Tux Paint logo

Tux Paint


▤ Menu | ⇩ Download Tux Paint

Features of Tux Paint

From the gallery: Boyboss by SERENA

Tux Paint is easy to use, includes countless fun effects, and provides many configuration options.


Multi-Platform

Tux Paint works on Windows (Windows 7 through Windows 11), macOS (10.10 Yosemite and up), Android (including Chromebooks), Linux, and Haiku OS.

Windows macOS Android ChromeOS Linux Haiku

Simple Interface

  • A number of useful drawing tools are made available. (See Drawing Tools, below.)
  • The drawing canvas is a fixed size, so the user doesn't need to worry about 'pixels' or 'inches' when making a new picture.
  • The entire program fits on a screen as small as 640x480, and can be displayed full-screen, to hide the computer's underlying 'desktop' interface. (It defaults to 800x600 mode, but can run at larger sizes and in portrait or landscape mode, as well.)
  • Loading and saving of images is done using thumbnails, so no knowledge of the underlying operating system's filesystem structure is needed. Even filenames are unnecessary.
  • Images can be exported from Tux Paint (e.g., to your "Pictures" folder).

Entertaining Interface

  • Fun sound effects are played when tools are selected and used.
  • A cartoon version of Tux, the Linux penguin, appears at the bottom to give tips, hints and information.

