Corel Painter

A digital painting program from Corel that simulates natural media brushes for illustration and photo painting.

PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOS
Official websitepainterartist.comDownload pagecorel.com

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About Corel Painter

Corel Painter is desktop software for digital painting that aims to reproduce the feel of traditional media. The current version is Painter 2023, and a free trial can be downloaded. Corel also offers Painter Essentials 8, a cheaper edition for beginners, and ParticleShop, a brush plugin for Adobe Photoshop built on Painter.

Add-on brush packs are sold separately, and business and education licensing is available. It suits illustrators and artists who want realistic brushes rather than general photo editing.

Strengths

  • Natural media brush simulation for painting
  • Free trial available
  • Cheaper Essentials edition for beginners

Limitations

  • Current version dates from 2023
  • Proprietary and paid
  • Extra brush packs cost more

Details

Pricing
PaidCommercial software with a free trial and separate business and education licensing.
License
Proprietary
Developer
Corel
Platforms
Windows, macOS
How it runs
Downloadable app
Best suited for
Digital artists who want brushes that behave like traditional paint
Categories
Image editors
Last verified
Added
Provenance
Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.

Alternatives to Corel Painter

Compare all

Software that can replace Corel Painter for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.

  • Rebelle

    Painting software for Windows and Mac that simulates real color mixing, wet diffusion and drying.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOS

    Rebelle also runs on Windows and Mac and simulates wet paint diffusion and drying for watercolor, oil and dry media, with free papers and a trial.

  • ArtRage

    A natural-media painting program with realistic paint blending and textures for desktop, tablet and phone.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS

    ArtRage adds Android and iOS versions with realistic oil and watercolor blending, and offers low-cost Lite and mobile editions.

  • Krita

    A free digital painting program built for illustrators, with over a hundred brushes ready to use.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Krita is free and open source, adds Linux support and ships over 100 brushes with stabilisers, replacing Corel Painter's paid licence and brush packs.

  • Clip Studio Paint

    A commercial drawing and painting app for illustration, comics and animation across desktop and mobile.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS

    Clip Studio Paint adds mobile and Chromebook versions and comic and animation tools, with brushes imitating traditional media and paid use after a trial.

  • Paintstorm Studio

    A paid digital painting program with deeply customizable brushes for Windows, macOS, Linux and iPad.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinuxiOS

    Paintstorm Studio is paid software that adds Linux and iPad, with very detailed brush customization and perspective rulers.

  • MyPaint

    A distraction-free painting app for graphics tablets, with an infinite canvas and deeply configurable brushes.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsLinux

    MyPaint is free and open source on Windows and Linux, with configurable brushes and pigment mixing, but has had no stable release since 2020.

  • Procreate

    A digital painting and illustration app for iPad, sold as a one-time purchase.

    PaidProprietaryiOS

    Procreate moves painting to the iPad as a one-time purchase, with no Windows or macOS version available.

  • Adobe Photoshop

    Adobe's raster image editor for photo retouching, compositing, painting and generative AI edits.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSWeb

    Adobe Photoshop covers painting plus retouching, compositing and generative AI on desktop and web, but the full version is subscription only.

Corel Painter as an alternative

Listings that name Corel Painter as an alternative.

  • Artweaver

    A digital painting program for Windows with realistic brushes, layers and basic image editing tools.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindows

    Corel Painter adds macOS support and natural media brush simulation, but is paid only, with a cheaper Essentials edition and extra brush packs sold separately.

Similar software

Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.

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