What is the best open-source drawing software for Android?

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Jan 25, 2024

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Krita vs Gimp vs Inkscape

vs MyPaint vs Pencil2D vs Xfig vs sK1 vs Pinta vs MediBang Paint Pro vs SVG-edit vs Milton vs Synfig Studio vs API Blueprint vs Paintstorm Studio vs Xara Xtreme vs AzPainter

Specs

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

License

Open source

Technology

C++, Qt

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows 10/8/7; Linux; MacOS

License

GPLv3+

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

No, Feature in development with GEGL

Adjustment layers

No, Feature in development with GEGL

Layer effects

No, Feature in development with GEGL

Color profiles supported

sRGB only, Other color profiles in develpemnt with GEGL and babl

Smart objects

No, Feature in development with GEGL

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix

License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Technology

C++

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

2003

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Unix

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

1985

Exports

*.eps, *.box(LaTeX), *.pdf, *.svg, *.hpl, *.pictex, *.mf, *.mp, *.mmp, *.cgm, *.shape, *.postscript, *.gif, *.jpeg, *.pcx, *.sld, *.xbm, *.xpm

Imports

*.fig

Inital Release

1985

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, macOS, Linux

License

LGPL

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

in the middle ages

Exports

Imports

exports

Inital Release

Based On

Skencil

color

red

loves

football

hates

inkscape

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

ALL (Browser)

License

MIT

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

*.png, *.jpeg, *.webp, *.bmp, *.pdf

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, Linux

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, iPad

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

License

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Platforms

License

GPL3

Technology

Tethered capture

Non-Distructive Editing

Adjustment layers

Layer effects

Color profiles supported

Smart objects

Initial Release

Exports

Imports

Inital Release

Based On

color

loves

hates

Annotation

OCR

Pros + Cons

Pro
Easy to use layout

All the most used and useful tools are easy to find in Krita's UI and are often just one click away. They are not hidden behind menus or dropdowns.

Comment

Pro
Constantly updated

Krita is getting constant releases with updates and bug fixes. New features are added at a pace that far surpasses the other alternatives.

Comment

Pro
Free and open source

Krita is completely free and open source. They have raised a couple of successful Kickstarters in the past to get the initial financing and now they are accepting donations.

Comment

Pro
Developed in part by KDE, which has a great community and therefore great support.

KDE has a long history of making solid applications.

Comment

Pro
Amazing support for displaying brushes

Krita's preset brushes are one of the default dockers. Each brush has a preview on mouseover that shows a detailed view of the type of brush involved. All the brushes also have useful and descriptive names such as "HP Pencil" or "Textured Fuzzy".

Comment

Pro
Very customizable

Although the UI is rather busy, Krita is very customizable. The editing window can be themed and the sidebar can be customized extensively throw many dockers or panes.

Comment

Con
New features are not tested thoroughly

Since releases are so often and with little time between them, usually new features are not tested a lot and this can bring a lot of bugs with them. Which fortunately are quickly patched in the next release.

Comment

Con
Documentation is lacking

Krita's official documentation is incomplete in some areas, especially for new features that are constantly added. But this is compensated with it's great design and usability which makes it easier to understand how things work.

Comment

Con
Poor touch controls

They are still pretty much a WIP. But they are getting there.

Comment

Pro
Easy editing in a tiled view

Tiled view that shows your image tiled in the editor, and permits you to edit it as you are seeing it tiled. If the brush passes out of your texture, it will just automatically wrap back the painting to the other side of the original texture, while permitting you to paint and see the results on any of the tiled "clones" (the shortcut key to activate this is w by default).

Comment

Con
Working with text is not that pleasant

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform

GIMP is cross platform compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows making it perfect for a team with varying hardware.

Comment

Con
Mediocre usability overall

Many simple tasks are complicated in GIMP. For example, changing the brush size is annoying. Basically the UI is not bad, but not very good either.

Comment

Pro
Free, open source, and cross-platform

GIMP is completely free and open source, meaning you can use GIMP and all of its features without spending a penny. This makes it an excellent case for artists or designers who may not have the budget to spend over 700 USD on Photoshop. It is also available for free on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It's licensed under GPL with source code available here.

