Corel Painter
Corel Painter is a professional digital art software providing realistic brush technology, advanced cloning tools, and customizable textures to help you create lifelike digital paintings and illustrations on your desktop.
Krita
Krita is a professional free and open source painting program designed for concept artists, illustrators, matte and texture artists, and the VFX industry to create digital art from scratch.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Corel Painter | Krita |
|---|---|---|
| Website | creativestudio.magix.com | krita.org |
| Pricing Model | Subscription | Free |
| Starting Price | $19.92/month | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 15 days free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✘ No product demo | ✘ No product demo |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 1985 | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Canada | Deventer, Netherlands |
Overview
Corel Painter
Corel Painter is a professional digital art studio designed to mimic the experience of traditional painting on a digital canvas. You can access hundreds of realistic brushes, including thick oils, flowing watercolors, and grainy charcoals that react exactly like their physical counterparts. The software focuses on providing a natural painting experience through advanced stylus control and pressure sensitivity, allowing you to blend colors and apply textures with incredible precision.
You can transform photos into paintings using powerful auto-painting and cloning tools or start from scratch with a blank canvas. The platform is built for professional illustrators, concept artists, and fine artists who need high-performance tools for complex compositions. With its customizable workspace and extensive brush library, you can tailor the environment to fit your specific creative workflow and artistic style.
Krita
Krita is a professional-grade digital painting application that gives you a complete set of tools for illustration, concept art, and texture mapping. Whether you are a professional illustrator or a hobbyist, you can access a highly customizable interface and advanced brush engines without any subscription fees. You can manage complex projects using a non-destructive layer system and a wide variety of masks and blending modes.
The software solves the problem of expensive entry barriers to digital art by providing industry-standard features for free. You can create frame-by-frame animations, touch up photos with advanced filters, and work with CMYK or HDR color spaces. It is ideal for individual creators and small studios looking for a versatile, community-driven alternative to proprietary design suites.
Overview
Corel Painter Features
- Natural-Media Brushes Experiment with realistic oils, watercolors, and pastels that blend and react just like traditional art materials on your canvas.
- Smart Photo-Painting Transform any digital photo into a stunning painting using automated AI-based presets or manual hand-painting cloning tools.
- Brush Accelerator Optimize your system performance automatically to ensure your brushes glide smoothly across the canvas without any lag or delay.
- Customizable Workspace Rearrange your UI, palettes, and toolbars to create a personalized environment that keeps your most-used tools within reach.
- Thick Paint Technology Layer, scrape, and blend thick digital paint that features realistic depth and shadows for a tactile, 3D appearance.
- Perspective Guides Snap your strokes to 1, 2, or 3-point perspective guides to create accurate architectural drawings and environmental concepts.
Krita Features
- Brush Engines. Customize over nine unique brush engines to mimic real-world media or create entirely new digital textures for your artwork.
- Vector & Text Tools. Create complex shapes and typography on dedicated vector layers so you can scale your designs without losing any quality.
- Animation Tools. Bring your drawings to life with frame-by-frame raster animation and onion skinning to see previous frames while you work.
- Wrap-around Mode. Create seamless textures and patterns instantly by letting your image wrap around the edges of the canvas while you paint.
- Resource Manager. Import brush and texture packs from other artists or share your own custom toolsets to expand your creative library.
- Drawing Assistants. Use magnetic vanishing points and perspective grids to help you nail difficult technical drawings and architectural layouts every time.
Pricing Comparison
Corel Painter Pricing
- Full access to latest version
- Exclusive monthly brush packs
- Free updates and patches
- Cloud storage for brushes
- Priority technical support
- Permanent license for current version
- No recurring monthly fees
- Standard brush library
- Standard performance updates
- Optional upgrade pricing later
Krita Pricing
- Full professional feature set
- No subscription required
- All brush engines included
- Animation tools included
- Commercial use allowed
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Automatic software updates
- Easy installation on Steam/Windows
- Direct support for developers
- Cloud save synchronization
Pros & Cons
Corel Painter
Pros
- Unmatched realism in digital brush behavior
- Extensive customization options for every tool
- Powerful photo-to-art transformation capabilities
- Excellent pressure sensitivity and stylus response
Cons
- Significant learning curve for new users
- Requires high-end hardware for best performance
- Interface can feel cluttered on smaller screens
Krita
Pros
- Completely free with no recurring subscription fees
- Highly customizable interface to suit your workflow
- Excellent brush stabilization for smooth line art
- Supports professional color spaces like CMYK and HDR
Cons
- Performance can lag on very large canvases
- Steep learning curve for the advanced brush engines
- Text tool is less intuitive than competitors
- Occasional stability issues on certain hardware setups