# Creating Your Art?



## Kitte (Aug 15, 2012)

I'm really interested in doing commissions and just messing around with some ideas, what media do you all use to create your artwork?
What computer programs do you use for the digital stuff? Do most of you just draw or sketch on paper and then scan it into a program for touch-ups or are there programs that are easy to use to do the whole thing? I love digital art and I'd love to be able to do smooth shaded or flat art without the smudging and pencil/pen lines. What do you use?


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## Taralack (Aug 15, 2012)

Here's a list of free art programs: http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/2217-Various-Art-Programs-and-where-to-download-them

Personally I use Paint Tool SAI for most of my drawing, and Photoshop for post-production. Been experimenting drawing directly in Photoshop itself, but somehow SAI feels better to me. Occasionally dabble in vectors with Illustrator.


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## Kitte (Aug 15, 2012)

Thanks Toraneko! That should help me out heaps  I love drawing on paper, but it never looks right when transferred to the computer as is.


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 16, 2012)

Can you post your art so we can get an idea why "it doesn't transfer well'?


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## Ansitru (Aug 16, 2012)

I work in Paint Tool Sai for my drawings and use Graphicsgale / GIMP for pixeling. :3
I also sketch everything digitally, since the scanner I had broke.


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## NerdyMunk (Aug 16, 2012)

Kitte said:


> Do most of you just draw or sketch on paper and then scan it into a program for touch-ups


I do, used to. Still use Photoshop Elements 4.0. (for pixel stuff and Minecraft skins)


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## Kitte (Aug 20, 2012)

Sorry hadn't seen all these posts!! It just never looks right to me, I don't have a scanner so its usually photographed and then uploaded via photobucket. Comes out all grainy and ew, and right now I don't have any programs to fix that. Some of my stuff is on DA: Firedrake69


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 20, 2012)

Kitte said:


> Sorry hadn't seen all these posts!! It just never looks right to me, I don't have a scanner so its usually photographed and then uploaded via photobucket. Comes out all grainy and ew, and right now I don't have any programs to fix that. Some of my stuff is on DA: Firedrake69



It's grainy and ew because you're not focusing on the image properly. You need to do it in bright daylight or get the right lighting at the very least. 

As far as scanners, for the price of 1 video game (or less depending how you shop) http://amzn.com/B003VQR1UC is a scanner.


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## FireFeathers (Aug 21, 2012)

Photoshop for everything.  Lines to painting to etc.


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## Kitte (Aug 26, 2012)

My tablet is on it's way!! Can't wait for it to arrive  Are there different versions of Photoshop that I am not aware of? I remember having it on my old laptop, but it looks totally different to the one Daarken uses in his videos?


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## RTDragon (Aug 26, 2012)

Photoshop elements 8.0, AZDrawing, AZpainter, and Opecanvas.


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 26, 2012)

Photoshop Elements is a stripped down version that comes with a lot of Wacom tablets. This software is pretty much fine for a beginner. Daarken uses Photoshop CS (Creative Suite) which is a industry/commercial version that costs several hundred dollars even at a student discount.

I find CS really overkill for a lot of learning artists.


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## RTDragon (Aug 26, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> I find CS really overkill for a lot of learning artists.



Is it by any chance all the fancy tools? I see a lot of livestreams using CS as well as SAI. Though i do recall you need paypal to even buy SAI.


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## Fallowfox (Aug 26, 2012)

I use pens for the most part. I don't use a scanner so I photograph images for upload using bright conditions and a polarising lens to cut down glare occaisionaly.


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## Kitte (Aug 26, 2012)

So the Photoshop that comes with my tablet will be ok to start with? Even in his videos Daarken says he only uses about 4 of the brushes available and rarely makes up his own custom brushes, I hope one day I can virtual-paint as well as he does XD


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 26, 2012)

Well not sure how Custom brushes work in Elements as it's stripped down, but really all you need is a hard round circular brush with pressure sensitivity for painting.


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## Taralack (Aug 27, 2012)

RTDragon said:


> Is it by any chance all the fancy tools? I see a lot of livestreams using CS as well as SAI. Though i do recall you need paypal to even buy SAI.



