Freeware Paint Programs
Reviews and ratings of quality free paint programs
Deep Paint 
• download.chip.eu
Program Type: Freeware Paint Program
This is the free offering from Right Hemisphere (who also produce pay for graphics software). And its good! T
here are a huge number of preset paint brushes and if that's not enough you can make your own custom brushes. The image on the right was made just messing aroung with the preset brushes - no painting involved (which is good news for me!). Plus there are many clone brushes which allow you to duplicate parts of an image and clone (either straight or artistic) onto another location or canvas. The program also supports layers. When you install you can plug it directly into photoshop and also save projects as psd files. The interface is fairly simple (you can always check the help screens which are very good) so you can be up and running with this program in no time at all. Excellent.
Platforms: Windows
Art Weaver
• www.artweaver.de
Program Type: Freeware Paint Program
Yet another great freeware paint program, with a huge variety of brushes and the ability to create endless variants. Also supports layers plus image adjustment features (hue, saturation etc) and a variety of filters. One useful filter for anyone making a web page is texture:seamless with which you can make images that tile. Also pen tablet support for the real painters out there. If you don't want to pay hundreds of pounds for Corel Painter, then check this out. And having said that, the image adjustment tools are almost good enough to rival those of Photoshop, so as well as being a great paint program, it is also pretty good at photo editing.
Platforms: Windows
Twisted Brush Open Studio 
• www.pixarra.com
Program Type: Freeware Paint Program
Great paint program but only 4 stars as this is the "lite" version of Twisted Brush Pro, which you do have to pay for. Nevertheless, there is still a huge amount you can do with the free version, even though there are only around 9 brush types packed in with it. If you like this program you can add to the number of brushes piecemeal rather than buying the full package. Plus there is a large number of papers to use and a formidable array of filters. The program has layers, photo cloning, tracing, masks and more.
Platforms: Mac, Windows
My Paint
• http://mypaint.intilinux.com
Program Type: Paint Program
Really nice, no clutter paint program. The interface is very simple and straighforward (no layers) with a large number of preset brushes to get you going. Plus the program allows you to make your own brushes if you want. Canvas size is unlimited and there is support for pressure sensitive tablets. The simplicity of My Paint means it will only open and save .png files - but you can always use something like Gimp to finish off.
There is a tutorial on the website.
Platforms: Windows, Linux
Project Dogwaffle
• www.download.com
Program Type: Digital Painter
Very nice. This is the lite version which allows you to draw, paint and animate on your PC. Even though this is the lite version, there are a lot of features here, with many different brush variants. If you like the program and want more features you can upgrade to the pro version.
Platforms: Windows
Pixia
• http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/
Program Type: Paint Program
Very nice paint program with many features including layers and masks plus it has photo editing features. The program is completely free and stacks up very well against many paid for paint programs. Tutorials on the website plus more at http://www.angelfire.com/fang/derangedrook/pixiatutorial.html
PS: If you don't see the palettes when you start up the program, go to view and choose settings and then tick all the boxes.
ArtRage Free Edition 
• http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Program Type: Digital Painter
Paint package that lets you paint with oils and pencils and to trace images. As it is the lite version, many of the features available in the full program are turned off. However, you can still get some nice effects within its limitations. Forums on the website.
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Paint.net
• www.getpaint.net
Program Type: Photo Editing/Paint Program
Despite the name (it started life as a small paint program), this is in fact a photo editing program as well as a paint program, with all the usual photo editing and paint tools, including layers. Fast loading, this is a very easy program to get to grips with.
Online community with tutorials and plugins.
Platform: Windows
Image Forge
• www.cursorarts.com/ca_imffw.html
Program Type: Freeware Paint/Photo Editing Program
This is the freeware version of Image Forge (there are paid for versions you can upgrade to).
Photo editing plus fairly basic paint facilities, although it does alow you to paint with patterns. A nice feature is that you can paint with icons - there are a number already loaded and you can always find more on the web (you are looking for files with extension .icl which you save to the ImageForge folder on lyour computer). You can also use the program to make slide shows.
Platforms: Windows
Fotosketcher
• www.cursorarts.com/ca_imffw.html
Program Type: Freeware Sketching Program/Painting Effects
OK, not exactly a paint program, but could be useful. This is a very simple program that lets you turn your photos into sketches or works of art with ease. There are around 10 different filters and you can tweak each one to get the effect you want. Very nice results.
Platforms: Windows
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Children's Paint Programs
Tux Paint
• www.tuxpaint.org
Program Type: Drawing Program for Children Ages 3-12
All the usual drawing tools you might find in a drawing program for adults but made easier and more intuitive for children. Plus you can save a picture to the virtual picturebook, view a slideshow, use some of the images included and print. This is open source software and downloads are completely free but you can buy the CD rom if you want.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Other
Drawing for Children
• http://drawing.gamemaker.nl/
Program Type: Paint Program for young children
Although this is aimed at young children (you don't need to be able to read to use it), the program still contains a wide variety of tools from the usual brush, pencil, fill, spray etc and an assortment of special effect tools. Pretty intuitive to use but there is documentation available if you need help.
Platforms: Windows
Ginkgo Paint
• http://www.greenforest.hu/ginkgo.html
Program Type: Colouring Book Program for young children
From Green Forest Studio. Choose a colour and just click an area of the supplied diagrams to fill. Lovely and simple for young children to play around with.
Platforms: Windows
Colour It!
• www.digitalworkshop.com
Program Type: Colouring Book Program for young children
Another super little colouring book paint program for young children.
Platforms: Windows
The Magic Book
• www.nirp.co.uk
Program Type: Colouring Book Program for young children
Yet another colouring book for young children, perhaps a little more sophisticated than the previous two. (There is more sensitivity regarding paint fill, you can click or use the mouse like a brush). However, the number of pictures that are free are limited - you need to donate to get full access to all the templates.
Platforms: Windows
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