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What is the best payed and free apps for digital art animation or just art in general?
I have little to no experience btw
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11 answers
Updated
Dr’s Answer
Hey Vincent!
It's awesome that you're diving into digital art and animation! A lot of people have already given great advice, so I'll just add to that and hopefully help clear up any doubts you might have.
So, like Kari mentioned, free apps like Krita and IbisPaint X are fantastic for getting started. They're user-friendly, and you'll be able to experiment with a wide variety of brushes and tools. Emily also brought up Medibang Paint, which is another great, free option if you want to try creating comic-style art. And for animation, Sabrina suggested Flipaclip, which is perfect for beginners—especially when you’re just trying to get a feel for how animation works without getting overwhelmed.
Now, if you’re looking for a little more structure, Vincent, think about exploring animation principles first, like timing, spacing, and the 12 principles of animation (like squash and stretch, anticipation, etc.). This will help you even if you're using something simple like Flipaclip or something more advanced later.
For paid apps, Procreate is an awesome recommendation (as Sabrina mentioned) because it’s a one-time purchase, and you get so much value for it, including animation tools. Another one to look into is Clip Studio Paint, which Emily mentioned—it’s used by tons of artists and has a bunch of features that help with both art and animation.
And hey, if you ever feel like you want to level up to something more professional, I’d say check out Adobe Animate or even Blender for 3D work (which Brian brought up—Blender is free and super powerful). For 2D, Toon Boom is another industry standard if you feel like pushing your animation skills further.
In the meantime, the key thing is just to practice and experiment with whatever feels best for you! Don't be afraid to explore different apps, and take it one step at a time. Like they said—focus on the basics first and try not to get too caught up in fancy tools until you're comfortable with the fundamentals.
Lastly, if you feel stuck or need inspiration, ask other artists for feedback, check out some YouTube tutorials, or join online art communities like DeviantArt or ArtStation. You’ll pick up so many tips from others who’ve been where you are.
Good luck, Vincent! You got this! And keep having fun with it—it’s all about enjoying the process.
It's awesome that you're diving into digital art and animation! A lot of people have already given great advice, so I'll just add to that and hopefully help clear up any doubts you might have.
So, like Kari mentioned, free apps like Krita and IbisPaint X are fantastic for getting started. They're user-friendly, and you'll be able to experiment with a wide variety of brushes and tools. Emily also brought up Medibang Paint, which is another great, free option if you want to try creating comic-style art. And for animation, Sabrina suggested Flipaclip, which is perfect for beginners—especially when you’re just trying to get a feel for how animation works without getting overwhelmed.
Now, if you’re looking for a little more structure, Vincent, think about exploring animation principles first, like timing, spacing, and the 12 principles of animation (like squash and stretch, anticipation, etc.). This will help you even if you're using something simple like Flipaclip or something more advanced later.
For paid apps, Procreate is an awesome recommendation (as Sabrina mentioned) because it’s a one-time purchase, and you get so much value for it, including animation tools. Another one to look into is Clip Studio Paint, which Emily mentioned—it’s used by tons of artists and has a bunch of features that help with both art and animation.
And hey, if you ever feel like you want to level up to something more professional, I’d say check out Adobe Animate or even Blender for 3D work (which Brian brought up—Blender is free and super powerful). For 2D, Toon Boom is another industry standard if you feel like pushing your animation skills further.
In the meantime, the key thing is just to practice and experiment with whatever feels best for you! Don't be afraid to explore different apps, and take it one step at a time. Like they said—focus on the basics first and try not to get too caught up in fancy tools until you're comfortable with the fundamentals.
Lastly, if you feel stuck or need inspiration, ask other artists for feedback, check out some YouTube tutorials, or join online art communities like DeviantArt or ArtStation. You’ll pick up so many tips from others who’ve been where you are.
Good luck, Vincent! You got this! And keep having fun with it—it’s all about enjoying the process.
Uran James Thank you for you support. You encourage me to keep moving forward.
Dr H
Updated
Sabrina’s Answer
HI Vincent, very good question.
