Digital Painting Software

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I am learning to draw, and would like to try my hand at digital painting.

I currently have ...

A mid-range Windows 8 laptop.
A decent drawing tablet.
Very little experience.
Enthusiasm.


What software should I use? Photoshop? Painter? Something open source? My school will pay for almost anything, so cost isn't much of an issue, although I would like to use something inexpensive if possible.

[Haruki-kun]

Photoshop is the industry standard, and pretty good at handling digital painting. If you can get access to Photoshop you're mostly covered.

[Grinner]

If you don't want to buy Photoshop, GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) is open-source, free, and well-developed.

[Remmirath]

I prefer Painter for digital painting -- but I mostly do traditional painting and drawing, so it handles somewhat more how I expect it to (although of course it isn't quite the same as actually painting with a brush) than does Photoshop. Photoshop is useful for a lot of things, but it's not what I would choose for painting or such. I know a lot of people do get good results with it and prefer it, however, so I think it's all a matter of preference.

I have heard from others that Painter is not very reliable on Windows machines, but I haven't experienced this myself as I've only ever used it on first the Macs at my college and then my own Mac laptop.

I actually prefer GIMP to Photoshop for painting. GIMP's pretty decent.

[TechnOkami]

I have Photoshop. It's my go-to.

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Sai, though I've never used it (but seen it used to good effect).

[mistformsquirrl]

I used GIMP for years, it was certainly serviceable though it had a lot of features I had no idea how to use; then again that's true for every program I've ever used so... yeah.

That said, something I've found enjoyable and useful (if not necessarily the most intuitive) is ArtRage, something I got on Steam. I'm not saying "Go get it" - do research, see if it fits what you want to do, maybe see if there's a demo you can try; for me, I'm enjoying it though.

Like I said though, it isn't the most intuitive thing out there; and depending on what you're looking to do, GIMP may serve you better.

[FLHerne]

Krita (http://krita.org/) always seems to be ignored, which is a shame because it's really nice for painting and also free. :smallsmile: Never liked GIMP much for that - it's so versatile as to be cumbersome for any particular role compared to more specialised apps.

[Beige Dragon]

paint.net (Its called that, i'm not sure if its the site name too) is a good alternative to regular MS paint I've been told its similar to GIMP, but I don't know if its better or worse. Its free, but there might be a few annoying ads disguised as the download button on there.

[Iruka]

paint.net (Its called that, i'm not sure if its the site name too) is a good alternative to regular MS paint I've been told its similar to GIMP, but I don't know if its better or worse. Its free, but there might be a few annoying ads disguised as the download button on there.

The site is getpaint.net, since paint.net was already owned by a paint manufacturer. I used it to work on some photos and on that superficial level it seemed pretty similar to Gimp.

[Azaran]

Some traditional artists liked working with Corel Draw. It seems it tries more to preserve the feeling how brush tools and color saturation work. But I myself have no experience with it.
In my school we used Photoshop. Like everyone before me said, it is industry standard and comes with nice photo manipulation functions and after editing, too.

[IrnBruAddict]

I'll recommend Paint Tool Sai. I had little experience, but it was quite easy to learn after a little experimenting. It's free too, which is always a nice bonus.

[Knaight]

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Sai, though I've never used it (but seen it used to good effect).

I've heard good things about Sai as well, and have also seen it used to good effect. It's my girlfriend's preferred digital painting tool, and she almost majored in art (as a secondary major), so that's worth something.