Tux Paint – drawing software designed for children

Tux Paint is a free and open source, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 (for example, preschool and K-6).

Tux Paint is used in schools around the world as a computer literacy drawing activity. Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative. Along with paintbrush, shapes and text, Tux Paint includes a “stamp” feature to add pre-drawn or photographic imagery to pictures, and a set of “magic tools” that provide filter effects (like blur, tint and waves) and interesting drawing tools (like train tracks, bubbles and grass).

Tux Paint includes a collection of “starter” images, both coloring-book style
and photo-realistic, and a large collections of stamps are available as a separate download. Additional content can be added by parents and teachers, or downloaded from 3rd parties.

It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program.

Key Features

• Simple interface.
• Entertaining interface.
• Drawing Tools:
  • Paint brush
    • Various brushes available.
    • Parents/teachers can add more brushes.
    • Brushes can be animated.
    • Brushes can change shape depending on the direction they’re drawn.
    • Alternate color palettes can be created and used.
    • Color picker, for choosing colors from a drawing.
  • Rubber stamp
    • Hundreds of photographic and cartoon stamps images are available.
    • Parents/teachers can add more stamps and create categories.
    • Stamps can have descriptive text and sound samples (names, facts, etc.) and/or sound effects assigned to them
    • Stamps can be resized, flipped and mirrored.
    • Raster bitmaps (Portable Network Graphics (PNG)) with full-color and alpha transparency (32bpp RGBA) supported.
    • Vector graphics (Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)) supported.
  • Line tool
    • Uses Paint Brush’s brushes.
    • ‘Rubberband’ shows where the line will be drawn as you move the mouse.
  • Shape tool:
    • Draw various filled and unfilled polygonal shapes.
    • Rotate shapes (this feature can be disabled for younger children).
  • Text and Label tools:
    • Come with various fonts.
    • Bold, italic and size can be changed.
    • Parents/teachers can add more fonts.
    • Supports numerous languages.
    • Labels may be moved or edited later.
  • ‘Magic’ (special effects) tool:
    • Blind – pull window blinds down, or across, the picture.
    • Blocks – turn parts of the picture ‘blocky’.
    • Blur – blur parts of the picture using the mouse.
    • Bricks – paint realistic large or small brick patterns.
    • Calligraphy – a smooth brush that changes thickness depending on how quickly you stroke.
    • Cartoon – make parts of the picture look like a cartoon.
    • Chalk – make parts of the picture look like a chalk drawing.
    • Color & White – turn the picture monotone.
    • Color Shift – Jumble the colors of the picture.
    • Confetti – Throw confetti over your picture.
    • Darken – darken the colors of parts of the picture.
    • Distortion – slightly alters the position of the picture under the brush.
    • Drip – make parts of the picture look like it’s dripping away.
    • Edges – outline the edges of shapes in your picture.
    • Emboss – gives the image’s edges highlights and shadows.
    • Fill – ‘flood-fill’ an area with a particular color.
    • Fisheye – view parts of your picture through a fish-eye lens.
    • Flip – flip the image vertically.
    • Flower – draws curvy-stalked flowers.
    • Foam – paints foamy bubbles that grow as you move the mouse.
    • Fold – fold down the corners of your picture.
    • Glass Tile – see your drawing through glass tiles.
    • Grass – paint realistic clumps of grass on the screen and into the distance.
    • Hexagon Mosaic – create a pattern of hexagons.
    • Irregular Mosaic – turn your picture into a mosaic of shards.
    • Kaleidoscope – four symmetric brushes.
    • Light – draw beams of bright light on your picture.
    • Lighten – fade the colors of parts of the picture.
    • Metal Paint – paints shiny metallic colors.
    • Mirror – flip the image horizontally.
    • Mosaic – make your picture into a mosaic of colors.
    • Negative – invert the colors of parts of the picture.
    • Noise – add random noise to your picture.
    • Perspective – bend your picture to view it from different perspectives.
    • Picasso – a triplet of brushes that paint in unison.
    • Puzzle – shift parts of your picture around like it’s a sliding puzzle.
    • ROYGBIV Rainbow – draw a rainbow arc of seven solid colors.
    • Rails – draw connecting train tracks.
    • Rain – add raindrops to your picture.
    • Rainbow – draw using a brush that paints in all colors in the rainbow.
    • Real Rainbow – draw a colorful arc based on a real photo of a rainbow.
    • Ripples – rippled waves over your image.
    • Rosette – three brushes that draw in a rosette pattern.
    • Shift – move the entire picture around.
    • Silhouette – turn parts of your picture into a silhouette.
    • Smudge – push the colors around as though smudging wet paint.
    • Snow Ball – cover your picture in snowballs.
    • Snow Flake – cover your picture in snowflakes.
    • Square Mosaic – create a pattern of squares.
    • String V – draw V-shaped string art.
    • String corner – draw string art.
    • String edges – draw string art around the edges of your picture.
    • TV – make your picture look like it’s on a television.
    • Tint – change the color of parts of the picture.
    • Toothpaste – paint with colorful gel.
    • Tornado – add a tornado funnel to your picture.
    • Wavelets – wiggle your picture up and down.
    • Waves – wiggle your picture side to side.
    • Wet Paint – draw with wet, smudgy paint.
    • Zoom – zoom your entire picture in or out.
• Cross-platform support – runs under Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and iOS.

Website: tuxpaint.org
Support: Documentation, Mailing Lists
Developer: Bill Kendrick and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

Tux Paint is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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