10 Best Free Drawing Software for PC & Mobile

Art surrounds us everywhere, be it the simplest design on a brochure or a complex architectural wonder. And gone are the days when designers used a pen and paper for creating rough outlines. These days they can render their drawings in a matter of seconds using free drawing software. What’s more exciting is that artists can use filters, inbuilt editing tools and more to create efficient designs.

What is Drawing Software?

Drawing software is basically a graphics software which allows designers to create drawings virtually. Most free drawing software for Mac and Windows are compatible with a stylus or mouse and helps recognise your hand gesture and replicate them on the white board. These days, free 3d drawing software is also replete with several brushes, colour palettes etc.

What are the Best Features of Free Drawing Software?

• Improved design quality

Online drawing software provide several brush engines that can be customized by the user. These brushing engines also come with a stability option for error free sketching of curves, lines and even complex shapes.

• Share as you go

The best drawing software for windows saves different versions of your drawings. You can also share them with people within your organisations or outside such as with clients.

• Collaborating on changes

Graphic designers know the struggle of responding to client changes at the last minute. In such a scenario, you can use a free drawing software online for collaborating with teammates on a single project and even see the changes made by them.

• 2D and 3D Viewing

The best drawing software for PCs has the ability to render your creatives in both two dimensions and three dimensions. This feature is especially useful for architects and professional designers.

• Adding Layers to designs

You can use the blending option and layer grouping to make your designs stand out.

• Extensive Colour Library

Most drawing software these days have an extended colour palette which allow you to paint your canvas just the way you like it.

• Various Gradient Filling Options

You can use linear gradient fill and radial gradient fill to make your artwork more intuitive.

List of Free Drawing Software for Beginners

We present to you the most comprehensive list of the best free drawing software for beginners! All these software options are suitable even for professionals.

• Autodesk Sketchbook
• Krita
• Mischief
• MyPaint
• Clip Studio Paint
• Painter
• Artweaver Free
• Microsoft Paint 3D
• Adobe Spark
• GIMP

Best Free Drawing Software for Mac

• Autodesk Sketchbook

Autodesk Sketchbook is quite popular among the artists as it has a user-friendly UI which remains in incognito mode until you are ready to use it for creating your designs. This free drawing software online is fast, offers high precision and the ability to handle a 100 mpx canvas.

Features of Autodesk Sketchbook Free Drawing Software for Beginners

• It is compatible with your phone camera for easy export of your handmade design directly onto the virtual screen.
• The tool is available on different devices such as your phone, desktop and laptop.
• Sketchbook offers close to 200 customizable brushes.
• It has 16 sector radial symmetry and predictive strokes for smoothening the lines and curves.

Operating Systems- Windows, Android, iOS

Reasons to Consider-

• Gradient fill with blending modes.
• Predictive Strokes.
• Fully adjustable rulers.

Reasons to Check Alternatives

• Editing high resolution images is difficult on low RAM device.

• Krita

Krita is an open-source drawing software utilised by artists who want to design concept art, comic strips and illustrations. You can customize different workflows as per your requirement. With Krita, you even have the option of setting shortcuts of your most used tool.

Features of Krita Free Drawing Software

• Around 100 brushes which provide you the option of rendering your designs in a professional manner.
• Krita has a brush stabiliser option to provide a smoothness to your designs.
• The programme has an in-built vector tool for building comic strips. You can also access a word bubble template for easy adding dialogues.
• It has several brush engines such as the colour smudge engine, shape engine etc. for customising different brushes.

Operating Systems- Windows, Linux, MacOS

Reasons to Consider –

• Wrap around mode in which the image creates copies of itself along the x and y axis.
• Import brushes from other Krita users.
• Switch between group, vector, filter and file layers.

Reasons to Consider Alternatives-

• At times, Krita might be inundated with updates which might harm its usability.

• Mischief

Mischief is one of the best drawing software, which is suitable for both beginners and professionals to masterfully craft their designs. Mischief also has a number of dedicated keyboard shortcuts using which you can easily use the software for quick creation of designs and for editing.

Features of Mischief Free Drawing Software for Mac

• You can see artworks created using the Mischief tool and download them in .ART format. 
• Mischief uses 50 trillion-to-one zoom factor.
• The free 3d drawing software allows you to create thousands of brush strokes without lagging.
• Mischief also makes use of PINS. Pins are points of interest on the illustrator’s canvas to which the user can return in a click.

Operating Systems- Windows and MacOS

Reasons to Consider

• Unlimited panning or zooming.
• Support for keyboard shortcuts.
• Hassle free download and easy setup. 

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• The free version offers limited drawing tools and features.

Best Free Drawing Software for PC

• MyPaint

MyPaint is a great online drawing software for digital artists and designers. This program is known for the several versatile brush engines it provides. On the top of that, all these brush engines are totally configurable. You can change the brush texture to imitate the effect provided by charcoal, ink, pencil and so on.

Features of MyPaint Best Drawing Software for Windows

• You can utilise the full screen mode for decluttering the entire interface.
• MyPaint showcase only those tools will be visible to you which you need for your ongoing drawing project.
• MyPaint has dedicated communities on Tumblr and DeviantArt where beginners can seek advice and guidance from fellow users.
• You can design entirely new brushes which might not be a part of the software originally.

