Krita News

Hey! Today we've released another set of bugfixes for Krita. I could count them all but it's a rainy Thursday here in Portland so I'll just stick with dozens. Some big, some small, but all of them adding up to a Krita that's simply better.

Click here to read the full patch notes for Krita 4.2.7!

Also, did you know that Krita has a Youtube channel? The channel's content is being made by the great Ramon Miranda, with an emphasis on teaching us how to use Krita effectively to do, let's face it, what we all want to do the most, improve our art! He's got tips, tricks and fundamentals, and he's also been known to share some of his truly excellent custom brushes from time to time. It's pretty great, so please, check it out!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Finally, I know that some of our new Linux users are having issues getting Krita to run at all, I'm looking into the problem. We've tested on a few distros (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Linux Mint 19.1, Manjaro) without issue, but some users are definitely having problems on other/older distros. I've also reached out to Steam to see if they can help figure out what's going wrong here.

We have a Steam Community discussion here, where I'll be updating as I get more information. If you're affected by this issue, please subscribe to this thread.

There is a workaround: if you navigate to the Krita AppImage executable in your steamapps/krita/ directory you'll find that double clicking on it probably works fine. You can still use Steam to pull updates automatically, of course, and you may even be able to add that Krita appimage as an "external" application to launch through Steam. It's hacky and weird, I know, but it's an option.

Anyway I don't expect this latest bugfix version to fix this issue, as it likely has to do with runtime dependencies and not Krita's code. So I don't have any good news on this front just yet, sadly, and I'm sorry that this launch isn't as smooth as we would have all liked it to be.

Linux users, we care about this platform, we want give you guys a good experience too, and I want to reaffirm how much we value your support so far. Please bear with me as we figure out how to solve this issue.

Hey, everybody. I'm back again with some more news.


First thing's first, we've put out yet another update, Krita 4.2.6.

We've implemented a workaround for a crash affecting users of Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, a couple of new minor features, as well as boatload of bug fixes and stability improvements.

You can read more about what's changed right here in the patch notes.


Next up, you may have heard that there are some big changes coming to Steam's library view. We've done our homework on this end and Krita is ready for the new library update. So, in a couple of weeks you'll find that Krita shows up in your Steam library with a brand new box-art style icon, among other things.


Last but not least, I have some good news for Linux fans who want another way to support Krita's development. By popular demand, and because we all love free and open source software, Krita for Linux has finally arrived on Steam!

Many of us who follow Krita closely already know that Krita is proud to be (say it with me) free, open source and community-driven software. We are part of a larger free software organization called KDE and, although Krita exists on all platforms, we are also part of the greater free software ecosystem. Without a doubt, there are very few projects as central to that ecosystem as the Linux kernel as well as the GNU project that pioneered the free and open development model that Krita is based on. Every Krita contributor is a member of free software community and many of our developers are both Linux users and passionate fans, And, in my view, every Krita user is a member, not only of the Krita community, but the greater free software community.

Now, there are plenty of convenient ways to get Krita on Linux, whether it's our easy-to-use AppImages from krita.org, from your distribution's package manager, or by building the program from source. It's easy to get the latest and greatest Krita, so why bother with Steam?

Simply put, buying Krita on Steam is just another way of directly supporting development. Our community is the lifeblood of the project and none of this would be possible without generous contributions from users like you. Something never comes from nothing, even free and open software like Krita, and our progress is a function of your support. Whether you contribute code or documentation, participate in our yearly fundraiser, join our recurring development fund, or simply pick up Krita on Steam, this development model relies on you!

Linux is part of our roots, and we're passionate about Linux as a platform for everybody--from professionals, to students, to everyday people. Whether you're a programmer, a musician, a gamer, or an artist, Linux belongs to all of us. We love Linux, and we're happy to support Linux as a first-class platform on Steam.

