2026 Krita Roadmap
In two sessions, the Krita developer discussed what they want to work on in 2026, after Krita 5.3 and Krita 6.0 are released. That is, actually, one release, but one version is built with Qt5 and one with Qt6. The release is planned for next month.
Krita Sketch User Interface
Last year, Timotheé created a prototype for a mobile user interface for Krita (there is an APK you can install to play with). At the same time Wolthera finished her work on the new text shape and text tools. Both projects use the QML and QtQuick features of Qt to implement the user interface.
This year, we intend to work on replacing the tool option dockers with QML so we can use those both in the mobile and in the desktop version of Krita.
Alvin Wong experimented in 2025 with embedding an OpenGL based canvas inside a QML application. Dmitry and Carsten will continue that work and see whether we can use Krita's canvas to show an image inside Timotheé's prototype.
Agata has already started work to make the current user interface more suitable for tablet use.
Working with Files
During the December holidays, the developers found time for a few bugfixes.
Read on for a look at development news and the Krita-Artists forum's featured artwork from last month.
Development Report
Luna fixed two crashes in the Stable branch; when undoing the Transform Tool during another transformation (bug; change), and when an embedded color profile is invalid. (bug; change).
Dmitry fixed loading TIFF files with JPEG compression (change).
In the Unstable branch, a handful more bugfixes were made:
Wolthera fixed parsing white-space-only text elements (bug; change), and issues setting text color (bug; change).
Carsten worked around multitouch gestures being cancelled on Xiaomi Pad devices (bug; change), and combined simultaneous canvas rotation and zoom messages (change).
Community Report
December 2025 Monthly Art Challenge Results
The winner of the "Chiaroscuro" challenge is…
steve.improvthis's two entries.
Ginger's Gift by steve.improvthis
Join This Month's Art Challenge!
For January's theme, last month's winner has chosen "Vintage Travel Poster", with the optional challenge of using the Assistant Tool. What kind of fantastic destination could you illustrate an advertisement for? Show others new horizons in the new year!
Featured Artwork
This month's featured forum artwork, as voted in the Best of Krita-Artists Nominations - November/December 2025:
Speedpaint 10. Apple by Tromplier
Barn at Sunset by Brian_Bigelow
"Save Me" Freddie Mercury and Brian May Artwork by deerblue
Charcoal head study by sognidigitali
Realistic pear oil painting by Younel0
Nominate and Vote For Next Month's Featured Artwork!
Participate in next month's nominations and voting to voice your opinion on the Best of Krita-Artists - December 2025/January 2026.
Krita is Free - But You Can Contribute!
Krita is free to use and modify, but it can only exist with the contributions of the community. A small sponsored team alongside volunteer programmers, artists, writers, testers, translators, and more from across the world keep development going.
If this software has value to you, consider donating to the Krita Development Fund. Or Get Involved and put your skills to use making Krita and its community better!
Nightly Builds
These pre-release versions of Krita are built every day.
Get the latest bugfixes in Stable Krita Plus (5.2.15-prealpha): Linux — Windows — macOS (unsigned) — Android arm64 – Android arm32 – Android x86_64
Or test out the latest Experimental features in Krita Next (5.3.0-prealpha). Feedback and bug reports are appreciated!: Linux — Windows — macOS — Android arm64 – Android arm32 – Android x86_64