atm i am using gimp, which is great but i wanna try my hand at other programs to see what new techniques i can apply to my art

primarily i like to paint and vector, and i've seen beautiful pieces done in photoshop, paintshop pro, SAI, etc. i'm wondering which program you artists recommend in terms of how quickly it is to learn and how suitable it is for these styles of art c: thank you! also, feel free to give other suggestions/post your dA + tumblr (i LOVE looking at everyone's art ❤)

Ooh, that's a tough one. I've worked primarily in Photoshop and SAI, which both have a bit of a learning curve for sure (although if you have a decent grasp of one it's much easier to learn the other). My personal preference is Photoshop (I use CS4) because I feel like it has the most flexibility as far as custom brushes and being able to work with and mimic a variety of different techniques/painting styles/etc. It is the industry standard so that should tell you something. And if you use their sort of "starter" program, Photoshop Elements (which is free I believe), there are a lot fewer overwhelming tools and settings and such to get used to.

I don't really work in vectors so I can't give you much advice there, but I think Illustrator is Adobe's main vector-based art program, so you could look into that. I never really got the hang of it so I can't comment on how easy or hard it might be. XD

I would have to say photoshop, or illustrator. Depends on if you work vector with anchors, photoshop can make lovely Vexel images (almost looked at as cell shaded images) where illustrator makes true vector but can't paint like photoshop.

Photoshop is also having its CS6 beta free to everyone currently if you want to just try it before it is even out in for the public to buy. (it is free until it is buy-able I do believe).

It will take some time to learn where everything is placed again, but photoshop is just a higher grade GIMP so you will pretty much already know the basics, it is just finding them, and finding the bonuses that will take some time.

If you like vectoring maybe try inkscape, which is open source. Ive mostly used Sai and Photoshop as well, sai is pretty easy to navigate in even as a beginner. :3

Many also seems to like corel painter, I havent tried it myself but it seems good so check it out.

thanks for the input! c: i think i'm leaning a bit toward photoshop :x because it does seem to be pretty versatile, and there's so many resources/tuts floating around for PS. now i have to figure out a way to get it ;-;

i'm a little depressed that cs6 is only temporarily free ;-; i'm scared i'll get addicted to it and then one day, poof the trial is over. haha, thanks for the input though! i think i will go with photoshop (even though i hear it can get be really confusing at first OTL)

thanks! i will definitely check out inkscape, and it's free which is a bonus LOL c: okay your comment about sai being easy to navigate in is swaying me a little bit. decisions, decisions~

I really use a lot of different things. First the drawing starts off in pincil, then I take a pic of it with my phone, send it to email and open it in sai. Sai is what I use for clean crisp lines so its ideal for bold, detailed and clean lineart. Once the line art is down I skip on over to photoshop 4 and begin coloring on a later under photoshop. I do most shading in photoshop, but I paint hair in paint tool sai.

I've been using Paint Tool Sai for like 2 years now. In my opinion, it is really easy and fun to use. I've seen lots of people do amazing paintings with SAI.

As for vectoring, it's not really my branch of art, but I have heard a lot of people say that Adobe Illustrator is the way to go.

Click the picture --> for my dA ^_^

Heya, juuuust adding a bit for Sai. :> I'm not a SAI expert, but for me it's the most responsive and intuitive (not to mention simple) for hand-drawn art and painting. Corel, I think is the best for professional/experienced painters, but I found the interface rather daunting and complicated. With SAI, it's very simple and lightweight. I also like how you can smudge things, erase using different brushes for different textures and the general watercolor effects. I can't say I tried Corel long enough to make a decent comparison, though. Plus, with SAI, I can easy export/save as psd if I want to do a bit of higher level filtering/editing in photoshop (rare, though).

If you're looking for vector art the way most vectors are done (that is, putting shapes together and using them to build a larger picture), you're probably better off with Adobe Illustrator-- I actually am not sure any other program competes for that, at the moment.

SAI 'vector', at least on the one I'm using, is pretty hand-art inclined. It's intuitive, though, you can create lines and edit the thickness just by dragging an anchor right or left. Not to mention you can erase bits and pieces of the lines like you would erase with a pencil eraser. You can also draw a decent vector line without using a mouse and fiddling with ctrl/alt/etc+drag curving. I've never been happy with the results I've gotten in photoshop and especially not the linework, but I'm considering learning more about how to do it in SAI.

