Top 4 Digital Painting Software Review

See the TopTenREVIEWS comparison chart to compare feature sets, specifications and see why we ranked the products the way we did.

Click to see the full side-by-side comparison chart for the best digital painting software products.

Digital Painting software has existed at the consumer level, in some form, for more than 25 years. In those 25 years, a lot of programs have come, but more have gone, falling into obsolescence due to usability issues, limited functionality or the poor quality of its finished product and overall creative process. Among the slim few that have come, arrived and appear to be here to stay is "TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award" winner Corel Painter, now in its 11th version.

Click for full Corel Painter review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

You're not going to find digital painting software that's going to give you more bang for your buck than PostworkShop. This application has anything you would ever to need to create the most beautiful masterpieces imaginable. If you choose this application, you're going to be impressed by the fact that what you create is polished and professional looking every time.

Click for full PostworkShop 1.1 Artist review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

AutoDesk software programs and related products have a reputation for being simple (yet powerful), clean (yet capable of great complexity) and well organized. SketchBook Pro doesn't disappoint on those fronts, offering a variety of composition tools and features within a clean, responsive interface that has the odds, ends and overall brass to help digital artists, mixed-media artists and, more likely, designers and illustrators from inspiration to creation without the clean-up or preparation. SketchBook Pro is by no means on par with Corel Painter, lacking the brush selection, palette features and functionality, but it makes a good argument for itself when it comes to media closely related to its namesake: sketching. Designers and drafters will find an indispensable tool, others, a well-organized tool that is import/export friendly. Both groups will find little of what AutoDesk SketchBook Pro offers to complain about. That would likely be reserved for what it doesn't have, which could be a deal-breaker for some and a shrug-maker for others.

Click for full AutoDesk SketchBook review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

ArtRage Deluxe is a well-designed, easy-to-use digital painting program. It isn't as fully featured as some of its competitors like, say, top-rated programs such as Corel Painter and AutoDesk SketchBook Pro, but it still makes a strong argument for allowing users to put paint to canvas, convincingly and easily. While some of its limitations prevent it from being a serious contender in the professional painting and drawing market, its user-friendliness and low price make it an ideal choice for painting hobbyists, as well as a supplemental program for use alongside other digital painting, image editing and image illustration programs.

Click for full ArtRage Deluxe 2.5 review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.