# Advise On What Art Program To Use When Making Realistic Art....Please?



## MrParaduo (Oct 1, 2009)

The title says it all.
So far the programs I've tried have been SAI, Twisted Brush, GIMP, and Photoshop elements 6.0...I can't decide what is best right now, or even if there's a better program out there beside Cs4. I'll take any advise you can give me at this point! 

Thanks for reading.


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## Ilayas (Oct 1, 2009)

By realistic do you mean photo realism?  I hear from a lot of people that Painter brushes are better then photoshop.  So I'd look into Painter.  Myself I use photoshop 7 I don't get photo realism but I'm not trying for that.


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## Donryu (Oct 1, 2009)

Realistically you could use any program.  Your understanding of basic human anatomy, color and an eye for detail all comes from practice.  If you can do that with any given medium then really any art program from painter to photoshop will do just fine.


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 1, 2009)

Why you're asking the wrong kind of question


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## krisCrash (Oct 2, 2009)

A Bob Ross TV program :B

Arshes: I dare you to do one in MS Paint or similar. You are allowed to antialias/resize it post-drawing.


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 2, 2009)

krisCrash said:


> A Bob Ross TV program :B
> 
> Arshes: I dare you to do one in MS Paint or similar. You are allowed to antialias/resize it post-drawing.



Sounds like an interesting task, lol. I'll see if I have time to give it a shot.


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## Volpino (Oct 2, 2009)

I agree with Arshes. Those drawings were all done by someone with experience in art. The program isn't as important as the principles behind the work.

I do suggest though that you stick with one for a bit, so you're not confusing yourself too much. I started with the GIMP.


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## ila (Oct 2, 2009)

krisCrash said:


> A Bob Ross TV program :B
> 
> Arshes: I dare you to do one in MS Paint or similar. You are allowed to antialias/resize it post-drawing.



...I'm currently drawing a husky using paint and print screen
just cuz I can 

@op just pick one and stick with it once you know how to use it, it becomes easy no matter what program you use (although I will admit that paint takes a LOONG time)


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 4, 2009)

OK here is your MS Paint Apple.

I didn't use zoom and I only cropped an area, not resized.

I could spend longer on it 

I'm trying to remember the last time I used MS Paint...as I'm not unfamiliar with it, but I just use other programs more.


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## Volpino (Oct 4, 2009)

Point already taken and now beaten down good. =)

That's freaking amazing!


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## Atrak (Oct 5, 2009)

It looks good while in that small size. If you click it and see the larger view, it looks...well, you'll see  .

I like the other 6, though, especially number five.


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## feathery (Oct 5, 2009)

As for me i use photoshop for everything so i can onyl assume it your 1 stop for anything art related to accomplish.


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 7, 2009)

atrakaj said:


> It looks good while in that small size. If you click it and see the larger view, it looks...well, you'll see  .
> 
> I like the other 6, though, especially number five.



Pro-tip you're actually supposed to work larger than the final size. It's best working at 4x your posted size. Why waste time making every little detail when working at a larger size, when shrunk down it looks like it should?


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## TheKyleIsHere (Oct 7, 2009)

atrakaj said:


> It looks good while in that small size. If you click it and see the larger view, it looks...well, you'll see  .



It still looks great at regular size. 

It no longer looks real, but it looks realistic. You can tell it was painted, you can't tell what program was used unless you've got a lot of experience with art programs. It's still a damn good painting.

The point here is that the program you are using is only a matter of preference (and money if you are going the legitimate route).

Personally, I use Paint Tool Sai, over Painter 10. I have bought them both, but Paint Tool Sai is a simpler, easier program to use, and I get about the same effects.


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## Volpino (Oct 7, 2009)

Maybe this should be stickied or Arshes should do a post that just has this info. I'm sure this question gets asked a lot.


