# NEW Digital Info and Tips Thread!



## Arshes Nei (Dec 3, 2012)

*[INTRO BY ZYDALA START]*

Hello and welcome to the new Digital Artists Info and Tips thread! This post originated from This thread, which was heavy on the misinformation and lack of communication at the beginning, but transformed into a very useful thread later on. Because of this, it was agreed that a little bit of cleaning up was needed to preserve the good information and make it easier to find, while preserving the conversation that started it all in the other thread. 

Because of this, the first couple posts sound like someone walking in on a continuing conversation. Please see the other thread for any context but feel free to look over this thread for the meat of what was discussed.

I encourage the other Art Shack mods to put in their own edits if they like. Thank you!

*[END INTRO]
*
---


I like how someone who didn't do their research before posting this thread, makes assumptions. I have been helping. Not my fault you haven't looked at other threads where I've given a lot of information. I even gave a lot of information on this very thread and provided links. Heck, I posted youtube videos too.

As far as information getting outdated fast? Corel Painter X was released in *2007* It's almost 2013! That's not fast. That's *years!* One major difference is that Corel Painter is 64 bit (least for Windows right now). If you get older versions of Painter they may not work due to memory handling, and you have to do a certain shortcut. I should know because I'm also running Painter 6. I still even have Painter Classic somewhere. When it came out I even offered to help those that had questions.

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threa...e-tutorials-or-tips-on-Corel-Painter-Brushes? - Though one of the problems I had mentioned with brush imports has vastly improved. In fact, it puts Photoshop to shame on how well you can organize your favorite brushes and workspace. You know why? I talk with Corel as well as others. I mentioned that users do not have the patience or time to look for hidden files on Windows/Mac to fix things. Now you can import and export workspaces. They didn't create a new version of Painter to do this and made you pay more money - *it was a free update!*

If someone asked a question, I may not have had a tutorial myself on it but I sure know where to find one. http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/4049-Question-about-Line-Art-with-Corel-Painter-IX

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/78789-Corel-Painter

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threa...se-on-smooth-line-art-with-adobe-photoshop-cs

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/106136-Need-a-bit-of-help!

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/101930-Gamut-Tool-Tool-for-making-Color-Palettes

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/2217-Various-Art-Programs-and-where-to-download-them - Sticky thread
http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/3012-Everything-you-want-to-know-about-Open-Canvas - Another sticky thread. 

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threa...r-be-good-as-an-artist-Message-of-Inspiration - Yet another sticky thread

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/49321-Photoshop-versus-Painter?highlight=painter+apple - if you want to see the apples. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2714296/ and http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2714309/ and I did an MS Paint Apple out of request since there was the "Well you use good tools" argument http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2900484/

But if you happened to have bothered visiting that part of the forum you'd realize how false your accusations are. Not only that, I provided MORE information than you originally had. You didn't even bother to correct that info.

Also threads aren't closed due to "Poster's remorse" especially since the responses in this thread from others have been helpful providing more information about the programs, even if your posts are inaccurate.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

_Dont listen to anyone that tries to push a certain art program on you, well unless they are going to be the one teaching you it personally and helping you out.
I have been in the art scene for a while as a hobby and know a lot of people who are in artistic scene from novice to profesionals.
A lot of artists learn a program and just stick with it. Sometimes you will see that one program just doesnt make do everything you want. So like most artists they use multi programs. I know a ton of artist that like using photoshop for lineart and then use corel painter to finish.
~On that same not the programs themselves get updated alot. I remember when I first saw the tool that allowed you to rotate your canvas. I was so jelous because the program I used didnt have it. One month later I got the new version of my program and they of course stole that idea. You will notice this happens alot. What your program doesnt have, if its by a big company they will find a way to add it to thier program soon. It is very competitive.
_

The first part of the sentence (although typo ridden again) is probably the best advice the OP put out. 
And yes, I'm bumping the thread to correct yet more inaccurate info

But no one "stole" the idea of canvas rotation. It has been in other programs. Painter's was not GPU dependent but CS is if I remember correctly. This has its advantages and disadvantages. This mainly has to do with how the canvas redraws itself (anti alias) on the screen. Older computers or graphics cards may have compatibility issues.


As far as "memory hogging" There are settings on how much RAM and scratch disk you can allocate to a program. 
In Photoshop, you can control how much memory it can allocate. Go to Edit - Preferences - Performance. There you can set the max amount of Ram. The one fortunate thing is if you're using 32bit Photoshop on a 64 bit machine, it will only take the max a 32 bit program can take.

In Painter 12 the concept is similar.  It is in Edit - Preferences - Performance. You can also allocate the max amount of Ram. The only difference is that Painter allocates the full amount of RAM you tell it it can allocate and doesn't let go until you close the program. So if you have an 8gb machine and tell it to allocate 50% it may allocate 4gb RAM right away. This behavior may change with updates, but not sure.

I usually keep a secondary drive (if I need the space) for scratch. Scratch is the temporary file a program will take up when creating your documents. The more layers and larger the document - more space that scratch will take up.

I mentioned Brush Management in 12 -

12.1 update allowed you to import/export brushes - create custom icons within the program and you can even re-arrange which order you want the category of brushes to appear. They also introduced another favorite - the ability to save the mixer pad, and import images for color sampling and mixing. I ended up using Gamut Masks within Painter. This is good for learning how to limit your color palette. It replaces the use for Chris' tool http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/101930-Gamut-Tool-Tool-for-making-Color-Palettes

[yt]CUpheGMcmPc[/yt]


In the 12.2 Update they introduced Flow Maps which work really interesting with watercolor. They also introduced touch and it's actually one of the better uses of Wacom's touch than other programs which usually default to Windows behavior, so I smile a bit when Steve mentions some of the gestures being glad to see they do listen to their customer feedback specially regarding touch - since I own the intuos 5. 

[yt]M0Mqtgsj50A[/yt]


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## Tiamat (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I will chime in for Artrage as thats my program of choice. I use Artrage Studio Pro.

The Artrage FAQ

http://members.artrage.com/faqs

Artrage gets very power hungry with large documents. Its biggest hindrance at the moment is that
the program is still only 32 bit! So it cannot take advantage of extra ram.

From one of the Artrage staff regarding working a 300 dpi 12 x 18' size document:



> ArtRage pushes around a lot of data and at that size there's a lot of  calculation going on in most of the operations you mention. Watercolour  is a particularly taxing tool as it has to go through the fluid  calculations we use to monitor how the pigment is interacting with other  things.
> 
> Memory-wise, the app is 32-bit so more RAM won't help. The sheer size of  the document is going to require everything you've got. Layers in  ArtRage track more than just colour and transparency, anywhere up to 5x  as much data as simple colour apps, so that can definitely be an issue  if you have many _full_ layers in the document (layers with only a small amount of stuff on them don't use that much memory).
> 
> Processor speed will have some impact on the speed of calculation...



