More and more people are getting tablets for drawing, sketching or digital painting. But Wacom Tablet users will quickly find out that there is a lot of software in the market to draw, edit or manipulate pictures on their favorite tablet. Choosing the right UX software for your Wacom Tablet is important, because without one, you’ll never get the best out of your stylus.
If you’re a designer, illustrator, photographer or artist and you use a popular Wacom tablet such as Intuos or even the Yeti line then you already know that the ecosystem of software available for these tablets is far from complete. With many platforms having some key features missing and others not being developed, it can be overwhelming to find some of the best applications for your hardware. There are also some features lacking in certain packages that would have gotten them into my top 10 list.
Adobe Photoshop
When it comes to photo and video manipulation, Adobe software is among the most highly recommended tools, and Photoshop is just the right drawing software for creative professionals.
Photoshop is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription, so you need to have a subscription to use it with your Wacom tablet. With the latest iteration, Adobe has made Photoshop’s interface more customizable and helpful for veterans and newcomers.
Another exciting part of the new Photoshop update is the new Object Selection Tool. The company has also put Sensei to good use, making it an efficient tools for photographers and creative artists.
Being a part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, it is easy to access Photoshop across devices. You can start work on your desktop and then continue the same on your laptop from anywhere.
Key features of Adobe Photoshop:
- New and improved Object Select Tool
- Cloud integration and multi-platform support
- Excellent collection of phot correct and manipulation tool
- Slick easy to use interface and help for budding articles
Adobe Photoshop
Create your Wacom tablet art at a professional level by using this amazingly powerful and versatile software.Free trialVisit website
Corel Painter
Corel Painter is a professional blank canvas painting and photo-art tool. The popular drawing software offers emulation and digital art brushes, unlimited brush customizations, texture, and other media to create your signature style drawing.
Existing users of the Painter will appreciate the improved user interface and efficient workflow. Painter offers many useful touches for those who are just getting started, making it easier to get started with the tool unaided.
Painter is compatible with popular photo manipulation tools like Photoshop, supports stylus tilt, rotation bearing, and pressure to create nature painting, and is available on both Windows and Mac platforms.
Key features of Corel Painter:
- GPU support for brushes has improved performance
- Redefined user interface
- Excellent choices of brushes and bristles
- Tracing tool with the ability to rotate the canvas
Corel Painter
Make the most out of your Wacom tablet with amazing digital art brushes with a wide range of customization options.Free trialVisit website
Clip Studio Paint
What does Clip Studio Paint do?
It works very similarly to Adobe Photoshop. Some call it a knockoff version of Adobe’s most popular application.
One of the reasons why Clip Studio Paint became somewhat popular is the fact that it comes as a bonus to those who purchase a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet. As you must have imagined, there’s a catch. Only Wacom drawing tablets bought in the Americas come with the free software.
In case you purchase your Wacom Intuos from the United States, Canada, Brazil or any other country in the region, a license to Clip Studio will be provided by the company.
You may visit Clip Studio Paint’s website by clicking here.
Who is Clip Studio Paint for?
- Illustrators
- Digital artists
Is Clip Studio Paint free?
No, but it’s very affordable.
There are thee important aspects to be mentioned about this application’s price:
- There is a 30-day trial period
- A monthly subscription model is available (costs less than a dollar)
- Buying the whole software for a one-time fee is incredibly cheap.
Affinity Designer
What does Affinity Designer do?
Affinity Designer is one of the most promising design / illustration applications released within the last few years.
It has a characteristic that sets it apart from all the others. While other programs work either for raster graphics (pixel-based) or vector graphics, Affinity Designer does both really well.
Within the app it’s possible to switch between a raster and a vector mode, which gives the user creative and technical freedom that goes beyond what has been seen up until now.
Another amazing thing about Affinity Designer is that it works both on computers and mobile devices.
You may visit Affinity Designer’s website by clicking here.
Who is Affinity Designer for?
- Illustrators
- Designers
- Digital artists
- Concept artists
- Students
- Professionals
Is Affinity Designer free?
No. Even though the app can be used in different devices (Windows based / Mac / iPad), each one has a different license with a different price.
They are all affordable, but none is free.
Krita – Our Choice
With accessible interface
- Well designed brushes and tools
- Handy drawing aids
- Drawing assistants
- No dedicated support
Verdict: Krita is one of the best drawing and painting art software programs on the market today. It has a number of features that enable it to rival some of the better known programs on the market. Some of the things that it offers include professional-looking illustrations, advanced brush programming so that you can create realistic media, and support for a wide variety of drawing formats.
In addition, the best part about Krita is that it is completely free – which means that you do not have to spend any money in order to get to all of the information that you want to know about art software. All you have to do is download it, install it, and then you are ready to get started drawing and painting just like you always wanted to.
Conclusion
When thinking about the best software for Wacom tablet, you have to think about what you want to achieve with the tablet. If you are an artist it is highly recommended you use Adobe Photoshop. If you are simply working with drawing or using it as a creative tool then any graph based application would suffice. However if you are looking to create art with color manipulation this is not the software for you. There are many applications available but I would recommend Photoshop, Corel Painter, and Manga Studio