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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 14, 2018 20:36:08 GMT -5
Ayo so I've only really done traditional art, but I've been wanting to get into digital for quite a while now. I have some savings from a job I did over the summer, but I don't know the first thing about how to get into digital art. Equipment, programs, best deals, whatever advice you guys have for me, I'd love to hear it
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Post by ¤FireFiend¤ on Nov 15, 2018 18:01:13 GMT -5
A tablet is super duper handy! There are lots of options on those. Huion is a very affordable brand and there are several different versions on Amazon if you search "drawing tablet." Wacom is the leading brand in the industry and they produce pretty reliable products, but the price goes up accordingly because they know their name carries weight. Though sometimes they do include painting software with their tablets. It's okay to start with a smaller tablet too and upgrade to a bigger one later if you decide you really like it. You adapt to whatever equipment you have.
Sometimes it takes people a while to coordinate drawing on a separate surface that translates to their screen but for me it happened pretty quickly after I had made a few drawings.
As for programs, Adobe Photoshop is a big industry standard but it can be expensive. Right now I think the cheapest option to get Photoshop is through Adobe's photography plan, which is $10 a month. That's actually not incredibly bad but it depends on your budget! Photoshop also has some (rather rudimentary) animation features too if you like experimenting with that. They have a free trial that lasts a week.
A good free alternative to that program is GIMP. I've never used it but free is free!
Clip Studio paint has a version for $50, it looks pretty rad and it also has some animation features.
Another popular option is Paint Tool Sai, which I think costs around $50. It has a free trial for 31 days.
There's also Corel Painter; I haven't used it but I've seen cool stuff produced with it. I looked it up and it's on sale for $360 so I would probably go with Photoshop over it, but if you don't update it then it's nice to just have to pay for it once and be done rather than be on a subscription plan. There is also a free trial for 30 days.
As for advice, do a lot of experimenting and explore whatever program you choose! Layers are your best friend. Layer masks, selections, transform tools, clipping masks, and layer modes like overlay, multiply, etc are all great too. Click buttons. See what happens. Feel the sweet power of undoing a crooked line. Try different brushes and art styles. Looking up tutorials can be super helpful too to see how people approach things and what tricks they use to make art.
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 15, 2018 19:54:14 GMT -5
Wow, thank you so much for all the info!! I'll definitely consider what you've said whenever I finally decide to shop. I've heard good things about Wacom though ultimately it will come down to price. I am a little nervous about drawing on a separate screen lol. I've seen beautiful works from artists who use Clip Studio paint so that does sound like a good one to try, but I'll do more research before deciding.
I've experimented a little with this app on my phone called Medibang, though of course since my screen is so tiny and I basically just have my finger to draw with it's pretty difficult to use.
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Post by Moonblazer on Nov 15, 2018 22:03:56 GMT -5
May I reccomend FireAlpaca? It’s a wonderful, free art program with tons of great features, especially for tablets and art pads.
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 15, 2018 22:13:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the recommendation!! I'll keep that in mind!
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Scotus
Pronouns: distinctio realis
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Post by Scotus on Nov 24, 2018 12:42:23 GMT -5
Have you ever tried Krita? It's actually better than photoshop in my opinion for simple digital art, and it's 100% free. It has a lot of cool features that you won't even find in photoshop like a stabilizer and more paint bucket options, and really useful brushes.
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 24, 2018 13:22:10 GMT -5
I'll look into that one as well, thank you!!
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Post by --cato phoenix on Nov 24, 2018 17:00:34 GMT -5
My current favorite program is Clip Studio Paint! The version I have usually 50 dollars, but they have a free trial and it’s on sale now for 25. I definitely recommend getting a tablet. I use a Surface Pro 4 that I got a couple years ago but I think they’re still pretty expensive. Before that I had a Huion 580. I was actually looking at tablets to show a friend of mine the other day and thought this one looked pretty good too. Wacom tablets are nice and probably the most popular, but tbh I think they’re kind of overpriced. My first tablet was a Wacom Bamboo Capture and the Huion I upgraded to later had more drawing space and like double the pressure sensitivity, but cost quite a bit less and I thought it worked just as well. I’ve used SAI in the past, but something just felt kind of off sketching in it and I was having a hard time getting the textures the way I wanted them. I do know other people who use it and love it. Most of them have more anime/cartoon styles and I’ve been trying to shift to a more realistic style and do more digital paintings, so I guess different programs work better for different things! Photoshop is supposed to be really good too and there’s a less expensive version of it called Photoshop Elements, but it was a little too much for my computer to handle and I draw on pretty large canvases, so I haven’t gotten to use it much. For free programs, Firealpaca is great- I still use it for animation sometimes.
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 25, 2018 0:28:28 GMT -5
Oh wow thank you so much for all this info!! You even included links AAA THANK YOU! The Huion H610 looks the best to me; especially since it seems accommodating to a left-handed person like myself. It's also quite affordable like WOW I did not expect that. You've made my search a lot easier!
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Post by --cato phoenix on Nov 25, 2018 19:00:15 GMT -5
No problem! Glad I could help! Oh yeah I forgot Krita! The lack of a normal undo button bugged me, but other than that I thought it was a cool program. ^^ (And the fact that it's free just makes it better)
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Nov 25, 2018 22:00:14 GMT -5
That's a really cute (and a bit trippy) animation scotus!! Makes me wanna try it out. And yeah I imagine I'll be heavily reliant on an undo button lol
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Scotus
Pronouns: distinctio realis
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Post by Scotus on Nov 26, 2018 10:43:33 GMT -5
The version I have has an undo button but thanks!
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Post by --cato phoenix on Nov 26, 2018 16:16:14 GMT -5
ScotusWHAT VERSION IS THAT
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Scotus
Pronouns: distinctio realis
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Post by Scotus on Nov 26, 2018 20:58:57 GMT -5
Newest version I think, lol
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Post by ✽Boop✽ on Dec 3, 2018 16:23:28 GMT -5
I just wanna say thanks guys for all of your info, recommendations, and advice!! It's all been super helpful and meaningful to me, so thanks so much I ordered the Huion H610 the other day and it's finally on its way to me; I'm so excited!! Once I get accustomed to it and maybe improve a little, it might be fun to start posting some art here. We'll see! I also downloaded Medibang, just because I'm a little bit familiar with it already from using it on my phone in the past. I also plan on experimenting with FireAlpaca and Krita at some point once I've got the hang of things.
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