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## Darkwolfy502 (Oct 7, 2009)

PhotoShop CS4 IMO best ever lol


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## krisCrash (Oct 9, 2009)

Arshes Nei said:


> OK here is your MS Paint Apple.
> 
> I didn't use zoom and I only cropped an area, not resized.
> 
> ...


You are a fantastic apple artist. I bow before your skills!

And when I did give you this challenge I did try it a bit myself using an oekaki paintchat





I used a brush that is round and has a hard, pixelated edge. It does however vary size and opacity by pressure (and has good controls of both maximum and minimum size and opacity). The program isn't bad at all despite being so simple, however my apple painting skill (and patience) leaves a lot to be desired


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 9, 2009)

Some tips to help with the apples.

Now this isn't a hard and fast rule but it does help a lot.

Warm tones - cool shadows / Cool tones - warm shadows

I would have added more of a burnt umber as shadows to the apples you have on the left, and added more blue...probably Indigo to the second one on the right.

Squint, and reduce the number of values when you start out. You only need 2-3 major values.

We could do a similar thread of Digital painting like CA, and try out different programs and post here. Also trying different media would work too. So if you want to do apple studies in charcoal, pencil, watercolors etc...it would be interesting. I would advise using actual apples though photo ref is secondary. (I need to buy a better lamp so I can do said studies). 

Also if you're wondering wtf colors I'm talking about (when using the names) 

This one is primarily for watercolors but a lot of these colors do translate to other media - like oils... (least the major ones) http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/cwheel06.html

I know Painter has the Artist's Oil's swatch palette you can load up...and...

This submission also has the color wheel from Bruce MacEvoy and color swatches for several different art programs with the traditional names.


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## Volpino (Oct 9, 2009)

Have you tried MS Expressions yet? Their paint option seemed buggy to me, but I don't know if that was just inexperience or not.


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## krisCrash (Oct 9, 2009)

Arshes Nei said:


> I would have added more of a burnt umber as shadows to the apples you have on the left, and added more blue...probably Indigo to the second one on the right.


I know the colours, yes. Thanks for the ideas, not that I can continue those drawings in paintchat now... but eh.



> I would advise using actual apples though photo ref is secondary.



Yes. They are apples from my garden! Although the one on the right is not referenced at all, it was after doodling that I decided to go grab some apples.

(and yes, the apples are that pink)


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 9, 2009)

Volpino said:


> Have you tried MS Expressions yet? Their paint option seemed buggy to me, but I don't know if that was just inexperience or not.



I have not tried it but, I'm not interested. I've found the free or cheaper programs (Painter can be a lot cheaper if you get the student discount) so I haven't found a true need. I only did the MS Paint demo since Kris asked and to demonstrate it's basically the same method. MS Paint doesn't really have an opacity option either...so I had to use more principles in color theory, like placing colors next to each other to create a 3rd, and how to use the airbrush effect to create some illusion of gradient.

The apple done years ago as my featured submission was done in OC. OC 1.1 is free. 

I'm only doing quick demos, Simon Dominic does this for a living






He does this in Art Rage and uses Painter to blend. Look at his about Page and he talks about the materials he uses. He goes by Baron Impossible on CA.

http://www.painterly.co.uk/gallery.php?id=31


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 11, 2009)

Oh by the way, here is Simon's Step by step.

1-4 as he says was done in Art Rage the last step in Painter (though personally I kinda like 4 before blending in Painter)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2451356&postcount=15


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## Volpino (Oct 11, 2009)

Arshes Nei said:


> Oh by the way, here is Simon's Step by step.
> 
> 1-4 as he says was done in Art Rage the last step in Painter (though personally I kinda like 4 before blending in Painter)
> 
> http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2451356&postcount=15



pphhhhttt! I'm so far back on that tip. If he started by drawing a circle I might me able to follow him. =P

Yeah. All the more reason for me to take art lessons, but I don't know of any PTSD friendly, non-book courses. My only hope is time and practice.

And I still think this should be stickied before it falls down.


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