Krita

Painting and illustration on Android

Krita is a digital painting app for people who draw, paint or build visual artwork on a touchscreen device. It is suited to illustrators, comic artists and other artists who want a broad set of creative tools, rather than a simple sketchpad. The interface is geared toward larger screens, such as tablets and Chromebooks, so it may be less comfortable on a phone.

Tools for building artwork

The app includes brush tools for sketching and painting, stabilizers to help steady freehand lines, and assistants for constructing scenes. Layers, masks, filters and transformation tools support more involved editing, including changes that can be kept separate from the underlying artwork. Krita also supports animation workflows and a range of common file formats, including PSD.

That breadth can suit projects that move beyond a single drawing, but it also means there is more to learn than in a basic painting app. Artists looking for a minimal interface or a phone-first experience may prefer something simpler.

Who stands behind it

Krita is published by Stichting Krita Foundation. Its presence here follows the same questions applied to every listing: what the app presents itself as, what it asks of the user, and who is responsible for it. A large feature set or a high install count alone would not answer those questions.

Use and reception

Krita is listed in Art & Design and has more than 1,000,000 installs. Its rating is 3.3 out of 5 from 6,691 ratings, a mixed result worth considering alongside the app’s intended use and screen-size emphasis. Those figures describe user response and reach; they do not, by themselves, establish whether it fits a particular workflow.