These graphic design apps can also help you to draw cartoons step by step, how to draw cute girls faces, what are the tools for making graphics, more creative software for 3d animation
You can create beautiful visual elements to enhance your social media posts, blog posts and content for websites using a graphic design app. Some free graphic design apps for pc allow you to create designs, edit photos and even add text in a simple click & drag interface that even a beginner can master.
DesignWizard
Platform: Windows
DesignWizard ranks among the best free graphic design software for beginners. The tool offers a large database of images along with a host of free templates (over 10,000), plus a simple, easy-to-use interface. While you can also quickly create custom templates, DesignWizard excels as a front-line, free graphic design tool for beginners.
Despite an easy-to-use interface and no upfront costs, it’s worth noting that most of the more powerful options in DesignWizard are only available in its for-pay version.
Canva
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Whether you’re looking to create an ebook, infographic, business card, or email header, Canva has a template to simplify your process. The free web design tool, developed by non-designers, offers professional, easy-to-customize templates for just about any design need you can think of.
The drawback? You might need to invest in the paid version or try one of the more advanced free graphic design softwares as you skill up. While Canva’s free version is great for new designers working with templates, you can access more complex tools and features — such as team sharing — in the paid version.
Krita
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, Linux
Krita is a free, open-source painting program made by artists, for artists. Ongoing development of this tool depends on donations and is driven by the needs of the designer community at large. It’s no surprise, then, that Krita includes a customizable user interface, feature-rich toolset, and a comprehensive resource manager.
For businesses looking to boost their graphic design impact, Krita is a great tool — if they have the help of an experienced designer. For companies in need of simple, streamlined solutions, other software on this list offers a better fit for beginners.
Blender
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Blender is an open-source, 3D creation suite that makes it possible for graphic designers to create everything from rigging to animation to rendering and motion tracking. It also provides support for 2D animation and has an active community of users committed to helping Blender improve.
While Blender is a powerful tool, it’s not ideal for beginners — complex menus and a massive amount of design options mean you need to know your way around graphic design basics to make the best use of this tool.
SketchUp
Platforms: Windows, Mac
SketchUp offers both free and paid design plans, with its no-cost version still offering substantial advantages for designers. A robust modeling platform, it’s a great tool for creating 2D or 3D designs for furniture or other complex objects.
With an easy-to-use interface and great support, SketchUp is a great tool if you’re looking to create product pages that feature in-depth images and dimensions. Potential drawbacks include limited storage space for free plans and no mobile support.
Genially
Platform: Windows
Genially makes design easy with a user-friendly interface and robust options that allow designers to create their own artwork from scratch. With this software, you can leverage pre-built templates or add interactive features such as buttons, layers, and hidden text. The free version of Genially has no limits on the number of projects you can create and there are now more than 12,000,000 users worldwide designing with Genially and supporting the community.
There is a caveat, however. While the free version is substantive, some features — such as offline viewing and brand personalization — are reserved for paid plans only.
Affinity Designer
The best Illustrator alternative that’s subscription-free
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, macOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Great value+Lots of useful tools+Good Illustrator compatibility
REASONS TO AVOID
-Lacks some advanced features
The monthly subscription to Adobe Illustrator can be just a little too expensive for some people, so many pros are now turning to Affinity Designer. It may not have all of Illustrator’s features (see our Affinity Designer review for full details), but it’s close enough for many creatives.
Affinity Designer works with both AI and PSD files so you don’t need to worry about compatibility. And it generally runs faster than Illustrator, depending on what kind of hardware you’re using.
Affinity Designer also has features you won’t find in Illustrator, including infinite redos and one-million+ per cent zoom. But the most attractive difference is the fact that it’s a one-off purchase and requires no subscription. Despite this, updates have until now been passed on to users for free. The latest update in August (1.10) means that rendering is now up to 10 times faster for complex documents.