Regarding the 64 bit issue



> 64 bit is something we're looking at, however I don't have a time  estimate for that, as it requires a fairly significant rewrite of the  application.
> 
> Regarding auto-save, ArtRage doesn't have auto-save as saving a large  file wouldbe too disruptive to workflow, so I'm unsure what feature  you're referring to there. Unlike many other applications which only  deal with colour, ArtRage also tracks other media properties such as  wetness, media thickness and so on which will tend to increase file  size. The speed of saving will depend on the speed of the system and  storage media and the size of the file, there's no way to speed it up  inside the application.



This venture would have a significant impact on the cost as well, but I am holding thumbs for it. Right now its the biggest drawback to Artrage and stops it from truly competing with the top tier programs like Photoshop and Painter.

Artrage in action 

[yt]8XQoq6u3_Rg[/yt]

[yt]DLVp4DsqyvM[/yt]

If anyone has any queries at all about it, just let me know and I will help however I can. 
Check out my FA gallery for examples of my Artrage work. It's almost all Artrage paintings.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

The Mixer pad in Painter were developed by the guys who are now working in ArtRage (just a bit of interesting info to pass along).

Easy Paint tool Sai had some recent updates in the past few months. 

The current version is 1.2 Beta 4 (looks like the developer is working towards Windows 8 compatibility)

http://translate.google.com/transla...&u=http://www.systemax.jp/ja/sai/devdept.html

If you already own Sai, just use the UPDATE installer, not the full installer.

If you can't afford Sai, but want the ability to have clean lineart like Sai - For Windows users there is AZ drawing.

Here s a youtube for the program and overview of its basic features. 

[yt]ldQbK4qzVO8[/yt]

Mac Users however don't need to fret since there is freeware for them that gives some nice results for inking  basic painting.
Fire Alpaca

http://www.firealpaca.com/

I may start covering tutorials on this software as well. But Correct is similar to Stabilizer when you use the Pen option. It has a pretty nice GUI as you can either re-arrange the docked panels or float them out if you have dual monitors. It's fairly basic and simple and for beginning digital artists it has the tools necessary to do studies.

I can also get into sketchbook Pro 2012 which is about $30 bucks right now. http://amzn.com/B008TN81ZG

It was revamped a bit for touch interface and better brush management. It's my 2nd favorite in terms of brush organization. I still think Sketchbook Pro's rulers are at the top of its game. The good thing about this software is that both Mac and Windows users can use it. 

I could also cover linux programs - Gimp is the main one, but others have come out.


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## Zydala (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I can cover linux programs too when I have time since I work almost exclusively in Ubuntu - the three that I would cover would be GIMP, MyPaint and a bit of Krita.


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## Tiamat (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Just discovered Krita recently. It's blending impressed me.


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## RTDragon (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Can anyone tell me about photoshop elements considering there is not as much helpful guides for elements. Considering i mostly use that for my digital artwork most of the time.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



RTDragon said:


> Can anyone tell me abut photoshop elements considering there is not as much helpful guides for elements. Considering i mostly use that for my digital artwork most of the time.



Elements tends to lack a lot of a lot brush customizations, you are going to restrict yourself to a round hard brush with pressure sensitivity.


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## RTDragon (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I see so then so which brushes should i use the default or the basic brushes. Though i could never understand the bit on pressure sensitivity considering all these years since 2005 i've been using a Graphire4 4x5 Tablet. does this have something to do with the brush tablet options?


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Well yes, this is a basic principle. Use a hard round brush with options on pressure sensitivity for opacity. Which version of Elements are you using?


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## RTDragon (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Photoshop Elements 8. I'll be getting a new tablet this december considering since this is tablet related as well i do wonder what should i get since i am going from a old tablet of wacom a graphire 4 4x5.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

A Bamboo craft has the eraser end.

Bamboo Splash - http://amzn.com/B0089VGPII (does not have an eraser end but rather cheap)

The Bamboos have 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity


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## RTDragon (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Wow that is quite an improvement over the old graphire series. Though considering i was recommended the Intuos5 though since comparing the price most likely it would be better considering i can also buy some artbooks for myself. Considering i have a 23 inch monitor.


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## Deo (Dec 4, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Wow this is not the thread I thought it would be.

Uh, I brought some awesome tutorials on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, the tutorials range from being for beginners to more experienced artists:
http://www.automotiveillustrations.com/tutorials/drawing-tutorials.html

Kevin is a really great guy, and his work is very professional and high quality. I've enjoyed learning from him hands on in the past during brief guest lectures he gave and I can attest to his skill in his tutorials and his passion for educating young artists.


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## drpickelle (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



RTDragon said:


> Can anyone tell me about photoshop elements considering there is not as much helpful guides for elements. Considering i mostly use that for my digital artwork most of the time.





Arshes Nei said:


> Elements tends to lack a lot of a lot brush customizations, you are going to restrict yourself to a round hard brush with pressure sensitivity.



I use Photoshop Elements 5 for about 80% of my digital artwork. It lacks a lot of the things a full version of Photoshop has, but it's my preference, since it's what I started with and what I'm use to. The things it's missing, the average user would never notice, and is perfectly acceptable to use.

A way around the brush issue... is to use another program to make your own brushes, and import them into PSE. That said, with use and practice, you can do anything with the brushes you're given.

I never liked the line quality of either PSE5 or PSCS3, so I use SAI for that aspect, which is a relatively cheap program.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

The brush actually isn't an issue. 
I am mentioning there is a lack of brush customization, but as a person who is beginning art -  The Round Hard brush is the starter brush that Photoshop has, and to restrict yourself to it.

Meaning, that you just want to set it so you have the round hard brush react to pressure sensitivity for opacity.

When I got my tablet, even though I've used Photoshop for years with a mouse, the program I practiced with was actually Open Canvas 1.1 because I wanted to get down basic coordination with the least amount of distractions. 

Once you learn to paint/draw with that brush, you can worry about pretty custom brushes later.

That's why you don't really need tutorials that tailor to Elements. You need to get that first setting down "round hard brush with pressure sensitivity" first.

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/dp101-2/

But if you don't know how to draw, don't blame the program.