For beginner artists like yourself I recommend IBISPAINT X, An application I ave used in my early years as a digital artist. It is free with a variety of brushes, wallpapers, and pose references.And as a plus, it is a much easier way to get used to the basic layout of art softwares.
As for animation, and I say this assuming you’re referring to 2-D animation. I recommend FLipaClip. Which is a digestible way to learn how to work in a standard 2-d animation app.Now there is a ONE TIME payment thing for having more than three layers on a project, but I wouldn’t say it’s a necessity. Do simple animation exercises, first, that way you get a good grasp on the principles of animation before doing something more daring.
As for the best PAID app, it is definitely procreate. Just like a simple purchase, you pay for the app once, and you get to draw and animate what ever you want after wards without worrying about any monthly payments.
I hope these answers you questions!.
For beginner artists like yourself I recommend IBISPAINT X, An application I ave used in my early years as a digital artist. It is free with a variety of brushes, wallpapers, and pose references.And as a plus, it is a much easier way to get used to the basic layout of art softwares.
As for animation, and I say this assuming you’re referring to 2-D animation. I recommend FLipaClip. Which is a digestible way to learn how to work in a standard 2-d animation app.Now there is a ONE TIME payment thing for having more than three layers on a project, but I wouldn’t say it’s a necessity. Do simple animation exercises, first, that way you get a good grasp on the principles of animation before doing something more daring.
As for the best PAID app, it is definitely procreate. Just like a simple purchase, you pay for the app once, and you get to draw and animate what ever you want after wards without worrying about any monthly payments.
I hope these answers you questions!.
Updated
Kari’s Answer
There are a lot of different programs out there for beginners that are easy to use that are free. Paint, PaintTool Sai and Krita are the first ones that come to mind for free programs that are fairly easy to use. Programs like Corel can be daunting looking to use and are generally not for beginners as Corel programs assume that you at least have some art experience in their layout. I started with a Corel program and found few tutorials and did not really find it helpful for the art I wanted to create as most Corel programs are rather niche.
Paid art programs aren't necessarily geared for beginners, but there are ones out there that do require payment that might be up your alley, Adobe Photoshop is NOT one of them though due to expense. I'd suggest staying away from this one unless you're a professional artist who can afford to shell out the cash for it.
I would suggest the following Paid ones, however, to look into: Procreate, Rebelle (there are different versions, some more costly than others so be careful), Affinity Photo, Painter 2023, Clip Studio Paint Pro, ArtRage Vitae
Paid art programs aren't necessarily geared for beginners, but there are ones out there that do require payment that might be up your alley, Adobe Photoshop is NOT one of them though due to expense. I'd suggest staying away from this one unless you're a professional artist who can afford to shell out the cash for it.
I would suggest the following Paid ones, however, to look into: Procreate, Rebelle (there are different versions, some more costly than others so be careful), Affinity Photo, Painter 2023, Clip Studio Paint Pro, ArtRage Vitae
Updated
Emily’s Answer
Hello Vincent,
If you're just starting out with digital art and animation, there are some great options out there for both free and paid apps that can help you explore your creativity!
Free Apps:
1. Krita (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Krita is an excellent free digital painting app used by both beginners and professionals. It has a huge range of brushes and tools for illustration, digital painting, and basic animation (frame-by-frame).
2. Medibang Paint (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
Medibang is a lightweight app that's fantastic for illustration and comic book creation. It includes a lot of brushes, textures, and cloud storage.
3. Autodesk Sketchbook (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Sketchbook is a clean, easy-to-use sketching tool with a variety of brushes and drawing features. It's excellent for beginners who want to sketch and illustrate.
4. Pencil2D (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pencil2D is a simple, open-source app designed specifically for traditionally 2D animation. It's perfect for beginners looking to try hand-drawn animations.
Paid Apps:
1. Adobe Photoshop (Windows, Mac)
Photoshop is the gold standard for digital painting, photo editing, and illustration. It’s also great for creating frame-by-frame animations (using the Timeline feature).
