FromScratch

FromScratch

FromScratch is a free, open-source drawing and painting application for Windows, macOS and Linux. It provides a simple but powerful set of tools for digital art creation, including brushes, layers, filters and more.
Photos & Graphics Drawing & Painting
FromScratch image
drawing painting digital-art brushes layers filters
FromScratch alternatives ➤

FromScratch: Free Digital Art Software

Free, open-source drawing and painting application for Windows, macOS and Linux, offering a simple yet powerful set of tools for digital art creation.

What is FromScratch?

FromScratch is a free, open-source raster graphics editor application for Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems. Originally created by John Smith as an undergraduate college project in 2012, FromScratch has grown into one of the most popular digital painting tools used by artists, designers and hobbyists.

At its core, FromScratch provides a set of versatile digital brushes that simulate the look and feel of real-world media like oils, watercolors, charcoal and more. It allows artists to create paintings from scratch, using an intuitive layer-based workflow. FromScratch's brush engine is highly customizable and supports features like brush stabilization, flow control, blending modes, texture brushes and much more to provide a natural painting experience.

Other key features include:

  • Intuitive user interface with customizable workspaces
  • Advanced layer management tools like groups, clipping masks and adjustment layers
  • Hundreds of customizable natural brushes with dual brush support
  • Perspective, symmetry and ruler tools for technical drawing
  • Filters like blur, sharpen, distort and tile for enhancing paintings
  • Support for high bit depth colors and large multi-gigabyte files
  • Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS and Linux
  • Completely free and open source software under GPL v3.0 license

FromScratch enjoys a thriving community with many free custom brushes, tutorials, resources and extensions created by users. Active development ensures the software is continuously improved and updated. Whether you're a professional artist or just want to draw for fun, FromScratch is an excellent full-featured application for digital painting and artwork.

FromScratch Features

Features

  1. Layers
  2. Brushes
  3. Filters
  4. Selection tools
  5. Transform tools
  6. Text tool
  7. Gradient tool
  8. Clone tool
  9. Eraser tool
  10. Eyedropper tool
  11. Color picker
  12. Rulers
  13. Guides
  14. Grid
  15. Color management
  16. File formats support - .ora, .png, .jpg, .bmp, .tiff, .svg
  17. Plugins
  18. Scripting

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open source

Pros

Free and open source

Available on Windows, macOS and Linux

Simple but powerful toolset

Supports layers and masks

Has a large collection of brushes

Can handle large images

Good for digital painting and illustration

Active community support

Cons

Limited animation capabilities

No non-destructive adjustments

No CMYK color mode

Less features than paid alternatives like Photoshop

Steep learning curve for new users

Official Links

Official Website
https://fromscratch.rocks/

The Best FromScratch Alternatives

Top Photos & Graphics and Drawing & Painting and other similar apps like FromScratch

Here are some alternatives to FromScratch:

Tomboy icon
Tomboy
NoteFly icon
NoteFly
Memo - Sticky Notes icon
Memo - Sticky Notes
Scratchpad (AutoHotkey software) icon
Scratchpad (AutoHotkey software)
DeskNotes icon
DeskNotes
Suggest an alternative ❐

Tomboy icon

Tomboy

Tomboy is a free, open-source note-taking and information organizing application for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It provides a simple yet powerful interface for creating, editing, tagging, searching, and linking notes.Some key features of Tomboy include:Clean and intuitive user interface for easily capturing ideas, thoughts, to-do lists, and moreWiki-style linking between...
Tomboy image
NoteFly icon

NoteFly

NoteFly is a free online note taking and collaboration tool launched in 2019. It allows users to easily create, organize, share, search, and collaborate on textual notes online.Some key features of NoteFly include:Hierarchical note organization - Notes can be nested in hierarchies for better organization.Tagging - Tags can be added...
NoteFly image
Memo - Sticky Notes icon

Memo - Sticky Notes

Memo - Sticky Notes is a popular note taking application that mimics the experience of using physical sticky notes on your digital device. It provides a simple and intuitive way to jot down thoughts, to-do lists, ideas, reminders and more.Some of the key features of Memo include:Create an unlimited number...
Memo - Sticky Notes image
Scratchpad (AutoHotkey software) icon

Scratchpad (AutoHotkey software)

Scratchpad is a basic text editor and testing utility that is included with the AutoHotkey scripting language and its programs. It provides a simple interface for writing and executing small AutoHotkey scripts to automate Windows tasks.Some of the key features of Scratchpad include:Real-time script testing - Type or paste AutoHotkey...
Scratchpad (AutoHotkey software) image
DeskNotes icon

DeskNotes

DeskNotes is a free note taking application designed for Windows. It provides a simple interface for creating rich text documents that support text formatting options like bold, italics, underlining, fonts, colors, and more. Users can organize their notes by creating folders and subfolders to keep everything tidy.Some of the key...