That really shouldn't be a problem now because you can pay someone using Paypal even if you don't have an account. You just need a credit card and an invoice from the person you need to pay.


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## RailRide (Aug 27, 2012)

(disclaimer: I'm rarely commissioned---I don't solicit them, and only indicate that I _do_ take them in fine print buried somewhere in my FA profile)

Virtually all of my stuff is done in pencil on bristol. I _may_ ink it (usually with a brush, occasionally with the 4pc Staedler marker set. I then scan it (Canon MG5220 multi-function or N620/LiDE25 flatbed).  

At the digital stage, I may:
--perform digital inking with _Inkscape_ (produces smooth linework that needs little or no adjustment when converted to bitmap (I haven't learned to color taken the time to learn how to color in this application

--Touch up and color in an _ancient_ Windows-95-era Photoshop wannabe called Picture Publisher (by Micrografx, since absorbed into the Corel empire). It may be old, but I've done multilayer pics up to a quarter-gigabyte in it.

--(Recent) attempt to digital-paint under/over the pencils in something called Smoothdraw 3, a freeware SAI-alike* that is only 2MB in size (but requires a 25-or-so MB download of a specific version (two-point something something something) of Microsoft .NET --and not just the latest 4.x one as one would think). 

*That I'm experimenting with this instead of just buying SAI is admittedly weird, especially since I bought _Autodesk Sketchbook_ (which is also a digital D/L) and never really tried to use it after installing it.

I've only tried the completely-by-digital thing once (with OpenCanvas) and wasn't satisfied with the result. I just didn't have the patience to keep hammering at it what with the backlog of ideas I wanted to put to paper.

---PCJ


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## RailRide (Aug 27, 2012)

Toraneko said:


> That really shouldn't be a problem now because you can pay someone using Paypal even if you don't have an account. You just need a credit card and an invoice from the person you need to pay.



Which won't be a problem for first-timers, but Paypal being Paypal, they limit the number of times they'll let you use the service as a guest--they signaled this during last time I registered for Montreal con What the Fur. It let me complete the transaction that time, but who knows when they'll force you to get an account (and then have to link your lovely banking data to PayPal's potential shenanigans) in order to complete the purchase. In typical PP fashion, they _didn't_ state how many times you could use "guest" mode.

---PCJ


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## Taralack (Aug 27, 2012)

RailRide said:


> Which won't be a problem for first-timers, but Paypal being Paypal, they limit the number of times they'll let you use the service as a guest--they signaled this during last time I registered for Montreal con What the Fur. It let me complete the transaction that time, but who knows when they'll force you to get an account (and then have to link your lovely banking data to PayPal's potential shenanigans) in order to complete the purchase. In typical PP fashion, they _didn't_ state how many times you could use "guest" mode.
> 
> ---PCJ



Huh, really. 

I don't get why people don't want to sign up for an account though. I've been using it for years and never ran into a single problem.


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## Kitte (Aug 27, 2012)

I don't know why PayPal is an issue for people, I use mine quite often as I found it's pretty much the only way alot of people will take money, and it's meant to be safe up to something like $20,000 isn't it?

How much is the average price of a decent bought media program? Or are there free ones that equal them?


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## Taralack (Aug 27, 2012)

Kitte said:


> How much is the average price of a decent bought media program? Or are there free ones that equal them?



Most professional packages will run you between 300-600 for a single program. (eg. Photoshop) I know of some that go above 1000. Paint Tool SAI is about $60. Can't speak for the rest though.

Again, if you're looking for free programs, I linked the forum post in my first reply.


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## Kitte (Aug 27, 2012)

I've had a look at some of those programs, but I'm such a noob at it, I have no idea what most of them are for  I don't know what the difference between pixel art and regular art is, I don't know what vector programs do, I don't know how to compare them, I know what photoshop does, or I did until I realised how many types there are. 
I might just start and try some of the free ones first, and maybe move up to a full version of photoshop if I feel my art is worth it.

Thanks for all your help guys!!


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