Art pt. 2 - Graphics Software

Now that you know about graphics tablets, I must also say that they are pretty useless unless you have some sort of graphics software to use them with. Everyone knows about Adobe Photoshop, so the purpose of this article will be to showcase some of the lesser known graphics software out there that I use, have used, or have heard about.

1. OpenCanvas: http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/



This program is very handy and intuitive, and it is the program that I use the most because of its simple feel. Version 4.06 is the last of its line that uses the original OpenCanvas interface that I felt was easy to use. All of the controls were simple to adjust (opacity, pen pressure options, min diameter, max diameter, etc) and the hotkeys to switch brush types were simply a, s, d, and f. However, after the release of version 4.5, the OpenCanvas developers decided to give the software a more photoshop look and feel, probably so that long-time photoshop users can easily get adjusted. Even the hotkeys were changed to that of photohop, so I felt that it just became more complicating to use. Well, you will probably have no idea what I am talking about unless you try out this program for yourself. It has a free trial available, so you can test it out, but afterwards you will have to pay (although it's pretty darn cheap compared to professional software like photoshop).

If you don't want to pay, there is a free version available, but it is one of the earliest versions of the software, which isn't really bad at all if you just want to draw or paint. You can find it free to download here: http://wistinga.online.fr/opencanvas/

2. Easy Paint Tool SAI: http://sai.detstwo.com/sai/



If you are active on deviantart.com, then you probably noticed that this particular program is all the rage these days. I haven't used it that much, but it certainly does have a nice feel to it. Many people on deviantart who use it say something like "it's so easy to use and it's really easy to make your art look good with SAI." The preset brushes for marker effect, watercolor, etc feel more natural and smooth than in other programs, and it's easier to blend colors while painting. Also, all of the interface is shoved over to the left so that your working area won't be blocked or hindered by floating tool windows, which I think is a very clever and efficient design.

This program is also not for free, but there is a 1 month trial period (which apparently is resettable by some method that I will not discuss here).

3. TheGIMP: http://www.gimp.org/



This program is said to be the open source alternative to Photoshop, but it has a very different feel to it even though it is capable of many of the same things. I have very limited experience with it, so I can't say much more about it except that it's totally free.

4. Oekaki/SHI-Painter: http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA016309/spainter/index_en.html


Many people call this a super enhanced version of MS paint, but I've found it to be quite different than paint when I tried it out for a bit. It is a very simple piece of software, but many people like it because it is so simple. There aren't a lot of options or a large variety of brushes, but it has more "advanced" features such as layers. Even though this is a very simple program, there are lots of amazing art pieces that have been done on oekaki (http://yayster.deviantart.com), so don't be deceived by that example picture on the web site :). This one is totally free, too.


There's a lot more stuff out there (Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro, etc) that many people use and love, but I have no experience using those programs so I can't say anything about them. There's probably also a lot of other drawing/painting software out there that I've never heard about, so if you know of any (especially free ones) that aren't listed here, feel free to list them in the comments.

And since there was a request to see some of my works, here it is:
http://jeongk.deviantart.com (profile)
http://jeongk.deviantart.com/gallery/ (gallery)
It's nothing pro level, but I hope to get there someday. Thanks for reading!