I’m looking for new drawing software. My fairly ancient setup is not going to work from the looks of things. I do my editing/finishing in paint.net but it’s not a good drawing program.

I’m on a pc and looking for a good drawing experience. Something with many layers and that will export transparent pngs are the main things I’m looking for.

So what do you all use?

I use Clip Studio Paint for my line work, and Photoshop for my coloring.

I am trying to gradually migrate off of Photoshop. I love the program, but I consider Adobe's subscription-based licencing model to be morally reprehensible.

I have gradually been migrating over to Affinity Photo for my coloring work. I also use Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher for vector art and document design, respectively.

Each Affinity program is $50.- for a perpetual license.

Clip studio is $100.- (I think), but sometimes it's on sale for $50.-

Thanks fc - yeah, I use an older version of clip studio paint (then called manga studio) and I’m leaning toward getting a newer version of CSP that’ll do what I need it to.

Definetely Clip Studio Paint is my recommendation. I heard about Paint Tool SAI and GIMP but never give them a try (I think they are free, so you could check them anyway).

One of the things I like about CSP is that you could use “vector layers” and manipulate every trace as an individual object, for my inks this is a very handy tool because you can correct the trace, move it, or even make it thinner/thicker.

It supports .psd, .png, .jpeg files and the layers aren't a problem, some of my arts have +150 layers without any restriction (as far as I know).

It can let you add all the texts and editing them without having to use any other software, plus it has a lot of material/assets that you can use in your works.

The advantage I see from CSP over other ones (even PS) is that all the tools are designed for making comics with little to none adjustment.

Gimp is very good, I used it for a long time. I didn't find any other free package that came close to it. I use photoshop these days as the subscription is cheap if you get the photographer bundle which also includes lightroom.

@Avart - thanks! Yeah, I do like my Older version Of CSP. might be worth getting that one - Since I already know the basics of the earlier release. Yeah! Strong contender!

@Genejoke - yeah I know about Gimp too! I tried it a couple times but got stuck trying to do certain things. I know Tantz uses it and gets great results with it. Being free is a big plus and the drawing tools seemed quite good. I’ll have to give it another look- I don’t quite remember which parts were confusing/not working for me. Thanks!

fallopiancrusader wrote:
I use Clip Studio Paint for my line work, and Photoshop for my coloring.

I am trying to gradually migrate off of Photoshop. I love the program, but I consider Adobe's subscription-based licencing model to be morally reprehensible.

I still use photoshop 4. It's 64 bit so it works perfectly on new operating systems and you buy it outright so no worries about subscriptions :)
You can still buy it cheap on places like Ebay.

99.9999% of my work though is all done in Artflo on my Android tablet. I think that cost about $6.

Banes wrote:
I’m looking for new drawing software. My fairly ancient setup is not going to work from the looks of things. I do my editing/finishing in paint.net but it’s not a good drawing program.

I’m on a pc and looking for a good drawing experience. Something with many layers and that will export transparent pngs are the main things I’m looking for.

So what do you all use?

I use corel Paint Shop. I like it, because they don't want money every month, like photoshop does. I just buy the update yearly when they make it available.

ozoneoceanwrote:
99.9999% of my work though is all done in Artflo on my Android tablet. I think that cost about $6.

I am gradually incorporating Procreate and Autodesk Sketchbook on the iPad into my production pipeline. I do all my page layouts, much of my pencils, and some of my inks in Sketchbook now.

It gives you a lot more freedom of movement and positioning!

Just to be clear though- the drawing program was $6, that tablet was a few hundred, hahaha, but less than a good drawing computer :D

I personally like Firealpaca (free) , Ibis paint (Free with IAP /also on itunes), or Krita (free)…

all are really good programs that I use alot.

Kiddermat wrote:
I personally like Firealpaca (free) , Ibis paint (Free with IAP /also on itunes), or Krita (free)…

all are really good programs that I use alot.

Might have to check some of those out!

DuckPlease39 wrote:
I like Illustrator.

I use Affinity Designer for all my vector-art based needs. In terms of capabilities, it’s roughly the equivalent of Illustrator.

I use procreate for $9.99 on the iPad. The issue I have with procreate is that when you resize an image, it pixelates too much that I end up redrawing it. Also, right now it cannot stroke anything. I still end up going back to photoshop to have better control over the image. It is easier to draw on the iPad for mobility.

I know that this isn’t really what you asked, but perhaps there are some Macintosh users reading this who are curious about what is out there. I have been using some form of Macintosh since the late 80s. I had enjoyed using an early graphics program called GraphiicConverter by Lemke Software.

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

At first, I was just using it to convert various graphics formats from my Commodore Amiga at home, but later, I started using it to create or edit my artwork and photos. I was using the shareware version of this for the longest time, and later paid the U.S.$39.95 to buy the full version. It has a lot of the features of Adobe Photoshop but without all of the expensive annual lease and the memory problems.

It’s not really specific to comics like Clip Studio Paint, but a very powerful program.

