GIMP 2 is a thing, though expect something of a learning curve with how tool management runs. I've only got some limited experience with it, and very little experimentation with pressure usage. Most of my gallery is drawn in GIMP or physical.

idk for sure if it will work for you or not but there is https://www.photopea.com which is a free online photo editor which is basically a clone of photo shop.

I'm a GIMP user. I like it well enough. I even use it for work related stuff.

I used to use Paint Shop Pro but they ruined the newer versions. No idea if they got better or anything.

Gimp or Krita. I use the former now, the later comes with the KDE desktop which is my DE but I never tried it yet.

I would recommend you check out Krita

Paint.net and Gimp work really well ^^

there is a handy infographic is you google "alternatives to adobe essentials" and go to the images tab

GIMP is still a thing, and you can get it for Windows. I mostly use it to edit photos, rather than creating art "from scratch", but it works for what I need to do.

I'm pretty sure Paint Tool SAI is also still a thing. I don't use it myself, but I've seen artists using it on their streams.

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If you have a fast enough computer, you can run a virtual machine with an older version of Windows in it, and install PSE 2 in the virtual machine. Usually there is a shared drive between the virtual machine and your actual machine, so saving to (say) Z: in the (say) Windows XP virtual machine means you're actually saving it to C: in your Windows 10 machine.

Microsoft used to ship a thing called "XP Mode" for Windows 7, which was basically a pre-installed virtual machine with XP in it. Windows 10 does not include XP Mode, but Google gives me a couple of how-tos on how to use the files from XP Mode with Hyper-V, the virtual machine software that comes with Windows 10. I've never *tried* any of them, but they seem plausible.

Alternatively, if you still have the install CD or .iso, and the license key, for an older version of Windows, you could install that into a new Hyper-V virtual machine yourself.

OpenCanvas v1 works well for sketches and rough shading/coloring. I've been using it since i got my first drawing tablet.

As others have said, GIMP, SAI, FireAlpaca, and Krita are all free programs you can get, each having their own pros and cons, so it'd be best to get them all and see which one works best for you. If you have an ipad though, I would recommend procreate. It's not free, but it's a one time purchase of 10 USD. It has a very minimalist design which I enjoy, and has every tool you'd expect from a professional software. Only complaint is that it is limited in file size. Of course, this is only if you have an ipad.

SAI (and SAI 2) is still a thing, but has never been free. But, for the $55-ish it costs, has been good to me.
GIMP is also still a thing.

There's also MediBangPaint, Krita, and FireAlpaca; I've used two of these (MediBang, Krita). Ended up going back to my copy of SAI 2.

I did buy SAI a while back, but the license didn't transfer over to my new computer. It was okay, I liked the stabilizer function, but I still ended up going back to PSE.

You can usually get the license again from Systemax if you can recall what email address you've used -- I've needed it a number of times between reinstalls of Windows. That said, you might like SAI 2 a fair whack better than SAI 1, as well. :)

I also recommended SAI (I had what I thought was just a generally available free version but might be a crack? Oops?) with GIMP as support for the occasions you need to mess with alpha layer transparency or text stuff if the newer versions of it don't already have that support baked in.

Sai works pretty well, but doesn't have near the options you probably had with Photoshop. ClipPaintStudio is probably the next best thing I'm aware of? Sometimes it goes on sale XD I feel like there is a limited free edition but... it's heavily lacking.

If you wanna bite a bullet, i'd recommend Clip Studio Paint. Theres a free trial if you'd like but it is also a one time payment for the program.

I also used photoshop as my primary art program for a long time, and while there was a slight learning period to get used to layouts and such, I've adjusted well. A lot of the hotkeys are either the same or easily changeable to photoshop hotkeys, and i'd argue some of the tools are better. Honestly a solid program, and ive been using it even since.

Krita. Full-featured, mature, free forever without ads, built for visual artists first.

I've used Photoshop for years, then I switched to SAI. I bought the license, and seeing your replies you did too. You can go to the website and request your license if you know what email you had.

Download SAI here:
https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

Request another license here:
https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/reissue.php

I have tried a LOT of other art programs over the years, and none of them for over a decade have made me want to switch away from SAI. The only downside to it is that you can't do text, but I can use Paint or Photoshop for that once I'm done. Actually I always just handwrite text in my art so :T

A lot of programs are too complicated when I just want a simple yet flexible drawing environment, and some are TOO simple. Some have weird brushes, or limited ones. Closest one that made me ponder switching was Clip Studio Paint. But I don't feel like learning a whole new program when I could just use Photoshop if I need something more complicated.

Otherwise, SAI is perfect.

i know a cheap one if you have an ipad called 'Procreate'. It costs $5 and it's one if the best programs i've used.

Since you probably look for something that works similar to Photoshop i would highly recommend Clip Studio even if it costs a one time payment. If it really needs to be for free, Medibang or Krita are worth looking into in my opinion, while Medibang is kinda a tiny bit nicer for comic arts, Krita for painting imo. I really don't like Gimp personally, since it over complicates many functions and lacks important features that I use.

Krita is free and have very good features, like colorize mask (for quick coloring) and pen stabilization. https://krita.org/en/

I can get ya paint tool sai 2 if ya want?~

I personally use paint.net. It's more than competant enough for most things, least for me

being free, might be worth checking out anyhow just to get an idea of it

Krita krita krita

I like that line art detecting bucket fill feature from Gimp

Krita is my usual recommendation for "free". Paint.net is a thing I use for small edits, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Sai is still a thing (and Sai 2 is quite good) but it's not free, it's a ~$50 one-time purchase. (From the reply, you already did this, so you should be able to grab a new license from here if you can find your email.) On that same note, Clip Studio Paint is a lot closer to photoshop and is also a $50 one-time purchase (it even goes on sale kind of often for half that).

I was on Krita and Gimp on Linux until I started using an Android Yoga book tablet/laptop looking thing with a hinged graphics tablet, when I've since moved to Huion Draw, free from the play store (after trying a ton of other Android art packages).

Irony is that my main graphics tablet is a Huion, but I didn't like the stylus nibs wearing out - seems like a racket to me. My graphite 3 and bamboo both have perfectly serviceable plastic nibs

I think I still prefer Krita, but the Android port has serious screen size/layout problems.

Highly recommend Krita!! Can take a little set-up if you don't like the default layout, but there's plenty of tutorials on how to do that! Does most everything you'd commonly use in Illustrator or Clip Studio extremely well, from my experience.

FOr some reason, Photoshop CS2 is technically Free. they released the CD key for it that never needs activation.