Best Software for Digital Artists in 2024
The landscape of digital art is rich and varied, offering tools for every type of artist. From digital painting to augmented reality art and virtual fashion design, there's a tool for every artist's needs.
Whether you're a digital illustrator, 3D motion designer, collage artist, virtual fashion artist, creative coder, or an AR/VR artist, the right software can elevate your creative process.
Explore these top ten software options to find the perfect fit for your artistic expression and get creative!
Here are the ten best computer software options for digital artists.
In a nutshell:
Adobe Photoshop: Best for Digital Illustration, Collage, PhotographyProcreate: Best for Digital Illustration (on iPad)Clip Studio Paint: Best for Digital Illustration (non-iOS)Processing: Best for Generative Art (Free)Blender: Best for 3D Art (Free)Daz 3D: Best for 3D Art and Character Building (Free & Paid Options)Midjourney: Best for AI-Generated ArtCanva: Best for Graphic Design and Digital Collage ArtCLO: Best for Digital Fashion DesignUnity: Best for Extended Reality Art and World-Building 
Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard for digital artists. It’s the most popular software among digital illustrators, digital collage artists, and photographers who alter and enhance their art using digital tools.
Its extensive features cater to a variety of creative needs, from photo editing and digital painting to graphic design. The software's versatility and integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud apps make it a go-to choice for professionals. Plans start at $9,19/month.
For digital illustrators working on iPad, Procreate is a top choice.
It’s optimized for touch and Apple Pencil, and offers a vast brush library, high-resolution canvases, and a seamless and intuitive drawing experience. Procreate is basically the complete art studio you can take anywhere. Illustrators use the app to create expressive sketches, rich paintings, and gorgeous illustrations on iPad. It has a one-time fee of $12.99. Note that it’s only available on iOS.
Clip Studio Paint is a great alternative to Procreate for those who don’t own Apple products, as Procreate is only available on iOS.
Clip Studio Paint is a drawing software with specialized tools for creating detailed illustrations and animations. It’s a favorite among comic and manga artists, and an excellent choice for sequential art. The app offers same texture of real art materials, and you can adjust details such as drawing style, brush shape, and paper quality. Monthly plans start from $0.99/month.
For digital artists who are interested in computer-generated art, Processing is a great choice.
It’s a free, open-source creative coding environment and programming language designed to enable artists and developers to explore the world of generative art, interactive installations, and visual expressions. With its approachable syntax and powerful capabilities, Processing allows limitless creativity through code.
For your inspiration: See Code and Canvas: The Processing Foundation 2023 Fellowship Showcase
For 3D artists and motion designers, Blender is the go-to software.
It’s a free, open-source 3D creation suite that’s incredibly versatile. It supports the entire 3D pipeline, including modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and motion tracking. Their comprehensive 3D toolset, advanced sculpting tools, and extensive community and resources make it the premiere software among 3D artists.
Daz 3D is an excellent platform for 3D artists who create characters and environments.
The cornerstone of Daz 3D is the integrated character creation system in their free 3D software. Artists can utilize 3D models and kits for characters, environments, and props and export them in other software like Blender, Unreal, or Unity.
If you’re interested in enhancing your creations using AI, Midjourney may be perfect for you.
It’s is a popular AI-art generator that is self-defined as “an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species.” To start using Midjourney you need the Discord app, a free application that hosts group chats, which is highly used among web3 groups and organizations. Midjourney has an automated Discord server in which the user can write prompts to generate art.
Canva is an excellent tool for graphic designers and digital collage artists.
It’s a free-to-use online graphic design tool that offers thousands of beautiful free templates. Creatives use it to create posters, videos, logos, social media posts, presentations, and more. The Canva editor is very easy to use and intuitive. Plus, you can even use it on your phone.
If you’re interested in becoming a virtual fashion designer, CLO may be the best tool for you.
CLO is a 3D fashion design software program to create virtual, true-to life garment visualization with cutting-edge simulation technologies. It’s technically advanced, intuitive, and cohesive. The 3D garment design software is used by digital fashion designers as well as giants in the fashion industry for a seamless digital workflow and realistic fabric simulation. After the free trial, monthly plans start from $25.
