Likelihood to Recommend I would 100% recommend Inkscape to anyone starting out with graphic design or illustration, as it isn't that difficult to get the hang of on the first day of using it. I am not recommending Inkscape for beginners alone, even experts in the field can use Inkscape professionally as it cuts of the expense of needing to buy a paid graphic design software which provides almost the same features. Inkscape is also great for beginners because it can be treated like a stepping stone to move onto a paid graphic designing software like
Adobe Illustrator , so Inkscape can be used to test the waters before making the leap. Inkscape and Illustrator are almost the same so there wont be any difficulty in switching later on.
Read full review Krita is well suited for digital painting and drawing. It has a wide variety of brushes and tools that allow for a lot of flexibility and control when creating artwork. Krita is also good for creating textures and patterns. It has a wide variety of filters that can be applied to images to create interesting effects. Krita is also good for retouching photos and for creating digital illustrations.
Read full review Pros Creates excellent vector based graphics Quite easy to use Free Open-source Limitless potential with what you can create Available on all major operating systems Read full review A wide variety of brushes A lot of customizations, for making a lot of textures and effects A number of filters and tools you can easy use Free Read full review Cons startup screen could use close/minimize buttons Read full review The brushes could be made more realistic and responsive The user interface is not always intuitive, and it can be difficult to find the tools you need The software can be quite resource-intensive, and it can sometimes be slow to respond to input Read full review Alternatives Considered Adobe Illustrator is also used in our company sometimes however, Inkscape is used most considering the fact that it is completely free while
Adobe Illustrator has to be bought through monthly/annual subscriptions that are expensive. For that reason we always opt for Inkscape. Not only is it a free software, but it includes almost all the features and tools that
Adobe Illustrator offers, even though there might be some tools missing here and there, for businesses whose main focus isn't graphic design, Inkscape is the way to go. However if Graphic design or illustration is the only or the main factor of your business, I would suggest going for the investment and getting
Adobe Illustrator .
Read full review I will not compare it with Adobe of
Affinity Photo . This is more for photo editing and is a paid tool. The better comparison would be
PaintTool SAI (still a paid one.) Krita and
PaintTool SAI are both digital painting applications. Krita is free and open source, while
PaintTool SAI is a paid application. Both applications have their strengths and weaknesses. Krita has a wide variety of features, including support for layers, filters, and brushes. It also has a wide selection of brush presets, and users can create their brushes. Krita is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
PaintTool SAI is a simpler application with fewer features than Krita. It does not support layers or filters and has a more limited selection of brushes. However, it is faster and more lightweight than Krita.
PaintTool SAI is available only for Windows. So even for a free tool, Krita would win in my book.
Read full review Return on Investment It is free, so the return of investment is the cost of a commercial product plus whatever the value or what you create Allows us to create branding SVG graphics without a cost Helps us promote a brand that promotes confidence and quality Read full review Its low cost and wide range of features make it an excellent value for the money. Its ease of use means that even non-artists can produce high-quality art assets. This has saved me time and money in producing assets for my games, resulting in a higher return on investment. Read full review ScreenShots