Start your creative journey with Painter® Essentials™ 7, the best paint program for beginners to explore and expand artistic curiosity using impressive, easy-to-learn tools.
Produce incredible photo art with ease by converting your favorite photos into paintings using neural networking and the strength of Painter’s brush engine! Choose from an impressive range of AI styles for photo painting, including Bold Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Colorful Dabs, Impressionist, Smooth Acrylic, Van Gogh, Watercolor Portrait, and Charcoal Drawing.
Open your image and the painting choice is yours. Auto-Paint, in one click, with AI, or SmartStroke™ technology that rapidly produces stunning results. Clone paint by dipping any brush you like directly into the photo, or trace by turning on tracing paper and selecting a brush and color while using the image as your guide.
Immerse yourself in an intriguing collection of realistic brushes and canvas textures that respond to your every move when using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet. Dry, wet, springy, speckled, spattered, glowing, gooey, patterned media is at the ready, allowing you to bring your wildest ideas to life.
Create with artist-trusted brushes. Every brush in Essentials was custom selected for new digital artists from our professional Painter art studio so that you can comfortably ease into your digital art experience.
Browse our outrageously creative brush packs to enhance any kind of painting. Simplify your workflow with the perfect brush pack solution.
Find just what you need to succeed! Tons of useful tutorial videos await you in our Discovery Center. You can also share artwork, benefit from tips, register for webinars and enter contests.
Learn more about the media that makes Essentials stand apart from other painting software.
Imagine knocking out areas of a brush so that the chosen texture takes center stage. That is exactly how you can paint with these one-of-a-kind brushes.
Paint with dynamic brushes whose multicolored speckles generate as you stroke! These brushes are unique to Painter and loved by artists.
Blend colors like a master with these subtle brushes that allow opacity to build up smoothly along your brushstrokes.
See how these brush variants produce controllable watercolor effects that are highly reactive with canvas texture. Now set diffusion, adjust wet fringe and dry paint.
Choose from a full library of Image Hose Nozzles so you can spray compelling imagery onto your canvas with the Image Hose variants included in the F-X category.
Mimic the Masters by adding multicolored Impressionist dabs, Sargent swirly flair ,and Van Gogh chunky paint to your masterpiece.
Use these standout Painter brushes to perfectly blend painted strokes and artfully finish your work.
Obtain an array of creative results by either playfully impacting existing canvas content or by adding memorable strokes to a blank canvas.
Experience an infinite number of creative possibilities with these physics-inspired brushes that spring, flow, glow and gravitate onto the canvas.
Explore 15 brush categories, including 23 new brushes, and easily choose brushes from distinct brush dab and stroke previews at-a-glance, no hover required.
Enjoy a custom selection of digital art media types comprised of award-winning Natural-Media® and Painter signature brushes, selected just for beginners.
Brush optimization is in your hands. Modify brush variants to suit your needs using the many different adjustment options such as size, opacity, grain, texture and more.
Essentials now features redesigned icons to make things easier on the eyes, simple to understand, and more efficient to use.
A meticulously transformed user interface reveals a darker theme with tool highlighting that allows the interface to melt away and painting to take center stage.
Overall document manipulation is now smoothly exhilarating. Take advantage of the ability to click and drag so you can zoom in and out of your document with ease.
View enhanced dab and stroke previews at-a-glance, saving you tons of time. With improved visuals, we’ve eliminated the need to hover in order to find the perfect brush.
See how the universal color selection process throughout Essentials is now a breeze. The updated Color Wheel includes new circular grabbers and a split color and clone painting preview.
Enjoy unlimited layers, blending with composite methods, adjusting opacity and many workflow enhancements that make for an effortless experience.
Streamlined Property bars include modern sliders, simple brush controls, media flyouts, and paper rotation so you can make adjustments in no time.
Essentials can easily manage memory-intensive operations, such as working on large canvases, scrubby zooming, rotating the canvas, working with layers and brushing, all at top speed.
No experience required! From the Photo Painting palette, open a photo, choose an Auto-Paint AI or SmartStroke™ style, and watch your painting transform before your eyes.
Open your image and click “show tracing paper” from the Photo Painting palette. Use the Photo Painting Brushes, or any other brush in Essentials by clicking the Clone color from source button.
Open your image and click “show tracing paper” from the Photo Painting palette. Choose any brush and your preferred color to paint with while using the photo as your guide.
Top tools ensure you are empowered to paint
Choose from an impressive range of AI-based styles that convert your favorite photos into paintings using Neural Networking and the strength of Painter’s brush engine.
Now select from a library of Flow Maps and Paper Textures to ensure interesting canvas expression in your paintings.
The pressure of your stylus on a tablet determines the density and width of your strokes. Each artist uses a different pressure level and you can adjust Essentials to match with Brush Tracking!
Shift and drag your favorite brush variants into a custom brush palette for easy access and modify the preview to display as small or large icons.
Make color and canvas adjustments using this exciting menu of effects including options to apply lighting & texture, warp, woodcut, sketch and more.
Paint in perfect symmetry with Mirror painting and create beautiful Mandalas using the Kaleidoscope tool.
