Other useful tools included in Paintbrush include Airbrush, Rounded Rectangle, Eyedropper, and Zoom. the ability to select an object and distinguish it from the background with a dotted-line border. The latest version of Paintbrush for Mac also supports marching ants for the selection tool i.e. You can also cut and paste images from other applications such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and OS X Preview. You can import transparent images although only those that support an alpha channel in PNGs and GIF format. You can open and save most image formats in Paintbrush including BMP, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and GIF images. Paintbrush does not work on the latest version of macOS Monterey.Īs soon as you open Paintbrush, you’ll notice that it features a very similar interface to the classic version of MS Paint with the same kind of color palette and paintbrush tools. However, after the release of OS X El Capitan, it is no longer stable and so it’s only a good option if you’re working on OS X 10.10 Yosemite or lower. Paintbrush for Mac used to be the best alternative to Paint for Mac and is completely free. Overall, Paint S is too limited to be at the same level as MS Paint but Paint Pro is pretty good and is one of the few Paint style apps on Mac that also handles layers. Paint Pro unlocks all features, including Layers which allow you to superimpose several different types of image or annotations. However, it’s important to note that although Paint S is free, you’ll have to upgrade to Paint Pro in order to enjoy many of these features. You can add a grid and rulers to sketches and cut and paste from other apps including Microsoft Office, Safari, Pages etc. There’s also a fill tool, eyedropper and tools for creating lines, curves, rectangle, eclipses and add text including even curved texts.Īlpha transparency is supported as is adding shadows, gradients and reflections. Paint S can open and save images in TIFF, JPEG, PNG and BMP and features all the standard tools you get in Microsoft Paint such as sketch, crop, rotate and scale images. Paint S (formerly known as Paint 2) is a free, easy-to-use drawing tool for Macs.Īlthough not very advanced, Paint S allows you to draw simple pictures or edit your existing photos. It doesn’t do much beyond that however but if you want a very basic drawing app without downloading anything, it does the job. MacOS Preview is a really useful tool for all sorts of basic image editing, adjusting and of course, drawing and painting. There are also tools for adding text, changing fonts, a color palette, adjusting image size, resolution, crop and rotate and image. If you draw shapes but haven’t got a steady hand, Preview will even adjust standard shapes such as ovals to make them rounder and more accurate. Meanwhile the Sketch tool allows you to draw freehand lines and spray-paint colors and the shapes tool allows you to add rectangles, lines, circles and ovals. Just click on the signature symbol to automatically open the signature tool and select whether you want to add a signature via Trackpad or iSight. One other neat feature is the ability to add your signature to a document or image using your Trackpad or via your Mac’s iSight camera. The smart lasso for example can automatically detect borders in images as you guide it around thus allowing you to isolate or edit specific objects. The range of tools available in Preview is pretty good including a rectangular, elliptical, lasso and smart lasso selector that allow you to cut out objects or items in images. When you click on the Markup Toolbar icon, you’ll see the available tools in a toolbar that appears across the top of the interface. When Preview is open, simply click on the Markup Toolbar icon at the top of the interface. We advise making duplicate of your image first by going to File > Duplicate before editing as Preview doesn’t add layers – it edits the image directly and any edits can’t be undone after Saving. Open an image in Preview by going to File > Open. To access it, either click on Preview in your Dock or search for “Preview” in Spotlight on your Mac. The great thing about Preview is that it is included for free in macOS so there’s no need to download anything.Īlthough Preview is often used to edit PDFs on a Mac, many Mac users don’t realize is that it also has a basic drawing tool which is similar to MS Paint.

Paint for a mac