2. Procreate (One-Time Purchase; iPad, iOS)
Procreate is one of the most popular drawing apps for iPad, offering a huge range of brushes, effects, and tools. It also supports simple animation via its Animation Assist feature.
3. Clip Studio Paint (Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone)
Clip Studio Paint is a fantastic app for creating both digital art and animations. It’s widely used for manga and comic creation, with solid animation features for beginners and professionals.
4. Toon Boom Harmony (Windows, Mac)
Toon Boom Harmony is one of the most professional animation tools used by studios for 2D animation. It’s more complex than free options but gives you total control over animation.
I hope this helps you out, and I hope you have fun exploring these options to help you further with your skills!
Best Regards,
Emily Garcia
If you're just starting out with digital art and animation, there are some great options out there for both free and paid apps that can help you explore your creativity!
Free Apps:
1. Krita (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Krita is an excellent free digital painting app used by both beginners and professionals. It has a huge range of brushes and tools for illustration, digital painting, and basic animation (frame-by-frame).
2. Medibang Paint (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
Medibang is a lightweight app that's fantastic for illustration and comic book creation. It includes a lot of brushes, textures, and cloud storage.
3. Autodesk Sketchbook (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Sketchbook is a clean, easy-to-use sketching tool with a variety of brushes and drawing features. It's excellent for beginners who want to sketch and illustrate.
4. Pencil2D (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pencil2D is a simple, open-source app designed specifically for traditionally 2D animation. It's perfect for beginners looking to try hand-drawn animations.
Paid Apps:
1. Adobe Photoshop (Windows, Mac)
Photoshop is the gold standard for digital painting, photo editing, and illustration. It’s also great for creating frame-by-frame animations (using the Timeline feature).
2. Procreate (One-Time Purchase; iPad, iOS)
Procreate is one of the most popular drawing apps for iPad, offering a huge range of brushes, effects, and tools. It also supports simple animation via its Animation Assist feature.
3. Clip Studio Paint (Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone)
Clip Studio Paint is a fantastic app for creating both digital art and animations. It’s widely used for manga and comic creation, with solid animation features for beginners and professionals.
4. Toon Boom Harmony (Windows, Mac)
Toon Boom Harmony is one of the most professional animation tools used by studios for 2D animation. It’s more complex than free options but gives you total control over animation.
I hope this helps you out, and I hope you have fun exploring these options to help you further with your skills!
Best Regards,
Emily Garcia
Updated
Pierre’s Answer
Depending on your "platform", there are many wonderful free apps. I'm on a Windows PC and personally recommend the following:
Free Paint:
Krita - Lots of options for painting including a lot of wonderful brushes. It's really a fantastic piece of software and your best bet to get your feet wet without having to spend any money. You can also create 2D hand-drawn animation using Krita so it offers a lot.
GIMP - A decent alternative to Photoshop but I never cared for the interface.
PhotoPea - This is an online "homage" to Photoshop that recreates just about every type of functionality. For the free version you have to live with some advertising but it's a pretty good alternative.
Free Animation:
Krita - As previously mentioned, Krita has a timeline that allows you to hand-draw 2D animation.
Pencil 2D - Straightforward interface to animate objects or create hand-drawn 2D animation
Synfig Studio - A sort of clone of Moho which allows you to add bones to vector or raster art to create keyframes and animate.
OpenToonz - A bit more complex but flexible animation software.
Blender - It's really 3D rendering software but it contains "GreasePencil" which offers some pretty extraordinary 2D animation tools. If you were interested in exploring 3D animation, this is where you need to start. It's dense because it does so much. You can probably learn the basics of the 2D and 3D tools in a few weeks of dedicated learning but the rewards are great. It's amazing software which remains free to use.
Paid Paint:
Rebelle - Similar to Photoshop or Krita but the brushes are amazing allowing you to recreate all sorts of natural media.
Photoshop - Expensive monthly subscription but it's the industry standard. If you pay for the Creative Suite, you get all of Adobe's software but you also pay a considerable amount of money for that access.
