PaintTool SAI is the foremost painting program people use to draw Manga in Asia and the United States. However, there is one part of the program that many people struggle with – can it be used to add text to your work? Is there a text tool in PaintTool SAI?

Unfortunately, the program has no text tool that is built-in to PaintTool SAI. This means you cannot enter text using your keyboard. However, there are ways to add text, either using a secondary program or by using freehand drawing to add the text yourself.

If you want to learn about PaintTool SAI and how to incorporate text into the artwork you create using this program, let’s get started! In this article, we will explore whether the text is an option in the program itself and how you can use different methods to add text!

Can You Add Text To PaintTool SAI?

The simple answer to this question is that you cannot use a built-in tool within PaintTool SAI to add text to your art. The program does not have a feature that enables you to add text through your keyboard. 

This means that artists generally use this program for the artwork itself and then use other mechanisms and tools to add text. However, there are two main ways that you can make this happen, which we will explore in the rest of this article.

Use A Different Program

One of the first ways to add text to PaintTool SAI artwork is to just use another program for this purpose. This is the main way that most artists will add text to their artwork. To do this, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Create your artwork in PaintTool SAI.
2. Once you are done, select the File tab on the menu in the program.
3. Choose Save As, then select the JPEG format, and save it to a location you can easily find.
4. Open up any other program on your computer that allows you to add text to an image. A commonly used option is Microsoft Paint.
5. In the program, open up your saved file from PaintTool SAI.
6. Use the text tool in the second program to add your preferred text to the image.
7. Save the file in whatever location you want. 

You will now have an image from PaintTool SAI with text on top. The only downside of using this method is that your image will now be saved as a JPEG file, and you cannot edit the artwork.

Alternatively, you can also use this method to add a text image on top of your layer and make it work with the artwork as a blended layer: 

Draw Text Using Freehand

If you don’t want to use a secondary program to create text on PaintTool SAI, you can always use the pen or brush tool to create letters freehand. While this process may take practice to get right, it is the most intuitive way to create letters in the software.

Final Thoughts

The truth is that PaintTool SAI was never designed to be a full-fledged program for creating text. However, if you want to add text to your artwork, you can either use another program to create the letters and then put them on top of your artwork, or you can draw the text freehand using the pen or brush tools. 

Ultimately, your chosen method will depend on your preferences and what works best for your workflow.