Comment

Con
Lacks adjustment layers

Adjustment layers offer a non-destructive way of combining different photo manipulations. Without adjustment layers the only way to see changes is by irreversibly editing the image. They are promised in future updates.

Comment

Con
Unintuitive interface

GIMP doesn't embrace OS X application design, thus Mac users might have a hard time wrapping their heads around GIMP's interface.

Comment

Pro
Lightweight

Compared to to other photo editing software, GIMP is very light weight. In addition it isn't very resource-intensive, meaning it is possible to put it on a flash drive and have it with you to load up on just about any computer.

Comment

Pro
Powerful

GIMP is the most feature-rich free image editing tool. It has most image manipulation and workflow tools that you would expect from an image editing software and what it lacks it makes up with plugins.

Comment

Con
Less features than other programs

Being a free program, it shouldn't be surprising that it has limited features. For those needing more advanced features for something more professional, GIMP just isn't for you.

Comment

Pro
Beginner-friendly

Gimp has less features than programs like Photoshop, but for a beginner, or someone not needing complicated options, Gimp is the perfect choice. It allows you to quickly do basic photo manipulation so you can easily get the product you need without having to worry about complicated features getting in the way.

Comment

Pro
Modular & single-window interface options

By default GIMP splits out each window, but you can check to use the one screen mode in options if you prefer.

Comment

Pro
Full channel support

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Comment

Pro
Cross-platform

Pre-built binaries are available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Inkscape can be built from source on additional platforms.

Comment

Pro
Open source

Inkscape is GPL-licensed and maintains public repositories.

Comment

Pro
Free and open source

Inkscape is GPL-licensed and maintains public repositories.

Comment

Pro
Opens lots of file types

Inkscape supports many common formats for import (including SVG, Photoshop and Illustrator) and its plugin architecture allows more to be added.

Comment

Pro
Browsers can display its vector files natively

All browsers support SVG and display SVG images without converting from some other format. SVG is the native vector file format for Inkscape.

Comment

Pro
It can do anything

A very powerful software that can do pretty match anything.

Comment

Con
Very slow startup on some systems

Depending on factors like how many fonts you have installed, Inkscape can take upwards of 30 seconds to launch.

Comment

Pro
Export to different file types

You can export and save your files for example as a "normal" svg, png, jpg, bmp etc. file.

Comment

Pro
Dark theme support

The new 1.0 beta 2 version finally got support for dark theme which normally is only available for commercial software like Affinity Serif, Adobe Illustrator.

Comment

Con
Crashes very often

Inkscape encountered an internal error and will close now - is one of its standard messages.

Comment

Con
Uses its own SVG-format by default

Inkscape might use SVG as its default format, however this SVG contains some additional SodiPodi/Inkscape additions that can be troublesome if you want to import the SVG into some other application.

Comment

Pro
Good documentation

Excellent documentation available on the web with good explanations of tools and features.

Comment

Con
No support for large printing machine system

No support for large printing machine environment, except exporting the resulting artwork to PDF.

Comment

Con
Incompatible with previous versions

Sometimes backward compatibility breaks. For example, pre 0.92 SVGs are incompatible with later releases (due to different default resolutions).

Comment

Con
Limited work with ICC CMYK color scheme

Support for ICC color profiles only in SVG files.

Comment

Con
Y-axis inverted

0,0 coordinates begin in lower left corner, not upper left corner as SVG standards define.

Comment

Con
This program is too complicated

It will not make a simple circle with text on the top and bottom.

Comment

Con
Based on the GTK widget toolkit

Software is based on GTK, so it might not integrate well in non-GTK environments. It also requires many dependencies on those non-GTK desktops. It also adds dependencies to GTK-environments since it is written in C++ which requires the gtkmm wrapper/interface.

Comment

Con
This program is too complicated. It will not make a simple circle with text on the top and bottom.

[add description]

Comment

Con
No Gradient Mesh tool

Gradient Mesh or a comparable tool is not available in Inkscape.

Comment

Pro
Interface gets out of the way

MyPaint mostly consists of the canvas. The interface to select different brushes can be brought up if needed, but it generally stays out of the way of getting things done.

Comment