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## Tiamat (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Indeed. Arshes brings up a good point. So many new digital artists are hesitant to use a hard round brush and use brushes that are too soft.
This results in blurry/fuzzy washed out looking work. Learning how to blend with a hard brush is one of the first things you must tackle when going
digital. Forget the airbrushes/soft brushes. They have their place, but can hurt new artists who use them incorrectly.


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## drpickelle (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> The brush actually isn't an issue.
> I am mentioning there is a lack of brush customization, but as a person who is beginning art -  The Round Hard brush is the starter brush that Photoshop has, and to restrict yourself to it.



Ah, I thought you meant that earlier versions didn't have the ability to make brushes, my mistake. 

Yeah-- that's a good tip. I used the defaults for a long time when I first got the program, They're good learning points for taking in, and understanding how to use brushes and technique.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I wanted to cover a bit of advice on computer equipment when doing digital drawing.

Often people ask about tablets, then they weigh it against other computer equipment one wants/needs.

If you're more interested in drawing than gaming here is the following advice I have.

*Monitor is more important than the kind of tablet you buy. *

You can get a nice intuos, but a crappy screen can deter you from drawing. Before IPS monitors (and really good ones still are) were rather expensive. With the advent of budget IPS panels, I would highly recommend at least getting one for a drawing set up. The reason being is that most monitors are TN panels and have limited viewing angles and less accurate colors. Budget IPS panels are usually called "eIPS" 

Do note that any monitor you get will need to be calibrated. 
If you do go with an IPS do also note that they have slower response times, so if you are interested in gaming, this monitor will not be the best. This is why I said you need to make the decision about what you need your computer for the most.

I recommend at least a 20" display for drawing. 

[yt]DWXcNlh85Ps[/yt]


CPU is less important than RAM and HDD

Having a fast CPU/Processor really doesn't matter so much when drawing. It's not going to make your brush strokes better or faster. However, some graphics programs are starting to take advantage of multicore usage. I generally recommend a quad core processor but depending on what program you use, a high speed processor is not so necessary. As far as Intel vs AMD? While I prefer Intel, this also doesn't matter as much. So if you want to save money, you can go with an AMD processor. 

RAM takes a higher priority for graphics programs and is needed more, following that is a good HDD - for mainly saving large files and allowing swap/temp files when program is in use. 

Graphics Cards - You don't need the highest end graphic card.

Graphics cards is a bit of a tricky one. While you don't need the highest end graphics card, you do want one that's reliable for certain graphics programs that utilize them. I still recommend NVidia over ATi/AMD cards. As long as they can use OPENGL they should be fine. I just have seen in the past more people having issues with the ATi cards. Intel also has its limitations. For the most part you won't have to worry as much if you're using a regular tablet and a program like Paint Tool Sai and other programs. Photoshop CS has some functions that use OPENGL but you can still use most of the program if your graphics card doesn't support it. The only other time you may have some concerns is if you have a Cintiq since it is a secondary display. 

I could also go into workspace/desk space later.


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## Tiamat (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Could you go into more detail about monitor calibration?


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Tiamat said:


> Could you go into more detail about monitor calibration?



I can, it's a bit of a enduring subject that I'm even learning.
There's software calibration and hardware calibration.

You also have learning what color spaces your monitor can display


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## Tiamat (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Maybe I can help, after I made my post I did some research. I found these
very useful sites with test samples on the pages themselves. Happy to say my
Samsung is pretty much calibrated to their standards:

Is your monitor calibrated and why you need it.

Color Management 101 for Digital Artists


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## Taralack (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I'll have to use that monitor thing when I'm back on my computer proper. Too busy and tired with con stuff ATM.

You do need a relatively good GPU when doing 3d work and motion graphics or video editing, but I suppose that is going off tangent a little.

Arshes you should split these posts and make them a new thread. XD People might get confused by the original posts and not stick around the read the real advice.


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## Tiamat (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Indeed Bro. I'd like to think this is a WIP melting pot of advice which will probably be made into something more cohesive and useful from the very start.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 7, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Thaily said:


> SAI has sliders?



Here you go

[yt]-f62_jRHxYM[/yt]


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## Tiamat (Dec 8, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Oh you saw that did you? 

The irony, its delicious. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 But I don't want to sound like a petty meanie-poo. 
This kind of thing just makes me laugh a lot.

Anyway, somewhat related, one of my favorite videos. An oldie, I know, but a goodie. 
How to paint the Mona Lisa with MS Paint

[yt]uk2sPl_Z7ZU[/yt]


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## Rinz (Dec 8, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Tiamat said:


> Indeed. Arshes brings up a good point. So many new digital artists are hesitant to use a hard round brush and use brushes that are too soft.
> This results in blurry/fuzzy washed out looking work. Learning how to blend with a hard brush is one of the first things you must tackle when going
> digital. Forget the airbrushes/soft brushes. They have their place, but can hurt new artists who use them incorrectly.


I have no idea how to use a soft brush. I never bothered to learn once I figured out hard round (or the Spicy Curry brush, but I don't quite remember the settings on that one).


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 8, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Rinz said:


> I have no idea how to use a soft brush. I never bothered to learn once I figured out hard round (or the Spicy Curry brush, but I don't quite remember the settings on that one).



A lot of beginning artists go to the soft airbrush because of the build up method...where it's slow and soft. It can make a good gradient transition but because people are unsure they feel the airbrush is ok.

You know how you learned that value exercise on drawing a sphere? A lot of people like the airbrush because it gets "close" to the goal of the exercise. I say close in quotes because people still haven't learned form this way - they just see it "looks right".

The airbrush tool isn't actually bad, but people don't learn how to use it right. I actually did traditional art using a bowl feed Iwata airbrush and mixed my own colors. Airbrush involves a lot of masking. In PS this would be selections *and* masks (since people don't check their selections often enough to see how it masked). You can use a soft airbrush, but if you don't make decisions on edge making - then the result is often too soft and undecided. 

Beginner artists tend to create, what I refer to as the "balloon animal" effect when dealing with certain body parts.

Like the upper leg - you learn to associate most with a cylinder...however, as your anatomy studies and knowledge increases  you realize there are still planes on the leg where it's not an exact cylinder.





http://cranktraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/muscle_anatomy_upper_leg.gif

Certain parts of the inner thigh flatten out a bit (ie  form a plane) 

So dealing with it as a soft airbrush form can be acceptable (in certain cases) but not a good study if you don't know the anatomy, edges, planes and form.


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## HipsterCoyote (Dec 11, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Adobe Flash!!