Gravit Designer
The best free vector editor overall
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Decent set of tools+Works with AI and Sketch files+Desktop and online
REASONS TO AVOID
-Free version has limitations
From the people behind Corel Draw, Gravit Designer is the free best graphic design software you’ll find today. Advertisementhttps://4a2a8f54a2bdc5698069682419da91e2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Even if it doesn’t have the mass appeal of Illustrator or Affinity Designer, Gravit Designer has a clean and intuitive interface and should easily cope with most design jobs, from icon design and prototyping to vector illustration and animation.
You can use Gravit Designer online or download a copy to your computer. Note that you automatically start out on a (free) trial of Gravit Designer Pro when you sign up, and once your trial is over, you transition to the free version, but lose the Pro features – unless you pay for a subscription.
However, Gravit Designer’s free version is still excellent. You can export files as PDF, SVG or bitmap, and you access your work wherever you are via the Gravit Cloud. See the full comparison between the Pro and free versions here.
Vectr
The best free vector editor for live collaboration
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Browser, Windows, Linux, Chrome OSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Helpful tutorials+Browser and desktop versions+Great collaboration tools
REASONS TO AVOID
-Lacks some advanced features
Vectr is the best free graphic design software for working collaboratively. Along with vector tools, filters, shadows and fonts, it includes a great set of live collaboration and synchronisation options. These make it easy to team up with colleagues or clients, to let them see what you’re doing, and provide feedback on your work.
Inkscape
Free vector app with very good SVG integration
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, macOS, LinuxTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Great SVG integration+Plenty of advanced features+Regular updates
REASONS TO AVOID
-Can be slow
Inkscape is another SVG editor, with advanced features such as markers, cloned objects and alpha blending. There’s support for various colour modes so that you can output just what you’re need, whether you’re designing for digital or print. It’ll import Illustrator files too, as well as enabling you to trace bitmap images. Among the best free graphic design software available today, Inkscape’s interface is simpler than Illustrator’s, but it’s still capable of producing quite sophisticated artwork.
Affinity Photo
The best Photoshop alternative that’s subscription-free
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, macOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Fantastic value+Strong set of features+Great Photoshop compatibility
REASONS TO AVOID
-Lacks Photoshop’s heavyweight features
If the cost of Photoshop’s too much for you then the closest alternative is Affinity Photo. Available for a (low) one-off payment for the desktop app, and a separate payment for the iPad app, it packs in a whole lot of features and top-end performance. Advertisement
It has all the photo retouching tools you’re likely to need, as well as advanced painting tools with a huge library of brushes. And it’ll import and export PSD files and even smart objects. As with all Affinity apps, users get updates for free, and that includes the latest one in August (1.10), which brought greater layer blending efficiency while retaining a non-destructive workflow.
Procreate
Procreate bills itself as a complete art studio, made exclusively for iPad and Apple Pencil support. It is a one-time purchase with no free trial or version available. You dive right into its vast array of templates, fonts, and customizable brushes. You can also bring your favorite Photoshop ones into the app, which will perform better with the Valkyrie engine. The developers went the extra mile to make it user-friendly.
One of its standout features is its ability to work in 3D and preview it in real time in AR. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at animation, Procreate provides an excellent starting point. However, the app has so many tools and functions that it may seem overwhelming to beginners. If you select one type of brush, you’ll find several from which to choose. You’ll learn something every time you use it.
Key features:
- Editing tools: 200 customizable brushes
- Color management: Intuitive selection of complementary colors and ColorDrop tool for fill
- Finishing filters: Unifying image management for creating the perfect look
- One-time purchase: No in-app purchases
Pros:
- Extensive tutorial library
- Intuitive user interface
- Apple Pencil support
- Import Photoshop brushes
Cons:
- No free version
- Steep learning curve
Platform: iPad
Conclusion
What? You thought all of your favourite apps were free? Think again! With an in-app purchase, the world of design is yours with powerful tools for import, vectorization, resizing, layers, colour transform and more. Save any image to your device’s library to use later.