How to start digital painting on a Mac
Open a new canvas
Choose File ▸ “New”. On the “New Canvas” card, pick a preset such as “Classic” (1024 × 768), or type a “Width” and “Height” from 64 to 8192 px.
Pick a paper
Under “Surface”, choose one of eight surfaces, such as “Fine Paper” or “Watercolor Paper”. Then click “Create Canvas”.
Pick up a brush
Click a tool in the floating tools palette, then click it again to see its styles. Or press a key: P for Pencil, B for Brush, E for Eraser.
Steady your line
Click “Tool Options” and drag “Steady” to the right for smoother mouse or trackpad strokes. Press [ and ] to change the brush size.
Zoom, pan and turn the paper
Pinch to zoom, hold Space and drag to pan, and twist two fingers on the trackpad to rotate the canvas. ⌥⌘0 straightens it.
Replay and export
Choose View ▸ “Replay Session” (⇧⌘R) to watch your session rebuild in about 10 seconds. Then save a copy with File ▸ “Export as PNG…”.
Digital painting software for Mac: what you need
You need a Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, a mouse, trackpad or pen tablet, and digital painting software. Paint My is a native Mac app that needs no account, works offline and uploads nothing you paint.
Its 57 brush styles come in 12 tool families, and the painting brushes behave like real media. Pencils, pens, markers and washes are translucent and build up where strokes overlap; oil, gouache and acrylic cover. Each style shows a preview stroke drawn by the app’s own paint engine. See every one on the brushes for digital painting page.
The free version gives you 14 styles, a five-color palette, 3 layers, 50 undo steps and one canvas open at a time. Every export is free. Pro opens all 57 styles, with no layer limit and no undo step limit. Prefer line to color? Start with the sketching app for Mac guide.
How to draw on a MacBook without a tablet
A trackpad or mouse is enough to start. A mouse has no pressure, so Paint My draws mouse strokes at full pressure.
To tame wobbly lines, raise “Steady” in “Tool Options” and Paint My smooths the stroke as you draw. Set its starting value in Settings ▸ Tools ▸ “Default Stabilization”.
Pinch to zoom up to 6400%, scroll with two fingers to pan, and twist two fingers to turn the canvas. Let go near a right angle and it snaps square.
A pen tablet adds what a mouse can’t: 46 styles respond to pressure and 13 shade with tilt. The drawing tablet for Mac guide explains both.
Digital painting for beginners: which canvas and paper
A larger preset, such as “Square” (2048 × 2048) or “Cinema” (2560 × 1440), gives you more pixels for detail. Choose with care, because a canvas can’t be resized or cropped later.
The eight surfaces are “Fine Paper” (the default), “Watercolor Paper”, “Kraft”, “Linen Canvas”, “Slate”, “Whiteboard”, “Matte White” and “Transparent”. Switch any time with the “Surface” chips in the Studio sidebar. PNG exports leave the surface out; JPEG exports use its flat color (white for “Transparent”).
By default, brushes behave the same on every surface and match their previews. Turn on Settings ▸ Tools ▸ “Paper texture affects brushes”, and grainy pencils, pastels, chalks and washes catch the tooth of the paper. For washes that settle with darker edges, see the watercolor app for Mac guide.
Learn as you paint: layers, samples and replay
Each new tool and color starts its own layer automatically, named after its color and tool, such as “Red HB Graphite”. Free paintings get new layers until they have 3; then you keep painting on the layer in hand. The drawing app with layers for Mac guide covers the 27 blend modes.
To see a drawing come together, choose File ▸ “Open Building Sketch Sample” or “Open Toy Car Sample”. Both draw themselves stroke by stroke as they open. A sample replaces the canvas in front, so open it in an empty one.
Replay Session (⇧⌘R) plays back the edits still in your undo history in about 10 seconds, inside the app: up to 50 in the free version. For a painting reopened from disk, only edits made since then replay.
Questions
What do I need to start digital painting on a Mac?
A Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, a mouse or trackpad, and painting software such as Paint My, which is a free download. A pen tablet is optional; it adds pressure on 46 styles and tilt on 13.
Can you paint digitally with a mouse or trackpad?
Yes. Mouse strokes draw at full pressure, and “Steady” in “Tool Options” smooths shaky lines.
How do I draw on a MacBook without a tablet?
Use the trackpad: click and drag to paint, raise “Steady” for smoother strokes, and hold Space and drag to pan.
Which canvas size and paper should I start with?
“Classic” (1024 × 768) on “Fine Paper” is where Paint My starts until you choose otherwise. For washes, try “Watercolor Paper”; for chalk, “Slate”. You can change the surface later, but not the size.
Can I watch how I painted it?
Yes. View ▸ “Replay Session” (⇧⌘R) replays the current session in about 10 seconds, inside Paint My. There is no time-lapse video export.
Do I need an account?
No. Paint My doesn’t ask you to sign in, it works offline, and nothing you paint is uploaded.
