Free Image Editing programs

[eishiya]

In my experience, openCanvas.

[YakkitySax]

In my experience, openCanvas.

And it makes great looking "pencil sketches". I've always been fond of sketching in OC in general.

[radiostarkiller]

Hey, guys! I figured I'd throw in a couple of programs I've chanced upon, both of which are free.

First up, we have MyPaint. MyPaint is a fairly simple painting program. I haven't really played around with it much, because I'm not too big of a fan of the interface. I find it rather lovely for coloring and sketching, though.

Second, we have FireAlpaca. It has a lot of cool tools to mess with, and the sensitivity is like that of Paint Tool SAI. I believe FireAlpaca's compatible with Macs, too. I highly recommend giving it a try.

[JoKeR]

I don't know if some one mentioned this before... but this is pretty awesome.
http://www.adobe.com/de/downloads/cs2_d ... index.html

[Ddraigeneth]

I don't know if some one mentioned this before... but this is pretty awesome.
http://www.adobe.com/de/downloads/cs2_d ... index.html

Yes, a lot of people have been talking about it.
To summarise, you still need a purchase license, they just made the serial numbers available so that they can take down their activation servers for it.

[JoKeR]

To understand this ...you have to buy CS2 once (in the past). And only then you can download it from there?
Who will control it if you have a licence or not?

If you buy CS2 Discs on ebay for little money...

[Ddraigeneth]

Who will control it if you have a licence or not?

I assume, as with most programs, you'll have to put in your product key when you install it, otherwise it won't work (possibly give you a trial version). The serial key on their website is an extra code that you would normally only get after activating the program by phone or online.

From the sound of it, you probably could buy a cheap, "used" copy and have it work just fine, since it doesn't check with their website anymore to activate it, but someone would actually have to pay to test that.

[pushingthehabit]

For those stuck drawing on iPads or iPhones, or whatever, I recommend Sketchbookx (express version is free) for good quality drawing. Usage is simple but be warned; you get a max of three layers to work with (at least in express, I have no knowledge of other versions) and for different page sizes you'll simply have to crop the image in your photo library.

For those that just want instant feedback, DrawCast is free and, once you get used to it, very user friendly. Warning; the majority of its users seem to be quite young, so you probably won't get any serious critiques, etc.

There is also an app called Paper. I can't really describe it other than to say working with it is a joy. I have the free version, which limits you to one brush, but quality is smooth, and you get stuck with one layer.

FingerSketch and InspirePro are also much worth downloading.

I can't say anything for drawing apps one must pay for :/

[ElectricRoseComic]

Supposedly a program called FireAlpaca is very similar to PaintToolSAI and works on the mac. I've seen screenshots and it looks almost identical to SAI. So you can try that out if you'd like. It's also free.

[nikki114]

Thanks for the links. I can use these for my future projects. THumbs up for all the contributors of this thread.

[BluePhoenix9]

WAIT. Have we talked about Firealpaca on this?

Firealpaca, if it hasn't been mentioned before, is a lot like SAI but free. And it works on macs. It doesn't have as many tools as SAI, but it's not 60 bucks and there's a mac version. Anyway. Go forth and light some alpacas on fire. This thing is awesome and so very useful.

EDIT: Oops. I just realized someone posted about it two posts ago.

[Ddraigeneth]

Oops. I just realized someone posted about it two posts ago.

More information is never bad. Everyone swears by one program or another, it can be hard to decide which one(s) to try.
Other information that might be nice would be a note on which programs have tablet/pressure support.

[BluePhoenix9]

Oops. I just realized someone posted about it two posts ago.

More information is never bad. Everyone swears by one program or another, it can be hard to decide which one(s) to try.
Other information that might be nice would be a note on which programs have tablet/pressure support.

All I know about tablet/pressure support is that both Firealpaca and SAI have it, however, SAI's is a little better. I have used GIMP before as well and it has kind of minimal pressure support. And any of them will support tablets.

[Ddraigeneth]

Updated the OP as best I could from Google results, and alphabetised the lists. Any extra information is welcome.

[Varethane]

The CS2 product keys will work whether or not you have bought the software in the past. It's true Adobe didn't intend to release them publicly, but now that they have done so I think they've realized the cat's not going to get back into the bag.

If you do decide to try it out, keep in mind CS2 was coded for Windows XP and earlier, so newer operating systems (in particular 64-bit systems) may have issues running it.

Also, I think the newest versions of MS Paint (ie on Windows 7 and up) can have pressure sensitivity if you are using a tablet PC with a Microsoft API pressure sensitivity driver; it won't work with Wacom tablets, but I figured it was worth a mention for anyone who is using one of those devices and wants to try it out.