clone called Sketcher. After the Corel acquisition, Art Dabbler 2 was reintroduced as Corel Painter Essentials, now in its sixth incarnation. In 2007, Corel released version Painter X, which was at first available in a limited edition paint can, a nod to the packaging for early releases of the software. Painter Essentials Corel Painter Essentials is a less complex version of Painter designed for casual users. Multimedia tutorials, a more intuitive workspace, additional automated tasks and emphasis on photo retouching are some of the features included to appeal to beginners. Painter and Painter Essentials share much of the same underlying code, and have many of the same tools and functions. For professional artists Essentials will offer fewer tools and variants, and considerably less control. Actual in 2021 is Version 8. Painter Sketch Pad Corel Painter Sketch Pad, launched in January 2009, is the newest member of the Painter product series. Sketch Pad focuses on the conception and early design phase of image creation. It has 13 drawing tools compared to Painter's almost 900 brushes, and a simple user interface that supports quick capturing of creative ideas. It is designed to work with a pen and drawing tablet. Reception In 2014, PC World called Painter "the best natural-media painting program out there." In 2015, PC Magazine called it "The best software at simulating painting and working with artistic media". In 2017, ZDNet said it "remains one of the best digital painting tools for anyone with the skill to use traditional painting techniques onscreen". See also Comparison of raster graphics editors References External links Corel Painter Website Corel Website Corel Painter 2015 Help Interview with Mark Zimmer for German public radio, 1996 Painter at the Open Directory Project Official Corel Painter Magazine Corel Painter X Master's Gallery Apple's resolution-independent interface - a subsequent work from Zimmer Corel software Raster graphics editors Digital art macOS software Windows software