So when I first made the switch from Windows to macOS a few years back, one of the gripes I had and can imagine many other people having too is the absence of a stand-alone basic graphics or painting utility application. While Apple kind of pioneered such apps on personal computers with their Macintoshes shipping with MacPaint, the scenario has been quite different since the last 3 decades with MacPaint seeing its last release in 1988. Today we take a look at 5 different paint app for mac; whether you are someone who has been missing MS Paint on Mac OS or just looking for a basic painting app, this list is for you.

Read: Top 5 Free Online Image Editor Like Photoshop

Microsoft Paint for Mac

1. Preview

Before even hopping on and suggesting a bunch of third-party apps, I wanted to shine some light on one of the most underused and under-rated native apps on Mac OS: Preview. While I was on the hunt for a paint app, Preview managed to seriously surprise me with its capabilities.

To get started, open Preview and open up the image you want to edit or simply open the image with Preview directly. Next show the Markup Toolbar by the clicking the icon shown below.

Read: Use Mac’s Preview App like a Pro with These Tips & Tricks

You can now find a whole host of editing options from simple sketching and drawing to insertion of various shapes and text and even adjusting image parameters like exposure, contrast, sharpness and a lot more. You also get the ability of adding a signature or signing your PDFs from Preview itself, image size formatting and text formatting options.

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Although Preview has a lot to offer, it may not be the perfect replacement for some as it does not allow you to create new image files which is its biggest setback.

Quick Tip: Be sure to first make a copy of your image before editing with Preview, as it automatically saves all your changes and it could be really hard to revert back if you have already saved the image.

2. Paint Brush

Paint Brush for Mac OS is like the perfect replica of MS paint. The app is quite bare bones and extremely easy to use, offering just the basic functions of a paint application.

Unlike Preview, in this app you can create a new document and this is the first thing you are greeted with, on opening the application and you can state the size of your canvas. It offers all the basic functionalities just as MS paint like pencil, colour fill, shapes, text, magnification and also a colour picker tool which comes in very handy. It also supports most image formats including JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and GIF.

Paint Brush is also very fast to open and get work done with and will be perfect for doing some small editing or painting stuff in a jiffy.

Price: Free

Link: Download Paintbrush from here

Paint Analog For Mac Keyboard

3. Seashore

Seashore is a free, open-source paint application for Mac OS built entirely in Cocoa. While the UI might seem a little dated, the app has a lot of tricks up its sleeves which makes it an upgrade to Preview or Paint Brush.
SeaShore introduces the concept of layers, just like you have in Photoshop. The layers work like sheets of acetate stacked upon each other and the transparent areas allow you to see through to the underbidding layers. This allows you to create different layers for different effects and adjusting the effects separately or deleting them separately, thus providing easy management.

Seashore has a nifty gradient tool where you can specify the direction and strength of the gradient. Some other features include alpha channel editing, texts with sub pixel rendering and textures.

Read: 10 Best Ways to Open and Edit PSD files without Photoshop

Quick Tip: Another free and open source alternative is Pinta, which is also cross platform and an exact clone of Paint.NET on Windows.

Price: Free

Link: Download Seashore from here

4. MS Paint using Wine or Play On Mac

If you didn’t know, Wine is an awesome and efficient way to run native Windows applications on your Mac and the best part about it is that unlike Bootcamp or VM installations, it does not require a windows license and does not add that overhead.

The setup process can be a little tedious, but it is definitely rewarding as you can run most of your Windows apps on your Mac. Play On Mac is a third party tool built on Wine, which we recommend for installing Windows applications on Mac OS. Just download Play On Mac and all the dependencies required for Wine and then you should be able to install any Windows app of your choice. To install Paint, go to Install Apps > Graphics > Paint and hit download. MS Paint should be installed on your computer and it works just as good on any Windows PC.

Quick Tip: Although Wine is much less intensive or involving than Bootcamp or a virtual machine running Windows, it still takes up a lot of space with its dependencies and adds overhead. So we recommend this method if you are someone who is planning on using more Windows apps on your Mac or just cannot do without MS Paint.

Price: Free

Link: Download Play On Mac from here

5. Pixelmator

While MS Paint is mostly about simplicity, it doesn’t hurt to include a feature packed app for all the power users out there. As I said, by no means should Pixelmator be considered a basic app as it is far from that, having a boatload of options, effects and features.

Pixelmator also offers layers with the option of layer styles presets where you can either use a predefined preset or save your own custom style preset. It also has retouching tools, colour correction tools and a real-time effects machine along with all the drawing and brushing tools. It even sports iCloud support and the ability to publish your pictures directly to social media.

What makes Pixelmator stand out from all the other professional graphic utility apps, is its flexibility; while it does have a lot of features, one can also just use the brush or pencil tools to doodle anything just as they would in any other paint app. The app is not at all overwhelming even for a beginner and strikes a perfect balance between simplicity and productivity. If you do not mind spending $30, Pixelmator is a keeper.

