Download Inkscape 0.48.2 in Softonic

Let's make a point: we are not talking about fine design here. The only cute available templates are the cartoon ones. The Holiday, Travel and Sport ones are a fairly basic and I wouldn't recommend them if you are looking for something slightly cool or stylish. That said, if you are not too fussy, they will save you lots of time when you have to make an announcement to your acquaintances.

A nice feature allows you to upload a photo which you can resize and rotate so that it will fit exactly the apposite photo space in the template. The program automatically takes care of the card's layer level as sometimes your picture will be surrounded by stars and circles. It is also possible to modify the default text which is useful considering it is often miswritten. The good news is that you can download more cartoon themes!

Photo Card Maker will let you create lovely cartoon photo cards to send around in image format. It is very easy and fast to make announcements or best wishes with this free program, so if you like cartoon-style cards, don't hesitate longer and give it a try.

Download Photo Card Maker 1.0.1 in Softonic

It can be a pain to try and edit your photos one by one, especially if you want to do something simple like renaming them. Photopus is a great application that makes batch editing a breeze. It also includes a ton of filters and effects to add to your photos.

You can easily import photos one by one or choose an entire folder. Unfortunately Photopus doesn't support drag and drop, which is a shame. You can crop, flip, rotate, and resize photos all at once. There are also a ton of different effects to choose from to apply to all your photos at once.

In use, Photopus is quick to process photos, even when applying filters to them. Photopus supports almost all file formats but you will have to pony up some cash for the pro version if you want to edit RAW images.

Photopus is a simple to use and speedy batch photo editor, which is great for simple photo batch edits.

Download Photopus 1.1.5 in Softonic

Artweaver is the perfect tool to give free rein to your imagination and creativity. It includes more than a dozen different brushes – each of them with their own tweaks and settings - to create all sorts of effects. The brushes try to convey the feeling and result of using actual drawing tools, and I have to say they do a pretty good job!

Some of the brushes included in Artweaver are acrylics, chalk, charcoal, felt pens, pastels, oils and pencils, among others. There are also a few special filters and adjustments you can use when editing images, but the program's main focus is on drawing.

Artweaver stands out for some other interesting features, like support for layers and transparency, a history windows like the one in Photoshop and a comfortable, customizable interface.

Artweaver is a powerful drawing tool with an great selection of brushes to create impressive works of art.

Download Artweaver 3.0.4 in Softonic

Most notable is the Content Aware tool which makes editing Photoshop more "intelligent" plus there's a new design and a streamlined interface. In addition, basic video editing functions have been added for the first time.

When you first open Adobe Photoshop CS6, the most eye-catching thing is the revamped colorful user interface. However, if you don't like the new look, you can revert to the old grey interface via Preferences - Interface. Beyond this however, there are some useful new features:

Content Aware

Content Aware intelligently moves selected objects and adjusts them accordingly with the background or surrounding objects. This enables you to simply drag and drop objects in Photoshop much more easily without having to readjust the background. Don't like the position of a person in an image? Just move them to another position instantly and the background automatically adjusts.

Video Editing

Adobe Photoshop CS6 brings video editing to Photoshop for the first time. Its integrated with all of Photoshop's traditional tools which makes it very powerful when it comes to retouching scenes, adjusting colors and filter sets etc. It also allows you to add audio tracks although it's not very advanced otherwise.

Bridge file browser and Mini Bridge

Adobe Photoshop CS6 features a more powerful file browser which allows you to sort and manage pictures according to specific metadata. The fully integrated file browser with thumbnail previews photos quickly and opens them instantly for easier library management.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 brings some interesting new features to this powerful photo editing software. Particularly interesting is the Content Aware function which makes retouching and manipulating photos incredibly easy. Please note however that this beta version may be unstable and if you need a reliable version, its recommended to use the stable Adobe Photoshop CS6 or Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Download Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended 13.0 Beta in Softonic

Well, that's probably because they don't know about Artweaver. This impressive image editor and drawing tool includes a wide array of painting tools that really look like the real thing: acrylics paint like real acrylics, airbrushes work as if they were real airbrushes, and so on with pencils, crayons, oils and a lot more.

Like I said Artweaver is both a photo editor and a drawing application. As an editor, it supports layers, includes a varied menu of filters and effects, and enables you to undo and redo actions at any time, like in Photoshop. In fact, those of you who are already familiar with the Adobe editor will be happy to know that Artweaver uses many of Photoshop's keyboard shortcuts.

As a drawing tool, Artweaver offers a very varied set of tools, perfect for different creations. Plus you can configure and tweak each one of them to suit your needs, and save those tweaked brushes as "variants" for later use. You'll be amazed at how natural and realistic these tools feel, though the effect is obviously even better if you have a graphics tablet.

Artweaver works with the most popular graphic formats, including PNG, PDF and PSD. And if you feel lost at any point, don't worry: the program is thoroughly documented.

With Artweaver you can not only edit your favourite photos with filters and effects, but also create amazing drawings with real life-like tools.

Download Portable Artweaver 0.5.7 in Softonic

The best thing about MyPaint is that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. There are no complicated menus and the interface is really simple, almost minimalist. You can concentrate on your canvas and let your inner artist out, without any distractions.

MyPaint includes a wealth of different brushes, conveniently organized in different categories. Plus you can configure each brush to the smallest detail, and also create new categories in a very easy way. Each brush produces a different result on the screen, always trying to emulate the actual material: oil painting, watercolor, charcoal, marker, acrylic, etc.

Though you can use it with a standard mouse, MyPaint is meant to be used with a graphic tablet, as it supports different types of pressure – which contributes a lot to the feeling of realistic painting.