Painter Essentials and Painter comparison (PDF)
Product Comparison (PDF)
| Feature | Painter® Essentials™ 7 |
Painter® Essentials™ 6 |
Painter® Essentials™ 5 |
| Photo Art Specific Tools | |||
| NEW Artificial Intelligence Photo Painting | |||
| AI Bold Watercolor | |||
| AI Colored Pencil | |||
| AI Colorful Dabs | |||
| AI Impressionist | |||
| AI Smooth Acrylic | |||
| AI Van Gogh | |||
| AI Watercolor Portrait | |||
| AI Charcoal Drawing | |||
| Auto-painting presets | |||
| Tracing & cloning | |||
| Photo painting brushes | |||
| User Interface & Tools | |||
| NEW Dark user interface | |||
| NEW Application icons | |||
| NEW Universal color picker | |||
| ENHANCED Property bars | |||
| ENHANCED Color selection | |||
| ENHANCED Inline dab and stroke previews | |||
| ENHANCED Brush ghost | |||
| ENHANCED Layer control | |||
| NEW Drag to Zoom | |||
| Workflow UI Layouts | |||
| Color mixer panel | |||
| Color wheel | |||
| Mirror Painting | |||
| Kaleidoscope Painting | |||
| Fill tool | |||
| Transformation tool | |||
| Effects menu | |||
| Rubber Stamp | |||
| Dodge | |||
| Burn | |||
| Performance/Support | |||
| ENHANCED Document render | |||
| ENHANCED Brush speed | |||
| ENHANCED Multi-Core support | |||
| ENHANCED Tablet support | |||
| ENHANCED Wacom multi-touch support | |||
| ENHANCED Windows touch support | |||
| RTS Support | |||
| Pressure sensitive brush tracking | |||
| Unlimited layers | |||
| 2-in-1 or dual personality | |||
| 64-Bit Mac and Windows | |||
| Built in learning resources | |||
| Brushes | |||
| NEW Dynamic Speckles | |||
| NEW Glazing brushes | |||
| NEW Dab Stencils | |||
| ENHANCED Blenders | |||
| ENHANCED Digital Watercolor | |||
| ENHANCED Sargent technologies | |||
| ENHANCED Image Hose | |||
| ENHANCED Artists Favorites | |||
| Acrylics & Oils | |||
| Airbrushes | |||
| Chalk, Pastel & Crayons | |||
| F-X brushes | |||
| Sponges | |||
| Pens, Pencils & Markers | |||
| Particles | |||
| Pattern Pens | |||
| Content | |||
| NEW Flow Maps | |||
| Patterns | |||
| Paper textures | |||
| Feature | Painter® 2020 | Painter® Essentials™ 7 |
| User Interface & Tools | ||
| Customized artist layouts | ||
| Customizable user interface | ||
| Brush customization | ||
| Color harmonies | ||
| Interactive gradient tool | ||
| Perspective guides | ||
| Texture painting | ||
| Mirror painting | ||
| Kaleidoscope painting | ||
| Effects menu | ||
| Drag to zoom | ||
| Universal color picker | ||
| Fill tool | ||
| Color wheel | ||
| Transformation tool | ||
| Brushes | 900+ brushes | 150 brushes |
| Thick Paint | ||
| Real Watercolor | ||
| Artists Oils | ||
| Real Wet Oil | ||
| Erasers | ||
| Stamps | ||
| Impasto | ||
| Palette Knives | ||
| Selection Brushes | ||
| Audio Expression brushes | ||
| Cloners | ||
| Liquid Ink | ||
| Dynamic Speckles | ||
| Glazing brushes | ||
| Dab Stencils | ||
| Photo Painting | ||
| Sargent | ||
| Image Hose | ||
| Acrylics & Gouache & Oils | no gouache | |
| Airbrushes | ||
| Blenders | ||
| Chalk, Pastel & Crayons | ||
| Digital Watercolor | ||
| Particle Brushes | ||
| Artists Favorites | ||
| F-X | ||
| Sponges | ||
| Pens, Pencils & Markers | ||
| Photo Art Specific Tools | ||
| Cloning with texture | ||
| Multiple clone sources | ||
| Resize clone sources | ||
| AI Auto-Painting | ||
| Auto-Painting with SmartStroke™ technology | ||
| Photo Painting panel | ||
| Rubber Stamp | ||
| Dodge | ||
| Burn | ||
| Performance/Support | ||
| Brush Accelerator™ | ||
| Fast Brushes category | ||
| GPU support | ||
| Brush search engine | ||
| Wacom multi-touch support | ||
| Windows touch support | ||
| Pressure sensitive brush tracking | ||
| Unlimited layers | ||
| Tablet support | ||
| 2-in-1 or dual personality | ||
| 64-Bit Mac and Windows | ||
| Built in learning resources | ||
| Compatible with Photoshop | ||
| Content | ||
| Textures | ||
| Selections | ||
| Weaves | ||
| Gradients | ||
| Images | ||
| Looks | ||
| Nozzles | ||
| Patterns | ||
| Flow Maps | ||
| Papers | ||
*Versions 1803, 1809 and 1903 of Windows 10 are supported as well as versions that will be released during the life cycle of Painter Essentials 7.
**Additional space may be required for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.
Find inspiration in our online gallery, featuring a diverse collection of artwork from Essentials artists from around the world.
alex scovino
cary cox
francois jooste
michael white
paul robertsonVisit the Discovery Center to view all of our free Painter Essentials tutorials, tips and webinars to get you started.
Every canvas is a fresh start! Experiment with a variety of art tools and bring your unique visions to life. Painter Essentials 7 offers you the optimal Natural-Media® brushes, paper textures, and tools needed to get started in digital art and experience true creative freedom. From loose sketches to full-blown paintings, Painter Essentials 7 will allow you to paint something great.
Turn your photos into eye-catching paintings. Painter Essentials 7 makes it easy with one-touch auto-painting that lets you choose a style and watch your painting come alive, stroke by stroke. Or tap into your creativity and create a painting that's as original as you are! With exclusive photo-painting and cloning tools, AI and SmartStroke™ brush technology, and incredible photo effects, Painter Essentials 7 guarantees your photo art will impress.
When you buy a Download version, you can download your software, install it on your computer and unlock it with a serial number that will be provided after purchase.
