Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone. Krita is an advanced and modular painting application. Krita is built around two core libraries: pigment and kritaimage. The pigment library abstracts colorspaces and color transformations. ColorSpaces provide functions to manipulate pixels. The kritcolor library loads colorspace plugins to extend the range of available colorspaces.
Windows¶
Windows users can download Krita from the website, the Windows Store, or Steam.
The versions on the Store and Steam cost money, but are functionally identical to the(free) website version. Unlike the website version, however, both paid versionsget automatic updates when new versions of Krita comes out. After deduction ofthe Store fee, the purchase cost supports Krita development.
The latest version is always on our website.
The page will try to automatically recommend the correct architecture (64- or 32-bit), but you can select “All Download Versions” to get more choices. To determine your computer architecture manually, go to Settings ‣ About. Your architecture will be listed as the System Type in the Device Specifications section.
Krita by default downloads an installer EXE, but you can also download a portable ZIP file version instead. Unlike the installer version, this portable version does not show previews in Windows Explorer automatically. To get these previews with the portable version, also install Krita’s Windows Shell Extension (available on the download page).
These files are also available from the KDE download directory.
For a small fee, you can download Krita from the Windows Store. This version requires Windows 10.
For a small fee, you can also download Krita from Steam.
To download a portable version of Krita go to the KDE download directoryand get the ZIP file instead of the setup.exe installer.
Note
Krita requires Windows 7 or newer. The Store version requires Windows 10.
Linux¶
Many Linux distributions package the latest version of Krita. Sometimesyou will have to enable an extra repository. Krita runs fine under mostdesktop environments such as KDE, Gnome, LXDE, Xfce etc. – even though itis a KDE application and needs the KDE libraries. You might also want toinstall the KDE system settings module and tweak the GUI theme and fonts used,depending on your distributions.
Nautilus/Nemo file extensions¶
Since April 2016, KDE’s Dolphin file manager shows KRA and ORA thumbnails bydefault, but Nautilus and its derivatives need an extension. Werecommend Moritz Molch’s extensions for XCF, KRA, ORA and PSDthumbnails.
Appimages¶
For Krita 3.0 and later, first try out the appimage from the website.90% of the time this is by far the easiest way to get thelatest Krita. Just download the appimage, and then use the fileproperties or the bash command chmod to make the appimage executable.Double click it, and enjoy Krita. (Or run it in the terminal with./appimagename.appimage)
- Open the terminal into the folder you have the appimage.
- Make it executable:
- Run Krita!
Appimages are ISOs with all the necessary libraries bundled inside, that means nofiddling with repositories and dependencies, at the cost of a slight bitmore disk space taken up (And this size would only be bigger if you wereusing Plasma to begin with).
Ubuntu and Kubuntu¶
It does not matter which version of Ubuntu you use, Krita will run justfine. However, by default, only a very old version of Krita isavailable. You should either use the appimage, flatpak or the snap availablefrom Ubuntu’s app store. We also maintain a ppa for getting the latest builds of Krita,you can read more about the ppa and install instructions here.
OpenSUSE¶
The latest stable builds are available from KDE:Extra repo:
Note
Krita is also in the official repos, you can install it from Yast.
Fedora¶
Krita is in the official repos, you can install it by using packagekit (Add/Remove Software) or by writing the following command in terminal.
dnfinstallkrita
You can also use the software center such as gnome software center or Discover to install Krita.
Debian¶
The latest version of Krita available in Debian is 3.1.1.To install Krita type the following line in terminal:
aptinstallkrita
Arch¶
Arch Linux provides krita package in the Extra repository. You caninstall Krita by using the following command:
pacman-Skrita
You can also find Krita pkgbuild in arch user repositories, but it is not guaranteed to contain the latest git version.
Flatpak¶
We also have Flatpak for nightlies and stable builds, these builds are not maintained by the core developers themselves. You can either get the builds from the KDE community website or from the Flathub Maintainers. The KDE community website only offers nightly builds of flatpak.
To install flatpak build from the software center just open the flatpakrepo files with Discover or the software center provided by your distribution:
After adding one of the above repos you can then search for Krita and the software center will show you the flatpak version for installation.
If you prefer doing it from terminal you can use the following commands to install Krita’s flatpak build
For KDE Flatpak Repo:
flatpak--userremote-add--if-not-existskdeapps--fromhttps://distribute.kde.org/kdeapps.flatpakrepo
flatpak--userinstallkdeappsorg.kde.krita-nightly
For installing it from Flathub Repo:
flatpak--userremote-add--if-not-existsflathubhttps://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak--userinstallkdeappsorg.kde.krita
Snaps¶
There are snap packages provided by the Ubuntu snap developers, these are generally not up to date. The Krita Developers do not provide or build the snap packages themselves.To install Krita as a snap package, first install snapd application. Snapd is installed by default on Ubuntu distributions.