MyPaint is an excellent editor with which you can create great drawings or quick sketches in an easy way.

Download MyPaint 0.9.0 in Softonic

mtPaint enables you to both open images in several popular formats and create your own drawings and graphic compositions from scratch. Regarding the latter, it seems that mtPaint is mainly focused on pixel art, as it allows you to draw with high precision thanks to a very powerful zoom tool. Drawing tools, in any case, may not be the strength of this program – my personal opinion is that it should include more of them.

On the upside, mPaint really stands out as a graphic editor with which you can perform many daily tasks. It's simple in design and usage, but at the same time it includes advanced features such as layer support, filters, special effects and more. Of course, this is no equivalent to Photoshop but it will work fine for most of your graphic needs.

Despite its basic appearance and simplicity of use, mtPaint is certainly a great alternative to the standard Microsoft Paint, featuring advanced functions and tools.

Download mtPaint 3.31 with Softonic Toolbar in Softonic

The program is quite similar to Microsoft Paint both in appearance and utilities, though the truth is that it does include more tools and options than the standard Windows graphic editor – each of them with their own configuration settings. Also, HeliosPaint can work with a wide range of formats, which makes it a really handy editor for quick photo retouches.

HeliosPaint doesn't include a proper Help file, just a quick guide to get you started. In any case it only takes a couple of minutes to get used to the program's interface and icons – though I must admit I had a hard time when trying to find the selection tool, hidden under a scissors icon.

HeliosPaint doesn’t match up to other more powerful graphic editors and you may find it too basic for your needs. However it works perfectly fine as a possible replacement for Microsoft Paint and includes a bunch of photo effects (oil painting, emboss, gray image and more) that look nice on pictures.

HeliosPaint is no Photoshop competitor but works fine as an easy graphic editor with which to create simple drawings and perform quick photo retouches.

Download HeliosPaint 1.4.4 in Softonic

Besides opening icons themselves, Greensfish Icon Editor can work with other graphic formats as well, and even convert these images into icons. The program also features an extracting tool to open all icons included in system libraries and EXE files.

You'll have access to a wide variety of drawing tools and special filters to spice your icons up. Plus, the program is really easy to use and supports keyboard shortcuts, drag-and-dropping files and other goodies. You'll only need to arrange the different windowed menus on the interface, and you're ready to start working on your icons.

An excellent editor with which you can easily create professional-looking icons.

Download Greenfish Icon Editor Pro 1.72 in Softonic

The program includes several a complete color palette and several tools to start creating right away. These tools (pencil, pen, aerographer, brush and more) produce different results on the blank page, according to their own nature. Also, you can tweak the way they paint with sliders that change their size, opacity, shape and other characteristics.

On the downside, I must admit I expected more from Rendera. Some of the painting tools don't look realistic at all, plus the program looks generally too basic.

Create virtual drawings with this painting tool.

Download Rendera 1.5 in Softonic

If you want to display your drawings online, you have two options: either scan hard copies of your drawings or draw them directly on your computer. TwistedBrush Open Studio lets you do the latter in impressive fashion once you learn how to use it.

If you have already tried the full version of TwistedBrush, you may find TwistedBrush Open Studio quite limited. While it has many of the same features, TwistedBrush Open Studio has conspicuously fewer paint brushes available. Several of the more detailed brushes are available for add-on with a purchase however. Some of these include Fractal Brushes, Pro Clips, Pro Trees and Plants, Blender Brushes and Art Tool Brushes.

TwistedBrush Open Studio can also be a little tricky to learn how to use. While it comes with a quick-start guide that opens upon start-up, this guide is primarily made up of screenshots. If you need more information than what's provided within each shot, there are no links to click. There's also no select tool, which many users have become accustomed to with Adobe Photoshop. This could take some getting used to.

That said, the brush selection is still pretty impressive, and you can create some fantastic pieces of digital art with TwistedBrush Open Studio. It just takes some practice!

Despite including only basic tools, TwistedBrush Open Studio offers a great means by which to create digital artwork from scratch on your PC.

Download TwistedBrush Open Studio 17.24 in Softonic

Still in beta, OpenPaint suffers from a little instability, but is otherwise functional. The tools are basic - you get a brush and pencil with no settings, the fill, spray and basic shape tools and a few more.

With no line tool, OpenPaint is actually more basic than Microsoft's version. There isn't really anything to help you create images - you need steady mouse control, and have to accept this app won't be able to create very subtle images. OpenPaint's instabilities are more annoying - occasionally when you use the shape tool, your shape might disappear after you've drawn it.

As Microsoft Paint still ships with Windows, there's little reason to use OpenPaint which offers no advantages, and isn't improved with it's extreme simplicity!

Download OpenPaint 1.2 Beta in Softonic

Once the design is finished, you can keep on editing it thanks to the program's set of tools and support for layers.

Another negative point I noticed about LiveBrush is that program sometimes takes time to respond. It may only be half a second, but it ruins the drawing experience.

Download Livebrush Free in Softonic

This means you shouldn't expect Pinta to be some kind of open source Photoshop clone. It does include some interesting features like support for layers, unlimited undo and redo, and a bunch of special filters and effects to spice up your images – but its nothing like a serious photo editor. It does, however, include a nice selection of drawing tools that can make Pinta a good alternative to Microsoft's Paint.

According to Pinta's developer, the program is still at an early stage of development – which may be the reason why some of its tools are not available yet. In any case, Pinta does look promising, so we'll keep an eye on this little handy editor as it grows.

Pinta is a simple drawing utility and image editor with a clean interface and an interesting set of tools.

Download Pinta 0.5 in Softonic