Painter 11 is the newest edition of Corel's fantastic painting and illustration software. With more than 40 new and enhanced features, Painter 11 (264) provides one of the most approachable painting tools available. Painter is actually a raster-based digital art application that simulates as accurately as possible the appearance and behaviour of traditional media associated with drawing, painting, and printmaking. It is intended to be used in real-time by professional digital artists as a functional creative tool, but it's also great fun for aspiring artists getting involved in digital art. Painter 11 is not revolutionary, but a well-tuned update, yet is still an invaluable artist's tool. Its target market obviously means it won't appeal to everyone, especially as it can't compete with photo editing package such as Paint Shop Pro Photo or Photoshop, but it is brilliant for graphic artists, illustrators and fine artists. The only possible downside is that a digital tablet all but a prerequisite, which means further expense to an already relatively expensive application.