Affinity Photo (Photoshop alternative) and Affinity Designer (Illustrator alternative) - The advantage of these two pieces of software is that it's a one-time flat fee to purchase. The price is very reasonable and you own it, which is not the case with Adobe Software which you really "rent" as long as you pay. Both programs are feature-rich and stable.
PD Howler - This is an oddball. It doesn't offer layers like other software does (they exist but you can't easily draw one opaque layer on top of another). If you were comfortable with the idea of drawing on a single layer (as if you're painting on canvas with traditional tools), PD Howler offers a ton of incredible brushes. It also offers some really interesting 3D landscape animation tools. It's so unconventional that it's hard to recommend but I personally like the software a lot.
Paid Animation:
Reallusion Cartoon Animator - You get a decent amount of content to play with and the animation tools are wonderful, but it offers no built-in drawing tools so it has to be used in conjunction with a paint program. Frankly, I find the rigging complicated but there are a huge number of online resources to explore and many people get fantastic results with it.
Moho - For feature-rich "bones-based" animation tools, this is the software to get. It's less expensive than some industry standard software but it could still be considered an expensive purchase if you're just fooling around. However, it's very powerful, has built-in vector drawing tools and integrates easily with raster-based tools like Photoshop.
If you're interested in digital art and animation, I highly recommend getting a drawing tablet. You can get a small one for under $50 (perhaps even cheaper). It doesn't have to be made by Wacom (the industry leader). Huion makes a wonderful series of drawing tablets that range from inexpensive to pretty expensive depending on what you need which can be ordered from Amazon. Once you have a tablet (or perhaps you are working on a PC with a stylus) then Krita is a fantastic place to start. Adobe software is industry standard software but access is expensive but there are alternatives as well.
If you haven't chosen a platform yet and are willing to spend a bit of money, certain iPads are a great alternative. There are a lot of wonderful drawing and painting apps and drawing directly on the screen with an Apple Pencil (which is unfortunately an expensive "add-on") works really well. For roughly $500 or higher, you could get an iPad with Apple Pencil. The apps are generally inexpensive...Procreate and Procreate Dreams go for roughly $20 each but are both fantastic.
I hope this helps!
Pierre
pierrefontaine.myportfolio.com
Free Paint:
Krita - Lots of options for painting including a lot of wonderful brushes. It's really a fantastic piece of software and your best bet to get your feet wet without having to spend any money. You can also create 2D hand-drawn animation using Krita so it offers a lot.
GIMP - A decent alternative to Photoshop but I never cared for the interface.
PhotoPea - This is an online "homage" to Photoshop that recreates just about every type of functionality. For the free version you have to live with some advertising but it's a pretty good alternative.
Free Animation:
Krita - As previously mentioned, Krita has a timeline that allows you to hand-draw 2D animation.
Pencil 2D - Straightforward interface to animate objects or create hand-drawn 2D animation
Synfig Studio - A sort of clone of Moho which allows you to add bones to vector or raster art to create keyframes and animate.
OpenToonz - A bit more complex but flexible animation software.
Blender - It's really 3D rendering software but it contains "GreasePencil" which offers some pretty extraordinary 2D animation tools. If you were interested in exploring 3D animation, this is where you need to start. It's dense because it does so much. You can probably learn the basics of the 2D and 3D tools in a few weeks of dedicated learning but the rewards are great. It's amazing software which remains free to use.
Paid Paint:
Rebelle - Similar to Photoshop or Krita but the brushes are amazing allowing you to recreate all sorts of natural media.
Photoshop - Expensive monthly subscription but it's the industry standard. If you pay for the Creative Suite, you get all of Adobe's software but you also pay a considerable amount of money for that access.
Affinity Photo (Photoshop alternative) and Affinity Designer (Illustrator alternative) - The advantage of these two pieces of software is that it's a one-time flat fee to purchase. The price is very reasonable and you own it, which is not the case with Adobe Software which you really "rent" as long as you pay. Both programs are feature-rich and stable.
PD Howler - This is an oddball. It doesn't offer layers like other software does (they exist but you can't easily draw one opaque layer on top of another). If you were comfortable with the idea of drawing on a single layer (as if you're painting on canvas with traditional tools), PD Howler offers a ton of incredible brushes. It also offers some really interesting 3D landscape animation tools. It's so unconventional that it's hard to recommend but I personally like the software a lot.
