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Photoshop and Illustrator are the graphic-design workhorses of the artistic world, but they’re also rather expensive—they cost at least 20 dollars a month, and often times more. However, that doesn’t mean you have to pay up to dabble with graphic design. There are some great free options.

GIMP

GNU Image Manipulation Program, usually just called GIMP, is a free and open-source image editor available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

In many ways, it is comparable to Photoshop. It supports all the important features Photoshop has, like filters, different types of brushes, and layers and masking.

GIMP also has plenty of plugins, which means that even if it doesn’t have something built-in natively, you can usually find someone that has already developed something that does what you’re looking for. Like most graphics arts programs, you can use a mouse and keyboard to interact with GIMP or you can attach a drawing tablet.

Wacom One 13 Touch Pen Display

The Wacom One 13 Touch Pen Display is a drawing tablet that features a paper-like display and drawing surface, meaning when you draw, it feels like you’re drawing on paper. With two USB-C ports, it can connect to Windows, macOS, some Android devices, and even ChromeOS. It features a 13.3 inch 1080p touchscreen with a 11.6 x 6.5 inch active area. Plus, it offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitive when used with compatible software.

GIMP lacks the integrated AI tools that Photoshop has, but there are plugins that use local (or cloud-based) AI models to provide AI features to GIMP, like the ability to turn text into an image, or intelligently remove backgrounds or objects from a scene.

GIMP is my go-to image editor on any low-powered device (Windows or otherwise) since it can run well on almost anything as long as you keep your image editing reasonable. It is also a great way to get started learning the important techniques related to image creation and editing without paying for a subscription.

Piskel

Not everything you create needs to have an 8K resolution with more photorealistic details than something that comes out of your camera. Sometimes, pixel art is exactly what you need and want—and that is where Piskel shines.

Piskel is a lightweight, open-source portable pixel art app that is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS. You can also just access it through your browser, which makes it completely platform-agnostic.

The tools you’re given to work with are pretty basic. You can draw colored blocks, use symmetry tools to create mirrored images, create geometric shapes, and use a fill tool much like the sort you’d find in GIMP or Photoshop.

I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve had a lot of fun tinkering with Piskel to create things for *Terraria. *Sometimes the challenge of creating something recognizable within the constraints of pixel art is more fun than creating something photorealistic.

Canva

Unlike GIMP and Piskel, Canva is designed around a series of templates. When you start a project, you’ll be prompted to pick from a pre-existing template that is designed for a specific purpose. For example, if you wanted to create a poster of some sort, you’d go to the Print templates, then select one of the poster templates.

You can pick from existing posters, load in or create a style, and then start adding images or drawing on it.

It is a very different approach from either Piskel or GIMP, and if you need to get into the nitty-gritty of image editing, it probably isn’t the tool for the job. However, if you just need to create something nice looking, the tools it includes are more than up to the job. Plus, the templates and styles really can save you a ton of time.

When all is said and done, there are probably thousands of templates you can choose from. Even if you don’t wind up using them directly, having some inspiration at your fingertips is always helpful.

The big thing to remember is to use the right tool for the job. Piskel probably isn’t the right fit if you’re trying to create a photo for your Instagram feed—that is more Canva’s job. Similarly, if you’re editing the texture for a video game, you should probably be using GIMP.