Minibois' Digital Art Software thread

[minibois]

Over the last couple of years I have tried to educate myself in many of the different digital art programs. Trying out a whole bunch, seeing what software is good for what uses. 
This thread will be filled with my opinion of course, but I hope you will see what I mean through the pros and cons. I will also only be focusing on 2D art, as such I didn’t mention any 3D modeling programs. I will also not talk about animation programs (like Adobe Flash, Adobe Animate or OpenToonz), because I’m not an animator.

 

What I will cover

Open-Source/Free:

• Gimp
• Krita
• Fire Alpaca (Medibang Paint)
• Inkscape
• Paint.NET

Paid:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Clip Studio Paint
• Paint Tool SAI
• Mischief
• Corel Painter

I don’t have bias towards any of the programs, but I have used some (a lot) more than others. My main art programs I use is Gimp. I use Inkscape to play around with vector images and occasionally use Fire Alpaca or Krita. I have used Photoshop a lot too. I will not edit your own opinions, thoughts and other programs to this OP. If you feel different about any of the programs, feel free to leave your opinion in this thread. The OP will be only my opinion.
I have also not used all of these programs, so some of the opinions will be based on other artists I spoke with and reviews I have read and watched. I mentioned everything here will be my opinion and even though I have not used these programs (extensively) I can still give the intended uses, pros, cons and info on these. What will be listed are a programs intended use (by the developer), the uses it works good with, less good with and why. Keep in mind though, every program can be used for every type of art, some just have the tools to make it easier.

 

Template:

 

 

Program: .
[spoiler]
Price: .
Platform(s): .
Category: .
Website: .

Info:

Pro(s):
Con(s):
[/spoiler]

 

 

So let’s get right into it:

 

Free programs:

Program: Gimp.

 

Price: Free (Open source).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX, Linux.
Category: Graphics Editor.
Website: https://gimp.org/

Info: 
Gimp is an image manipulation program, similar to Photoshop. The program is open source, thus free and has extensive community support. From plugins (that can be anything from effects to different export modes), to custom brushes, etc.
Because of the community support over these years, Gimp is full of features and it really will take you long to learn. This is one of the things people complain about with Gimp, too much options. This can be a pro too, but for a beginner it’s really hard to know what to use when.

Gimp has support for graphics tablets, like Wacom tablets, Monoprice, etc. I have only used it with a Wacom tablet and found it works really good (pressure sensitivity and all), although I have heard some people with no brand tablets complain a bit more.

The program is intended to be used as an image/photo manipulation software, although I have used it a lot as a digital illustration and painting tool as well.
It’s not perfect for that, but you can make it work for it. The brush tool and blend tool make for a really good combo in digital painting and the pencil tool and paint bucket do wonders for clean lineart (be sure to work on a high resolution than your end product, but that is a given with digital art).

Pro(s): Free, many plugins, free brushes (on DeviantArt and such), ability to use Photoshop brushes (after converting them), ability to open .psd files (as well as other programs’ files, like Corel Painter files), a lot of filters and effects, a whole load of features, can export to most of the files you will ever need, great compression tool
Con(s): Sometimes unstable, sometimes has a bit of lag on higher resolution files, doesn’t easily work with all tablets, overwhelming amount of features, doesn’t go to single window mode when first installed

 

Program: Krita.

 

Price: Free (Open source).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX, Linux.
Category: Digital Painting.
Website: https://krita.org/

Info:
First released a little over 10 years ago, Krita was first meant as a image manipulation tool (like Photoshop and Gimp) and from 2009 and onward started to differentiate from these two by focusing on being more of a digital painting tool.
Krita recently did a Kickstarter campaign to be able to pay a couple of developers to implement some much asked for features. Its new 3.0 version has a lot of cool stuff in it too, like better vector tools and a text function (which it previously did not have).

Krita is a great piece of software for digital painting. With its virtually unlimited options for the brushes, you are bound to find something that will suit your needs. Customizing this will take a long time and that is one of the complaints I have with the software, when you first get into it you are overwhelmed with a whole ton of options.
Thankfully the tutorials on the website are good and provide a lot of insight in how the software can be used (as everyone has a different workflow).

Pro(s): Free, a lot of options, big community, amazing brush engine, made together with artists to make the software suit their needs
Con(s): May be overwhelming when you get into it

 

Program: Fire Alpaca (Medibang Paint).

 

Price: Free.
Platform(s): Windows, OSX, Linux, Android, iOS..
Category: Digital Illustration.
Website: http://firealpaca.com/en

Info: Fire Alpaca (or Medibang Paint, which the difference is that Medibang Paint has some cloud features) is a relatively simple looking digital art program, with some really nice features.
I personally feel like it’s the best for digital illustration, not so much digital painting and for image editing there is better stuff out there.

The Linux version may require Wine, the iOS version is called ‘Medibang Paint Pro’ and only for the iPad, the Android version is called ‘Medibang Paint Pro’ (paid version is LayerPaint/HD)

Pro(s): Simple on the surface, packs some good illustration features, relatively lightweight, works on many platforms
Con(s): There are no major cons, except that being simple can be seen as a con.

 

Program: Inkscape.

 

Price: Free (Open source).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX, Linux.
Category: Vector program.
Website: https://inkscape.org/en/

Info: Inkscape is the first vector program I will be talking about here. A quick explanation what vector is: most digital art software is ‘raster’. Meaning artwork are comprised of pixels. Vectors are mathematical equations to form lines, bends, etc. This means you can zoom into vectors as much as you want and they won’t get blurry (as opposed to raster where you zoom into pixels).

Inkscape is a strong program for vector images, but vector tools are hard to learn. It’s also not really fit for drawing or sketching, also not for image/photo editing.
What I mainly use it for is converting vector images (.svg files) into a raster image (like a .png) so I can use it in another program.

Pro(s): All the pros of vectors (unlimited zooming in, you can export the image to any size, etc.), ability to open files from other vector programs (like Adobe Illustrator .ai files, CorelDRAW’s .cdr files and more)
Con(s): All the cons of vectors. Not really fit for drawing or sketching, hard to learn

 

Program: Paint.NET.

 

Price: Free.
Platform(s): Windows.
Category: Raster Graphics Editor.
Website: http://www.getpaint.net/

Info: Not to be confused with MS Paint, Paint.NET (which is not its website, .NET refers to the .NET framework it was made on) is often compared with MS Paint. It’s a simple down to earth image editor, but with a couple of really good features which makes people also say it’s a simpler version of more extensive image editor like Adobe Photoshop and Gimp.
Paint.NET has its own file extension to save documents, so you don’t have to save in an image when you are still working on an image (something that MS Paint does not have and one of its downsides) and it also has layer support.

Because Paint.NET is made on the .NET framework, people are able to more easily make plugins for the program. These plugins can do anything from add support for more file extensions to effects.

Paint.NET is a simple image editor for people just starting out with digital art. I wouldn’t recommend you use it for too long though as your main program. You will quickly learn all it can do likely and with more extensive image editors you can keep learning.

Pro(s): Free, simple, plugin support, small program
Con(s): Only on Windows (7 SP1, 8, 8.1 or 10), maybe too simple.

 

Paid software:

Program: Adobe Photoshop.

 

Price: 12,09 EUR/10 USD/11,99AUD per month (1 month trial).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX.
Category: Graphics Editor.
Website: https://creative.adobe.com/

Info: You have probably heard of Photoshop before, if not used it. It’s probably the most famous digital art program out there.
Adobe changed up their entire creative software suite paying method. Before in the CS6 era, you could purchase the software. Now you must pay a license to use it (the package I listed includes Photoshop and Lightroom). This is something that will turn away a lot of people from using it, but people still use it (whether that be paid or pirated though..)

Anyways, Photoshop is a great photo editor and people have also been using it for other types of digital art too. Photoshop can also do 3D models, although I have not seen much of this (usually people use something like 3DSMax, Maya, Blender, etc.).
The amount of brushes out there for the program is huge. Because so many people use it, the community is big and people keep on making different brushes, textures, filters, etc.
All layer options are really good too.

Many people say Photoshop’s UI is one of the best ones out there, I don’t fully agree with this because it hides some features underneath other features and some often used functions (such as transform) are in another menu. The customizability is not much in the program too. A lot of people still really like it though and I will have to admit that it works, just not great for me.

If I wanted to go over all of Photoshop’s function, this thread would be three times as long as it already is.

Pro(s): A lot of functions, community and developer support, good export options, there are hundreds of brushes, gradients, actions, filter, etc. Great support for graphics tablets, plugin support (by Adobe and third parties, to add support for RAW files, color wheel plugins, etc.), 30 day trial
Con(s): Expensive (if you are a hobbyist), many plugins cost money too, you have to pay monthly, big program (which makes it some time to start up too)

 

Program: Adobe Illustrator.

 

Price: 24,19EUR/19,99USD/22,99AUS (30 day trial).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX.
Category: Vector program.
Website: https://creative.adobe.com/

Info: Adobe Illustrator is an extensive vector editor by Adobe. The price is Creative Cloud’s ‘Loose App’ bundle, which includes one Adobe program of choice, 20GB cloud storage and your own portfolio website.

Illustrator is the second vector app I’m talking about in this thread. Quick explanation on what vectors are (from my Inkscape overview):
“most digital art software is ‘raster’. Meaning artwork are comprised of pixels. Vectors are mathematical equations to form lines, bends, etc. This means you can zoom into vectors as much as you want and they won’t get blurry (as opposed to raster where you zoom into pixels)”

I have not used Illustrator that much, but from what I have used it seemed like a very capable vector program, with more drawing options than Inkscape. Illustrator supports Inkscape’s native file format (.svg) and also has its own file type: .ai (which stands for Adobe Illustrator, not artificial intelligence ).

It’s great for logo creation, since you never have a problem that you created the logo too big or too small. You can enlarge it to use on a billboard, shrink it for a business card, etc. This is of course because of its vector based graphics, but I find that the tools often work better than Inkscape’s.

The UI feels very similar to that of other Adobe programs (mainly Photoshop), so previous users of Adobe software should be right at home.
It can also produce simple 3D objects.

Pro(s): All the pros of vectors (unlimited zooming in, you can export the image to any size, etc.), easier to get into vector editing than Inkscape, attractive UI, can open other vector such as .svg, 30 day trial
Con(s): Is not fully compatible with Inkscape’s .svg, Expensive (if you are a hobbyist), you have to pay monthly,  big program (which makes it some time to start up too)

 

Program: Clip Studio Paint.

 

Price: 49,99USD.
Platform(s): Windows, OSX.
Category: Digital Illustration.
Website: http://www.clipstudio.net/en

Info: Clip Studio Paint is targeted towards manga/anime style artists. The software costs a little under 50 USD and there is a free trial if you want to try it out. 
It is used by a lot of artists (manga, animation and illustration purposes), art schools (mainly Japanese ones) and hobbyists. I have seen quite a bit of the artwork made with it and I’m usually really impressed by the results.

I have not used the software myself, but it looks quite powerful and catered towards the anime/manga style. If you want to use that style I would highly recommend checking out the trial.

Pro(s): Some vector support, graphics tablet support
Con(s): I don’t know enough about the software to add something here (and I feel like the price is fair)

 

Program: Paint Tool SAI.

 

Price: 5400 Japenese Yen (roughly 45 USD).
Platform(s): Windows.
Category: Digital painting/illustration.
Website: http://systemax.jp/en/sai/

Info: Paint Tool SAI (often called ‘SAI’) is a program that on the surface looks old. The UI is not that modern, the website looks even older and the program itself is a size you would expect from an old program (2MB). However, the functionality of this program will make up for this.

You can download a 31 day trial of SAI, that after those 31 days stops the functionality to open or save files. At that point you will have to buy the software (which the price is only listed in Japanese Yen on their site).

What SAI works best for is pretty much you want it to work for. If you want to draw manga style? You can do that. You want to do digital painting? It works equally well. The program itself is very fast too. Coloring feels nice and you can change a lot of settings if it doesn’t suit you well. The software support different graphics tablets very well and has a lot of great tools for creation (pencil, brush, airbrush, marker, etc.) which all can be customized.
It has a pen stabilizer option as well, which makes the strokes you make smoother. You can also make it so the brush lags behind your actual cursor, which sounds awful but is actually really amazing in making precise smooth strokes.

Ultimately it’s a great program for many people, but I personally just find it to feel too old and it doesn’t really do anything that other programs don’t also do.Maybe the upcoming version 2 can change that.

Pro(s): A lot of options, small and lightweight, fast program, support for tablets
Con(s): Looks and feels kinda old, UI can be clunky at start, website is kinda old and clunky too, Japanese price is only mentioned on the site

 

Program: Mischief.

 

Price: Free or 25USD.
Platform(s): OSX, Windows.
Category: Digital vector sketching/illustration.
Website: https://www.madewithmischief.com/

Info: Mischief is a program that has a free version, the full version (for 25USD) and a 15 day trial of that full version. The free version doesn’t support multiple things, including layers (which are a must for myself)

This program seems to be focused on sketching. It has some great pencil like tools to emulate the looks of pencils, it has a built in feature so you can make the background look more like paper and it has an unlimited canvas. Most programs ask you to set the size of your canvas before working on it, mischief however has it so you just open a file and can draw, pan away from the drawing and have more open canvas. Since it is a vector program, you can zoom in as much as you want and still retain the quality.

Mischief just seems to combine the best of vector and raster program, at least for sketching and illustration. I have heard a lot of people say it’s not as good for painting though.
Some people have told me they use Mischief to sketch out (a lot of things) and later export those drawings into their drawing program of choice (I have heard SAI, Krita and Photoshop) to finish up the piece.

Another interesting thing about Mischief is that it requires OpenGL. This makes it so the program can is GPU accelerated, which makes the drawing very fluent. To quote their FAQ on this:
“Mischief makes heavy use of the GPU (graphics processing unit) to achieve its drawing speed. In addition, Mischief requires OpenGL 2.0 or greater. OpenGL is a programming interface used by programs to talk with the GPU. If you can play modern games on your computer, Mischief should run just fine.”
https://www.madewithmischief.com/support-answer/1

Pro(s): It’s a vector program with all of vector’s pros (unlimited zooming in without quality loss), it has an unlimited canvas, paper like background come shipped with the program, works officially with Wacom tablets and unofficially with tablets from Bosto, Yiynova, Hanvon and Monoprice, OpenGL support really makes the drawing feel fast, they have a free version and also a trial for the full version
Con(s): Kind of clunky for digital painting, options are hidden under little icons

 

Program: Corel Painter.

 

Price: 379.00USD (or 44,99USD for Painter Essentials 5).
Platform(s): Windows, OSX.
Category: Digital painting.
Website: http://www.painterartist.com/us/product/painter/
http://www.painterartist.com/us/product/photo-effects/

Info: One of the much more expensive programs, Corel Painter packs a lot of features for its price. Usually people praise Corel Painter for its natural looking tools, that simulate the look of watercolor, oil, chalk, charcoal and color pencil.

The price for the full software is high, but Painter Essentials is a much more affordable option for this software (although the full version probably packs a lot of features which this version is missing)

Pro(s): Ability to import Photoshop brushes, immense amount of traditional art-esque tools, much more affordable version for non-professionals
Con(s): price for the full version

 

So what should you use?

 

This is of course not an easy question to answer, as there are so many variables in this question.
What kind of style do you have? Manga/anime? Western cartoon? Digital painting? Etc.
What hardware and software do you have? Are you going to be making logos? Etc.
Budget also really matters and whether or not you will make any money off your art.

I will just list some (common) uses and programs I would recommend you check out. Usually I will list multiple, because you really are suppose to use what suits YOU the best. Any program can any type of art, I cannot stress that enough, it’s just that some have features handy for some uses.

First example:
Hardware: PC, Wacom graphics tablet.
Software: Windows.
Style: Digital painting.
What I would recommend:
I would recommend this user to check out Krita. It’s the best free digital painting program in my opinion. Corel Painter is also a really good program, but paid.
This user can also try out Paint Tool SAI to see if it is what they are looking for.

Second example:
Hardware: PC, Wacom graphics tablet.
Software: Windows.
Style: manga/anime.
What I would recommend:
Clip Studio Paint or Fire Alpaca are what I would recommend this user checks out.
These programs are fit for this kind of art. But really anything can work for this.

 

Sources:

 

http://www.gimp.org/
http://wiki.gimp.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP
https://docs.krita.org/KritaFAQ
https://krita.org/about/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krita
http://firealpaca.com/en
http://everythingfirealpaca.tumblr.com/
https://inkscape.org/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkscape
http://www.getpaint.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.NET
https://www.adobe.com/CreativeCloud‎
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator
http://www.clipstudio.net/en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_Studio_Paint
http://systemax.jp/en/sai/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Tool_SAI
https://www.madewithmischief.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief
https://www.madewithmischief.com/support
http://mveronicasilva.weebly.com/blog/mischief-vector-or-raster
http://www.painterartist.com/us/product/painter/
http://www.painterartist.com/us/product/photo-effects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Painter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Painter_Essentials

[minibois]

Change Log:

Version 1.0 - June 6th 2016

Spoiler

• Thread made
• Gimp entry
• Krita entry
• Fire Alpaca entry
• Inkscape entry
• Paint.NET entry
• Adobe Photoshop entry
• Adobe Illustrator entry
• Clip Studio Paint entry
• Paint Tool SAI entry
• Mischief entry
• Corel Painter entry
• ‘So what should you use?’ entry (and first and second example)
• Sources entry

 

[Guest]

Microsoft Paint 10/3 Very nice

[Mohenjo]

I use sai the most. I got it in "own way". What you say looks old i say keeps it simple. Its a familiar style and works fantastically with my wacom intuios tablet. There are some quirks for example the way it saves things is way more annoying then it should be. Also the ability to add other brushes or use other user made extensions allows you to fully customize sai. I would call it "a modular art program" I tried Photoshop but ive just had o many issues with it and sai is a lot lighter and easier to maneuver as its 100 percent focused on art.

An example of somehing i am currently working on in sai
http://imgur.com/LGbDXch

[The Cool n00B]

adohbee fotoshap iz 69/6.9

[minibois]

21 minutes ago, wra2000 said:

Microsoft Paint 10/3 Very nice

6 minutes ago, The Cool n00B said:

adohbee fotoshap iz 69/6.9

yes.

6 minutes ago, Mohenjo said:

I use sai the most. I got it in "own way". What you say looks old i say keeps it simple. Its a familiar style and works fantastically with my wacom intuios tablet. There are some quirks for example the way it saves things is way more annoying then it should be. Also the ability to add other brushes or use other user made extensions allows you to fully customize sai. I would call it "a modular art program" I tried Photoshop but ive just had o many issues with it and sai is a lot lighter and easier to maneuver as its 100 percent focused on art.

An example of somehing i am currently working on in sai
http://imgur.com/LGbDXch

On one hand it's simple and down to earth, but on the other hand you still have a whole lot of different features for every function. 

And if you think user made extensions and brushes = modular than a lot of programs would be modular according to you

Gimp, Photoshop, Krita all feature extensions and brushes. Even more programs feature custom brushes. It's kinda of a standard feature for any art program that is more advanced than MS Paint. One of the first things that seems to be implemented.

 

Anyways, yes I do agree SAI is a much lighter program, which is a huge plus. And the piece you are working on looks cool  

[Yummychickenblue]

Just a note I use paint.NET on windows 10 so i'm not sure what you mean when you say it's only one win7.

[minibois]

6 minutes ago, Yummychickenblue said:

Just a note I use paint.NET on windows 10 so i'm not sure what you mean when you say it's only one win7.

I wrote "7 SP1 or higher" as in it works on 8, 8.1 and 10 too. I edited the post to this, as I can see how it can be confusing.  

[Yummychickenblue]

2 minutes ago, Minibois said:

I wrote "7 SP1 or higher" as in it works on 8, 8.1 and 10 too. I edited the post to this, as I can see how it can be confusing.  

Oh ok so you're saying it doesn't work on Vista and below.

[minibois]

5 minutes ago, Yummychickenblue said:

Oh ok so you're saying it doesn't work on Vista and below.

Yeah, that is what Wikipedia and their site said.

Paint.NET's site (http://www.getpaint.net/download.html): "Windows 7 SP1 or newer (including Windows 8, 8.1, and 10)"

Paint.NET's Wikipedia page: "Operating system: Windows 7 SP1 or later"

[AlTech]

2 hours ago, Minibois said:

I wrote "7 SP1 or higher" as in it works on 8, 8.1 and 10 too. I edited the post to this, as I can see how it can be confusing.  

What? You don't recommend Photoshop? Well that's just dandy because I have an Adobe CC photographer plan subscription.

 

So I get Photoshop and lightroom for really cheap.

[minibois]

4 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

What? You don't recommend Photoshop? Well that's just dandy because I have an Adobe CC photographer plan subscription.

 

So I get Photoshop and lightroom for really cheap.

Do you mean didn't recommend it in the two examples? No, I think the programs I mentioned for those scenarios are better for the usage.

Photoshop is an alright program, I think some people overrate it though and it's not the best for everything.

[backwardsbuildingfool]

Do y'all have any tips or tutorial suggestions for Krita customization? Because that is exactly what happened to me. It was so overwhelming at first. I have a few of the default brushes I use but I would love to make my own.