Got a friend whose big into the whole drawing and sketching thing. She's got a USB tablet, and is getting a laptop for Christmas. I am trying to get some suggestions for good drawing programs that I could find for her. I got Corel Painter X a few months back and she enjoyed that. Other suggestions I have gotten so far:

Photoshop (of course)
Alias Sketchbook Pro
ArtRage 2
TwistedBrush
CorelDRAW
Adobe Illustrator

Ya'll know of any others or have used these and care to comment on them? Thanks.

12/11/2008 3:51:56 PM

You've pretty much got the main ones down.

Does she do this professionally or as a hobby? Because your apps there run the gamut, and it might affect your choice.

12/11/2008 3:54:51 PM

Very amateur! She's good at that shit, but she's not making nothing on it. I was gonna try the free trials and let her see what she liked basically. Just didn't want her wasting her time on programs that blow if there was something she could learn that was a lot better, or easier to use, or whatever.

12/11/2008 4:07:51 PM

Quote :

"Alias Sketchbook Pro"

its now all autodesk

also Photoshop + Illustrator would be perfect! You can do some pretty awesome stuff in terms of drawing and art with both of these.

12/11/2008 4:14:01 PM

Thanks. Some of the threads I researched said it was Alias, but they were also from late 06 and early 07.

12/11/2008 4:39:56 PM

definitely Photoshop and Illustrator, you could always go the GIMP route.

If she plans on publishing, but it sounds like she won't be, maybe something like indesign or quark too.

12/11/2008 4:48:12 PM

If she's mostly amateur, I'd think ArtRage, Sketchbook, and Corel would be your best options.

ArtRage has a lot of easy-to-use brush/crayon/pencil types that are all pressure/angle sensitive, and a very user-friendly UI, so she can just pick it up and start using it. The media also "mixes" somewhat realistically, which is difficult to do manually for a n00b with Illustrator/Photoshop.

I've never used either Sketchbook or Corel, but i've heard very nice things about them. Photoshop has a moderately steep learning curve for someone who wants to draw, and illustrator is going to have a lot of fidddling to do to make the brushes look as nice as with Art rage or Sketchbook.

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 4:56 PM. Reason : ]

12/11/2008 4:55:47 PM

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. Period. [/thread]

This year at AU, Cut&Paste did a design slam contest where different industrial designers went on stage head-to-head to design something from scratch in 20-min. and all used Sketchbook Pro or AliasStudio.

http://www.cutandpaste.com/
http://vimeo.com/1739339?pg=embed&sec=1739339

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 4:59 PM. Reason : .]

12/11/2008 4:59:36 PM

If you're looking for software the faithfully imitates the behavior of traditional art media, then Corel Painter X > ALL.

12/11/2008 5:35:02 PM

^^ That's an awesome concept.

12/11/2008 5:48:40 PM

^^She like Corel Painter, but she's a bit overwhelmed by the features. Thats why on her new laptop I'm setting up I was planning to put this and a couple more programs that might be easier for her to use. Looks like I'll do Sketchbook and ArtRage. Down the road maybe Photoshop and Illustrator too.

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 6:04 PM. Reason : ]

12/11/2008 6:03:35 PM

Quote :

"Autodesk Sketchbook Pro"

Just like Prospero said. /thread. Best damn drawing program for the PC, without question.

Photoshop and Illustrator are NOT drawing applications. Photoshop is a raster graphics EDITOR, and Illustrator is a vector design app. Drawing in either is a huge pain in the ass, especially with a tablet.

I used PS for a long time with a tablet and thought it was pretty great. Then I tried out Sketchbook, and it was night and day. Never looked back.

12/11/2008 11:21:06 PM

Quote :

" Photoshop and Illustrator are NOT drawing applications. Photoshop is a raster graphics EDITOR..."

Speak for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnXOvGSwaLw

12/12/2008 12:51:48 AM

He could have done it in 1/2 the time in sketchbook.

12/12/2008 5:50:28 PM

^^ If I want to draw a picture, I don't whip out the scissors and construction paper.

If i want to whittle a boat out of wood, I don't do it with a sewing needle.


Yes, you can create things in photoshop and illustrator, but that does not make them drawing tools.

I'm not trying to start or perpetuate a flamewar, but I use photoshop and illustrator on a daily basis -as more than just a "casual user" - and I couldn't imagine trying to sketch some shit in either of them. If others have gone the extra lengths to complicate their workflows to churn out images in that manner, more power to them, but it doesn't validate any claim that either of those programs were created explicitly for that purpose.

I would recommend a program that is designed to act like one would expect any set of pens, pencils, and the like to act. That would be Sketchbook, hands down.

12/12/2008 6:22:06 PM

i've used painter ix for a while. and I occasionally use photoshop after the fact to change some things a little.

after reading about SketchBook Pro here I figured I'd check it out. I've used it for a few days and I'll continue to use it until the trial is out. There are some things I really like about it. But it doesn't take the place of painter. And I'm not sure it's really intended to compete with painter. SBpro doesn't have near as many brushes/mediums. I do like the GUI, and I thought it was very intuitive. While the lack of menus looks nice, I could argue that not having to use menus isn't as big of a deal as it seems for the simple fact that I rarely use the menus in other programs. You can use macros on wacoms. Anything I use regularly is programmed to it or my stylus. My hands rarely leave my lap/tablet. For the tools it does have, they reacted the way I expected/wanted them to work. IMO, it's good but i like the variety of brushes available in painter. I could see myself creating a few custom brushes in SBpro and probably being happy with it (assuming I could create what I wanted). But, those brushes exist by default in painter. And while I don't use them often, I occasionally like to play around with the oils, watercolors, crayons, etc. that painter offers.

When you say she is overwhelmed by painter, is it the number of features, the complexity of using them, or just trying to learn about them? If she's never really used a digital image editing or drawing program, there's gonna be a learning curve. And it's not like she has to learn to use everything it has to offer. But, she should also be able to jump right in and do something with it.

If your friend is overwhelmed with painter, SBPro may be a good alternative. Another alternative may be Painter Essentials. It doesn't have as many brushes and features as painter, but still has a lot and has most of the creative brushes (watercolor, oils, acrylics, crayons, etc.). SBpro doesn't have any of that stuff. And it's <$100. And if she gets the hang of that but would like to use the additional features in the full version, she wouldn't be learning an entirely new package.

[Edited on December 16, 2008 at 2:01 PM. Reason : .]

12/16/2008 1:58:04 PM

As with everything else Autodesk acquires, they build on it over time. I think now that they have a 2009 version (version 3.0) they'll build on it.

12/16/2008 3:24:45 PM

^^Very good points. SBPro is just a drawing/sketching application for sure. Painter is a painting application. Little of this, little of that.

I imagine that using SBPro to sketch out the wireframes, then taking it to painter for the medium of choice, then into Photoshop for a little post composition tune up would probably be the super set of apps for a true digital artist.

12/16/2008 5:08:29 PM

(made in painter...very crudely...but cool realistic brush action)

12/17/2008 1:37:04 AM

i wish i could share what i know about SBP2010, but you'll just have to wait til May to see it.

12/17/2008 11:27:15 AM