Are you old enough to remember MacPaint on the first few generations of the Mac? If so, you’re old. Apple dropped MacPaint many generations ago.
It didn’t do much, being black and white and all, but it was the first generation of digital painting and drawing for many gazillions of Mac users. Is there still anything like MacPaint? Almost. Maybe. Yes. And no. Mac users have many apps which do far more than MacPaint of yesteryear.
Or, you can spend a little money on a MacPaint wannabe.
How Much Is This Doggy App In The Window?
If you wake up in the middle of the night pining for another go at MacPaint, try iArt Pro instead. MacPaint it ain’t, but it’s close. And just as useful.
This is not a professional app that should be compared to Pixelmator or Acorn or Photoshop Elements or any Mac app that paints and draws.
iArt Pro is like MacPaint, minus a few features, and with a few features the past app never had.
There’s a color palette, a free-form select tool, the traditional polygonal lasso, and an erase.
Big whoop, right? Right! You can fill using the paint bucket filler, magnify portions of the screen, draw with pencil or brush or line.
It even lets you drop in text, and tosses in a few photographic functions such as blur, sharpen, burn, dodge, and sponge effects.
Yes, it’s fun, especially so if you’ve never ever in your whole digital Mac life used a paint or drawing app.
If you have, then iArt Pro isn’t so much pro as amateur.
Some of the photography effects are a nice touch, but basics are missing like different size brushes.
Hello? This is the 21st century already.
A Mac painting and drawing app needs basic tools. Yes, it’s only a click to email your creation to someone, but what will they think of a photo or drawing that’s of 3rd grade level?
If you really want to relive the days of MacPaint, then try Paintbrush. It’s free and looks and feels more like the original.
If you’re still in a pining mood about reliving your Mac childhood days with onscreen painting and drawing, head to the Mac App Store and enter the search word, paint.
iPaint is as simple as it gets for a couple of bucks. Better must just as impel is Paint FX, perfect for the toddler in you. Kids Paint will set you back a trip to Starbucks, but your kids will love you for it.
Or, go stark raving crazy on your bad self and try out Kid Pix 3D (so you’ll miss a car payment).
Once you’ve regained consciousness after looking at the price tag, you’ll see that Kid Pix 3D is what we early Mac adopters envisioned MacPaint to be in the future, adjusted for inflation.
