Best Art Program for Me?

**seanmx** · December 26th, 2012, 12:56 AM

Hi!

I love digital art media and am looking for a program to use for drawing/painting digitally. Originally, I had looked at Adobe Photoshop but the newest versions (~ $600) are not in my budget and it seems difficult to get hands on an authentic older version. For the past year or two I have been using Paint Tool Sai, but I'm not quite sure if it's the best program out there for me. Therefore, I'm checking out some others.

It wouldn't be for personal use (nothing commercial) and maybe for some portfolio pieces (i'm applying to art school for 2013).

So far I've looked at:
Corel Painter 12 ($300)
Artrage Studio ($20)

All opinions are welcome,
Thanks

**Arshes Nei** · December 26th, 2012, 01:22 AM

You realize that most of these programs allow you to use them in trial?

Find them and try them in trial mode. Most are fully functional for a certain amount of days.
I don't know how you paint, I don't know your workflow so try them in trial mode and find out what works best for you.

**-j@y-** · December 26th, 2012, 11:20 PM

Mypaint is nice, gimp is nice, those are free and pretty small so it's no big deal to try them out.

**Griffonnage** · December 27th, 2012, 04:12 PM

Try Krita too !

**s12a** · December 30th, 2012, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by Griffonage

Try Krita too !

Unfortunately Krita is not very stable on Windows yet. It's an "experimental" version after all. Definitely not ready for production use. You wouldn't want to see the program hang up or crash just before saving your work.

MyPaint works great for drawing/sketching though, and I suggest using it. I use it a lot myself.
The current version of this program is 1.0. Version 1.1 supposedly coming within 2 months of time will add some functions and fix bugs, but will still remain an artist-oriented tool (meaning minimal interface, no selection tools, no special filters).

GIMP can be considered the Photoshop equivalent, however on Windows you should stay away from 2.8x versions for now. It's got some breaking bugs and the interface is still unpolished. Use 2.6x versions instead. With a plugin it can open .ora files made with MyPaint.

Art programs are seldom meant to be used alone. They are best used together with more complete (but less art-oriented) image editing software for adjustments and final touches. This being said, If you already have Paint Tool SAI that's fine. If anything, it's among the best programs you could use for drawing and painting (yes, on these very two aspects it does beat Photoshop, which is really not meant for that use). Nothing prevents you from using GIMP for the finishing touches (just remember to save in .psd format instead of .sai or GIMP won't be able to open those files).

If you want a free-software workflow, MyPaint+GIMP is a valid combination too.

**ikken** · December 30th, 2012, 06:22 AM

if you're applying to an art school, they might like artrage's nifty oil paint as one or two of your pieces,
but given most art-schools prefer traditional media, I'd vote for freeware at this point.
you can purchase cheaper student licences of photoshop and painter for a fraction of full retail price when you get in,
and I'm not sure if your school is digital-friendly too.

**CarstenJ** · January 10th, 2013, 05:44 AM

Hi,

maybe this could be interesting for you:
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

Adobe let you donwload older versions for free. In fact you should own an license, but I don't think that Adobe expected that really from all users when they offer a possibility to download their software.

**Nickillus** · January 17th, 2013, 08:14 PM

And if you want something with great touch response take a look at Sketchbook Pro 2013. Older versions have the same stylus sensitivity but the latest version has more painterly tools on board than before. It's another cheaper software too. There is a 15 day fully functional free trial to get your digital teeth into. But the workflow is the thing for me. You can just paint away with minimal distraction because of floating 'pucks' and some easy to remember keyboard shortcuts.
http://www.autodesk.co.uk/adsk/servl...32&id=20421693
Look up Bobby Chiu's run through of how he painted the box cover too. It's on his Schoolism site.

**u2bleank1** · February 11th, 2013, 06:10 AM

Try Black Ink if you have a good GPU.

**buzzelli** · February 20th, 2013, 01:47 PM

Maybe you can try SpeedyPainter, it is free and does not need installation.
The software is very simple, it doesn't offer advanced features, but I think it can be a good start for someone who is approaching to the field of digital art.
You can take a look at it here:
speedypainter.altervista.org
hope this helps!

**caosfirst** · February 22nd, 2013, 02:42 PM

Maybe you could try Manga Studio 5(http://manga.smithmicro.com/mangastudio5) ;It's totally diiferent from it's previous versions (in fact it's a translation of a very good japanese painter program-clip studio paint-). Don't let the title mislead you, it is not just only for creating manga an costs just 80$