# About Graphite
Graphite is a community-built free software project. If you find it valuable, consider [donating](/donate) or [getting involved](/volunteer) to keep it sustainable.
## Project
The idea for Graphite began with a desire to create artwork and edit photos using free software that felt user-friendly and truly modern. Over time, that dream evolved to reconsider what "modern" meant for the landscape of 2D graphics editing. By borrowing concepts popular in 3D software, what could a procedural, nondestructive design tool look like if nothing was too ambitious? Answering that question took years of design exploration, leading to a community of savvy developers volunteering to turn that formidable dream into a reality.
## Mission
Graphite strives to unshackle the creativity of every budding artist and seasoned professional by building the best comprehensive art and design tool that's accessible to all.
Mission success will come when Graphite is an industry standard. A cohesive product vision and focus on innovation over imitation is the strategy that will make that possible.
## Funding
Graphite has no investors to answer to and will always be free and open source. [Keavon](#keavon), the project founder, has been personally funding all expenses out-of-pocket and turning down a tech industry salary to work full-time bringing Graphite to life. He asks for [your support](/donate) bearing a small fraction of that cost.
Long-term, donations will be supplemented by revenue from optional cloud storage/sync and high-speed GPU render services.