Charcoal Alternatives

Charcoal is described as '- Charcoal is incredibly easy to use: Just create or open a sketch and start drawing. There are no layers, properties panels or confusing settings. Instead, Charcoal features rich tools and beautiful color palettes' and is a digital painting tool in the photos & graphics category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Charcoal for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android apps. The best Charcoal alternative is Krita, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Charcoal are Paint.NET, MyPaint, Procreate and Clip Studio Paint.

filter to find the best alternatives

Charcoal alternatives are mainly Digital Painting Tools but may also be Image Editors or Photo Editors.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Charcoal.
  • ...
  • Charcoal is incredibly easy to use: Just create or open a sketch and start drawing. There are no layers, properties panels or confusing settings. Instead, Charcoal features rich tools and beautiful color palettes.
More about Charcoal
Charcoal alternatives page was last updated Jan 27, 2021
  1. QAquarelle icon
     12 likes

    Qaquarelle is a very young opensource Qt4-based painting application that is supposed to provide a native way of painting with emulated traditional instruments, including watercolor simulation, full support for tablets and OpenGL-based processing in GPU.

    70 QAquarelle alternatives
    QAquarelle screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    QAquarelle Features

    1.  Watercolor
    Discontinued

    Latest vsersion: 0.0.4 from 2010-02-09. See https://sourceforge.net/projects/qaquarelle/files/

    QAquarelle iconCharcoal Icon

    QAquarelle VS Charcoal

    Is QAquarelle a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  2. MultiDraw icon
     3 likes

    Multi User Online Drawing Application. Draw and chat together with others. Create Speedpaint art in your browser. Use pressure sensivity of your Wacom Tablet or Apple IPad Pro. It's free!

    21 MultiDraw alternatives
    MultiDraw screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online

    MultiDraw Features

    1.  Online collaboration
    MultiDraw iconCharcoal Icon

    MultiDraw VS Charcoal

    Is MultiDraw a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  3. Interference icon
     2 likes

    Discover Interference - the hit drawing game - and get ready to draw, describe and laugh. You've heard of Chinese Whispers and Broken Telephone, this is our new take on your favourite drawing game where you can get creative and laugh your socks off!

    15 Interference alternatives
    Draw other players' descriptions

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • Windows Phone
    • iPad

    Interference Features

    1.  Sketching
    Interference iconCharcoal Icon

    Interference VS Charcoal

    Is Interference a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  4. Flow by Moleskine icon
     3 likes

    Creating great drawings and getting your ideas down on digital paper is all about your headspace. Flow pages seamlessly expand as you draw and develop ideas, which means you keep your head in the clouds instead of managing documents.

    37 Flow by Moleskine alternatives
    Flow by Moleskine screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • iPhone
    • iPad

    Flow by Moleskine Features

    1.  Sketching
    2.  Apple Pencil support
    Flow by Moleskine iconCharcoal Icon

    Flow by Moleskine VS Charcoal

    Is Flow by Moleskine a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  5. Wizardbrush icon
     3 likes

    Wizardbrush is a natural media painting software which has a lot of brushes and paper with realism style. You can create realistic picture with it. You can not only use it to paint pictures, but also handle your digital photos, even use it to teach digital painting and image...

    134 Wizardbrush alternatives
    Wizardbrush screenshot 1

    License model

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    Last version, 6.7.7.6, was released on November 2011.

    Wizardbrush iconCharcoal Icon

    Wizardbrush VS Charcoal

    Is Wizardbrush a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  6. Linea icon
     4 likes

    Linea is an elegantly simple sketchbook for Apple devices optimized for use with Apple Pencil. It opts for a minimal interface with only the essential options, rather than overkill like many other apps.

    38 Linea alternatives
    Linea screenshot 1

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad

    Linea Features

    1.  AirPlay Support
    2.  Support for Layers
    3.  Drag and Drop
    4.  Upload directly to Dropbox
    5.  Open PSD files
    6.  Split-screen view
    7.  Sync with iCloud
    8.  Apple Pencil support
    9.  Sketching
    Linea iconCharcoal Icon

    Linea VS Charcoal

    Is Linea a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  7. openCanvas icon
     23 likes

    openCanvas, popularly abbreviated as oC, is a popular Japanese image editing program.

    62 openCanvas alternatives
    openCanvas screenshot 1

    License model

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Top openCanvas Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Drawing Tablet Support
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Custom Brushes
    5.  Export to Photoshop
    6.  Watercolor
    7.  SVG Transform
    8.  Texture for brushes
    9.  Photographic filters
    10.  Drag and Drop
    11.  High-dpi support
    12.  Open PSD files
    openCanvas iconCharcoal Icon

    openCanvas VS Charcoal

    Is openCanvas a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  8. Leonardo icon
     22 likes

    We believe artists deserve the best possible tools and we are determined to give it to them. The goal with Leonardo is to make the best painting application ever.

    111 Leonardo alternatives
    Leonardo screenshot 1

    License model

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Leonardo Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Pressure Sensitivity
    3.  Drawing Tablet Support
    4.  Infinite canvas
    5.  Sketching
    6.  Tablet support
    7.  Image Processing
    Leonardo iconCharcoal Icon

    Leonardo VS Charcoal

    Is Leonardo a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  9. Plumbago icon
     3 likes

    Plumbago reimagines the notebook! Plumbago is a digital notebook with handwriting smoothing, realistic ink, and paper, and more. Features include:

    11 Plumbago alternatives
    Notebooks can be customized and have the title you want

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Windows Mobile
    • Windows Phone

    Plumbago Features

    1.  Handwritten Notes
    2.  Synchronization
    3.  Handwriting
    4.  Notebook
    Plumbago iconCharcoal Icon

    Plumbago VS Charcoal

    Is Plumbago a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  10. Clover Paint icon
     1 like

    Clover Paint is a feature rich painting app with deep complexity. With Clover Paint, you are bringing a sketchbook with customizable canvas size, highly sophisticated brush and layer system, plus custom hotkeys and shortcuts for productivity.

    35 Clover Paint alternatives
    Clover Paint screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet

    Clover Paint Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Open PSD files
    3.  Sketching
    4.  Support for styluses
    Clover Paint iconCharcoal Icon

    Clover Paint VS Charcoal

    Is Clover Paint a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  11. JugiPaint icon
     8 likes

    JugiPaint is a painting software with diverse sets of tools for various types of illustration work. It provides many standard digital painting features like layers, brushes, selections, transformations, etc., as well as some less often like guide layers and panels.

    93 JugiPaint alternatives
    JugiPaint screenshot 1

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    JugiPaint iconCharcoal Icon

    JugiPaint VS Charcoal

    Is JugiPaint a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
  12. Photopainter icon
     3 likes

    Photopainter is both a natural-media painting software and an image processing system at the same time.

    143 Photopainter alternatives
    Photopainter screenshot 1

    License model

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    The program is no longer updated. Last version, 1.5.2.5, released in December 2007, can be still downloaded from the official website.

    Photopainter iconCharcoal Icon

    Photopainter VS Charcoal

    Is Photopainter a good alternative to Charcoal?
     
You are at page 4 of Charcoal alternatives