*What Can I Make With Flash?*

Fucking everything, including: 
--> Interactive websites such as the horrifying Monoface website
--> Comics, Like one of the first all-flash webcomics called FAIRVIEW HIGH!
--> In-Browser Games and IM Clients
--> Mobile Apps
--> Animation, obviously

Flash is feature-rich, is programmed in concert with ActionScript (you do not have to know how to code to use Flash, but you need to learn how to code in order to bring Flash to its full potential), and is freakishly adored by a large amount of people despite how much sense it does not make and even though it crashes constantly and does NOT let you save your work on the occasion that it does crash, you find yourself throwing yourself off of cliffs in order to be able to see the sparkly bastard just one last time.  Like other programs by Adobe, Flash is designed to work across programs, most notably _AfterEffects_ and to some smaller extent, _Fireworks. 

_As an aside, not a lot of people hear about Fireworks. Fireworks is what happened when Adobe went "We ought to make a vector version of Photoshop that isn't Illustrator.  We ought to package it like "Hey man, you can design websites and apps on this thing," but the money maker for us is that we'll add in features that have to be used along with Flash, Photoshop, and DreamWeaver... and besides, I think it'd be just rad if it saved your work as _raster images_, even though it's supposed to be a vector program, and even though you can tell it to export as things you figure'd keep the "I'M A VECTOR PROGRAM" thing in mind like PEE DEE EFFS, it's going to flatten your vector art into a raster image HAW HAW HAW"  

*AND YET YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO USE THIS FUCKING SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO GET A LOT OF JOBS AS UX/WEB DESIGN AGFAFSFJA *
OK anyways, anti Fireworks rant aside, 

If getting the _previous_ version of Flash is at all within your capacity, do so.  Instead of CS6, get CS5 (or 4, better yet, because the damn thing is more stable than 5, but 3 lacks some very nice features).  Flash is a _very_ tempermental program because it is so complex (and coded by people who cut corners because it is perfectly possible to code software in a way that lets you save your work on the occasion the program crashes but Adobe is like, "No that's hard," and even though you're paying just as much money as for, say, VLXI (an alternative to Illustrator) that DOES let you save mid-crash, NEWP).  In that vein, just like with operating systems, don't get the flashy newest version.  Get the previous version because if something goes wrong, someone else has been there and it is much easier to find the answer to your problems. 

Flash's appeal, IMO, is because of how very feature rich it is.  It can be a _very_ intimidating program because of this, but do not get frustrated.  When you open Flash for the first time, do so with a goal in mind.  One you have designed in a medium you are comfortable with (photoshop? Drawing on paper?).  Flowchart how it works, or otherwise mark down your vision.  This way you will have a direction and then you can look up, "How do I make ____ in Flash?" and streamline your learning experience.  Just playing with Flash is going to cause really bad habits. 

For instance, 

1.) There are 'groups' in Flash. They are useful tools for aligning text and images.  That's all they should be used for.  However, there is the possibility that the self-taught person who picks up Flash and learns by fucking around will think that using groups is acceptable practice for animation.  It's not, and in the shortest terms possible, it makes your animations explode (literally) and it fucks up your library (the thing where all your saved drawings relative to your .fla go) by auto-naming and it just, it just is a mess. If you do use a group, then only use it to align things and then BREAK it apart once you get it where you want it.  

Better practice which you will learn about if you look up, say, "How do I make a looping animation in Flash" because you planned your shit out, is the practice of turning everything into _symbols_, not groups.  Symbols are objects _specifically _for drawings which need to change (so, if you want to animate a run cycle, you will make it a symbol.  If you want to animate a button that has a rollover effect, it will be a symbol). 

2.) There is the puppet tool in Flash.  It needs to go to hell.  If you derp around and go "Oh, there is a puppet tool, and I've seen animations before that look like paper puppets, this is swell and I should use it " then you are missing out on the way you really ought to do 'paper puppet' animation (puppeting, motion graphics) which amounts to manipulating layers of _symbols_ on the timeline.


ETA - 
As an aside, if I dumped everything I knew into a thread would that be worthwhile? Who wants to learn how to Flash?


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## Rinz (Dec 11, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> A lot of beginning artists go to the soft airbrush because of the build up method...where it's slow and soft. It can make a good gradient transition but because people are unsure they feel the airbrush is ok.
> 
> You know how you learned that value exercise on drawing a sphere? A lot of people like the airbrush because it gets "close" to the goal of the exercise. I say close in quotes because people still haven't learned form this way - they just see it "looks right".
> 
> ...


So, essentially, if I'm reading/digesting this right, the airbrush tool can be used to great success if things like planes of the body are selected, then shaded using an airbrush tool? And then further refinement with layer masks?


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## Taralack (Dec 11, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Haha HC I love that you used Comic Sans for the header on that post.


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## Tiamat (Dec 11, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



HipsterCoyote said:


> As an aside, if I dumped everything I knew into a thread would that be worthwhile? Who wants to learn how to Flash?



Go for it! I'd read it and I'm sure others would as well. Can never put too much info and personal experience out there.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 13, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Rinz said:


> So, essentially, if I'm reading/digesting this right, the airbrush tool can be used to great success if things like planes of the body are selected, then shaded using an airbrush tool? And then further refinement with layer masks?



If you have ever used a traditional airbrush, making masks is necessary. To create a hard edge for example, you'd use friskette to block out areas you don't want to color in yet. Something like friskette usually creates a hard edge, as does masking tape if it's pressed down firmly. You could also use paper which would create a firm edge. Other tricks we'd use is something like sand to create texture.. 

Notice I said hard, and firm. There are different kinds of edges. 

I always end up going to this post to study and understand them.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showth...ng-Discussion-quot-Edges-quot-Tips-and-Tricks


----------



## HipsterCoyote (Dec 13, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

AH
HA
HAHAHAHAHA
YES

_YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS

_<Arnold Schwarzenegger>_ AND I CAME LOUDLY, GLORIOUSLY, SAGGING WEAKLY: NYAUGHGHGHGHGFH _</Arnold Schwarzenegger>_

_I FOUND ALL MY FLASH ANIMATIONS 
I FOUND THEM ALL 
I DIDN'T LOSE THEM IN THE MOVE AFTER ALL

I'M SO HAPPY I CAN'T EVEN FIGURE OUT HOW TO PUT MY FONT BACK

Seriously man I can stomach going to work today 
omfg
I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE MY PORTFOLIO FROM GOD DAMN SCRATCH
AH
HA
HA
HAAAAAAA

Also I can use it for to make glorious flash tutorials, and all that, yes.  So. I shall do that.  Now all I need is a serial number since I kind of had to reformat and I kind of have my serial number on an external whose weird nigh irreplaceable adapter+USB-all-in-one thing that they don't make anymore, is lost.  :C  I wonder if I can't talk a university student into buying Adobe CS3/4/5/6 for me with their righteous discount and I'd reimburse them. Hrmmmm.