If you are on Ubuntu distribution then Krita’s snap package may show up in the software center, or you can run the following command in terminal
Note
The Flatpak and Snap builds are not tested by the core developers of Krita, so you may encounter some bugs while running Krita installed from them.
OS X¶
You can download the latest binary from ourwebsite.The binaries work only with Mac OSX version 10.12 and newer.
Source¶
While it is certainly more difficult to compile Krita from source thanit is to install from prebuilt packages, there are certain advantagesthat might make the effort worth it:
- You can follow the development of Krita on the foot. If you compileKrita regularly from the development repository, you will be able toplay with all the new features that the developers are working on.
- You can compile it optimized for your processor. Most pre-built packagesare built for the lowest-common denominator.
- You will be getting all the bug fixes as soon as possible as well.
- You can help the developers by giving us your feedback on features asthey are being developed, and you can test bug fixes for us. This ishugely important, which is why our regular testers get their name inthe about box just like developers.
Of course, there are also some disadvantages: when building from the currentdevelopment source repository you also get all the unfinished features.It might mean less stability for a while, or things shown in the userinterface that don’t work. But in practice, there is seldom really badinstability, and if it is, it’s easy for you to go back to a revisionthat does work.
So… If you want to start compiling from source, begin with the latestbuild instructions from the guide here.
If you encounter any problems, or if you are new to compiling software,don’t hesitate to contact the Krita developers. There are three maincommunication channels:
- irc: webchat.freenode.net, channel #krita
Brush Packs¶
Concept art & Illustration Pack¶ | |
Vasco Basqué¶ | Wolthera¶ |
Raghukamath¶ | |
IForce73¶ | Rakurri¶ Your computer was restarted because of a problem macOS Catalina. This is a beast of a Mac and well in the premium support window where Apple is highly motivated to learn all the ways this happens. Let us know what you do, whether it's a return / exchange or you sort it out. Your computer was restarted because of a problem. Your computer restarted because of a problem mac catalina vmware. That means what in case of restart loop because of lack of free space you need to boot into recovery mode by holding Cmd + R right after machine starts, and go into Restore from Time Machine Backup there: you will have local time machine backups and will. As confirmed by many users, this fixes macOS Catalina stuck on reboot problem. To perform this, you will need Terminal app: Click Launchpad Terminal. Now paste in the following command: mkdir /Extensions-Backup && sudo mv /Library/Extensions/. /Extensions-Backup/. |
Vector libraries¶
Composition templates¶
Inside the zip archive you’ll find all composition templates separate and in a form of a vector library, so all the shapes are easy to access after the import.
The composition templates include: rule of thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, golden triangle 1, golden triangle 2, harmonious triangle, film safe area template, baroque diagonal and centre.
Link: https://gumroad.com/l/CHhlx
Feather icons¶
A set of open source icons from https://feathericons.com but in a Vector Library form, so it can be easily accessed from inside Krita after the import. Each icon is designed on a 24x24 grid with an emphasis on simplicity, consistency, and flexibility.
Link: https://github.com/MiAlmeida/krita-feather
Templates¶
Templates are .kra files that you can base your new documents on. To learn more see Templates:.
Storyboard template¶
The layout and layer setup is inspired by traditional Studio Ghibli storyboards, and Tony Gaddis’ storyboarding process.
Link: https://gumroad.com/l/PtMtm
User-made Python Plugins¶
This list describes only plugins that are not available in Krita, so you need to download and install the ones you’d like to use.
See also
If you want to check descriptions of a plugin available in Krita by default (without a need to download), see Pre-installed Python plugins.
To learn how to install and manage your plugins, see Managing Python plugins.
If you want to know more about an individual plugin, you can access the plugin’s manual by going to Settings ‣ Configure Krita… menu, and then choosing the
PythonPluginManager
tab. Then you can click on a specific plugin and the manual will appear in the bottom text area.Caution
Custom Python plugins are made by users of Krita and the Krita team does not guarantee that they work, that they are useful or that they are safe. Note that a Python plugin can do everything that Krita can do, which means for example access to your files. Krita team isn’t responsible for any damage you might suffer from a custom plugin, this list is informational purposes only and you install any of the custom plugins on your own risk.
If you have information that any of the plugins below is dangerous for the user, please contact Krita team on [email protected].
Usability¶
Direct Eraser
Plugin to switch to an eraser preset and back using one shortcut.
ThreeSlots
This plugin creates three brushtool shortcuts that remembers last used brush preset for each slot independently from each other. It also remembers the size of the brush. One of the slots is for the eraser and it has the eraser mode permanently turned on, while the other two slots have it turned off.
