Open source artists should check out the latest release of MyPaint, as it scored a substantial update this weekend.

The new MyPaint 2.0.0 release succeeds MyPaint 1.2, released back in 2017, and brings a stack of new features and improved tools with it.

MyPaint is notable for its compatibility with Wacom graphics tablets (and similar devices), including both pressure and tilt-sensitivity, as well as it’s support for both conventional and unconventional brush types. It also has a full-screen ‘distraction free’ mode.

My Paint 2.0.0 Features

What’s new in MyPaint 2.0.0?

Well, the change log mentions out-of-the-box support for linear compositing and spectral blending of pigments. This change is said to better mimic real-world materials.

A few downsides to this change are also noted, including decreased performance (which will be tackled in a future update) and zero compatibility with other .ora graphics apps like Krita.

Thankfully there is option to switch to MyPaint 1.x compatibility mode. Users can access this in the application’s ‘compatibility’ preferences panel.

A variety of new symmetry painting modes are also available in MyPaint 2.0.0 including ‘Vertical and Horizontal’ and ‘Snowflake’, while other changes include:

Python 3 support

Layer views

Brush stroke changes

Expanded flood fill functionality

New brush settings, including offsets, gridmap

Maximum input mapping curve points increased to 64

New brush inputs, including barrel rotation and attack angle

Option to simplify nodes in Inking tool

Integrated bug reporting

Delete autosaves from recovery dialog

And plenty more.

In all, this is an impressive uplift for MyPaint that gives open source artists and creatives better tools and functionalities to create top-tier artwork on no-cost systems.

What is the best drawing app for Ubuntu?

When it comes to drawing apps for Ubuntu, Linux Mint and related Linux distros there’s plenty to choose from.

The GTK-based Drawing tool is the closest thing to Microsoft Paint for Linux, thanks to its simple UI and a basic but well implemented feature set.

MyPaint is a more advanced app than Drawing. It sits somewhere south of the hugely popular Krita and GIMP, but north of Pinta and Photoflare.

Choosing a drawing app is like choosing a pair of new pair of shoes: the only way you really know if they are the right fit for you is to try them on, and have a bit of a walk in them.

Download MyPaint 2.0

MyPaint is free open source software available for Windows, macOS and Linux systems, with links to relevant downloads available on the MyPaint website.

The recommended way to run MyPaint 2.0 on Linux is using the official .appimage release.

App Images are distro-agnostic runtimes that come with all the dependencies needed to run a given app. This means the MyPaint AppImage will run on almost every Linux distro out there.

Download MyPaint 2.0 (.AppImage)

MyPaint is also available to install as a Flatpak app from Flathub, however at the time of writing the latest version is not yet available.

There does not appear to be an updated third-party MyPaint PPA available at the time of writing.