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Dottie

Paid Mac

Visit Dottie Alternatives Pricing

Dottie's own site

What Dottie is

Dottie is a paid native Mac pixel-art editor for creating sprites, tilesets, icons, portraits, and other artwork. Its drawing toolkit includes pencil, pen, airbrush, smudge, clone, fill, eraser, line, rectangle, oval, and eyedropper tools. Brushes offer multiple shapes and sizes, 17 dither levels, pixel-perfect mode, pressure sizing, and horizontal or vertical symmetry. Layers can use visibility, opacity, onion skin, solo, tileset, and animation modes. Frame animation provides a timeline, frame durations, tags, live preview, and sprite-sheet, GIF, or APNG export. Vector layers contain editable objects and groups, and SVG shapes can be copied between Dottie and other vector applications. Users can build palettes, select 16 presets, create gradients, or import Lospec palettes. Dottie handles many raster formats plus PSD and other imports, and exports SVG. JavaScript plugins and automation scripting are supported. Autosave, restore, multiple windows, Dark Mode, Quick Look, and Sidecar are included. It requires macOS Monterey 12.4 or later and costs €999, paid once.

Who it suits

Dottie suits Mac users creating pixel artwork, tilemaps, icons, portraits, or animated sprites. It is also aimed at users needing vector layers, palette tools, scripting, and broad file-format support.

What it does well

  • Timeline includes frame durations and tags
  • Exports sprite sheets, GIF, and APNG
  • 17 dither levels and pixel-perfect mode
  • Supports SVG vector layers
  • Plugins run in a sandbox

What to know first

  • Paid app with no free plan
  • Requires macOS Monterey 12.4 or later
  • Standalone iPad version is still in development

Plans

PlanBilled and limitsPrice
DottieMac app · requires macOS 12.4 or later€999, paid once

As gingerbeardman.com lists them, read 11 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Verdict

Dottie combines pixel drawing, animation, tilemap, vector, palette, and scripting tools in one Mac application. Its paid Mac-only model and system requirement are important considerations before purchase.

Facts from Dottie's own pages

Animation
Frame animation includes a timeline, per-frame durations, frame tags, live preview, and sprite sheet, GIF, or APNG export. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Brushes
Brush settings include multiple shapes and sizes, 17 dither levels, pixel perfect mode, pressure sizing, and horizontal or vertical symmetry. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Drawing tools
It includes pencil, pen, airbrush, smudge, clone, fill, eraser, line, rectangle, oval, and eyedropper tools. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
File formats
The app imports and exports PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, ICO, PICO-8, and XPM; it also imports PSD, TGA, PICT, MacPaint, ICNS, CUR, and Piskel, and exports APNG and SVG. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Layers
Layers support visibility, opacity, onion skin, solo, tileset, and animation modes. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Mac features
The app supports autosave and restore, multiple windows, Dark Mode, Quick Look previews, and iPad Sidecar. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Notable limit
The maker says a standalone iPad version is in development; the current app can be used on an iPad connected as a Mac Sidecar display. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Palettes
Users can create palettes, choose from 16 built-in presets, generate gradients, and import palettes from Lospec. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Plugins and scripting
Dottie supports JavaScript plugins and AppleScript and JavaScript for Automation scripting. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Plugin security
The maker says plugins run sandboxed, with file access limited to files users explicitly choose. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Purpose
Dottie is a native Mac pixel art editor for creating sprites, tilesets, icons, portraits, and other artwork. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Refunds and installs
The maker says App Store purchases can be installed on up to 10 devices, including a maximum of five computers, under the same Apple ID; Apple handles refunds. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Support
The maker accepts support inquiries, bug reports, and feature requests through social accounts or email, and says email responses may be slower. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
System requirement
Dottie requires macOS Monterey 12.4 or later. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026
Vector and SVG
Vector layers support editable objects and groups, and can copy and paste SVG shapes to and from other vector apps. · gingerbeardman.com, 11 Oct 2026

Where Dottie stands on Freedom251

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