Those of us who are into graphics design sometimes complain about the complexity of graphics packages they use. While giants, like Adobe Photoshop and Corel PhotoPaint provide enormous selection of tools and features, for some applications they are definite overkill. And that’s exactly why some of my friends look for alternatives. Here’s one of them for your consideration and, I guess, it is good one for those who think on a pixel level. :) Take a quick look…

Today, when I was scanning Mac software news I noticed something that sounded pretty interesting — Pixen. Yes, I realized that it somehow connected to the “Pixels” and that’s what has intrigued me even more. So, I gave it a quick review.

Sometimes I have a feeling that should I start painting, I will create something riverting and extremely attractive. The worst about this feeling is that it lies and I often appear to be unable to paint something that even doesn’t grate on your eye. When analyzing the cause of my failure, I often come to conclusion that it’s tools that aren’t flexible enough to put my thoughts on the canvans quickly and precisely. Of course, it’s a b/s, but anyway it’s something that pushes me forward to reviewing lots of application for graphics designers and painters. :)

To be completely honest, I didn’t try Pixen yet, just because the Kate’s Mac is still on its way and should arrive only tomorrow. So, I would be lying if I were telling you that this is the most exciting piece of software I have ever seen in my entire life. No, I won’t tell this. I will leave it to your own judgement. Nevertheless, there are several things which move Pixen one step forward off the crowd — full layers support with independent transparency control, configurable canvas backgrounds and a smart colors pallete, allowing you to change the color of all pixels of some other color (make all red pixels pink, for example).

And the last, the application is unbelievably small (900Kb) and can’t be expected to do miracles for you, but it still looks great and fully loaded for icon painters, pixelists and kids, so I believe it’s worth your try. Have fun!