Wacom Intuos

gravdestroyer · February 22, 2019

I'm thinking of becoming an artist and am starting out. I am going to but the Wacom Intuos. It come with 1 free software download from 3 options. The options are

Corel® Painter® Essentials™ 6
CLIP STUDIO PAINT PRO
Corel® Aftershot™ 3

What do you guys recommend?

MrFixitBlankFace · February 22, 2019

Aftershot sounds like the goodie.

Kedohawyr · February 22, 2019

Are you sure it's just one? I remember it being confusing to do it with the original Intuos (Wacom's registration system was terrible) but all the marketing seems to indicate you still get 3 programs, not just a choice of 1.

Assuming it is one though it depends a lot on what you are planning on doing with it (what are you planning on drawing?)

Painter is just as the name suggests a painting program (and it's the Essentials version at that) for doing digital art.

Clip Studio originated in the Japanese market and excels at inking and coloring for comics (and has a lot of comic/manga focused features)

And Aftershot is for working on raws (photo touchup)

*You should also note that the Clip Studio code is only 730 day license (though it's not that expensive to buy and if you watch for sales you can get a permanent licence for almost nothing).

However you also shouldn't feel limited to those programs.

Krita is a free alternative to either Clip Studio or Painter and unlike other free alternatives like GIMP it can actually be judged on its merits without resorting to "I can't afford Photoshop so I'm going to pretend this is just as good".

Speaking of Photoshop however there is a reality and that reality is most of the industry uses the Adobe family of products. That doesn't mean you should rush out and pay them their monthly subscription but it's something to consider if you're pursuing this for professional reasons. You won't hurt yourself getting some experience in a program like Krita first.