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
    • Brushes can point the direction that's being drawn
    • Brush spacing can be adjusted
    • Alternate color palettes can be created and used
    • Color picker, for choosing colors from a drawing
    • Keyboard shortcut for quickly invoking the color picker
    • Color mixer, for combining primary colors together
  • 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 🐻
    • Rotate stamps 🐻
    • 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
  • Fill
    • 'Flood-fill' an area with a particular color
    • Fill an area with a solid color
    • Fill an area with a radial gradient
    • Fill an area with a shaped gradient
    • Interactively fill an area with a linear gradient
    • Interactively fill an area with a solid color using freehand brushstrokes
  • Shape tool
    • Draw various filled and unfilled polygonal shapes
    • Rotate shapes 🐻
    • Draw shapes from the center, or from a corner 🐻
  • Text and Label tools
    • Tux Paint ships with a variety of fonts
    • Parents/teachers can add more fonts
    • Bold and italic style supported; text size can be changed
    • Supports numerous languages (See International Character Input, below)
    • Labels may be moved and edited later
  • 'Magic' (special effects) feature, with over 90 tools!
    • Distorts
      • Blocks - turn parts of the picture 'blocky'
      • Blur - blur parts of the picture using the mouse
      • Chalk - make parts of the picture look like a chalk drawing
      • Circles - turn your picture into circular brush strokes
      • Clone - clone parts of the picture; copy by painting (🐻 (New in 0.9.32))
      • 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
      • Fisheye - view parts of your picture through a fish-eye lense
      • Glass Tile - see your drawing through glass tiles
      • Halftone - turn your picture into newsprint
      • Mosaic - make your picture into a mosaic of colors
      • Hexagon Mosaic - create a pattern of hexagons
      • Irregular Mosaic - turn your picture into a mosaic of shards
      • Square Mosaic - create a pattern of squares
      • Noise - add random noise to your picture
      • Puzzle - shift parts of your picture around like it's a sliding puzzle
      • Rays - turn your picture into linear brush strokes
      • Ripples - rippled waves over your image
      • Sharpen - sharpen the focus of the picture
      • Silhouette - turn parts of your picture into a silhouette
      • Smudge - push the colors around as though smudging wet paint
      • TV - make your picture look like it's on a television
    • Color Filters
      • 3D Glasses - separate red/cyan, to create anaglyphic viewable with 3D glasses
      • Bloom - add a glowing "bloom" effect
      • Cartoon - make parts of the picture look like a cartoon
      • Color Sep. - separate color channels
      • Color Shift - Jumble the colors of the picture
      • Color & White - turn the picture monotone
      • Darken - darken the colors of parts of the picture
      • Desaturate - reduce color saturation of parts of the picture
      • Dither - turn your drawing into a dithered pattern of dots (Coming soon)
      • Double Vision - simulate double vision
      • Keep Color - desaturate of parts of the picture that don't matching a chosen color
      • Lighten - fade the colors of parts of the picture
      • Negative - invert the colors of parts of the picture
      • Opposite - swap colors in the picture with their complementary colors
      • Remove Color - desaturate of parts of the picture that match a chosen color
      • Saturate - increase color saturation of parts of the picture
      • Tint - change the color of parts of the picture
      • Xor colors - colors based on the position drawn on the picture
    • Picture Warps
      • Flip - flip the image vertically
      • Fold - fold down the corners of your picture
      • Kaleido-4, Kaleido-6, & Kaleido-8 - view your drawing through a kaleidoscope
      • Mirror - flip the image horizontally
      • Panels - divide and duplicate your drawing into a 2x2 grid
      • Perspective - bend your picture to view it from different perspectives
      • Reflection - create a reflection of part of your picture
      • Rush - zoom your entire picture in or out, blurring the results
      • Shift - move the entire picture around
      • Stretch - stretch and squash parts of the picture
      • Tile Zoom - zoom your entire picture in or out, tiling the results when scaling down
      • Waves - wiggle your picture side to side
      • Wavelets - wiggle your picture up and down
      • Zoom - zoom your entire picture in or out
    • Projections (New in 0.9.32)
    • Painting
      • Bricks - paint realistic large or small brick patterns
      • Calligraphy - a smooth brush that changes thickness depending on how quickly you stroke
      • Confetti - Throw confetti over your picture
      • Foam - paints foamy bubbles that grow as you move the mouse
      • Fretwork - draw an interlaced decorative design that looks like wooden fretwork
      • Fur - add fur to your drawing
      • Grass - paint realistic clumps of grass on the screen and into the distance
      • Light - draw beams of bright light on your picture
      • Loops - draw circular loop-the-loops
      • Maze - draw randomly-generated maze patterns on your picture
      • Metal Paint - paints shiny metallic colors
      • Pixels - draw 'pixel art' with Tux Paint
      • Rails - draw connecting train tracks
      • Rain - add raindrops to your picture
      • Rainbow - draw using a brush that paints in all colors in the rainbow
      • Ribbon - draw a flowing ribbon
      • Smooth - draw in freehand; when you let go, the shape will be smoothed
      • Smooth Rainbow - draw using a brush that smoothly paints in all colors in the rainbow
      • Specular Reflection - paint a pool-of-water style reflection of your drawing (Coming soon)
      • Squiggles - draw squiggly shapes
      • Toothpaste - paint with colorful gel
      • Wet Paint - draw with wet, smudgy paint
    • Pattern Painting
      • Kaleidoscope - four symmetric brushes
      • Pattern - draws a tiled pattern around the picture
      • Picasso - a triplet of brushes that paint in unison
      • Rosette - three brushes that draw in a rosette pattern
      • Symmetry Left/Right - paint with reflective symmetry across the horizontal center of the image
      • Symmetry Up/Down - paint with reflective symmetry across the vertical center of the image
      • Tiles - Draws a symettric pattern around the picture
    • Picture Decorations
      • Blind - pull window blinds down, or across, the picture
      • Checkerboard - fill the picture with a checkerboard pattern
      • Snow Ball - cover your picture in snowballs
      • Snow Flake - cover your picture in snowflakes
    • Artistic
      • Epitrochoid - creates cyclical ("Spirograph"-like) patterns generated by a circle rolling on the outer edge of another circle (New in 0.9.32)
      • Flower - draws curvy-stalked flowers
      • Googly Eyes - add googly eyes to your picture
      • Hypotrochoid - creates cyclical ("Spirograph"-like) patterns generated by a circle rolling on the inner edge of another circle (New in 0.9.32)
      • Lightning - draw lightning bolts on your picture
      • Real Rainbow - draw a colorful arc based on a real photo of a rainbow
      • ROYGBIV Rainbow - draw a rainbow arc of seven solid colors
      • String V - draw V-shaped string art
      • String corner - draw string art
      • String edges - draw string art around the edges of your picture
      • Tornado - add a tornado funnel to your picture
    • Many magic tools offer multiple size options
    • ... plus, programmers can easily and quickly create new 'Magic' tools using a plug-in interface!
    • Some magic tools react to complexity (user "expertise-level") settings (New in 0.9.32)
  • Eraser
    • Square, round, fuzzy-edged, and transparent (Coming soon) erasers of various sizes
    • Use to expose parts of the background color, Template, or Starter after drawing on it
    • Keyboard shortcut for quickly accessing a small eraser
  • Undo
    • Multiple levels of undo
    • Undo actions can themselves be undone with the 'Redo' button

Commands

  • New
    • Create a new drawing with a blank canvas, a pre-drawn backdrop, or a coloring-book-style outline
  • Save
    • Save a picture to the virtual 'picturebook'
    • One-click save: No file browser dialogs or filename prompts are used
    • If saving an opened picture, choose to save over it (like 'Save' in desktop programs), or save a new picture (like 'Save As')
  • Open
    • Open a previous drawing by selecting its thumbnail in a virtual 'picturebook'
    • Delete previously-saved pictures. On these platforms, images are moved to the 'Trash' or 'Recycle Bin': 🐻
      • Linux/Unix
      • Windows
      • macOS
    • Option allows reversing order of images in the Open dialog
  • Slides
    • View a slideshow of multiple saved drawings
    • Control the speed of playback; create class presentations or simple looping animations
    • Go forward or back using the arrow keys or mouse
    • Slideshows can be exported from Tux Paint as animated GIFs, for sharing on the Internet
  • Starters
    • Various coloring-book-style images included
    • Photographic scenes included, with foreground and background elements that you draw in between
    • Vector graphics (Scalable Vector Graphics ("SVG")) supported
    • Kid Pix templates ("KPX" files) supported
  • Templates
    • Photographic backgrounds that you can draw on; use the Eraser tool to reveal them
    • Turn your own pictures into a new Template right inside Tux Paint
  • Print
    • Print pictures on a printer