----------



## Fenric (Dec 13, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



HipsterCoyote said:


> I kind of have my serial number on an external whose weird nigh irreplaceable adapter+USB-all-in-one thing that they don't make anymore, is lost.



Can you disassemble the external case and put the drive in a more sensible enclosure?


----------



## HipsterCoyote (Dec 13, 2012)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Yeah, I'm going to attempt to today actually.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 3, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Wanted to bump this thread with more info on some fine tuning tips in Painter.

One of the best things about Painter is the Brush Tracking. If your brush doesn't seem to work the way you want you'd go to Edit -Preferences - Brush Tracking. It would bring up a screen like below

http://apps.corel.com/painterix/training/tutorials/tip_wacom_01.gif





Often people will tell you to go across the pad horizontally using the same speed strokes to get it to respond. Sometimes this works fine, but you will notice not so great with other brushes. 

In Painter 12, you have the option of setting the tracking per brush Basis in the brush control panels.
You bring it up with either CMD+B (Mac) or CTRL+B (Win)

Now one thing to note that tutorials often don't tell you. You should do the tracking per how you regularly move your strokes. That means, you don't necessarily need to the the horiztonal swipe. You actually may want to try a vertical or angled stroke instead if that's the direction you mostly use this brush.

Give it a try if you're a Painter user.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Oh, someone asked about Sketchbook Pro.

I have to say Sketchbook Pro 6 is one of my favorite updates.

I'll show this Youtube which gives a brief on new features
[yt]jmzcvQaDG9Q[/yt]

The Brush palette bar is my 2nd favorite thing. I love how easy it is to customize and put it on that bar, you only need to slide the bar up and down to get to the brush you want. Very awesome and great GUI design there.

My favorite update is actually the Color Puck. When you hover then click on the color puck it turns into the color wheel. Other nice things about this color puck is that if you go to 

Edit - Preferences - Brush 
You have the option of allowing the Brush Puck to change size with one direction and/or you can change it to change opacity of the brush
The color Puck will also let you change the luminosity by doing a similar gesture.
Click Drag up goes lighter in value - adding more white
Click Drag down goes darker in value - adding more black
Click Drag left - goes lighter in saturation - less purity of the color (more greyed)
Click Drag right - goes darker in saturation - more purity of the color

You can also go into your preferences again to Adjust for the smoothness of your stroke. It's referred to as Steady Stroke.

I also really like the symmetry and ruler tools. The nice addition is a french Curve set. It works very fluidly. If you tap on the "french curve icon" It will place a french curve set on your canvas. By Pressing the "french curve icon" on the canvas (not the toolbar) you can change the type of French Curve set you have. You can also rotate and re-size it to get the kind of curve you want.  You can also use the symmetry tools while using the rulers.

Sketchbook Pro I feel has the best pencil tool hands down. I really feel like the way work works is more natural or intuitive to actual sketching (specially with the intuos 5)

I've also been trying out the new synthetic and blender brushes. These tools are an improvement over past brushes, but I still feel like I need a bit more tweaking to get that sweet spot of it feeling more painterly and less like "glorified smudge tool".

Sketchbook Pro also updated due to the intuos5 touch, and Cintiq HD Touch. I feel it's a bit laggy at times, but it does respond. I am glad they remember the "double tap" to get the hell back in center. Otherwise I'd be going nuts. I still feel that sometimes the touch isn't as intuitive. It may be that it needs some kind of hand orientation/detection to prevent errors in reading.

Some people mentioned the Copic Library as a new feature, but it was in the past Sketchbook pro as an update. 

Layer management has improved with transparency options, and ways to label your layers like with color tabs.

I am gonna link to hotkeys because I often need some hotkeys when I manage sketchbook Pro.
(PDF document) - http://www.sketchbook.com/storage/documentation/ENU_Hotkeys.pdf (English)

I'll show a demo of one of my express key layouts for the intuos 5

http://i49.tinypic.com/sc3nlt.jpg






Brush sizing is always on my backswitch, I always find it faster than mashing a button constantly to go up and down in size.
Alt - eyedrop/sample color tool

I haven't put anything on the touch ring (left it at default) mainly because I can rotate with my fingers on the intuos 5 and double tap to get back to the right spot. I usually use my touch ring for zooming, rotating and secondary brush sizing 

I used the bottom keys for Undo/Redo Full screen and Panning around in my document.

Personally I find that Sketchbook pro is really a great beginner tool for general sketching (not to say it's not for pros, it's just that its simplicity helps overall). Layout is probably closest to regular drawing on paper. The price is also great. 40 bucks - http://amzn.com/B008TN81ZG

Some cons and troubleshooting - 

Blending still isn't quite there yet.
Some people will mistake it for the ultimate digital painting solution - no, as its name states: SKETCHBOOK Pro
If panels get stuck, go to Window - Default Layout on the Bottom
Touch controls is still...touchy!
License is for 1 computer only afaik - although inexpensive it is a bit of a pain for mutli users. 

Overall, I still really enjoy this program and while I was pretty upset with ordering it from Autodesk - they screwed up on handing out keys and product codes during initial launch. I can't complain about the price for this program for what I get.


----------



## RTDragon (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I have autodesk sketchbook express that came with the bamboo create. How much is it to upgrade from it?


----------



## Taralack (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



RTDragon said:


> I have autodesk sketchbook express that came with the bamboo create. How much is it to upgrade from it?



Sketchbook Express is free for both Windows and Mac.
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/sketchbook-express/95d1acfb-4d64-487a-9e20-8d6f6d41cb54
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/sketchbook-express/id404243625?mt=12


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

You should note that the Sketchbook Express link for windows is ONLY for Windows 8


----------



## Taralack (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Hrm it seems it's not available for PC at all. 

@RTDragon if you are going to any school or institute, you can register on the Autodesk site and download a student version of any of their software for free.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Toraneko said:


> Hrm it seems it's not available for PC at all.
> 
> @RTDragon if you are going to any school or institute, you can register on the Autodesk site and download a student version of any of their software for free.



There *are* versions of Sketchbook Express that are free but they are bundled with Wacom tablets. Sketchbook Express is a limited version of Sketchbook Pro. As I said Sketchbook Pro is only 40 bucks. It's not that expensive. 