Paid Animation:
Reallusion Cartoon Animator - You get a decent amount of content to play with and the animation tools are wonderful, but it offers no built-in drawing tools so it has to be used in conjunction with a paint program. Frankly, I find the rigging complicated but there are a huge number of online resources to explore and many people get fantastic results with it.
Moho - For feature-rich "bones-based" animation tools, this is the software to get. It's less expensive than some industry standard software but it could still be considered an expensive purchase if you're just fooling around. However, it's very powerful, has built-in vector drawing tools and integrates easily with raster-based tools like Photoshop.
If you're interested in digital art and animation, I highly recommend getting a drawing tablet. You can get a small one for under $50 (perhaps even cheaper). It doesn't have to be made by Wacom (the industry leader). Huion makes a wonderful series of drawing tablets that range from inexpensive to pretty expensive depending on what you need which can be ordered from Amazon. Once you have a tablet (or perhaps you are working on a PC with a stylus) then Krita is a fantastic place to start. Adobe software is industry standard software but access is expensive but there are alternatives as well.
If you haven't chosen a platform yet and are willing to spend a bit of money, certain iPads are a great alternative. There are a lot of wonderful drawing and painting apps and drawing directly on the screen with an Apple Pencil (which is unfortunately an expensive "add-on") works really well. For roughly $500 or higher, you could get an iPad with Apple Pencil. The apps are generally inexpensive...Procreate and Procreate Dreams go for roughly $20 each but are both fantastic.
I hope this helps!
Pierre
pierrefontaine.myportfolio.com
Updated
Brian’s Answer
Hi Vincent,
For 3d animation, Maya is generally considered the go to app. Cinema 4D is also an industry standard for motion graphics and other animation. These apps are generally about the same price, C4D with Maxon one actually is a better deal because you also get a lot of plugins for after-effects for about the same price. Either choice is about $1700 USD per year unless you can get the student discount.
https://www.autodesk.com/education/home
https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students
Blender https://www.blender.org/ is the free version of both of these programs, it is an amazing collection of all sorts of incredible tools. Did I mention it's free?
I am, primarily, a Maya guy. I also use C4D for a lot of freelance work. That being said, I am also spending as much time as I can in Blender because ... well... it's free. The early versions were not as sophisticated as Maya, but the latest version is really, really, good. And there are a ton of online tutorials.
Now let's talk about Unreal Engine... this is a free platform. Also, an incredible set of tools for everything from game design to virtual production. It is my current obsession. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US
Unreal is a game engine that allows you to visualize final lighting in your scenes in real-time. The marketplace called "Fab" has thousands of assets for creating nearly anything you can imagine. Many of the assets are also free. You can save yourself hours of time modeling, texturing, lighting basic models simply by snagging the desired from the marketplace.
For other animating purposes, your profile says "student"- if you have a valid .edu email address you can get access to all the Autodesk apps (Maya included).
Nuke is a compositing program similar to After Effects, you can get a personal license for free. https://www.foundry.com/education/students
If you're looking for more traditional 2D style animating tools, I'd say take a look at Moho Animation. It lists for $399 USD, but if you're a student you can get a discount here:
https://moho.lostmarble.com/pages/education
I don't do a lot with Moho, but I have played with it for many versions, and if I had a job that required that style of animation, I would definitely use it. It has grown up nicely with the tools they have added.
That's all I have for now... good luck
For 3d animation, Maya is generally considered the go to app. Cinema 4D is also an industry standard for motion graphics and other animation. These apps are generally about the same price, C4D with Maxon one actually is a better deal because you also get a lot of plugins for after-effects for about the same price. Either choice is about $1700 USD per year unless you can get the student discount.
https://www.autodesk.com/education/home
https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students
Blender https://www.blender.org/ is the free version of both of these programs, it is an amazing collection of all sorts of incredible tools. Did I mention it's free?
