Patina is the most fun I've had painting on my Mac and you can get it for free (Until December 9, 2015)

I have played with Microsoft Paint on  Windows. It’s fun to play with. Finding something equivalent to it on the Mac, though, has proved problematic. I’ve used the open-source Paintbrush app in the past, but it’s updated sporadically at best. I’m not talented enough for Corel Painter and I’m not going to waste a lot of money on that fancy a painting app.

The new Patina app by Atek, based in Fountain Valley in Orange County, caught my eye when I saw its press release on Macsurfer.com. It said it’s free for a limited promotional period ending December 9, 2015. After that, the price goes up to $2.99 on the Mac App Store.

 

As shown below, Patina has a simple interface. No extra palettes, just one window with drawing tools on the left-hand side and color tools across the bottom. A 4 year old child and a 60 year old man can grasp the basics within a few minutes.

 

 

I would suggest strongly that you view Patina’s demo video and tutorial video. That gives you examples of Patina’s abilities. 

 

I didn’t encounter any bugs while using Patina, which is at its 1.0 version. I did encounter one thing out of the ordinary , which I hope future releases would fix.

 

You find the Help menu under the Patina Menu and not under a separate Help menu on the Menu Bar.

 

 

The Help goes to their Web site. 

 

Other than that, install Patina on your budding artist’s Mac, have them run the tutorial and demo videos, and turn them loose.

Take advantage of this free offer while it lasts.

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog