Digital artists, I need a second opinion

[Slenn]

Hello there. Now this might be an odd thing to post in such a site, however I am in no part of any online art forums. I do know that there tends to be a substantial amount of artists on this site. So for those of you who do a sizable amount of their work digitally, I give you this scenario that happened to me a few hours ago.

I used to run OS X 10.6.8 with a version of Photoshop CS1 given to me by my dad (Yes I know, old but it worked) to do all of my artwork. I work with a Wacom Tablet in junction with it as well. However I recently upgraded my system to OS X 10.8.5 and, unfortunately, my old version of PS CS no longer will boot. My Wacom Tablet still connects fine.

Here is some example artwork to give an idea of what I do. I tend to create artwork once every 1 to 3 months. And it takes about a week to get something finished.

http://scisyhp.deviantart.com/art/Request-EMily-Faith-in-Lenz-Law-383351782

I've been considering a few options.
1. Get a copy of PS CS6, which will cost $350. Pricey but still well within my budget, and I'm already used to the program.
2. Gimp. Free and open source, but I don't really know what will be involved if I decide to go into the coding.
3. Corel Painter. Tried it before, thought it was okay. Not quite what I was looking for.

What do you guys use or recommend?

 

[the December King]

Hello!

Just my two cents, but I'm a big fan of Photoshop, myself. You should see some of the new features, with 3d painting and 'smart stamping' and all that- it's very exciting stuff. Gimp of course has all of the same functionalty, at least of earlier versions of PS.

Nice work, by the way!

 

[Rufio's Ghost]

I use Corral Painter X3. I'm not very good with it myself, but a lot of my friends are and it was the program the suggested for me. It's pretty straight forward and has a lot of options available (so many different brushes!).

I guess it depends what you are looking for. I would probably go Photoshop if I was doing sequential design and Corral for single pieces. It appears that you do both, so it's kinda a hard decision.

Hope that helps!

 

[Slenn]

I use Corral Painter X3. I'm not very good with it myself, but a lot of my friends are and it was the program the suggested for me. It's pretty straight forward and has a lot of options available (so many different brushes!).

I guess it depends what you are looking for. I would probably go Photoshop if I was doing sequential design and Corral for single pieces. It appears that you do both, so it's kinda a hard decision.

Hope that helps!

I'm not quite sure what you mean by sequential design as I've never heard of it before. Judging from the Wikipedia definition are you referring to that piece being a part of a series?

Hello!

Just my two cents, but I'm a big fan of Photoshop, myself. You should see some of the new features, with 3d painting and 'smart stamping' and all that- it's very exciting stuff. Gimp of course has all of the same functionality, at least of earlier versions of PS.

Nice work, by the way!

Thank you very much for your input!

 

[Rufio's Ghost]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by sequential design as I've never heard of it before. Judging from the Wikipedia definition are you referring to that piece being a part of a series?

^Pretty much that. Comics are a great example, and I saw a few in your profile

 

[SweetShark]

You now, right now I am using Photoshop, but I have plans to buy a new program with the name Mischief.
It is a simpler programm than Photoshop, but for that reason is suitable for begginers and the main unique function is actually REALLY interesting:

It have unlimited Carvas and Resolution for you to mess around without fearing if the image you drawing is very small or very big.

http://www.madewithmischief.com/

 

[SamuelT]

I've been using SAI Paint Tools myself, a program which has worked the best in the ones I've tested. It recently came out with an update, allowing for more micromanagement with brushes and a canvas-size able to reach a couple dozen meters in length and width. It's a pay-for program, however, and might need some fiddling around on the less-than-wholesome parts of the internet to get it. It works great with a tablet, pressure sensitivity and all, although if you're looking for vector-like work you might want to pass over this one.

 

[xyrafhoan]

If you're willing to spend money, look for Manga Studio 5 (I wish I could recommend Paint Tool SAI but as far as I know it doesn't support Macs). Not as powerful as Photoshop in some aspects (less filters and photo adjustment) but it's much better for straight-up drawing and painting with a more user-friendly painting engine. And obviously Manga Studio can be used to make comics too, but nowadays it is a very competent art tool.

Photoshop CS6 is damn powerful but nowadays PS will never be my first choice for just drawing. A lot of the advanced functionality ends up going to waste because it's all tucked away.

 

[SnowyGamester]

You could always bootcamp a copy of Windows and install CS1 there (assuming licence key intercompatibility). CS3 and later apparently work on 10.8 so if you can pick up an older copy for cheaper that's also an option. I'm a crazy person that prefers Paintshop Pro but that doesn't have an OSX version which makes it another awkward alternative. I've heard good things about GIMP though I've never tried it myself but since it's free there isn't much reason to not look into it.

 

[NLS]

1. Get a copy of PS CS6, which will cost $350. Pricey but still well within my budget, and I'm already used to the program.

I don't know much about buying a hard-copy of PS anymore, but if you haven't already considered it, I recommend checking out their Adobe Creative Cloud membership plans.
You pretty much pay a flat fee per month to gain full access to all of Adobe's apps and programs, in addition to things like 20GB online storage, synched settings and free training tools. They also keep your programs patched and up to date, and new features are also included constantly, meaning you don't have to "upgrade" next year to get the latest version, it's all included. You can also opt to rent just Photoshop, I think it's about 1/3rd of the price for the whole package. The license let's you log into 2 computers at a time, and it works offline for 30 days before you have to log in again.

I've been using Creative Cloud for over a year now, and although they had some bugs and missing features at launch, it's pretty much stable now, with new program features and patches coming out regularily.

 

[Brennan]

On the free/open source end, there's also MyPaint [http://mypaint.intilinux.com/]. It's a pure painter, and so lacks features compared to GIMP, but it runs a lot lighter and therefore smoother, and it plays better with tablets outside of a Linux environment, which GIMP currently does not in my experience. It is IMO roughly equivalent to SAI or Mischief, and is currently my favorite among the free options that I'm aware of.

Paid-wise, I'd second xyrafhoan's recommendation for Manga Studio. I only have MS4, not 5, but it is surprisingly good drawing app.

If you do try GIMP though, also get the Gimp Paint Studio [https://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/] plugin.

 

[Story]

I've been using SAI Paint Tools myself, a program which has worked the best in the ones I've tested. It recently came out with an update, allowing for more micromanagement with brushes and a canvas-size able to reach a couple dozen meters in length and width. It's a pay-for program, however, and might need some fiddling around on the less-than-wholesome parts of the internet to get it. It works great with a tablet, pressure sensitivity and all, although if you're looking for vector-like work you might want to pass over this one.

While I fully endorse SAI Paint, you can't actually use it on IOS Mac systems. At least not without a bootleg copy and I've yet to find one of those that wasn't horribly glitchy. Unless you know a version otherwise?

OP while you can download Gimp without any real consequence as it is free, it lacks proper pressure sensitivity and I wouldn't recommend it for drawing. I've been using Gimp for several years and even I admit there are just better programs out there.

I have Corel Painter and while it us a very powerful program and the one best suited for drawing, it has a very steep learning curve which is very off putting in my mind. It has almost too many features for its own good, If you are going to spend 100s on an art program I would actually recommend getting one that is more user friendly especially if you are starting out.

I would also recommend sketchbook pro, for quick sketching, but that really is all it's good for.

Now, I haven't really used any other program beyond the three above for more than a few sketches so take this with a groan of salt, but I would recommend PSC6. It is just more powerful and more user friendly, it's the stuff professionals use so if you ever decide you want to draw for a job you'll develop the skills to use Photoshop over time if you have it at home. You can also do a bit more things with Photoshop CS6 and I felt when I tried it was a lot simpler to understand than CS5. Honestly the only reason I don't have it is because of the price but since that is not an issue for you, I would say go for it. Do not get Photoshop Elements unless you want more if an editing program, CS is better for drawing.

 

[Flatfrog]

I use GIMP happily enough but it's certainly got some quirks - having said that, when something this powerful is free it feels a bit churlish to complain

It's also worth mentioning that there's a huge number of pretty decent free online painting tools that are worth checking out; no need to install anything!

 

[mindfaQ]

Too bad you have a Mac, Paint Tool SAI would be awesome for you. Maybe get a Windows installation with bootcamp and run it from there, I don't know how it will affect the performance.

Can't really recommend GIMP as it has a pretty horrible UI imo, but then again, it doesn't cost anything to give it a shot and see if you can manage to work with it.

 

[Charli]

If you're using a mac, Fire Alpaca is an equivalent to SAI, that will serve you well. Too many of my art friends bought into the whole 'oh mac is so great for media work' bs that was spouted by the hipster video editing crowd and now find themselves limited to alot of great tools.

I detest GIMP personally, but all of these should be used in tandem with Photoshop. I tend to port my images back and forth depending on what needs doing.

Both SAI and FA will let you save as a PSD, but be wary of changing the file type back to it's native once you're in the respective program.

So really I do most of the sketch, Ink and flat colours in SAI, then add gradients and masking effects in Photoshop.
Later if I need hard shadows to give it that anime/comic feel I'll go add them in SAI once more.

Lighting renders in Photoshop are extremely useful if you need an atmospheric piece.


Edit: Also laugh at you using CS1. Boy I've been using Adobe Photoshop 7. Because my school gave it to me free when it was relevant. Unless you are a TRUE HARDCORE PHOTOSHOP fan, you don't need better tools. Infact your limitations may push you to be more creative.

 

[jake557]

If you're used to CS1, and had no issues with it, why not download CS2 now that it's free? (Completely legal. You can get directly from Adobe, you just need to set up an account.) Not as big an upgrade as CS6, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

Do not get Photoshop Elements unless you want more if an editing program, CS is better for drawing.

I disagree. I used Photoshop Elements 5 as my program of choice for years and never had any issues with it for painting. I wouldn't recommend it over CS, but as a budget alternative I think it's a great piece of software.

 

[Bocaj2000]

For what you're doing, I would not recommend PS. If you want to use vector based graphics, then download Inkscape for free and composite in GIMP.

In fact there are tons of alternatives to PS (I personally detest the program. It does a little bit of everything but at mediocre quality).
http://www.creativebloq.com/photoshop/alternatives-1131641

 

[Story]

Do not get Photoshop Elements unless you want more if an editing program, CS is better for drawing.

I disagree. I used Photoshop Elements 5 as my program of choice for years and never had any issues with it for painting. I wouldn't recommend it over CS, but as a budget alternative I think it's a great piece of software.

Different strokes for different fokes I suppose. To be fair, I never mentioned anything about painting, just that it's not my recommended drawing program and that it works better as an editor. I do feel you can produce good painted image on Elements, as I have done it before.

There is a lot of great advice on this thread though, I might have to check these things out myself especially since I don't have the money to buy CS6.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

I know it's old and a bit shit, but I am poor so I use PS CS2 which is available for free from adobe and I've found it to work fine with a graphics tablet (I use the Wacom Intuous).

 

[loa]

So why do you write up all that backstory if all you say is "I upgraded my os and now need a new drawing program. This one is free and despite having no reason not to, I didn't bother to check it out yet because I need you to think for me."?
And why do you link your artwork if you don't ask for critique or really anything related to that particular piece?