PaintStar
PaintStar is a popular, easy-to-use digital painting and photo editing software for artists and photographers. Key features include layers, customizable brushes, filters and effects, and support for importing and exporting many file formats. It has an intuitive interface and is d
painting
drawing
photo-editing
layers
brushes
filters
effects
file-formats
intuitive
creative
flexible
PaintStar: Digital Painting & Photo Editing Software
PaintStar is a popular, easy-to-use digital painting and photo editing software for artists and photographers. Key features include layers, customizable brushes, filters and effects, and support for importing and exporting many file formats. It has an intuitive interface and is designed for creativity and flexibility.
What is PaintStar?
PaintStar is an affordable yet powerful digital painting and photo editing software solution targeted at hobbyists, semi-pro creatives, and photography enthusiasts. It strikes a balance between ease-of-use through its clean and intuitive interface while still offering a vast array of professional-grade tools.
At its core, PaintStar focuses on digital painting capabilities and maximizing creativity. It comes packed with hundreds of customizable brushes including pencils, pens, chalk, charcoal, oil, acrylic, airbrushes, and more. These brushes simulate real-world physics, allowing for very natural blending, smearing, textures, bleeding, and mixing effects when applying digital paint. Users can create custom brushes and brush tips as well.
The software also incorporates a full suite of raster and vector drawing tools. Handy features like perspective grids, symmetry rulers, shape recognition, and path editing help illustrate ideas faster. Its layered workflow builds flexibility into the editing process, facilitating easy changes down the road.
Common image editing tools like selections, transforms, filters, masking, and adjustments give users granular control over photographs and paintings. An non-destructive workflow allows for experimentation without permanence.
An asset manager makes organizing brushes, textures, fonts, shapes, and color palettes intuitive. Templates help creators get a jump start on projects. Extensive file format compatibility allows for importing work from other programs or other versions of PaintStar.
The software is available as a subscription across Windows and Mac platforms. It receives regular updates that refine existing tools as well as add new functionality. An engaged user community shares tips, tricks tutorials and custom assets.
PaintStar Features
Features
- Layers
- Customizable brushes
- Filters and effects
- Support for importing/exporting many file formats
- Intuitive interface
- Designed for creativity and flexibility
Pricing
- Freemium
- Subscription-based
Pros
User-friendly interface
Powerful editing tools
Great for digital painting
Affordable pricing
Good selection of brushes
Can handle large files
Fast performance
Cons
Limited native RAW support
No non-destructive editing
Fewer features than high-end software
Brush settings can be unintuitive
Occasional bugs and crashes
Official Links
The Best PaintStar Alternatives
Top Photos & Graphics and Digital Painting & Drawing and other similar apps like PaintStar
Here are some alternatives to PaintStar:
Suggest an alternative ❐
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop stands as the unrivaled powerhouse in the realm of image editing and manipulation. Widely recognized as the industry standard, Photoshop provides a comprehensive suite of tools and features that cater to the diverse needs of graphic designers, photographers, and digital artists. At its core, Photoshop offers a robust...
GIMP
GIMP, or the GNU Image Manipulation Program, stands as a robust and freely available open-source image editing software. Serving as a compelling alternative to commercial counterparts, GIMP provides a rich set of features for photo retouching, graphic design, and digital art creation, making it accessible to users of all levels...
Krita
Krita stands as a standout in the realm of digital painting software, providing a free and open-source platform tailored for artists and illustrators. With its focus on delivering a robust set of tools for digital art creation, Krita has gained popularity for its versatility and accessibility. At the heart of...
Paint.NET
Paint.NET is a popular free, open source raster graphics editor for Windows. Originally released in 2004, Paint.NET has grown into a mature, feature-rich alternative to paid image editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter.Some key features of Paint.NET include:Intuitive and innovative user interface, using a toolbar ribbon design similar...
Microsoft Paint
Microsoft Paint (formerly Paintbrush) is a basic raster graphics editor that has been included with almost all versions of Microsoft Windows since the first version was released in 1985. It allows users to create simple images and edit existing images in various ways.Some key features and capabilities of Paint include:Drawing...
Photoscape
Photoscape is a free image editing application for Windows. It provides a range of features that allow users to view, edit, enhance, organize, print, share and even create animated gif images and slideshows.Some of the key features of Photoscape include:Image Viewer - View photos in full screen, thumbnail view, adjust...
Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is a free photo editing app and web service offered by Adobe as part of their Creative Cloud platform. It provides a subset of Photoshop's professional-grade image editing tools optimized for mobile devices and casual photographers.Key features include:Cropping, straightening, rotating, and flipping photosAdjustments like exposure, contrast, saturation,...
Pixelmator
Pixelmator is a popular image editing application designed exclusively for macOS. First released in 2007, Pixelmator has become a favorite among Mac users looking for a more affordable yet powerful alternative to Adobe Photoshop.Some key features of Pixelmator include:An intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making image editing accessible for novices while...
Pixlr
Pixlr is a free online photo editing application that runs in the browser. It provides basic to advanced photo editing capabilities without needing to download and install desktop software.Some key features of Pixlr include:Cropping and resizing imagesRotating and flippingAdjustment tools for exposure, color, hue/saturationRed eye removalBlemish and wrinkle removalDrawing tools...
MyPaint
MyPaint is a free and open-source raster graphics editor specialized for digital painters. It has a focus on painting rather than image manipulation and uses a brush engine to simulate real media like oils or watercolors.Key features of MyPaint include:Intuitive and easy-to-use interface designed for drawing and paintingHuge collection of...
Polarr
Polarr is a versatile and user-friendly photo editor that can be used on various platforms. It is available as a desktop application for Windows and Mac, a mobile app for iOS and Android devices, and also as a web app that runs in any modern browser.As a free photo editing...
Aviary
Aviary is a free suite of creative web applications and developer tools that enable easy editing and creation of photos, images, audio, video, and other media. The suite includes the following apps:Photo Editor - Provides basic to advanced photo editing tools including one-touch Enhance options, filters, frames, stickers, text, red-eye...
Tux Paint
Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program that is designed for young children ages 3 to 12. It provides a simple, easy-to-use interface that allows children to create their own computer artwork. Tux Paint aims to introduce children to the basics of computer use and encourage creativity through fun,...
Paintbrush
Paintbrush is a lightweight, easy-to-use painting program for Windows. It is designed to provide a simple but capable alternative to Microsoft Paint, offering many of the basic image editing tools most casual users need.With Paintbrush, users can create simple drawings, edit existing images, add text annotations and captions, and apply...
Paint Studio
Paint Studio is a feature-rich digital painting and illustration application for Windows. It is designed specifically for artists and illustrators who want professional-grade tools to create digital artwork from scratch.Key features of Paint Studio include:Intuitive user interface optimized for pen tablets and touch screensHundreds of customizable brushes including pencils, pens,...
ShiftN
ShiftN is a robust workflow automation platform designed to help teams automate repetitive processes, build standardized workflows, and boost productivity. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, ShiftN makes it easy to map out even complex workflows without coding.Key features and benefits of ShiftN include:Visual workflow builder to map out processes step-by-stepConnectors...
AndreaMosaic
AndreaMosaic is a powerful photo mosaic creation software for Windows. It lets you create stunning photo mosaics made up of thousands of images. The software analyzes the colors, details, and textures of a target photo and breaks it down into regions. It then searches through its library of images to...
Microangelo Toolset
The Microangelo Toolset is a free, open-source suite of tools for Windows designed specifically for creating and editing pixel art, tile graphics, and tilemaps. It has been developed over many years and has grown to include a wide range of specialized editors, utilities, and assistants to aid in graphic design...
Glimpse Image Editor
Glimpse Image Editor is a powerful yet easy-to-use open source image editing application. It is designed to be a free alternative to paid software like Photoshop and has support for Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems.Some key features of Glimpse Image Editor include:Intuitive user interface with layers supportTools for cropping,...
Icon sushi
Icon Sushi is a free and open-source icon editor for Windows. It provides a range of tools for viewing, editing, and converting icon images in various formats.Some of the key features of Icon Sushi include:Supports editing PNG, ICO, ICNS, and other common icon formatsBatch conversion allowing you to convert multiple...
DrawIt
DrawIt is a free, open-source vector graphics editor for Windows. It is designed to provide basic drawing and diagramming functionality for users who need to create flowcharts, UML diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, and more.Some of the key features of DrawIt include:Multiple canvas/pages support - Create drawings that span multiple...
ChocoFlop
ChocoFlop is a user-friendly graphic design and basic photo editing software aimed at beginners. It provides a wide range of powerful yet easy-to-use tools for creating professional-looking images, designs, and artwork.The intuitive interface allows those with no prior design experience to quickly get started. Preset templates, fonts, illustrations, and effects...