Price: $29.99

Link: Get Pixelmator on the App Store

Wrapping Up: Microsoft Paint for Mac

Mac OS doesn’t come with any paint app but that doesn’t mean that there is a dearth of paint apps on Mac and it is quite the opposite. But before downloading any third party app, we highly recommend checking out Preview and checking whether it fulfills all your needs or not. Paint Brush is an awesome simple and easy to use paint application while Seashore is slightly more complex with the addition of layers.

Pixelmator is one heck of an app with all its features, but it is very flexible and you can use it as an MS paint replacement to a cheaper Photoshop alternative. And last but not least, if you need to use a lot of Windows apps, Wine is your best bet to get MS paint running on your Mac. So this was our list of the Microsoft Paint for Mac. Which one do you use daily or did we miss yours? Let us know in the comments below.

We spend so much of our working lives on our computers that it’s easy to forget that they can be an artistic outlet as well. But you don't have to be a master illustrator or shell out hundreds of dollars for drawing software just to enjoy some creative recreation. Setapp offers a range of creative apps that turn your Mac into your own private studio, no brushes required.

Drawing software for Mac

Get a best creative apps for keeping your Mac in shape. Best drawing tools in one pack, give it a go!

How to draw on a Mac

Whatever your skill level, drawing a little bit every day has clear psychological benefits. And what better way to get into the habit than to start sketching, doodling, and even painting right on your computer?

Step 1: Choose drawing software and tools

Of course, part of the fun of the digital world is that it can make so many colors, textures, and effects available. You’ll want something that gives you access to this wide range of options without being too complicated.

Tayasui Sketches is a great drawing app for the Mac. It packs a ton of functionality into a minimal interface, letting you focus on your creativity, not on the buttons. Plus, the background and brushes all give the sense of drawing on real paper, not a blank digital canvas. You can start drawing using your mouse, or attach any standard tablet for the flexibility that a stylus or Apple Pencil provide.

Basic drawing tools to start

The best drawing app can give you a freedom to express your ideas as digital art. It provides a number of tooltip options for its paintbrush tool that mimic the effect of real paintbrushes. Simply select the brush, pencil, or marker type you’d like to use, choose your color, and start painting.

The tooltips mimic the physical qualities of different media; markers offer a thick, opaque line while watercolors are semi-transparent on the page, bleeding and fading to different intensities for a looser look. As you work with the Tayasui Sketches, you’ll get a sense of each medium’s opacity and learn how to incorporate them into your unique style.

Building up a drawing

Choose the app that allows to create an unlimited number of layers to draw on. This lets you lay down foundation sketches before you come in with a paintbrush or marker. You can also experiment with different washes and overlays on top of your drawing without fear of ruining it. With layers, you can try out various styles and versions of the same painting, or even delete underlying layers for an interesting effect.

Watching your creative in progress

If you’d like to improve your painting and drawing, or show others how to achieve the same effect, you can record your process to review later or share online. Nobody becomes a master overnight, but by referring back to paintings you’re proud of or soliciting advice from other artists on your technique, you’ll know where to focus your effort. Plus, you’ll have the whole record of your improvement in one place.

Step 2: Painting tips to draw faster

Call of duty® 4: modern warfare® download for mac. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with drawing and painting, you can use a number of apps to push your work to the next level.

Image color picker

How do you select an exact color to match? The fastest way is to use a color picker. It allows to click on the image to get the color of a pixel.

Sip lets you add any color you encounter on the web to a set of endlessly customizable palettes. It seamlessly integrates with paintbrush apps for the Mac, including Tayasui Sketches, so you can use colors you sample in your own work. Color picker lets you zoom in and out to select exactly the right source shade, plus its built-in color editor lets you adjust your selected shades as needed.

Retouching tools

As strong as your painting skills might be, everyone can benefit from a little post-production help. That’s where CameraBag Pro comes in. This robust image editor is set up with beginners in mind. Even if you’re not a PhotoShop pro, you can sharpen, blur, and make small corrections with ease. You might also find that the app’s extensive collection of filters add another layer of complexity to your work.

Step 3: Organize your art

Keeping track of your work can be a challenge, especially when you’re producing variations on the same image. The image managing app Emulsion lets you examine, annotate, and organize pictures in folders and cataloging your image library using multi-level tags from a single window. You’ll be able to set up automatic tags for different projects, zoom in to the pixel level with its loupe function, and export your work in any image format. Plus, this organizer lets you size, crop, and share your art with ease, integrating seamlessly with dropbox and other cloud hosting services.

Between its flagship drawing and painting tool and its suite of helpful image enhancers and organizers, Setapp can help both beginners and experts get over MS Paint once and for all. Make sure you get the right tool (and the right tooltip) for the job.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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