Translations

Parts of Tux Paint have currently been translated into the following languages: (129)

  • Acholi
  • Afrikaans
  • Akan
  • Albanian
  • Amharic
  • Arabic
  • Aragones
  • Armenian
  • Assamese
  • Asturian
  • Azerbaijani
  • Bambara
  • Basque
  • Belarusian
  • Bengali
  • Bodo
  • Bosnian
  • Breton
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dogri
  • Dutch
  • English (Australian)
  • English (British)
  • English (Canadian)
  • English (South African)
  • English (USA)
  • Esperanto
  • Estonian
  • Faroese
  • Finnish
  • French
  • Fula
  • Gaelic (Irish)
  • Gaelic (Scottish)
  • Galician
  • Georgian
  • German
  • Greek
  • Gronings
  • Gujarati
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Indonesian
  • Inuktitut
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Kabyle
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri (Devanagari)
  • Kashmiri (Perso-Arabic)
  • Khmer
  • Kiga
  • Kinyarwanda
  • Klingon
  • Konkani
  • Konkani (roman)
  • Korean
  • Korean
  • Kurdish
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Luganda
  • Luxembourgish
  • Macedonian
  • Maithili
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Manipuri (bengali)
  • Manipuri (meitei mayek)
  • Marathi
  • Miahuatlán Zapotec
  • Mongolian
  • Ndebele
  • Nepali
  • Northern Sotho
  • Norwegian Bokmål
  • Norwegian Nynorsk
  • Occitan
  • Odia
  • Ojibwe
  • Persian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Portuguese (Portugal)
  • Punjabi
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Sanskrit
  • Santali (devanagari)
  • Santali (ol chiki)
  • Serbian (cyrillic)
  • Serbian (latin)
  • Shuswap
  • Sindhi
  • Sindhi (Devanagari)
  • Sinhala
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Songhay
  • Spanish (Mexican)
  • Spanish (Spanish)
  • Sundanese
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tagalog
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Tibetan
  • Turkish
  • Twi
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Valencian
  • Venda
  • Venetian
  • Vietnamese
  • Walloon
  • Welsh
  • Wolof
  • Xhosa
  • Zulu

(You can even help translate it to your favorite language.)

International Character Input

Enter text in different languages using the Text tool:

  • Latin languages - Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, etc.
  • Japanese - Romanized Hiragana and Romanized Katakana
  • Korean - Hangul Bul-2
  • Thai
  • Traditional Chinese

Accessibility

Tux Paint provides a number of optional accessibiltiy enhancements, to help make the program more suitable in some circumstances.

  • On-screen keyboard
  • Keyboard-driven mouse pointer control
  • Joystick-driven mouse pointer control
  • Deactivate stereo sound effects (mono-only mode)
  • Interface button size is adjustable
  • Interface font can be adjusted (great for using OpenDyslexic or Andika)

Parental and Teacher Controls

  • Run Tux Paint in full-screen mode, or have it 'grab' the mouse pointer, to prevent children from accidentally accessing other programs or files on the desktop.
  • Sound effects can be deactivated.
  • The Print and Quit options can be deactivated.
  • Alternatively, the Print option can be limited to allow only one print every n minutes.
  • By default, Tux Paint cannot be launched more than once every 30 seconds, to prevent multiple copies from being run accidentally, due to over-eager mouse clicking.
  • The directories/folders where Tux Paint saves and/or exports files may be changed. This can allow saving pictures in a student's home directory on a network drive or shared drive, rather than locally on one particular workstation.
  • Stamps, starters and brushes are stored using popular open formats (PNG, SVG, Ogg Vorbis, etc.) allowing parents and teachers to create their own content for use at home or in the classroom - even using completely free tools.
  • The 'Tux Paint Config.' program allows parents, teachers, and school technicians to alter Tux Paint's behaviour using a simple, easy-to-use graphical interface. (It's separate from Tux Paint, to prevent children from changing things.)
  • ... and much more!

🐻 Feature may be simplified or deactivated, simplifying Tux Paint to increase accessibility (e.g., for novice users).



Did you know? Adults enjoy Tux Paint, too!