Computer painting or digital painting is the process of creating images with the help of a personal computer. Painting with computers is an accepted alternative to traditional media Historically the art world has used natural media for expression such as  paint, charcoal, graphite, chalk.But now as computers have become more influential, and interfacing technology more whole, the capability to create artwork comparable to traditional media is causing the computer to become the medium of choice for two-dimensional, visual artwork. Dieter Grossman of Germany is known to be the foremost computer painting artist of the world.

Tools:
The computer images can be made using a variety of softwares such as Raster, Vector and Bitmap along with computer graphics programs such as CorelIDRAW, Photoshop and Pixel Image Editor. These softwares enable users to paint and edit pictures interactively on the computer.

The prominent features that digital painting software offer are:

• custom brush creation
• multiple filter effects
• independent drawing layers
• multiple filter effects
• traditional paint simulation
• zoom navigation

Used in combination with digital graphics tablet technology, allow an artist to work much more professionally as they no longer must wait for paint to dry, worry about accidental smudging or smearing, and can undo or rub out mistakes and try again.

Benefits :
Digital Art is enabling numerous amateur artists and art students who cannot afford the high enduring expense of materials used in traditional painting and drawing, to learn and try out with a medium that costs zilch after initial investment (which admittedly can be costly as well). Digital painting and drawing helps an artist to experiment with new concepts and techniques devoid of the fear of destroying hours of work in a single mistake.

Future:
Conventional media has a long history and will go on to be very trendy long into the future, especially in the fine art community.On the other hand,digital art is becoming the favorite medium in the commercial art world and as long as computer technology continues to develop, computers will continue to be implemented to a great extent into all areas of artistic expression