Operating Systems- Linux, MacOS, Windows

Reasons to Consider

• Easy to use and an intuitive interface.
• It provides brushpacks which can be downloaded.
• The build is automatically tested whenever a commit is made on a repository. 

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• The software might have a high learning curve.

• Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint is one such free drawing software online that provides several painting styles such as oil paint and watercolor. It also come with a number of preset brushes. This drawing software also lets you set the pen pressure as per your own need so that you can draw easily.

Features of Clip Studio Paint Best Drawing Software for PC

• It provides free transformation and mesh transformation features for making minor adjustments.
• Clip studio paint has the feature of tonal correction layers for adding final adjustments to your designs.
• The software provides the option of separating your thumbnails and storyboard panels. You can even save them as templates.
• With Clip Studio Paint, you can keep multiple project pages open in a single file.

Operating System- Windows, Android

Reasons to Consider

• While making 3D designs, you can view all the possible angles simultaneously.
• Easy to draw repeatable patterns.
• Tonal correction layers.

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• The software might freeze midway while you are drawing or editing.

• Painter

Now create lifelike designs with utmost precision with Painter free drawing software online. What’s more exciting is that Painter can be extensively used by Manga artists, in addition to designers and sketch artists.

Features of Painter Free Drawing Software for Beginners

• It has in-built learning modules to get you acclimated with the overall software.
• Painter is replete with a complete set of customizable brushes.
• It shows enhanced compatibility with Photoshop.
• Painter offers various in-built canvas textures.

Operating Systems- Windows, Mac

Reasons to Consider

• It offers several composition tools such as Mirror and Kaleidoscope.
• Oil, watercolour and texture filled strokes.
• Large collection of canvas textures.

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• If your device window is not too large, several icons may look jumbled.

Free Drawing Software for Windows

• Artweaver Free Drawing Software

Artweaver is the perfect tool for artists and designers as it comes loaded with a set of in-built brushes which can be configured as per your need. You can also collaborate with other artists and teammates over the internet and see the edits made by others.

Features of Artweaver Free Drawing Software Download

• Artweaver is powered by an efficient core which makes the application of different layers of filters and other editing tools easier.
• It has a set of realistic brushes which can imitate a lot of effects.
• Artweaver free 3d drawing software has the option of creating optimised workflows.
• The software allows you to collaborate with your teammates on the same project over LAN or the internet.

Operating Systems- Windows

Reasons to Consider

• It provides support for documents with 8 bit and 16-bit channels.
• Movable and rotatable canvas.
• Demonstrate other artists the different stages of development of your art.

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• This software is not available for Mac users yet.

• Microsoft Paint 3D

Microsoft Paint has been the flagship tool being provided by Microsoft for sketching and drawing. And now its upgraded version- Microsoft Paint 3D allows you to render 2D designs into 3D. Paint 3D is also compatible with applications such as View 3D, Holograms, Windows Mixed Reality, etc.

Features of Microsoft Paint 3D Free Drawing Software

• Microsoft Paint 3D has the feature of adding transparent pixels to 2D drawings.
• It also has the feature to download and import community drawings from within the app.
• While using this application, you have the option of resizing the canvas with the help of a mouse.
• Users now have the added option of directly downloading or uploading models from 3D.

Operating System- Windows

Reasons to Consider

• You can work on 3D stock images, people, animals, geometric shapes etc.
• Ease of usability.
• Files created in Paint can be easily opened in Paint 3D. 

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• It lacks a standard image correction feature.

Free Drawing Software for Android

• Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is considered as a good drawing software for beginners and professionals. It can be used for editing short videos and movies in addition to designing creative web pages. Adobe Spark comes with a host of professional fonts. Additionally, it is also compatible with Adobe Creative Cloud, Lightroom CC, Dropbox, etc.

Features of Adobe Spark Free 3D Drawing Software

• You can utilise custom themes, layouts and colours and even customize them as per your need.
• Adobe Spark allows you to share your designs through social media or email.
• Automatic syncing of your projects across devices.
• The software provides you the option of uploading images directly from the cloud or from your local storage.

Operating System- Android, iOS

Reasons to Consider

• You can get a knowledge of the latest trends and ideas that will help engage maximum followers.
• It offers great compatibility with google photos.
• You can tweak inbuilt themes with the help of icons and photos.

Reasons to Consider Alternatives

• The stock image section needs to include more diverse photos.

• Inkscape

Inkscape online drawing software comes with a huge set of drawing resources, which include the pencil tool, pen tool and calligraphy tool. It also has efficient shape designing tools such as ellipses, star, polygons and much more. Inkscape open source drawing software also lets you add multi-line text.

Features of Inkscape Free Drawing Software Online

• Inkscape has a feature of embedding bitmaps of selected objects. ‘
• You can create clones which are live linked copies of elements in your design.
• It provides you the ability to carry out Z-order operations.
• The software provides the option of locking and hiding individual layers.

Operating Systems- Windows, MacOS, Linux

Reasons to Consider

• Powerful colour selector and colour picker tool.
• Predefined dash patterns.
• Easy application of multi-line text.

Reasons to Consider Inkscape Alternatives

• Due to the large number of designing features, the whole interface can look cluttered on a small screen.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

You can also check, 17 Best Paid & Free Digital Art Software for PC & Mac