Only cons I can think of for SAI is that no text/type tool or preset stamp-brushes (stars, swirls, stuff you'd put in to decorate your art.) Photoshop resources-wise, just type it into google (there are several sites devoted to these and some good ones tend to rise to the top of the search) or look for them in DA-- you'll need to credit, of course, but they're generally free :).

.../TL;DR

The first art program I really loved was OpenCanvas, but I never got the full version, so after the trial ran out, it was gone... I tried digital art in PSP and Photoshop then, but neither of them really clicked for me. I liked SAI but after I switched to mac I couldn't use it anymore. Currently I am using Photoshop CS5, and love it. I guess my opinion on Photoshop vs. SAI is that the default brushes that come with SAI are much easier to use than the default brushes that come with Photoshop. I guess the main reason I now love photoshop whereas I didn't when I first tried drawing in it is that I got a lot of practice using other features of photoshop (adjustment layers etc.) for school (I was studying architecture), so I guess I just got used to using those and also with how photoshop works in general.

My dA is here, but...I only have traditional art up at the moment, haha. Um, here is a digital drawing I did the other day, if you are interested.

that really helped, esp the bit about lining in SAI since that's one of my bigger concerns c: perhaps i should just get both PS and SAI and see which one i click with better. it thank you! it means a lot that you took the time to give some input

!! thank you! i keep hearing that PS is actually really complicated so i'm a little apprehensive about that, but the works people produce using it is just fantastic ouo and also, i totally stalked your DA before haha. idk if you remember me but i was the random commenter that said your art is really beautiful and inspiring and ;-; i should probably stop being a creep now <3

Oh yeah, I remember! :D Thanks again, ahaha.

Oh good. XD;; Drawing lines is best in SAI for me, but then I never could get Photoshop to work with my tablet. >>; Plus, SAI has an awesome stabilizer built in that makes your lines more natural/smooth, if you're like me and don't really do deliberate line art (I'm kinda swish and flick), you'll probably like it. I can't get the eraser on my Intuos to work on SAI because the basic program doesn't recognize it, but I don't need it when I programmed the buttons to switch to 'transparent' mode (its like eraser, but it's available for all your brushes by simply toggling the button with [-], rather than switching tools.)

For PS, yes, higher level editing, but you see some really beautiful stuff made completely in SAI too, especially softer stuff with dreamy colors. I've reason to believe most Japanese fanartists/artists also use SAI, but that could just be me, ff. You may want to look up SAI in DevArt. :)

:O okay SAI sounds like it will win me over i am having a lot of trouble lining in GIMP so this stabilizer thing sounds amazing and dreamy ouo d-do you think this (random pic i found) looks like a product of SAI?!

=oa Was it tagged as SAI? You can definitely do that in SAI fairly easily, but the lines make me think of OpenCanvas, somehow. XD Some of the lines are a bit thick, and not as smooth as I usually get in SAI. >>; Reminds me of my OC days, oh the struggle. @ A @

8D i got both programs but i'm feeling SAI a little more because it doesn't give me a graphics error message thing /does not understand technology sometimes

I AM LOVING THE LINES JKLFDSJF

ISNT IT JUST AWESOME? XDD ❤️ SAI for me forever. ❤️

Haha, I don't think I ever got an error like that, but photoshop hates my tablet, any tablet I put in. I probably need to fiddle with it but why bother when I can just plug and play with SAI? >>;

Just popping to say that picture looks like it was drawn in drawr, tegaki, or another oekaki-type program!

ooh it kinda does doesn't it ALSO i am so glad you stopped by i am having a ridiculously hard time with SAI what is this blending + dilution + persistence nonsense

omg SAI I haven't really touched that in a little while

This is what I think they do: blending: how much when two colors interact they blend together dilution: how dilute the color is the first time you put the brush down (kind of like transparency... only not using the same kind of algorithm so it looks different) persistence: how long the new color continues after you blend two other colors

I think I usually keep them around the defaults, but I really don't remember ahaha I guess play around with them until you find something you like?

OTL OTL OTL

LOL this is impossible everything i attempt to paint ends up looking crap too difficult /goes back to using ms paint