Krita

My interest in Krita is in cartooning. so I looked mostly at comic related features. I've tried Krita several times and it has some great features such as tiling the image you're working on. The interface has improved as well, and the latest version actually works with my tablet (a straight forward Wacom) whereas previous versions didn't. The brush engine is quite good, but the text and vector tools are still works in progress, Text can be either artistic or a block, but I haven't found a way of putting text on a curvy line. Neither is there a way of easily combining two shapes as you can in Inkscape. The real gem in Krita, which seldom gets discussed, is its layer system. You can have paint (raster) and vector layers, file layers which are much like placed images in Photoshop, fill layers to add patterns, you can group layers, clone layers , and have filter layers as well. All of these can be masked as well, so you have a variety non-destructive of ways in which to manipulate your image. You can create animations which are similar to those made in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop CS6 or later (no vector tweening that I can find). It also opens and saves to Photoshop (though it's unclear which version of PSD files that is) so you have an easy way to move documents from Photoshop "compatible" apps which also read/write PSD files (like Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Pain Tool SAI, et al) though text will be imported as bitmaps. I tried Krita on my dual boot Win7/Mint Linux PCs, and it runs a lot smoother under Linux. Under Win7 I found adjusting layers and other dockers a bit hit or miss. Also, clipping is handled differently than most Photoshop comparable programs.

The features in Krita are more geared toward the focus of commercial editors like Clip Studio Paint and Corel Painter, than Photoshop and GIMP, and I find it an interesting alternative in that context. The thing with Open source programs is that given a large enough community using an app, it will get developed. What's needed is a set of motivated developers (which Krita seems to have) and enough feedback about what needs improving. There's a new release coming this June/July and I shall be interested in seeing what's upgraded.

No EPS support :-(

For me, Krita is the best 2D graphics software currently available.

It is quite lightweight and not system demanding - the lightest 2D graphics software I've ever seen.

The downside is that... the interaction with the program's interface is... a bit not user-friendly. But personally, it was limited only to the initial customization of the interface for my own needs, and after that I don't have to interact with it much. So this disadvantage can hardly be called a disadvantage - it's a very insignificant drawback. The second minus for me are the Brush Engines. There are a lot of them, and when you switch to Krita, you have to spend a lot of time to read the information on each Brush Engine and try it. And in the end it turns out that all Brush Engines, except, it seems, Pixel Engine, are rather... unfinished, raw, unnecessary. And one could limit oneself to just the Pixel Engine, and invest time in refining it, instead of creating this mess with more Brush Engines.

I would like to see more focus on the foundational tools, and less on all the “digital trickery”. That perhaps a material-based Brush Engine could be implemented, where the tools are materials with their own properties and behaviors, just like in the traditional format. Perhaps add three-dimensionality to the canvas, so that the strokes applied are a bit three-dimensional, just like in traditional painting. Enhanced color mixing, like the one introduced not too long ago in Clip Studio Paint.

Unlike Photoshop, Krita is lightweight, open source, free, and created geared towards artists and only artists - where you don't have to damn well create petitions for Adobe to change the mechanics of how the Smudge Tool works. Compared to Clip Studio Paint, Krita has all the same advantages, only the artist-centricity is replaced by more advanced functionality (when you need it) and the lack of cluttering the program with pre-installed resources and auxiliary 3d garbage, implemented very poorly. Comparing it to Rebelle seems a bit of a misnomer, as Rebelle has a focus on mimicking the traditional drawing and painting format. I can't compare it to the Procreate, but being tied to one device that no serious work can be done on seems absurd. And I would still like to avoid Apple.

A remarkable app for digital painting and photo editing, only held back by a mediocre text tool and the lack of a few other features.

An absolute power house for pixel pushers and animation, and a good addition to your design software.

While, The GIMP is made for editing photos and compositing, Krita takes over where it falls short - digital painting. The you have Inkscape for your vector art.

I can't draw to save my life, but my daughter likes to draw. I recently got an Android tablet for her and loaded Krita onto it. She absolutely loves it!

It is absolutely astounding that a FOSS app is so powerful and cross-platform. They deserve a lot of support.

Libre, and one of the best alternatives to Photoshop out there IMO

I like Krita because the UI looks nice and it includes brushes by default. awesome app, but can be advanced sometimes.