FREE – almost anything that is free is the best. Free books, free supplies- free stuff!

Well, in this digital day and age, not many things are "free." Facebook is free due to advertisements, and some books are free but under the most specific circumstances. These kinds of things could apply to digital art, and I know there's a bunch of artists thinking about going into digital art.

As someone who is relatively new to digital art (I started around February of this year actually), I know the struggle of trying to find the best programs for digital art. As someone who is also broke almost all the time and in college, I don't necessarily have the money to afford good artists programs such as Photoshop.

So, for my fellow broke digital artists out there, I will review 5 popular digital art programs.

Before we start off this list, let me tell you what software I have:

I have the Surface Pro 4 from Microsoft (256 GB, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core i5), and I'm currently running on Windows 10.

Let's start this list!

Free Digital Programs

1. Krita

When I was on YouTube looking for free digital programs, Krita was probably one of the first programs I discovered. The program itself looks nice (it kinda looks like Photoshop). However, as I got into the program, I found myself confused and lost. Krita has a bunch of brush options and colors, but the way they are formatted is intimidating. So, I was pretty intimidated. I couldn't even make a piece out of it.

Krita is not recommended for beginners due to how intimidating it is.

2. Fire Alpaca

Fire Alpaca is a drawing app I've gotten accustomed to with my time with digital art. It's pretty simple, and the brush and color options are great and easily accessible. I made a few pieces here and there, so it's usable. After watching a few tutorials, I felt pretty comfortable with Fire Alpaca.

This app is great for beginners, but if you're a tablet use (such as the Surface Pro) erasing with the eraser part of the pen is pretty nonexistent.

Here's a piece I made with it:

3. MediBang Paint Pro

MediBang Paint Pro (or I call it MediBang) is the drawing program that initially inspired me to make this list. I instantly fell in love with this program because it reminded me so much of Fire Alpaca, but it also had more features than Fire Alpaca had (and it's by the same company). This program is friendlier with tablet users (so phones and systems like mine). Things such as pinch zooming and scrolling is a feature on this program.

This app is great for beginners and is ideal for those who have tablet-like software.

Overall, I am pretty in love with this app. Here's a quick doodle I made:

4. Paint 3D

This is what Microsoft is replacing MS Paint with. It's for 3D modeling, but it also does 2D drawings as well. It's surprisingly really smooth and not as bad as MS Paint. The only limiting thing is the format and lack of layers.

This can be used by beginners, and if you don't want to download anything, use this.

5. Paint

Haha, ok, this one is a bit of a joke, but there are people out there that use this program (probably ironically) and make amazing pieces (just look it up on YouTube). Paint is ok, but obviously not ideal.

Beginners can definitely use this. You just gotta put effort into this.

So, if you're thinking of becoming a digital artist, keep these apps in mind. Some (the top 3) are very useful but comes with their own pros and cons. Some (like the last 2) are not traditional but still useful!