What’s New in Painter 2021

Run the intuitive Brush Accelerator, which makes the most of your computer’s hardware and graphics card, to deliver the best possible painting experience. Work faster with double the number of GPU accelerated brush technologies, optimized drip and liquid brush technologies, and quicker brush and tool switching.

Thick Paint workflow: Enjoy enhanced Thick Paint brushes and a NEW Thick Paint-compatible brush category that takes full advantage of the depth, lighting and shadows of piled paint. Easy-access panels let you instantly adjust how paint is applied to the brush and how the paint interacts with existing media. You can also convert the canvas or any layer to Thick Paint to create in surprising new ways.
Artificial Intelligence: Quick start your art by taking advantage of the 12 AI Styles that create a stylized painting from an image. Fine tune the settings for custom results and save your own presets. Experiment by adding a style, or more than one, to any type of imagery. Try stylizing a sketch, painting, illustration or just brushstrokes and see where styles can take you.
Clone Tinting: Enable the Clone Tinting feature while painting, then choose any color you like, use any clone brush, and render your clone source with custom color. This versatile tool also works with multi-point cloning allowing you to create entirely new compositions from existing artwork. Bonus! Create with a new Clone Tinting brush category.
Layers: Enhance your workflow by choosing to paint on any layer type and hide the canvas right from the New Image dialog. Visually identify what brushes are compatible with various layer types including Liquid Ink, Thick Paint and Watercolor. Plus take advantage of many other user-requested layer improvements.

Accelerate your art.

Create: Paint from a blank canvas or create amazing photo art.
Customize: Create your own brushes, textures, patterns, palettes and so much more.
Extend: Enhance your paintings with outrageously creative brush packs.

Everything you need in your professional digital art software

Create your signature style with Painter. Sketch, paint, illustrate and make unparalleled photo-art with hundreds of realistic brushes, exclusive media, and an array of artistic tools. Painter 2021 is as diverse as your imagination.

Unique media: Enhance your artwork by using Papers, Flow Maps, Patterns, Textures, Gradients and more.
Unparalleled Photo Art: Stylize any image or photo using artificial intelligence and easily transform photos into paintings with powerful auto-painting and cloning tools.
Composition Tools: Establish appealing compositions using Divine Proportion, Layout Grid, Perspective Guides and Mirror Painting tools.
Customization: Make Painter your own by customizing the UI, Custom Palettes, brushes and media content.
Performance: The enhanced Brush Accelerator is more intuitive and evaluates your system’s CPU, GPU, and memory to optimize application settings for better performance.

Experience brushes with greatness!

From traditional paint brushes to those found only in the digital world of Painter, we’ve got your canvas covered with every brush and media type possible.

Thick Paint: Add depth, texture, or movement to your art that is virtually indistinguishable from traditional media
Watercolor: Experiment with paint that will flow, mix, absorb and evaporate just like the real thing
Chalk/Pastel: Choose from hard variants that reveal texture to soft media that glides on to cover just when you need it
Particles: Physics-inspired brushes spring, flow and glow as they dynamically embellish your canvas
Sargent: Some of the most beloved brushes in Painter result in luscious strokes in the spirit of John Singer Sargent
Pattern Pens: Artfully apply patterns of your choice using varying brushes to create layers of interest in your art
Airbrushes: Paint with brushes that respond to angle, bearing, and flow data from a stylus, allowing for a truly realistic brushstroke

Compatibility

Take a closer look at what other artists are creating with Painter.

Photoshop: Preserve colors and layers with ease when transferring files between Photoshop and Painter
Drawing tablet: Support for stylus tilt, rotation, bearing & pressure control creates the most natural painting experience
Mac/PC: Whether you’re a Mac or PC person we support both platforms with licensing and subscription options to suit you

Your art. Your way.

Painter is built by artists for artists to create and develop their signature style.

Illustration: Bring ideas to life for published materials, fashion design and fantasy art using the most diverse digital art studio.
Fine Art: The mixture of realistic natural media and unique Painter artistic tools offer the freedom to create amazing end results no matter what the subject matter.
Concept Art: Take advantage of Painter’s versatility to quickly develop concepts for films, games and manufacturing and create environments, creatures and vehicles that inspire.
Photo Art: Use artificial intelligence to jump start the painting process. Next, use Auto-Painting and cloning tools to masterfully paint images and produce stunning keepsakes or sellable works of art.

Apple support

Improve your overall Mac workflow in big ways!

Touch Bar Support: On MacBook Pro and iPad, increase efficiency with new support for the Touch Bar that offers context-sensitive controls that change depending on the selected tool.
Multi-touch Trackpad support: Responsive multi-touch Trackpad support allows you to perform useful actions by swiping and pinching, or spreading your thumb and forefinger on your trackpad.
Sidecar Support: Use Sidecar on macOS Catalina to use your iPad as a secondary display that mirrors your Mac desktop. The Painter UI will auto-adjust based on the resolution of your iPad.
Apple Pencil Tilt: With new tilt support for Apple Pencil, you can now tilt the selected brush while you paint to precisely control the shape of the brushstroke while using Sidecar.
Core ML support: Painter uses the latest and greatest machine learning (Core ML) technology from Apple to optimize your AI style experience.