QuickColor
Plugin that adds actions to switch the foreground color to a desired color from a specified palette. The number of actions, which means colors as well, is limited.
BrushColorSwitch
This plugin adds an action/shortcut to switch both a brush and foreground/background color at once.
Tablet Controls Docker (TabUI)
On-screen Canvas Shortcuts
Plugin that adds an onscreen button bar with shortcuts for Krita.
Workflow improvements¶
AnimLayers (Animate with Layers)
With this plugin you can animate a specific range of layers by prefixing the layer name with the same letters.Then in the AnimLayers dialog you can enter the prefix in the Key field.
Reference Image Docker (old style)
Docker for reference images, modeled after the old Reference Images Docker in Krita. Alternative to Reference Images Tool. Mathil twitch.
Mirror Fix
This plugin allows you to correct symmetry errors for example after a transformation of a part of the image.
ToggleRefLayer
This plugin lets you assign a keyboard shortcut to toggle the visibility of a reference layer named “reference”.
Shotgun Toolkit Engine for Krita
This plugin allows working in a managed way, loading/saving/publishing artwork, keeping it up to date and publishing your projects and layers into Shotgun Toolkit Engine.
Photobash Images Docker
Simple Krita Plugin that lists the images you have on a folder you specify, with the ability to filter by words in the path. After setting the references directory in Photobash Images docker you can:
- Filter images by words. Using multiple words like “rock marble” will show all the images that have rock OR marble in the name.
- Scroll the pages to access more results.
- Click on an image to create a layer, with the scale that you specify.
File management¶
![Krita online Krita online](/uploads/1/3/7/5/137554564/641340448.png)
Art Revision Control (using GIT)
This plugin helps managing multiple versions of the artwork.
Spine File Format Export
This plugin exports the document in a format compatible with Spine. The README describes what kind of structure the document needs to have to be exported properly. Besides exported images, the plugin creates
spine.json
file.Color selectors¶
Pigment.O - Color Picker
Universal advanced color picker.
Interface¶
UI Redesign
Plugin that modifies the overall look and feel of the Krita UI Interface. Enables the Toolbox and Tool Options to be toggled, similarly to Blender’s UI.
Features a flat theme that can be seen in the repository’s README.md section. To give feedback, either create an issue, or join the discussion the thread on Krita Artists.
Krita Artists Thread: https://krita-artists.org/t/call-for-krita-ui-redesign-plugin-testers/9604
Repository Link: https://github.com/veryprofessionaldodo/Krita-UI-Redesign
Subwindow Organizer
Helps with handling multiple documents in subwindow mode. Introduces responsive fullscreen with other subwindows opened, dynamic snapping of subwindows to canvas borders, drag and drop switching between subwindows, and more.
KanvasBuddy
This is a small dialog that floats on top of the canvas packed with enough features to let you spend as much time in Canvas-Only mode as possible.The idea behind KB was to provide the 20% of tools used 80% of the time in the most out-of-the-way GUI possible.
Source, main page and download link: https://github.com/Kapyia/KanvasBuddy
Krita-artists thread: https://krita-artists.org/t/kanvasbuddy-a-minimalist-toolbar/549
Miscellaneous¶
Timer Watch - Time Management Tool
This plugin adds a timer. You can start it, stop, pause when you want to take a break and restart afterwards. You can set up an alarm to remind you to take a break.
Post images on Mastodon
With this plugin you can post images on Mastodon from inside of Krita.
Bash Action (works with OSX and Linux)
Plugin that allows you execute Bash commands and programs as actions on your current Krita images.
Other resources¶
Krita Plugin Generator
An extension to VSCode that generates a Plugin Template for Krita (like Krita Script Starter, but directly in VSCode).
Available here: https://github.com/cg-cnu/vscode-krita-plugin-generator
Python auto-complete for text editors
If you have the Krita source code, you can use this Python script to generate the auto-complete file for Python. Many Python editors need a
.py
file to read for auto-complete information. This script reads the C++ header files from Krita’s source code and creates a Python file that can be used for auto-completion.Available here: https://github.com/scottpetrovic/krita-python-auto-complete
External tutorials¶
Krita Website Tutorial
Simón Sanchez’ “Learn to Create Pixel Art from Zero” course on Udemy¶ |
See Something We Missed?¶
Have a resource you made and want to share it with other artists? Let us know on Krita Artists or visit our chat channel to discuss getting the resource added to here.
Krita Artist
Note
Krita Web
We have curated a list of community created resources for Krita. These resources will be hosted on external website, which is not under the control of Krita or KDE. Please report any error or corrections in the content to the Krita developers.