MyPaint review
A focused desktop painting app with expressive brushes, layers, and tablet support.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
MyPaint is a local raster painting application for digital painters and sketch artists who want a focused desktop workspace. The project is free and open source under the GNU GPL, with builds for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its core toolkit centers on a configurable brush engine, traditional-media brush presets, customizable digital brushes, layered documents, pressure-sensitive graphics-tablet input, color selectors, palettes, symmetry, and controlled inking.
Brush work is the main attraction. Artists can create and modify expressive brushes, map pressure for tablet input, and use an inking tool with editable control points for smoother, more controlled strokes. The application also includes canvas stabilization, symmetry, frame, flood-fill, and stroke/layer picker tools. Layer organization covers groups, opacity, visibility, locking, duplication, movement, and merging, while fullscreen mode and a scratchpad workspace support a focused painting workflow.
MyPaint suits artists who value a lightweight, community-led open-source tool with a narrow painting focus and broad desktop availability. It is a practical choice when free software, brush customization, and pressure-sensitive input matter more than an extensive feature set. The published feature profile is less broad than that of larger digital painting suites, and color management is basic. Choose MyPaint for minimalist raster painting and expressive brush work; consider an alternative if you need a wider range of verified capabilities beyond its focused desktop toolkit.
MyPaint pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free and open source across Linux, macOS, and Windows
- Expressive, customizable brushes with traditional-media presets
- Layers, pressure mapping, symmetry, and stroke smoothing tools
- Where it doesn't
- Feature breadth is narrower than broader digital painting suites
- Color management is basic
- Focused on local desktop painting rather than a wider ecosystem
MyPaint fact sheet, pricing and score →
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