I am, primarily, a Maya guy. I also use C4D for a lot of freelance work. That being said, I am also spending as much time as I can in Blender because ... well... it's free. The early versions were not as sophisticated as Maya, but the latest version is really, really, good. And there are a ton of online tutorials.
Now let's talk about Unreal Engine... this is a free platform. Also, an incredible set of tools for everything from game design to virtual production. It is my current obsession. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US
Unreal is a game engine that allows you to visualize final lighting in your scenes in real-time. The marketplace called "Fab" has thousands of assets for creating nearly anything you can imagine. Many of the assets are also free. You can save yourself hours of time modeling, texturing, lighting basic models simply by snagging the desired from the marketplace.
For other animating purposes, your profile says "student"- if you have a valid .edu email address you can get access to all the Autodesk apps (Maya included).
Nuke is a compositing program similar to After Effects, you can get a personal license for free. https://www.foundry.com/education/students
If you're looking for more traditional 2D style animating tools, I'd say take a look at Moho Animation. It lists for $399 USD, but if you're a student you can get a discount here:
https://moho.lostmarble.com/pages/education
I don't do a lot with Moho, but I have played with it for many versions, and if I had a job that required that style of animation, I would definitely use it. It has grown up nicely with the tools they have added.
That's all I have for now... good luck
Nissa Burkhalter
I specialize in bookkeeping, graphic design, and technical writing, leveraging my expertise to adapt across industries like construction and death care
9
Answers
Updated
Nissa’s Answer
There are some fantastic apps out there for digital art and animation, both paid and free. Here are some of the best options:
Paid Apps:
1. Procreate: A popular choice for iPad users, Procreate offers a wide range of brushes, effects, and tools. It also supports simple animation via its Animation Assist feature.
2. Clip Studio Paint: Great for creating both digital art and animations. It's widely used for manga and comic creation.
3. Adobe Photoshop: Known for digital painting, photo editing, and illustration. It’s also great for creating frame-by-frame animations.
4. Toon Boom Harmony: A professional tool used by studios for 2D animation.
5. Autodesk Maya: Best for 3D animation, widely used in film and TV production.
Free Apps:
1. Krita: An excellent free digital painting app with a huge range of brushes and tools for illustration, digital painting, and basic animation.
2. Blender: A powerful open-source program for creating animations, games, motion tracking, and more.
3. Pencil2D: A simple, open-source app designed specifically for traditional 2D animation.
4. Medibang Paint: Fantastic for illustration and comic book creation, with a lot of brushes, textures, and cloud storage.
5. Autodesk Sketchbook: A clean, easy-to-use sketching tool with a variety of brushes and drawing features.
These apps should help you explore your creativity and improve your digital art and animation skills.
Enjoy creating!
Paid Apps:
1. Procreate: A popular choice for iPad users, Procreate offers a wide range of brushes, effects, and tools. It also supports simple animation via its Animation Assist feature.
2. Clip Studio Paint: Great for creating both digital art and animations. It's widely used for manga and comic creation.
3. Adobe Photoshop: Known for digital painting, photo editing, and illustration. It’s also great for creating frame-by-frame animations.
4. Toon Boom Harmony: A professional tool used by studios for 2D animation.
5. Autodesk Maya: Best for 3D animation, widely used in film and TV production.
Free Apps:
1. Krita: An excellent free digital painting app with a huge range of brushes and tools for illustration, digital painting, and basic animation.
2. Blender: A powerful open-source program for creating animations, games, motion tracking, and more.
3. Pencil2D: A simple, open-source app designed specifically for traditional 2D animation.
4. Medibang Paint: Fantastic for illustration and comic book creation, with a lot of brushes, textures, and cloud storage.
5. Autodesk Sketchbook: A clean, easy-to-use sketching tool with a variety of brushes and drawing features.
These apps should help you explore your creativity and improve your digital art and animation skills.
Enjoy creating!
