
Corel Painter Essentials is a hobbyist version of Corel's Painter line of software, aimed at art and photography hobbyists. It is user-friendly software for beginners, offering a range of features such as AI Auto-Painting, cloning tools, and support for stylus tilt, rotation, bearing, and pressure control. In contrast, Corel Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting used by professionals such as commercial designers, entertainment artists, and fine artists. It offers a wider range of realistic brushes and more advanced digital painting and editing tools.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Target User | Painter Essentials is for beginners, hobbyists, and photographers. Painter is for commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists. |
| Features | Painter Essentials provides two workspaces: Drawing and Painting, and Photo Painting. Painter has basic image manipulation tools and a wide range of brushes. |
| Brushes | Painter Essentials offers a curated collection of artist-created brushes, including dry, wet, and blending media. Painter provides access to hundreds of realistic brushes. |
| Tools | Painter Essentials includes AI Auto-Painting, cloning, tracing paper, colour selection, mirror painting, and kaleidoscope tools. Painter has endless UI customization options and a professional collection of digital painting and editing tools. |
| Platforms | Painter Essentials supports both Mac and PC. Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting. |
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What You'll Learn
- Intended user: Painter Essentials is for hobbyists, while Painter is for professionals
- Features: Painter offers more brushes and customisation options than Painter Essentials
- Functionality: Painter Essentials is used for turning photographs into paintings, while Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting
- Learning: Painter Essentials comes with tutorial videos, while Painter does not
- Cost: Painter Essentials is cheaper than Painter

Intended user: Painter Essentials is for hobbyists, while Painter is for professionals
Painter Essentials is a hobbyist version of Corel's Painter line of software. It is a home software studio for turning photographs into paintings, suitable for art and photography hobbyists. Painter Essentials provides two workspaces: the Drawing and Painting workspace, and the Photo Painting workspace. The former is used for painting, sketching, and doodling from scratch, while the latter is used for creating paintings from photographs. Painter Essentials offers a variety of brushes and media, including oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, and ink wash paints, as well as pencils, pens, charcoal, pastels, chalks, and blenders. It also provides different paper textures and canvases to choose from.
Painter Essentials is designed for beginners and hobbyists who want to experiment with digital painting. It offers uncomplicated painting software that inspires users to explore and enjoy the process of creating digital art. The software includes tutorial videos and a manual to guide users through various techniques, such as creating paintings from photos, touch-up by hand, and drawing or painting from scratch.
On the other hand, Corel Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting used by professionals, including commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists. Painter offers a more extensive collection of realistic brushes and digital painting and editing tools. It provides endless UI customization options and remarkable performance to bring artwork to life.
While Painter Essentials caters to hobbyists with its simplicity and ease of use, Painter is designed for professionals who require a more advanced set of features and capabilities. Painter is geared entirely towards digital painting and provides a comprehensive suite of tools for creating and editing digital artwork. It offers a wider range of brushes and editing tools compared to Painter Essentials, making it a more suitable choice for those seeking a professional-level software.
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$28.99 $34.99

Features: Painter offers more brushes and customisation options than Painter Essentials
Painter offers a far wider selection of brushes than Painter Essentials, providing artists with a more diverse toolkit for their creations. The full version of Painter offers a vast array of brush customization options, allowing artists to create unique brush variants that suit their specific needs and creative vision. With Painter, artists can adjust brush settings such as size, shape, angle, spacing, and many other parameters to achieve their desired effects. This level of customization empowers artists to experiment and develop their own distinctive styles.
Painter's brush customization capabilities extend beyond basic adjustments. Artists can import images and textures to create unique brushstrokes, enabling them to incorporate personal touches and add intricate details to their artwork. This feature is particularly useful for artists who want to include specific patterns, fabrics, or natural elements in their creations. By utilizing the imported textures, they can achieve realistic and visually captivating results.
Additionally, Painter provides advanced brush control options that allow artists to fine-tune the behavior of each brush stroke. This includes adjusting the brush's response to pressure, tilt, and velocity, enabling artists to create dynamic and expressive lines with precision and control. The ability to customize brush tracking and variance further enhances the artistic possibilities, allowing for natural-looking variations in brushstrokes.
In contrast, Painter Essentials offers a more streamlined approach with a curated selection of brushes that cater to essential artistic needs. While it provides a solid foundation for beginners and hobbyists, it may not offer the extensive customization and advanced features that professional artists seek. Painter Essentials simplifies the brush customization process by offering preset variants for each brush category, making it easier for users to select the right brush for their desired effect without being overwhelmed by complex adjustments.
Overall, Painter provides a more comprehensive and flexible brush engine, catering to the demands of professional artists and those seeking unlimited creative freedom. The extensive customization options empower users to create unique brush variants, import textures, and fine-tune brush behavior to achieve intricate details, complex patterns, and expressive lines in their digital artwork. Painter Essentials, while user-friendly and accessible, offers a more limited selection, making it a suitable choice for those who do not require extensive customization and are satisfied with the essential brush categories provided.
