I don’t remember if I’ve shared this before but I was reminded by seeing that Clip Studio Paint can work on Linux via Wine. (Though apparently there can be difficulties and CSP can be expensive to buy outright or involve a subscription?)

If you happen to have an iPhone (even secondhand and as old as iPhone 13… which is still pretty new tbh…) you can buy Procreate Pocket for a one off of $9.99 to draw on your phone with your finger or whatever cheap stylus. Procreate for iPad is $19.99.

For Android there are free or cheap options (Reddit link).

Ibis Paint seems to be a popular option (Reddit link) for Android phone (free with in app purchases) but isn’t the only one. Apologies that I can’t find a neat list of free Android apps that are specifically for phone - even with Boolean search the search engines seem to have enshittified and I am tired.

Ps. Some might say that having an iPhone or iPad isn’t frugal.

However it might have been a gift, bought before hard times came, secondhand, a work phone, part of a family plan, a loaner, a donation from a domestic violence service, or simply bought for the functionality to do everything without buying a separate computer.

Let’s not fuss about it. I think we can all work to get the most out of what we have regardless of what it is.

  • alansuspect
    3·
    6 hours ago

    Not sure if it’s what you’re looking for but I use https://photopea.com a lot, I didn’t need Photoshop enough to pay for it and this is a very good alternative. It’s a website but everything happens on your local machine.

    On my iPad I also use Respite for pixel art since Aseprite doesn’t have an iPad version.

  • maniacalmanicmania
    3·
    7 hours ago

    I went poking around in F-Droid (an alternative app ‘store’ for FOSS for Android) and found an official Krita release from a couple of years ago (early 2023).

    It does not have a mobile UI. Whatever UI toolkit it’s built with scales nicely to my phone but it’s definately not practical and/or of any use on a phone (that being said it may work fine on a more powerful phone with a stylus).

    It might be better for an Android tablet though, but I don’t have the hardware to check it out.

    • guismoEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      I don’t know on mobile, but on desktop Krita is the Blender of open source. Superior to photoshop in many ways. Oddly i always see people suggesting Gimp, which is like a toy compared to Krita in my opinion.

      • maniacalmanicmania
        2·
        2 hours ago

        My understanding is Krita started off and continues be a drawing/painting program with support for various tablets, digital pens/stylus whereas GIMP is for image manipulation (working with existing images in the vein of photoshop). I think for many people they find that they are able to accomplish most of their needs in either/or program.

        Funny thing is I use Inkscape for my modest layout and design needs, even though it’s a vector graphics program.