Graphic designing is becoming extremely popular with the advent of online advertising. When you open the internet and look for ‘online jobs’, one of the most demanding jobs that pop-up is graphic designing. Adobe Illustrator is a popular editing tool that is used by many designers. However, graphic designers don’t know the options they have when it comes to image editing tools. Here are some of the reliable choices that could be considered:

1. Corel Draw:

This is one of my favorite image editing tools and the first software I tried when I wanted to learn image editing. Anyone who has experience in graphic designing would have come across Corel Draw at one point or the other. The only disadvantage is that Corel Draw is expensive. It enables you to do everything an Adobe Illustrator does. However, it can be used only on a Windows Operating System.

2. Inkscape:

It is an open source vector graphics image editor. It has all the functionalities available in Corel Draw, Xara X, Illustrator and more. Inkscape is an ideal tool to trace bitmaps, edit nodes and offers options to perform complex operations. If you are an aspiring graphic designer, you can download the software for free. It is compatible on both Windows and Mac platforms.

3. Pencil:

Pencil is an excellent tool to sketch designs and flowcharts. While sketching animations, you have the option to switch between both, bitmaps and vector graphics. However, the movie export function is not compatible yet on the Windows platform and is available for OS X. Currently, the Windows versions can export only frames and Flash files.

Above you can see the link to download this traditional animation software.

4. Gimp:

It contains a customizable interface. It helps personalize the view and behavior the ways a graphic designer wants it. There are different features including the Full Screen mode which enables you to preview and edit side-by-side. The other features include photo enhancement, barrel distortion, digital retouching, hardware support and more. The tool is compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Above you can see the link to download the image editing software.

5. Serif DrawPlus:

Serif DrwaPlus is the ultimate drawing and graphics software available for free. It provides an effective environment to create stunning vector drawing. It contains an assorted range of tools bundles with effects. It helps blend modes for advanced artistic effects. You can create great web designing graphics and print projects.

6. Xara Xtreme:

It is a powerful Linux-based graphics program. As the name suggests, it is one of the fastest editing programs and has some of the most powerful tools. It has a clean user interface which makes it extremely easy to learn and use. It is also capable of creating huge range of graphics.

Above you can see the link to download the open-source graphics software.

Long gone is the time when you had to be dependent on only Adobe Illustrator. A graphic designer has many options and most of them are available for free. These not only provide different user interface, but you get to try out different features as well.