On the multi-lingual platform, you'll get painting tools such as watercolor, oil brush, paint roller, airbrush, palette knife, and so much more. You'll also get an eraser, pen, ink pen, marker pen, and any other drawing tool you can imagine.
Pros:
Create custom brush tools.
Offers special effect tools.
Zoom and rotate canvas freely.
Cons:
Not for beginners.
Awkward when adjusting brush size.
13. EazyDraw for MacThis is a vector-based drawing app tailor-made for technical illustrations, drawings, and desktop publishing on Mac OS X computers. With EazyDraw for Mac, users will enjoy a full set of tools to design, logos, titles, illustrations, etc. And if you're a beginner, you'll get simple to understand manuals and tutorials to help you get started quickly.
Pros:
Multiple drawing tools.
Comes with easy tutorials and manuals.
Simple layer controls.
Cons:
Awkward interface.
Steep price.
14. Gravit DesignerGravit Designer is a simple cross-platform app that's free to download and use on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. With it, you'll design beautiful mockups, interfaces, and scalable vector graphics. Unlike other high-end options like Photoshop and Sketch, Gravit Designer allows you to create social media posts without breaking the bank. Another thing, it supports multiple import and export file formats.
Pros:
Software is bug-free.
Supports multiple image file formats.
Available in both online and desktop versions.
Cons:
Scrolling the canvas can be annoying.
Crashes with big files.
15. VectrLastly, you can use Vectr to make some eye-catching designs and arts on Mac. It's a beautiful free tool that's fun to use and simple to learn. With Vectr, you'll make smooth and professional designs for any business. You'll also get a straightforward tutorial to help you get started quickly. You can work with texts, shapes, and multiple layers. However, Vectr is not as sophisticated as other advanced options like Canva.
Pros:
Free to use.
Simple to understand.
Offers straightforward tutorials.
Cons:
Not for pro designers.
You need to create an account first to save files.
Conclusion
These are the best free drawing software for Mac you can get currently. If you're on a limited budget, you can opt for free, open-source options like Vectr and Fire Alpaca. But if you want to enjoy extended features, choose advanced tools like Photoshop and Canva. What's better, all of these programs offer free trials, so there's no harm in trying.
Current Stable VersionThe current stable release of GIMP is 2.10.22 (2020-10-04).
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 Show downloads for GNU/Linux | OS X | Microsoft Windows | All
GIMP for Unix-like systems If available, the official package from your Unix-like distribution is the recommended method of installing GIMP!
 The flatpak build is new and has known limitations, though it will likely provide faster updates, following GIMP releases closely. 
 Therefore choose your installation medium according to your needs. 
 Flatpak build available in: i386, x86-64, ARM and AArch64. 
Flatpak additional instructionsThe flatpak link above should open your software installer and prompt you to install GIMP. Yet it may not work out-of-the-box on some platforms since the flatpak technology is new. If that is the case, ensure flatpak is installed and if clicking the link still does not prompt to install GIMP, then manually install by command line: 
flatpak install https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref
 Once installed, it will be made available exactly the same way as other applications (menus, desktop overview, or any specific application launch process used by your desktop). 
 If this is not the case, we suggest to report a bug to your desktop or distribution asking for proper support of flatpak. In the meantime, you can still run it by command line (not as the recommended method, only a workaround): 
flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//stable
 This installation will also provide regular update. You don't have to come back on this page and install again (it will not work!) when a new version of GIMP is released. Instead if your distribution and/or desktop has a good support for flatpak, it should propose to perform updates. 
 Once again, if your distribution does not have proper support, you can always fall back to using the following command line: 
flatpak update
Systems without flatpak support GIMP can also run on Solaris and is available for the BSD family of systems such as FreeBSD and OpenBSD. 
 Please refer to the documentation for your Unix-like system on the installation of software. 
GIMP for macOSNote: the currently available package provides GIMP 2.10.14 and has not yet updated to the latest version, GIMP 2.10.22. We're working on that, please check back later.
 The download links above will attempt to download GIMP from one of our trusted mirror servers. If the mirrors do not work or you would rather download directly from our server, you can get the direct download here. 
 Supported OS: macOS 10.9 Mavericks or over 
Since the 2.8.2 version, GIMP runs on OSX natively. No X11 environment is required.
Native buildThe official GIMP 2.10 DMG installer (linked above) is a stock GIMP build without any add-ons. Just open the downloaded DMG and drag and drop GIMP into your 'Applications' folder.
 The SHA256 hash sum for gimp-2.10.14-x86_64-1.dmg is: 52654d85f894834f6c134c724beff3eddf212a1bda317299314322cfeff97e52
 Check it on VirusTotal: gimp-2.10.14-x86_64-1.dmg
Older DownloadsPrevious installers for OSX can be found here: download.gimp.org.
Macports An easy way to compile and install GIMP and other great Free software on your Mac is by using Macports. The installer allows you to choose from a large directory of packages. To install gimp using Macports, you simply do sudo port install gimp once you have Macports installed. 
 Last we checked, the GIMP port file pointed to the current stable release and we have reports from people who've built GIMP successfully this way. 
Homebrew Homebrew is similar to Macports and provides packages (aka formulas) to install, either by compiling them from source or by using pre-made binaries. There are indications that there is now a formula for GIMP, installable with: brew tap homebrew/cask && brew cask install gimp. 
NOTE! Please be aware that it was announced recently that Homebrew is using analytics. To turn this off in homebrew then run: brew analytics off
 You can read more about this on Brew Analytics. 
Fink Fink is a package repository that offer mostly precompiled binaries. It provides the apt-get command known to e.g. Debian and Ubuntu users, and installing GIMP is as easy as sudo apt-get install gimp once you have installed the Fink installer. 
 If there's no binary package, then fink install gimp will compile GIMP from source. 
 Disclaimer: we haven't been able to determine if it is possible to install or build recent GIMP from Fink. Last we checked, GIMP 2.6.12 appears to be the most recent GIMP package that is offered there. 
GIMP for WindowsAudacity audio editing software. The download links above will attempt to download GIMP from one of our trusted mirror servers. If the mirrors do not work or you would rather download directly from our server, you can get the direct download here. 
 Supported OS: Windows 7 or over 
 These links download the official GIMP installer for Windows (~200 MB). The installer contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of GIMP, and will automatically use the appropriate one. 
 BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing system. It works by downloading GIMP from a distributed network of BitTorrent users, and may improve download speed dramatically. Choosing this option will download the torrent file for the GIMP installer. You may need to install a torrent client to make use of this file. Learn more..
Hash Sum The SHA256 hash sum for gimp-2.10.22-setup.exe is: f7851c348584ce432dfd8e69b74a168c7dec33ebfddc29c96ad2d6b83aded083
 Check it on VirusTotal: gimp-2.10.22-setup.exe
Older Downloads Previous v2.10 installers for Windows can be found here: download.gimp.org. 
 Previous v2.8 installers for Windows can be found here: download.gimp.org. 
GIMP User Manual These links download language-specific Windows installers for GIMP's local help. By default, they will place the help files with your GIMP installation. 
 Note: GIMP uses online help by default. If you want to use this local help offline, you will need to change GIMP's help settings. 
In GIMP, select [Edit] > [Preferences] > [Help System]
For 'User manual', select 'Use a locally installed copy'
Under 'Help Browser', you can choose between your system's web browser and GIMP's help browser plugin (if available).
 See the online help for more settings. 
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Source for version 2.10 (Stable)GIMP releases available from gimp.org and its mirrors contain the source code and have to be compiled in order to be installed on your system.
For instructions, how to build GIMP from source code, please see this page.
GIMP 2.10.22 is now available at https://download.gimp.org/mirror/pub/gimp/v2.10/. You may want to read the Release Notes for GIMP 2.10.