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Functionality: Painter Essentials is used for turning photographs into paintings, while Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting
Painter Essentials is a home software studio for turning photographs into paintings. It is a hobbyist version of Corel's Painter line of software, used by art and photography hobbyists. It offers two workspaces: the Drawing and Painting workspace, which is used for doodling, sketching, and painting from scratch, and the Photo Painting workspace, which is used for creating paintings from photographs. Painter Essentials provides a variety of brushes and media, including oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, and ink wash paints, as well as pencils, pens, charcoal, pastels, chalks, and blenders. It also offers different paper textures or canvases to be used in conjunction with the media. Painter Essentials supports both Mac and PC platforms and features industry-acclaimed brushes, illustration tools, and photo art. It also includes tutorial videos and a manual to teach various techniques, such as automatically creating a painting from a photo or drawing from scratch.
On the other hand, Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting, used by commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists. It offers hundreds of realistic brushes, endless UI customization options, and a professional collection of digital painting and editing tools. Painter provides advanced features and capabilities that cater to the needs of professionals in the creative industry. While Painter focuses on digital painting, it also includes some basic image manipulation tools. It is not a direct competitor to Photoshop but rather caters to a different market segment. Painter users often have a separate image manipulation application, such as Photoshop or Photo-Paint, to complement its capabilities.
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Learning: Painter Essentials comes with tutorial videos, while Painter does not
Painter Essentials is a hobbyist version of Corel's Painter line of software, aimed at art and photography hobbyists. It is designed to be a fun and uncomplicated painting software for beginners, with a range of features that make it easy to experiment with digital painting. Painter Essentials provides tutorial videos that teach various techniques, such as creating a painting from a photo, touch-up techniques, and drawing or painting from scratch. These videos are accompanied by sample files, allowing users to follow along, and a manual that provides written tutorials, reference material, and art tips.
On the other hand, Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting used by commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists. It offers a wide range of realistic brushes and digital painting and editing tools. While Painter does not come with built-in tutorial videos like Painter Essentials, it provides endless UI customization options and powerful performance.
Both Painter Essentials and Painter offer unique features catering to different user needs. Painter Essentials is ideal for beginners and hobbyists with its learning materials and uncomplicated interface, while Painter is geared towards professionals seeking a comprehensive set of tools for digital painting and editing.
Painter Essentials provides an intuitive platform for users to explore their creativity and develop their skills through the provided tutorial videos and learning resources. The inclusion of tutorial content within Painter Essentials reflects its focus on accessibility and user-friendliness, ensuring that beginners can easily navigate the software and enhance their artistic abilities.
In contrast, Painter assumes a certain level of proficiency and does not include built-in tutorial videos. Painter is designed for users who are already familiar with digital painting techniques and are seeking advanced tools to bring their artwork to life. By forgoing tutorial content, Painter streamlines its interface and allows users to fully customize their workspace to suit their unique creative process.
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Cost: Painter Essentials is cheaper than Painter
Painter Essentials is a more affordable option than Painter. While Painter Essentials is aimed at hobbyists, beginners, and freelancers, Painter is used by commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists.
Painter Essentials is a great entry point for those new to digital art or those who are looking for a more affordable option. It provides many of the same core features and capabilities as Painter, such as the ability to sketch, draw, render, and paint. It also offers AI Auto-Painting presets, a variety of brushes and media, and support for both Mac and PC.
On the other hand, Painter offers a more extensive range of realistic brushes, UI customization options, and digital painting and editing tools. It is a dedicated tool for digital painting and is used by professionals in the field.
The cost difference between the two programs is significant, with Painter Essentials being offered at a much lower price point. For those who are just starting out or are on a budget, Painter Essentials offers excellent value for money and provides a comprehensive set of features to explore and experiment with digital painting.
While the full version of Painter may be out of reach for some due to its higher price tag, Painter Essentials is an attractive alternative that delivers a powerful set of features without compromising accessibility and affordability. It is a testament to the quality of the software that even professionals like Brandon McDonald and Karen Bonaker have used Painter Essentials extensively in their careers.
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Frequently asked questions
Painter Essentials is a home software studio for turning photographs into paintings. It is a hobbyist version of Corel's Painter line of software, used by art and photography hobbyists. It is also a beginner-friendly software that supports both Mac and PC.
Painter is a dedicated tool for digital painting, used by commercial designers, entertainment artists, professional photographers, and fine artists. It has a wide range of realistic brushes, UI customization options, and digital painting and editing tools.
Painter Essentials is geared towards hobbyists and beginners, while Painter is used by professionals and has more advanced features and tools. Painter Essentials is also more focused on transforming photographs into paintings, whereas Painter offers a broader range of digital painting capabilities.











































