So, what exactly is a drawing program anyway? It may seem simple on the surface, but once there are no lines to color in, then how is it that you want to draw? In essence, a drawing program can be used as a way to create representations of things either as 2D illustrations or as fully 3D models. This article will somewhat describe drawing programs from a 2D perspective and show off 8 of my favorite (at the moment) ones.
Here are the best 2d drawing option available.
Auto CAD LT
Details
Rating: 4/5
Price: Free Trial Available
This premium software can be used to create 2D design across different platforms with precision. It will provide a very attractive visual experience and the PDFs used are more responsive. Dimensioning will be easier with the tools and the work can be done on cloud or intranet. The monitor can be used to prevent any unwanted changes to the system preferences and it runs on a TrustedDWG technology.
QCAD – 2D CAD
Details
Rating: 4.2/5
Price: Free
This freeware and open source software can be used for CAD in 2D. You will be able to create drawing for various purposes like plans for buildings, mechanical parts, schematics, interiors and other such diagrams. It works across different platforms and has many features like layers, blocks, TrueType fonts, DXF & DWG inputs, etc. More than 35 CAD tools are included and many constructions and modification tools are provided.
Cadlogic-2D Drawing
Details
Rating: 4.4/5
Price: Free
This freeware can be used to create 2D drawings and it can be used for printing or saving. It has many powerful drawing tools that can be used to create professional level diagrams with accurate measurements. The measurement units can be set based upon the requirement. It is very easy to use and has many tools like linear, radial, angular, diameter, arrow, etc.
PowToon
This is entirely a web-based animation program. It’s a nifty, free little browser gem. It allows you to move scenery around, props, move your characters.
It’s primarily used by businesses to spice up their boring old meetings. But good on them for moving in the right direction!
Price: Free
Light Recommend
Kedi CAD for Linux
Details
Rating: 4.3/5
Price: Free
Adobe Photoshop CC
Adobe Photoshop CC is still considered as the best drawing software in the market. It has a comprehensive set of tools that allows the creation and enhancement of illustrations, 3D artworks, and photographs. Also, it’s capable of designing mobile and web apps, reproducing paintings in real life, editing videos, and many more. Essentially, this tool is used for bringing any idea to life.
Price Range: Adobe Photoshop CC can be acquired as a part of Adobe Creative Cloud membership. The price varies for individuals, businesses, students/teachers and schools/universities accordingly. Plans start for as low as $9/license/mo. Moreover, Adobe offers a full-featured Photoshop for seven days with no credit card required.
Key Features of Adobe Photoshop CC
- It can be used for designing anything. From small logos and banners to full-size posters and packaging. Furthermore, the tool is capable of creating a design for an entire website, game app, etc.
- It has powerful editing features that are capable of a multitude of mind-bending works. This includes restoring old photos, removing or adding objects realistically and transforming an image completely.
- It allows even beginners to create amazing jobs. And at the same time, professional graphic designers can unleash their full splash of creativity through this tool.
- It has a set of powerful paintbrush features (brushes, pens, markers, pencils). This offers a great amount of control, enabling you to draw or paint anything you can think of.
- It has many functionalities that focus on improving user experience. Multiple undo and faster ways to transform crop and enter text to name a few.
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a professional graphic design application that features all the tools needed for smarter and faster vector illustration, photo editing, page layout, typography and more. This drawing software has platform-specific versions. Therefore, whatever you’re using to create designs, the app will always draw the device’s full potential. There’s a plethora of customization features and capabilities provided for graphic design as well.
Pricing Range: The complete CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 can be purchased for $569. Likewise, it can be availed through a monthly subscription of $16.50 (billed annually for $198). There’s an option for upgrading the old versions of the suite for $329 as well. Also, the vendor offers a free trial.
Key Features of CorelDRAW
- It grants you access to a comprehensive set of royalty-free content. Examples of which include clipart, hi-res digital images, fonts and templates.
- It fully supports the use of stylus pens and wheel devices, like MS Surface Dial.
- It features unique time-saving tools such as shadow effects manipulator, vector mosaic generator and automated symmetrical design. In addition, there’s a LiveSketch feature as well for making sketches on the fly.
- It is a powerful tool for vector illustration. Thus, allowing you to turn basic shapes and lines into a complicated piece of artwork.
- It ensures color consistency across different types of media (pdf, jpg, eps, etc.) making it easy to prepare documents for printing.
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a smooth and powerful graphic design solution that focuses on speed, accuracy and improving users’ workflow so that their creativity isn’t hindered by technical limitations. This platform is made to utilize the full potential of modern computing hardware to provide you with fluid, responsive, and live user experience. Also, accuracy is a major feature in this product with its ridiculous zooming capability, flexible guides, advanced grids, etc.
Pricing Range: Affinity Designer’s desktop version (Windows and Mac) can be purchased for $49.99 and has a free trial offered. For iPad users, the product is available for $19.99.
Key Features of Affinity Designer
- It is capable of zooming in up to 1,000,000% times and no, that’s not a typo.
- It presents the exact same file formats and features regardless of which device it’s used in, resulting in a seamless user experience across the board.
- It allows users to freely switch between raster and vector workspaces with just a single click. Consequently allowing you to apply the best of both worlds in your work, at your own pace.
