Krita is a powerful, professional, free and open-source raster graphics editor designed primarily for digital art, illustration, concept art, matte painting, and 2D animation. Developed by artists for artists, it offers an end-to-end solution for creating digital artwork from scratch, focusing on robust tools tailored to the needs of the creative community.
A major benefit of Krita is its commitment to creative freedom; the software is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL-3.0-only), meaning it is free to use for any purpose, including commercial work, with no trials or subscriptions required. While the software is free, paid versions are distributed on platforms like Steam and the Microsoft Store, with those payments supporting the software’s ongoing development.
Krita is equipped with all the necessary tools for professional artists. This includes over 100 preloaded and highly customizable brushes, backed by over nine unique brush engines to satisfy specific needs like color smudging or particle effects. It also features brush stabilizers to smooth out shaky strokes. For non-destructive editing and complex compositions, Krita provides powerful layers and masks, supporting multi-level layer groups and various layer types like clone, filter, and fill layers. Furthermore, Krita includes comprehensive animation tools such as a timeline, real-time playback controls, and onion-skinning support for traditional frame-by-frame animation. It also supports full color management and is one of the few painting applications that allows users to open, save, and edit HDR and scene-referred images.