For XR developers, Unity is a leading platform for creating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences.
It’s widely used in game development but also used by digital artists to create interactive art and AR projects. The engine offers comprehensive AR and VR tools and allows for real-time rendering. Users create and grow real-time 3D games, apps, and experiences for entertainment, film, automotive, and architecture, as well as digital art. Free plans available.
FAQ
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Depends on the type of digital art they create!
Digital illustrators, collage artists, and digital photographers mostly prefer Adobe Photoshop
Digital illustrators who work on iPad mostly prefer Procreate; others use Clip Studio Paint, Rebelle 7, Affinity Photo, Corel Painter, Krita
Generative artists create code-based art using open source programming languages such as TouchDesigner, Processing, openFrameworks, p5.js, Nannou, Python
3D artists and motion designers mostly prefer Blender as it’s versatile and free; others use Adobe Substance 3D, SketchUp, Houdini, and more
AI artists prefer working with Midjourney, Artbreeder, Stable Diffusion, and more
Graphic designers and digital collage artists mostly prefer Canva and Adobe Photoshop
Digital fashion designers create virtual garments with CLO, MarvelousDesigner, Style3D, and more
Extended reality artists, augmented reality creators, and virtual reality world-builders mostly prefer working with Unity and Tilt Brush
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Depends on the type of digital art you wish to create!
Digital illustrators, collage artists, and digital photographers mostly prefer Adobe Photoshop
Digital illustrators who work on iPad mostly prefer Procreate; others use Clip Studio Paint, Rebelle 7, Affinity Photo, Corel Painter, Krita
Generative artists create code-based art using open source programming languages such as TouchDesigner, Processing, openFrameworks, p5.js, Nannou, Python
3D artists and motion designers mostly prefer Blender as it’s versatile and free; others use Adobe Substance 3D, SketchUp, Houdini, and more
AI artists prefer working with Midjourney, Artbreeder, Stable Diffusion, and more
Graphic designers and digital collage artists mostly prefer Canva and Adobe Photoshop
Digital fashion designers create virtual garments with CLO, MarvelousDesigner, Style3D, and more
Extended reality artists, augmented reality creators, and virtual reality world-builders mostly prefer working with Unity and Tilt Brush
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Your heart, soul, and creativity – plus the perfect software for the type of digital art you want to create!
Digital illustrators, collage artists, and digital photographers mostly prefer Adobe Photoshop
Digital illustrators who work on iPad mostly prefer Procreate; others use Clip Studio Paint, Rebelle 7, Affinity Photo, Corel Painter, Krita
Generative artists create code-based art using open source programming languages such as TouchDesigner, Processing, openFrameworks, p5.js, Nannou, Python
3D artists and motion designers mostly prefer Blender as it’s versatile and free; others use Adobe Substance 3D, SketchUp, Houdini, and more
AI artists prefer working with Midjourney, Artbreeder, Stable Diffusion, and more
Graphic designers and digital collage artists mostly prefer Canva and Adobe Photoshop
Digital fashion designers create virtual garments with CLO, MarvelousDesigner, Style3D, and more
Extended reality artists, augmented reality creators, and virtual reality world-builders mostly prefer working with Unity and Tilt Brush
-
Depends on the type of digital art you wish to create!
Digital illustrators, collage artists, and digital photographers mostly prefer Adobe Photoshop
Digital illustrators who work on iPad mostly prefer Procreate; others use Clip Studio Paint, Rebelle 7, Affinity Photo, Corel Painter, Krita
Generative artists create code-based art using open source programming languages such as TouchDesigner, Processing, openFrameworks, p5.js, Nannou, Python
3D artists and motion designers mostly prefer Blender as it’s versatile and free; others use Adobe Substance 3D, SketchUp, Houdini, and more
AI artists prefer working with Midjourney, Artbreeder, Stable Diffusion, and more
Graphic designers and digital collage artists mostly prefer Canva and Adobe Photoshop
Digital fashion designers create virtual garments with CLO, MarvelousDesigner, Style3D, and more
Extended reality artists, augmented reality creators, and virtual reality world-builders mostly prefer working with Unity and Tilt Brush
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What is your favorite digital art software? Let us know in the comments!
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