As far as I can see and tell Sketchbook Pro is not listed as part of the student download catalog. http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center *Confirmed there is no student version for free*

When I bought the Upgrade version it didn't ask me for serial from previous (It cost me $30)
The full version is 40 on Amazon - 60 on Autodesk's site.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I tried Krita a few times and I have to say it has one of the most aggravating GUIs I've ever encountered.

It tries to launch the DVD drive for no reason

It definitely isn't programmed for touch. The controls are counter intuitive and lag in response.

It could use a lot of tweaking to make it more user friendly. I did finally see how some brushes work, but customizing the interface is such a pain and it's hard to see some of my tools. The brush icon is a wiggly line (why the fuck????)

I can see how it blends but since Sai Paint can do it the same and better not sure if it's a program I can recommend at this time. 
I'm gonna shut it down so it stops spinning my DVD drive.


----------



## Tiamat (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> I tried Krita a few times and I have to say it has one of the most aggravating GUIs I've ever encountered.
> 
> It tries to launch the DVD drive for no reason
> 
> ...



Yeah, I wont argue there. I felt the blending was great and thought the hassles it put me through were just from using it for the first time...I was wrong.


----------



## Taralack (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> There *are* versions of Sketchbook Express that are free but they are bundled with Wacom tablets. Sketchbook Express is a limited version of Sketchbook Pro. As I said Sketchbook Pro is only 40 bucks. It's not that expensive.
> 
> As far as I can see and tell Sketchbook Pro is not listed as part of the student download catalog. http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center *Confirmed there is no student version for free*
> 
> ...



Maybe this is a recent change, but I have Sketchbook Pro under a student license.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Toraneko said:


> Maybe this is a recent change, but I have Sketchbook Pro under a student license.



There were student copies of Sketchbook pro like 2009 and such. Since I'm talking about the latest version Sketchbook Pro 6 - there isn't

This also isn't to be confused with Sketchbook Pro Designer, where you can get a student copy. That software is also much more expensive. Amazon has it listed at $469 - http://amzn.com/B007RKLV7W - I also should note that Sketchbook Designer will no longer be retail either. 

Sketchbook pro has been put on multiple platforms now so I'm not surprised there isn't really a student copy anymore. As I said, it's *40* bucks off amazon, and *60* off their website full versions. That's cheaper than most student textbooks and money people blow on the latest video games these days.


----------



## Taralack (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> There were student copies of Sketchbook pro like 2009 and such. Since I'm talking about the latest version Sketchbook Pro 6 - there isn't
> 
> This also isn't to be confused with Sketchbook Pro Designer, where you can get a student copy. That software is also much more expensive. Amazon has it listed at $469 - http://amzn.com/B007RKLV7W - I also should note that Sketchbook Designer will no longer be retail either.
> 
> Sketchbook pro has been put on multiple platforms now so I'm not surprised there isn't really a student copy anymore. As I said, it's *40* bucks off amazon, and *60* off their website full versions. That's cheaper than most student textbooks and money people blow on the latest video games these days.



Hrm ok. The version I have is 2011. What are the differences between them? I'm curious.

Speaking of cheap art programs, what do you think of Art Rage? It's $60 on Steam, was 40 or 50 during the sale but I missed out on buying it.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 5, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Well I kinda listed the updates which spells out differences in 2011 vs "2012" aka Sketchbook Pro 6. They made improvements to the Brush GUI so its interface is better imo. Also more compatible with touch functionality. 


I like Art Rage, and I think if you paint traditionally it emulates it pretty close. If I remember correctly the team who worked on Art Rage actually were the same people who developed the mixer pad for Painter. It still has odd bugs with Color blending even if you use "use real color blending". 

Tiamat actually uses the program more than I do. I also like their Watercolors in the latest version. There isn't support for 64 bit unfortunately so there are limitations. But for the price it's still pretty good. I love their palette knife, I wish Painter had this damn knife (the Artist Oils has one that is close but not quite). On the other hand I wish the brush controls were easier to use for shortcuts. For example I'm a heavy "ctrl+alt" user. I use on the fly brush sizing A LOT vs "hulk smash! Bracket sizing".

If you want some good demos in action Nick Harris has one.

http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754329985955219/nick-harris-and-artrage-3.html

[yt]ek8bwvH63XU[/yt]

Also could try doing a demo using this? https://plus.google.com/+DanielIbanez/posts/SwDS3koTVYj


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 12, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Although this is more on traditional painting, some of the understanding of these theories can help a bit when working digitally.

http://www.johnmuirlaws.com/art-and-drawing/color-theory 

http://maggiemaggio.com/color/tutorials/

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/wcolor.html

Gurney on "mud" http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/mud-debate.html

Gurney on the Color wheel - I am linking part 4 but the other parts are in his blog linked at the bottom - http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/02/color-wheel-part-4.html

For color mixing digitally, this blog talks about the LAB color space.

http://yinako.wordpress.com/2006/10/29/color-mixing-with-lab-mode-in-photoshop/


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Just a note for users. ArtRage 4 has been released today, it's 50 on Steam but upgrades it's about 25 dollars

http://www.artrage.com/artrage-4.html

Some of the new features is now you can change the brush head on oil brushes and save the preset.
You can now use transformation tools, cloners. There's now symmetry tools and better Wacom stylus support (FINALLY!)

You can see a comparison of the new features here
http://www.artrage.com/files/artrage_product_comparison.pdf

I've been testing it out and the better Wacom support is definitely felt in this version. Still testing other features out right now.


----------



## Tiamat (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

The Wacom support is fantastic, the old method of changing brush sizes is a hard habit to break though and is still quicker than the wacom circle. (Holding shift and dragging the stylus) 

Everything going smooth so far. I'm checking it out by carrying on with my commission using it. As I start detailing the image and such I'll get a better idea on the new brush options.


----------



## Zydala (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Oh nice! I loved Art Rage 3, I'll probably pick up the upgrade when I have the chance! 

Do you know if you bought the windows version of Art Rage, if the upgrade can only be Windows? I just got access to a Mac recently, and I don't like switching to Windows on my Dual-Boot Ubuntu very much... I will if I have to, lol...

Oh speaking of, do you think a post on Linux software is still relevant? I've been meaning to get on it recently and I have lots of time this weekend. Do you think it should be a post here, or its own thread? Should I focus on the Linux aspect, or maybe just the FOSS (Free and Open Source) aspect of it?


----------



## Tiamat (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I think you can actually upgrade to MAC...the 'upgrade' is a standalone program and it says this on the download screen: ArtRage 4 Upgrade
            Win / Mac, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.7, Mac O  US $24.95
            Download


----------



## Zydala (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Excellent! ...except the old mac I was given is 10.5, grrrr. lol... I'll look into the upgrade then.

