Digital artists of a certain age will remember fondly the Commodore Amiga and, in particular, Deluxe Paint. More than two decades after it was discontinued, ‘DPaint’ still has fans who will be pleased to hear that there’s a spiritual successor. Developed by Bradford-based WetGenes, Swanky Paint will be immediately familiar to anyone who worked in digital art back in the 1980s and 1990s.

The details

Price: $0.10
Maker: WetGenes
Website: dime.lo4d.net
This review can be found in The MagPi 36

Currently available as a cross-platform alpha build, as well as a Raspberry Pi-compatible executable, the download includes versions for Linux on 32-bit and 64-bit PCs, Windows, and OS X, and there’s even an APK file for Android devices. Swanky Paint is certainly flexible. Sadly, the download process isn’t straightforward: available exclusively through WetGenes’ Dimeload platform, users must register an account, then pay a minimum of $1 for 10 ‘Dimes.’ These Dimes act as download tokens, each of which can be redeemed for a single download; when a new version is released, another Dime must be spent to download it.

Novel distribution method aside, Swanky Paint is straightforward to install and run. A ZIP archive, weighing in at just shy of 10MB, contains all the versions bar the Android build. Copying the files to a Raspberry Pi acts as the installation; executing the ‘gamecake.raspi’ application at the terminal loads the software itself. Interestingly, an X desktop session is not required: Swanky Paint can be loaded directly at the console, or the Pi configured to boot directly into Swanky Paint if required.

When it loads, Swanky Paint is attractive and simple. DPaint-inspired keyboard shortcuts make it quick to use, and there’s an amazing amount of flexibility for pixel artists, including colour palettes based on classic computers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, and a selection of rendering filters which simulate cathode-ray tube displays. Even animations are handled smoothly, and attractive images are easily created using the various brushes and tools.

The software, in alpha at present, is undeniably a work-in-progress, but the team behind it are releasing improved versions all the time. A pair of bugs encountered during testing – preventing the mouse from being detected, and spamming text to the console – were quickly fixed and a new release issued accordingly.

Last word

4/5

Although in the early alpha stage of release, Swanky Paint shows real promise. For fans of Deluxe Paint, it’s certainly worth trying out for its low cost and wide range of features.