To allow you to check the integrity of the tarballs, here are the hashes of the latest releases:
gimp-2.10.22.tar.bz2 (sha256): 2db84b57f3778d80b3466d7c21a21d22e315c7b062de2883cbaaeda9a0f618bbgimp-2.10.20.tar.bz2 (sha256): e12f9f874b1a007c4277b60aa81e0b67330be7e6153e5749ead839b902fc7b3cgimp-2.10.18.tar.bz2 (sha256): 65bfe111e8eebffd3dde3016ccb507f9948d2663d9497cb438d9bb609e11d716gimp-2.10.16.tar.bz2 (sha256): cbf9fe9534b913a9487b00cd9710cbc569bfd71fdd2f8c321547701a7d70cbebgimp-2.10.14.tar.bz2 (sha256): df9b0f11c2078eea1de3ebc66529a5d3854c5e28636cd25a8dd077bd9d6ddc54gimp-2.10.12.tar.bz2 (sha256): 7d80b58e0784120d57d327294f6a1fda281ff51a61935c2cd764da281acaac71gimp-2.10.10.tar.bz2 (sha256): 12d1f243265c7aee1f2c6e97883a5c90ddc0b19b4346cf822e24adbb6c998c77gimp-2.10.8.tar.bz2 (sha256): d849c1cf35244938ae82e521b92b720ab48b8e9ed092d5de92c2464ef5244b9bgimp-2.10.6.tar.bz2 (sha256): 4ec8071f828e918384cf7bc7d1219210467c84655123f802bc55a8bf2415101fgimp-2.10.4.tar.bz2 (sha256): ffb0768de14a2631b3d7ed71f283731441a1b48461766c23f0574dce0706f192gimp-2.10.2.tar.bz2 (sha256): 1cb0baaecdefe44d371a15f2739a1bcbce4682336b4ccf8eb7b587ce52c333ebgimp-2.10.0.tar.bz2 (sha256): 7fcc96fb88cb0a0595d2610f63a15dec245bb37bf9db527d37a24fb75e547de2 GIMP help files are available at https://download.gimp.org/mirror/pub/gimp/help/. 
 Please consider using one of the mirrors listed below. 
Development snapshotsWe now have a separate page for development versions of GIMP.
Want to check out the GIMP development release?
Get it on our development downloads page.
FTP and Web Mirrors We had a server move a while back that caused us to lose our existing mirrors (moved from physical to virtual server and to an environment that doesn't allow FTP access). On the plus side, we are now able to offer rsync access to download.gimp.org. 
Best Drawing Software Mac If you are running one of the existing GIMP mirrors, or want to create a new one, please contact us to get your rsync credentials. 
Free Cad Software For Machttps://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/gimp.org/pub/gimp/ftp://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/gimp.org/pub/gimp/rsync://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/gimp.org/pub/gimp/Denmarkhttps://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/gimp/ftp://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/rsync://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/Finlandhttps://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/rsync://rsync.nic.funet.fi/ftp/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/Francehttp://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/ftp://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/rsync://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/Germanyhttps://ftp.fau.de/gimp/gimp/ftp://ftp.fau.de/gimp/gimp/rsync://ftp.fau.de/gimp/https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/grafik/gimp/ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/grafik/gimp/https://artfiles.org/gimp.org/pub/gimp/Greecehttps://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/gimp/ftp://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/gimp/Japanhttp://www.ring.gr.jp/pub/graphics/gimp/Netherlandshttps://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/gimp/gimp/ftp://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/gimp/gimp/Philippineshttp://mirror.rise.ph/gimp/ftp://mirror.rise.ph/gimp/Polandhttps://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/rsync://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/gopher://ftp.icm.edu.pl/1/pub/graphics/gimp/Swedenhttps://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimp/ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimprsync://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimpUkrainehttps://gimp.ip-connect.info/gimp/rsync://gimp.ip-connect.info/gimp/ftp://gimp.ip-connect.info/mirror/gimp/https://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/gimp/ftp://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/rsync://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/United Kingdomhttps://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/rsync://rsync.mirrorservice.org/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/United Stateshttps://mirror.jaleco.com/gimp/gimp/https://mirror.umd.edu/gimp/gimp/http://gimp.cp-dev.com/ftp://devhost.cp-dev.com/gimprsync://gimp.cp-dev.com/gimphttps://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/gimp/ftp://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/rsync://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/https://mirrors.xmission.com/gimp/gimp/ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/gimp/gimp/