Also along with my linux post question... Arshes do you think it's time to maybe clean up this thread? :] take all the useful posts and put them altogether maybe


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 16, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

If you want to it's fine. Just keep a link from this original in the new one. It's because when you separate sometimes helpful information is on the original thread so it helps keep context.


----------



## Zydala (Feb 16, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Nice!  okay sounds good


----------



## Tiamat (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

If in the meantime I could post this here?

Don't stress about the Artrage update just yet. I'm a big fan of having the latest version of my favorite programs and its only a step up of course...but the added wacom support is not quite properly implemented. I still use the old method of changing the cursor size, much more efficient that way. Also the 'eraser' of the stylus does not change size at all via the touch ring. (But still works via the old method) the new brush options are great for that extra tweak, but only if you are really trying to emulate real media. (and no program does that properly yet) 

The old processor problems are still there, but thats nothing new. But to reiterate, this program is very CPU heavy and does not ride piggy back on the graphics card or extra ram.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I don't know why the brush bracket shortcut is an issue for not upgrading?
The touch ring is customizable, you can use any shortcut you wish, not just what Wacom defaults it to. I change mine all the time. So I don't think this relevant to the upgrade.

The slowness happens due to the fact the program is still 32 bit if I remember correctly, and once it starts getting brushes over 100% slowness occurs. 

The upgrade path, unlike a lot of other software is really inexpensive. Artrage allows you to use multiple computers with that license too. There's no limit. So even if there are still problems with the upgrade because it's still 32 bit and doesn't take advantage of certain things the big programs take, the price/features upgrade to multiple computers still weigh out more benefits and cons.


----------



## Tiamat (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

I did not mean to say -dont- upgrade, I meant that its no rush just yet if you are using the 3 series of Studio Pro. There are some nice new features but personally I feel this could have just been part of the 3 series instead of calling it Artrage 4. So if you have never used Artrage before, check out what has been said about it earlier. Its still my favorite program, but you need a hefty CPU to work on anything above the 250 dpi range. The lack of a 64 bit option is unfortunately what keeps the price range down, so its a catch 22 on that issue.

I must add though that this program, despite chugging occasionally, is extremely stable. I've never ever had a crash and I work big.


----------



## Zydala (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Haha I upgraded yesterday and bought the upgrade for the mac OS I wanna use it on. oops

Actually Tiamat have you tried the new workstations and scrap papers options yet? I really love them! I agree there aren't too many big big changes (though the transform is nice), but it does feel a bit more stable and customizable. And I'm happy to get on board early and support them; hopefully soon they'll get a means to be able to support 64-bit and maybe look into using ram so people can work larger without lag.

Honestly ArtRage is my second favorite painting program next to MyPaint, so I'm super happy that they're still supporting updates 

P.S. I'll clean up this thread tonight, gotta go to work but I put it on my HabitRPG list so it'll get done ;]


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*

Well I'm not so sure it could stay as part of the 3 line since the things I noticed are:

Even more GUI customizations. "Workbench Mode"
Symmetry mode - every other paint program that adds that usually means a full version upgrade, Painter, Sketchbook Pro etc..

The oil brush customizations sold it for me - I admit. I'm tired of the sameness "obvious digital oil brush trying to look like real oil brushes" now I can actually adjust the strokes better. Square head and aspect. Thank you for the rotation!


----------



## Tiamat (Feb 17, 2013)

*Re: Starting Digital Artist Information*



Arshes Nei said:


> Symmetry mode - every other paint program that adds that usually means a full version upgrade, Painter, Sketchbook Pro etc..



I did not know that, fair comment then!


----------



## Zydala (Feb 19, 2013)

Aaaaand moved all the things to a new thread. Copied most but accidentally "moved" a bunch of posts so they're no longer in the old one... oops. I'll see if I can fix that.

Does it look all right you guys?


----------



## Arshes Nei (Feb 24, 2013)

Found a youtube that talks about the very frequent problem of people that think just using a photoshop mode when doing a painting in greyscale to color works. People don't realize color's local value and often make their colors look ugly by doing so.

[yt]g2fZdGZKP1k[/yt]


----------



## Zydala (Feb 25, 2013)

FOSS, Painting... and YOU! (AKA: Artings in Linux)

All right, finally got on top of my schedule and decided to start my post on the different kinds of software that are available for Linux! 
Just so everyone knows though, *all of the following software ARE available for Windows, and thereâ€™s limited support for Mac*. Honestly they shine brightest on Linux though, so if thereâ€™s any compatibility issues Iâ€™ll try to highlight them but I canâ€™t promise I can cover everything haha
First off, about the title:         

*- What Is FOSS?*

FOSS stands for Free Open Source Software. This means that the software is a) Free to obtain and install, and b) the software code - the source code specifically - is available to everyone, so others can join in with their own additions to the software.
*- What are the benefits of choosing FOSS programs?*
1) Well, first off, theyâ€™re free! Which means you have immediate access to the full version of the software you are trying out! No demos, trial periods, nada. 
2) All the programs listed here have active development teams that listen to the community for ideas and are easy to reach.
3) Because of the good feedback and the ability for others to join in with their own ideas, it encourages the community to create their own plug-ins, branches and versions of the software to suit their needs.

*- What are the disadvantages?*
1) Since it is mostly free, this is software that does not necessarily get updated/patched quickly. 2) Support can be lacking beyond community forums and help, especially if you are not someone who can do your own troubleshooting.
3)â€œyou get what you pay forâ€. When choosing any of the following software youâ€™re not necessarily going to get the cutting-edge in painting and photo editing, and thatâ€™s not even necessarily the goals of the production teams. 

So keep these in mind, but honestly, *anything you can make in photoshop, you could make in any of these programs. The program isnâ€™t going to give you skill, practicing is.* So why not try them, especially if youâ€™re just starting out, or have a budget?

So without further ado... hereâ€™s three of the most-used painting programs on Linux.
-----





*GIMP*

Pros â€“ most complete FOSS editing software for Linux, has very similar goals to photoshop, lots of online support and plug-ins that can make it a very rich editing/painting program
Cons â€“ very buggy on other OS, tablet support is iffy for non-wacom brands, very sloooow development
Try if you like: Photoshop

If youâ€™re ever in a thread about free software, GIMP is most likely to pop up real quick. Most people immediately compare it to photoshop, but there are some key differences. The way that GIMP handles layers, transparency, blending, and brush mechanics are significantly different and more complex, giving more options. GIMP can be a very powerful program, but hard to master because of the User Interface and extra settings. But all the tools are there - cutting, pasting, masking, filters, adjustments, etc. Thereâ€™s a lot of good tutorials to get you started on websites like DeviantArt. Also check out David Revoyâ€™s work and blog, he has a lot of videos and tools that he uses that can show you the typical workflow in GIMP.
Because of its free price-tag, I find most people associate the program with really terrible paint-bucket-filled wolves from a 13 year-oldâ€™s DA page. But you can make just as great pieces with it, and thereâ€™s very little painting-wise and editing-wise that you will find in Photoshop that you wonâ€™t find in GIMP. These are exercise sheets that were made for photoshop that I myself completed in GIMP. 
And if there is something missing in GIMP, someoneâ€™s made a plug-in for it. Lots of plug-ins.