On behalf of the whole Krita team, thanks again for your support!
- Emmet

Many of us are here at the home of Krita, in a cute little town called Deventer in the Netherlands, for the 2019 Krita Sprint! And to celebrate we've decided to throw an impromptu week-long sale.

The Krita Sprint is a yearly event where artist, programmers, and everything in between meet up to discuss and work on every aspect of Krita. Contributors fly in from all over the world and this time we have people from various parts of Europe, the United States, Russia, India, China and Mexico--many visitors being volunteers and members of our amazing global community.

Admittedly it's pretty chaotic, and as I type this I can hear 3 different conversations happening in different corners of this big cellar where our gear is set up. But it's a celebration of Krita, and a place where technology and art collide. It's awesome!

This is how Krita is made and it is truly what it means to have a development process that is free, open, and community-driven: Krita is a product of our community!

Following our recent pattern of biweekly bugfix patches, we're back again with Krita 4.2.4!

This time we're pushing a big improvement to our save system, shortcut input system, and even a surprise feature--a modern luminosity blending mode for creating stunning highlights, lighting, and other neat effects.

Check out the complete patch notes for a comprehensive list of fixes and improvements. And while there shouldn't be any major issues, if you do have problems with touch controls, please read this:

Originally posted by Maintainer

Known Issue: If touch zoom and rotation doesn’t work anymore, please remove your local default.inputrc file. Go to Settings/Manage Resources and press the Open Resource Folder button. Enter the input folder and remove all files in that folder.

Once again, to develop and fix things with this speed and intensity would simply not be possible without our core developers, community of volunteers, and, of course, generous support from users like you. As a free, open and community-driven project, we are only as strong as the people who support us and, luckily, we have a great community.

Thanks again on behalf of the whole Krita team,
- Emmet

Reminder: Krita's optional "rollback" branch is still pointing to the last major version, Krita 4.1.7. You shouldn't have any issues or regressions with this new update, but if you do, please remember that you can opt-in to the rollback branch if necessary. This feature is accessible through Krita's "properties" menu within Steam.

Is Krita 4.2.2 (you know, the one from just a couple weeks ago) feeling a little bit long in the tooth? N-Not really? ...Oh.

Well, at any rate, I'm here again to tell you all about yet another brand new minor update, Krita 4.2.3!

Originally posted by Maintainer

Today we’re releasing Krita 4.2.3. This is mostly a bug fix release, but has one new feature: it is now possible to rotate the canvas with a two-finger touch gesture. This feature was implemented by Sharaf Zaman for his 2019 Google Summer of Code work of porting Krita to Android. The feature also works on other platforms, of course.

The most important bug fix is a workaround for Windows installations with broken, outdated or insufficient graphics drivers. The core of the issue is that our development platform, Qt, in its current version needs a working OpenGL or Direct3D installation as soon as there is a single component in the application that uses QML, a technology for creating user interfaces. We have managed to work around this issue and especially users of Windows 7 systems that have become a bit messy should be able to run Krita again.

In addition, the dev team has also squashed 29 more bugs since the last release. All of this work amounts to a Krita that runs better, crashes less, and helps you focus on the things you really care about--your artwork. For more details on exactly what has been fixed, check out the full changelog.

As always, none of this could happen without the support of our community volunteers and the generosity of our supporters, here and elsewhere. We are proud to be a free, open source, and community-driven project, and you are a big part of that equation.

When it comes to Steam in particular, this year has been a major reversal for us (in a good way) and last month was our best ever. I've mentioned before how our recent success on Steam has already helped us grow the development team, and we owe that to all of the people who have stuck with us through rough times and given us a chance to make things better, as well as to all of you who have supported the project by buying Krita or leaving honest recommendations.

Happy painting and, on behalf of the whole team, thank you. =]
- Emmet

Note: Krita's optional "rollback" branch is still pointing to the last major version, Krita 4.1.7. You shouldn't have any issues or regressions with this new update, but if you do, please remember that you can opt-in to the rollback branch if necessary. This feature is accessible through Krita's "properties" menu within Steam.