- It has a core engine that can take documents of any size or complexity and can easily handle even 1000s of objects.
- It showcases many convenient features such as customizable keyboard shortcuts, grids, multi-file compatibility and more.
DrawPlus
With the creation of Affinity Designer, DrawPlus has now become a legacy product of Serif which is ideal for both beginner and graphic designers that need to work on print and online designs. Its customizable, feature-packed interface can be used to create anything, be it a logo for a product or a moving animation.
Pricing Range: Since this is legacy software, you can now only purchase DrawPlus X8 through the Affinity Store account for about $24.99.
Key Features of DrawPlus
- It comes with realistic and natural-looking brushes which allows you to paint with a variety of media, such as watercolor and oil. Not to mention that it’s able to retain vector editing functionalities all along.
- It allows you to customize the interface for a more comfortable workspace.
- It comes with a variety of brushes for you to work with. And if there’s no pre-built brush that suits your style, you can create one. Complete with your own preference of weight, opacity, etc.
- It features an on-screen “How To” guide to provide assistance in case you have some questions.
- It allows smart sizing for producing grid patterns and resizing elements. This particularly useful for generating wallpaper effects.
Clip Studio Paint
Illustrators who specialize in painting and drawing will enjoy Clip Studio Paint. This is thanks to its many helpful and unique features that are useful for such trade. Natural brush feels and high-sensitivity strokes, for example. The app can detect even up to 8000+ levels of pen pressure and apply it accordingly to the drawing. It’s also an ideal application for manga and comic artists. That’s because the software is packed with assisting features for their work, such as speech bubbles and panel splitting.
Pricing Range: Clip Studio Paint is available in standard and full-featured version. Paint PRO costs $49.99 and Paint EX can be purchased for $219.00. There is also volume license available for multiple purchases. A free trial can be downloaded from the vendor website.
Key Features of Clip Studio Paint
- It features AI colorization which uses deep learning technology wherein you only have to provide hints of color on certain parts and the app will make the surprisingly accurate finish.
- It allows you to import 3D figures that can be fully customized to suit the draft you’re making. Now you can easily draw any pose or angle.
- It is brimming with features that are ideal for drawing manga and comics. This includes speech bubbles, effect lines and panel splitting.
- It enables the creation of animation by adding timelines, camera movements, sound effect and music.
- It supports the use of vector layers which allows lines to be resized and edited easily.
Krita
Krita is an open-source and free digital painting application that’s perfect for artists who are looking for a cheap but powerful tool where they can create concept art, illustrations, comics, textures, etc. It brings many features, both common and innovative, to provide users with creative freedom, regardless of whether they’re amateurs or professionals in the field.
Pricing Range: Krita can be downloaded for free, including its different builds, shell extension, and source code (since it’s open-source).
Key Features of Krita
- It features brush stabilizers which is helpful for those who have shaky hands.
- It offers 9 different brush engines. Each of these can be highly customized to suit your style and needs.
- It eases the creation of patterns and textures thanks to its wrap-around mode feature.
- It is equipped with numerous drawing assistant features. Helpful in creating the perfect shape you’re going for.
- It can easily import texture and brush packs from other artists or export one of your own to share it with others.
MediBang Paint Pro
MediBang Paint Pro is part of the MediBang Paint series that’s specially created for desktop users. It’s free, but feature-packed, drawing software that contains every essential feature needed for creating comics or illustrations. With the uncluttered interface and intuitive tools, creating amazing artwork on any style is easier.
Pricing Range: MediBang Paint Pro can be downloaded for free from the vendor website. You can also find the other MediBang Paint apps for different devices in that same place.
Key Features of MediBang Paint Pro
- It features more than 50 brushes to use for each occasion, such as GPen, Mapping Pen and Watercolor brush.
- It is a lightweight application that does not consume too many resources from your computer. This means that it can be used in conjunction with other apps without a performance drop.
- It has many comic-centric features to assist comics and manga artist. Easy panel creation and convenient page management for instance.
- It offers about 800 pre-built backgrounds and tones that you can use for free.
- It gives you access to a lot of fonts for your texts and dialogs.
Procreate
Procreate is an iPad exclusive drawing solution that’s loaded with industry-standard tools such as layering features, blend modes, color drop, and many more. All of which are developed from the ground up to maximize your iPad’s full potential. With this app, you are able to create inspiring paintings, beautiful sketches and stunning illustrations on the go.
Pricing Range: Procreate is available on the App Store for $9.99. There are also in-app purchases you can avail for richer drawing experience.
Key Features of Procreate
- It allows you to create gorgeous typography with the option of importing fonts to make a more compelling message.
- It contains a diverse set of handcrafted brushes. This allows you to blend and mix colors, create sketches or make shades as if using an actual pencil.
- It provides highly accurate control over vibrant colors. This is achievable through the system’s advanced tools such as Eyedropper, P3 Wide Color integration, and unlimited Palette Library.
- It works perfectly with the Apple Pencil device to provide a very natural drawing experience.
- It features a fluid, quick menu that you can configure for instant access to your favorite features.
Conclusion
My current work environment consists primarily of 2-dimensional drawings, so I get a ton of external requests from individuals asking me to draw something for them. Inevitably, I draw something for myself as well. I thought it would be nice to share my experiences with anyone interested; hopefully these tips might help somebody out there 🙂