The screenshot above is my workspace with a stupid little doodle in it. I have Gimp Paint Studio installed which greatly improves workflow and painting options with some pre-made brush settings.

Unfortunately there are a lot of bugs in Windows/Mac versions that can render it unusable for some, including tablet support and broken loading times. The upgrade going on now for the program will get rid of lots and lots of compatibility issues, but seeing how long it took to get from ver2.6 to 2.8, who knows when 3.0 will be out...


----------



## Zydala (Feb 25, 2013)

-----




*MyPaint*

Pros â€“ infinite canvas, almost excessively manipulative brush controls, very intuitive and easy to adjust to your habits/needs, very responsive development team
Cons â€“ little to no editing options, best up-to-date versions must be compiled manually for any other OS, .ora files limit compatibility with other programs
Try if you like: Sketchbook Pro, Paint tool Sai, Open Canvas

MyPaint is personally my favorite program to use EVER. The team that has been making the software has brought suggestion after suggestion into the program and itâ€™s made itself into something that is easy to use and takes out the complex parts of painting. It has an infinite canvas that you can â€œboxâ€ so when it is saved in a different size and resolution, the color wheel and scratchpad are impressive in their options (built in gamut mask anyone?) The brush engine is so complex that you can change a variety of things about the opacity, jitter, scattering, size, smoothing, direction... you can even make any of those elements react specifically to pressure, or in relation to another setting. This has brought a ton of amazing brushes into the program, many of which start up right away as presets. Iâ€™ve even made my own brushes that act like brushes in SAI and Photoshop.
The brush engine is limited in one way - it can only really be a variation of a circle. You can change its radius, length, how â€œflatâ€ it is - but youâ€™ll never get beyond that. This can be sort of a let-down in a lot of ways considering the awesome brush textures you can get in photoshop/painter/GIMP, but I find that this doesnâ€™t always limit the programâ€™s ability to make interesting textures.

But it DOES lack in editing software. Itâ€™s a lot like Open Canvas 1.1 in that you canâ€™t select, copy, move, rotate (and the programmers arenâ€™t interested in putting in those options because they want it to be a straight-forward painting program)... those will all have to be in a different software . And that leads me into what I think is the most unfortunately problematic part of working in MyPaint: file compatibility.
MyPaint is dedicated to working in FOSS-formats only, which means they created their own work files, called .ora files. These files only recently became compatible in GIMP and Krita, and if you want to work in another program that isnâ€™t one of those... youâ€™ll still have to use them to convert the files to something your program will read. So youâ€™ll end up having to put a middle-man program in no matter what to save another format. *This is very destructive to workflow*, in my opinion, because if you donâ€™t want to work with GIMP or Krita, then what the heck are you supposed to do for edits? Iâ€™m hoping that theyâ€™ll reconsider adding a different file format that can be read a little more universally.

Another problem is, if youâ€™re not running MyPaint on Linux, youâ€™re most likely not getting the most up-to-date version of MyPaint. The experimental branch pull has so many cool things added recently that wonâ€™t show up for a while until they compile a final, stable version for Windows and Mac (or you can do it yourself I guess). Also thereâ€™s no pressure sensitivity in Mac. What the heck?

-----




*Krita*

Pros â€“ great tools for comic creators, good editing software, brushes are easy to manipulate and master
Cons â€“ comparably horrible UI, growing pains, only supports Wacom
Try if you like: Manga Studio, Painter

Krita is the program I am least familiar with, unfortunately. Mostly because of what has been brought up in the thread before: The User Interface is pretty atrocious. But Iâ€™ll forgive them for this for the moment, because Krita has a pretty strange history of starting off as just an off-shoot program for an office suite that soon became more ambitious in what it wanted to do. A lot of FOSS artists like Deevad have abandoned using the newest versions of GIMP for this program, and it mostly has to do with the extensive brush engine, color profile support and 16-bit support. But Krita has also gotten a good following from independent comic artists. The tools in Krita allow for easier formatting for comic pages with their templates, and have a great number of tools including perspective grids, rulers, and pressure-sensitive toning brushes. Once you get used to this program and get away from the badly-mangled UI, it serves as a nice program that settles in-between MyPaint and GIMP - good for editing, complex brushes, decent compatibility.

Unfortunately for Windows users, Krita isnâ€™t all that stable. The team focuses mostly on the Linux side and depends on other users to help with Windows and Mac compatibility. The other problem being that the team only uses Wacom tablets, and donâ€™t want to add tablet support to things they have not tested themselves. Thereâ€™s user-made patches for it, but itâ€™s a p in the a.

Well hopefully you found these posts helpful in some ways, maybe even interested in trying some new software. Thereâ€™s still a few that I never really got to touch upon - Blender for instance, is a hugely popular 3D program thatâ€™s yielded some astonishing stuff - but for what itâ€™s worth, I just wanted to prove a point that no one is ever limited in their abilities to create because of software.


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## Zydala (Apr 16, 2013)

Tried out a new program today called PaintSupreme - it's basically photoshop lite with some pretty helpful features. The best part of it being it's really fast, supports Mac, Windows and Linux, and it's only ten bucks. You can at least try it out and see if it's for you - I didn't like the UI very much but it might appeal more to some people.

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ALSO here is a cool thing that I just started working with and I really like it! It's called Informal Subdivision and you can find it in Loomis' _Creative Illustration_ but here's a blog post that talks about it and goes into it, showing some examples:

http://kalidraws.blogspot.com/2012/08/star-gazer.html


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## Arshes Nei (Jul 7, 2013)

Multifill/flattening filter for comic artists for PS - there's a free and paid version  http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/blog/index.php?blog=111


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## Zydala (Aug 9, 2013)

Here's something I suffer from a lot and I think a lot of people could benefit from: http://ctrlpaint.com/blog/color-restraint

it's about restraining the colors you use - the exercise is to only use variations of two colors for an entire month! I might try that myself personally soon


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