A simplified interface, strong photo-to-art Focus and the low price make painter essentials a great buy.

New realism for bristled brushes and automatic painting that approaches manual quality give Painter X an edge.

Coming from a graphics and illustration background, I have always felt much more comfortable with the tools I use in real media (ie: pens, markers, watercolours on paper, cardboard, etc) than with the hardware interfaces I was presented with when desktop publishing swept the industry.

Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package