Updated
Mary Patrice’s Answer
Hey, Vincent! When I first dove into digital art, I tried out a bunch of apps, but I found IbisPaint X to be a fantastic starting point. It's free, and I've spent hours using it myself! The interface is super easy to understand, and it works on both Apple and Samsung devices. Once you get the hang of creating art, you might want to explore Procreate. It’s another amazing tool, and it even has animation features if you’re interested in trying that out! I think you’ll have a lot of fun exploring both!
Updated
jose’s Answer
There's a lot of software out there. For starting up, procreate, Clip Studio Paint or Blender are great for animation/digital illustration. I used Adobe Photoshop for a very long time, but nowadays Clip Studio Paint is the one I sing praises to.
My suggestion is to see if they have a try-out option and just mess with those for a bit. Depending on how comfortable you get with it, then it's worth considering how much money you'd like to spend on it.
And following some of the comments said- it's about what suits you best, which in order to find that out, you just have to try them.
Keep making art! And share it if you can.
My suggestion is to see if they have a try-out option and just mess with those for a bit. Depending on how comfortable you get with it, then it's worth considering how much money you'd like to spend on it.
And following some of the comments said- it's about what suits you best, which in order to find that out, you just have to try them.
Keep making art! And share it if you can.
Updated
Sydney’s Answer
Hello! There are a lot of amazing options out there now for free or one time payments. I'll talk about the ones I've specifically used, but there are definitely other options!
Aseprite is a wonderful cheap option for pixel art. It is available for $20 on Steam (with frequent sales down to $10-15), or if you're handy with code and are able to compile the files yourself, it is available for free on their Github! It's an easy to understand and well structured app with some animation capabilities. It is a little lacking as there are no good ways to add layers.
Clip Studio Paint is another great option. It is more expensive than other options I will discuss, but when compared to anything in the Adobe suite, it is cheaper. It is for sale for $60, though it frequently goes on sale for around $40. It is a very powerful program that may seem complex or overwhelming for new users, however there are thousands of tutorials available all over the web! It is worth noting, to get the most out of this program you will need a drawing tablet and stylus. There are also thousands of videos breaking down the pros and cons of different brands, but as a beginner the differences won't matter much. The budget options for these tablets are around $40-60. Either way, the program can be used without a tablet and you could find cheaper tablets second hand.
Procreate is my personal favorite. It does require owning an iPad, and unfortunately isn't available on Android devices. To get the most out of it would also require using an Apple pencil which are very pricey at $80-100 for a brand new one. For this I may recommend buying used. Procreate itself however is only $13! It is incredibly simplistic, but is still capable of a lot of complex designs. It is probably the most beginner friendly option. It also has some limited animation capabilities. For $20 extra, you can unlock more complex animation, but I've never used it personally.
Aseprite is a wonderful cheap option for pixel art. It is available for $20 on Steam (with frequent sales down to $10-15), or if you're handy with code and are able to compile the files yourself, it is available for free on their Github! It's an easy to understand and well structured app with some animation capabilities. It is a little lacking as there are no good ways to add layers.
Clip Studio Paint is another great option. It is more expensive than other options I will discuss, but when compared to anything in the Adobe suite, it is cheaper. It is for sale for $60, though it frequently goes on sale for around $40. It is a very powerful program that may seem complex or overwhelming for new users, however there are thousands of tutorials available all over the web! It is worth noting, to get the most out of this program you will need a drawing tablet and stylus. There are also thousands of videos breaking down the pros and cons of different brands, but as a beginner the differences won't matter much. The budget options for these tablets are around $40-60. Either way, the program can be used without a tablet and you could find cheaper tablets second hand.
Procreate is my personal favorite. It does require owning an iPad, and unfortunately isn't available on Android devices. To get the most out of it would also require using an Apple pencil which are very pricey at $80-100 for a brand new one. For this I may recommend buying used. Procreate itself however is only $13! It is incredibly simplistic, but is still capable of a lot of complex designs. It is probably the most beginner friendly option. It also has some limited animation capabilities. For $20 extra, you can unlock more complex animation, but I've never used it personally.
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Mr.’s Answer
Tools don’t make the artist—practice does. Pick one, master it, and build skill over software. Even the best app won’t save bad fundamentals.