— Rick

Okay, I usually don't advertise stuff to buy, but this is something many here might be interested in, I mean Realistic Paint Studio alone is worth much much more, based on the magic it's capable of (at least people who can't draw, like me can easily feel like Bob Ross, just playin' around with this, if there's a software that can make learning fun, this has got to be it), but there's like a bunch of other stuff here for both 2D and 3D artists (including Moho, they apparently used to animate stuff like Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers, The Breadwinner, My Father's Dragon, etc), for what, 23,65 EUR? This is the stuff you wanna get yourself for Christmas.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/ultimate-2d-and-3d-artist-bundle-software

I use Pixelmator for the Mac, which does most of what I need for coloring and fixing up my art. Back in 2012 when I bought it, it only cost about $20. Now it looks like it's $50.

And I use Comic Life to make my panels and word balloons.

I am gradually incorporating Rebelle into my coloring work a lot. It costs around 90.- USD, but escape motions (the publisher) has sales pretty often. Sometimes up to 80% off, so it’s worthwhile to get on their mailing list.

Daaaaaaammmmm, Ozone … PS-4? I thought I was the most archaic using PS6. When was part 4 made? Sometime in the 90s?

I've been using Gimp for quite some time, mostly for small effects, but especially the newer versions are a bit unwieldy, and the way the buttons for the tools have become microscopically small on my new screen makes it even more of a love/hate relationship than it always has been anyway. I thought a current version would take larger screen resolutions into account, but nope. Either I'm too stupid to find the size adjustment or all they did was just change some of the functions so trying to find anything involves way more trial and error than I really have time and patience for.
Gimp is not a bad programme, mind, the possibilities it offers are in fact amazing and it's been quite useful for me. It just doesn't strike me as very user-friendly, as it's quite complicated and a bit of a strain to do anything at all.
For most of what I do on the computer, like scanning, adjusting, lettering, arranging panels and such, I use XnView Classic. It's actually a rather simple photo library tool and clearly not meant for making comics or any advanced picture manipulation, but it's easy to use, free (funded by donations), and generally does the job.

Anyway, thanks for this thread. I'm considering adding one or two pieces of software to my Christmas wishlist.

I use GIMP and have been for the past 5+ years or so (I think from Chapter 4 of WM and on it's all been done in GIMP).

It's a great free program to use and will do all that you need it to do. That said, for me it works so well because I tinkered with it and added the plugins I wanted so it resembled Photoshop at least as far as the functions I wanted were concerned (e.g. layer filters and some color palettes and stuff).

You will also need to calibrate your own inking brushes to do what you want them to do. They are fully customizable from at least two different menus but you need to learn how to do it.

Bottom line, if you go with GIMP you will need to tinker with it to make it look like and function the way you want it to. Once you get it to that point though, you won't ever need for anything else. Plus point is that even when you update to newer versions, all your plugins and other semi-programming work you've done (like with script-fu etc) is not affected and you don't experience any issues updating.

I hate GIMP. It is so unnecessarily hard to use, it's not at all user-friendly, and a lot of the functionality doesn't even make sense - especially if you're working with layers and you're trying to erase part of an upper lower to show part of a lower layer - you have to go an extra step just to make it erase transparent instead of white, which makes no sense, and other programs don't do this.

Damn, I miss Adobe Fireworks so damn much . . . I will never forgive Adobe for screwing me over earlier this year.

I'm using MediBang. It's free so i could barely afford it

J_Scarbrough wrote:
I hate GIMP. It is so unnecessarily hard to use, it's not at all user-friendly, and a lot of the functionality doesn't even make sense - especially if you're working with layers and you're trying to erase part of an upper lower to show part of a lower layer - you have to go an extra step just to make it erase transparent instead of white, which makes no sense, and other programs don't do this.

Damn, I miss Adobe Fireworks so damn much . . . I will never forgive Adobe for screwing me over earlier this year.

Look up the photogimp plug in, makes it more like photoshop. The Alpha channel thing is easy to sort out tbh.
I don't miss photoshop at all since modding Gimp

CSP user here. I think it is still possible to purchase CSP without monthly payment, and that these are only for the updates, but I'm not sure because I bought it a lot of years ago.

I usually draw while my computer is offline so stuff that needs to check if I paid my monthly fee is a big no-no for me, more than the fee itself.

That said, CSP is very practical because it is tailored for comics, with a practical way to make panels and balloons.

lothar wrote:
Daaaaaaammmmm, Ozone … PS-4? I thought I was the most archaic using PS6. When was part 4 made? Sometime in the 90s?

I'm wondering if he meant CS4 because I can't imagine the original 4 being 64bit. I was limping along on 5 or 6 until I finally caved and bought CS5 right before all of the subscription BS.

marcorossi wrote:
CSP user here. I think it is still possible to purchase CSP without monthly payment, and that these are only for the updates, but I'm not sure because I bought it a lot of years ago.

I usually draw while my computer is offline so stuff that needs to check if I paid my monthly fee is a big no-no for me, more than the fee itself.

That said, CSP is very practical because it is tailored for comics, with a practical way to make panels and balloons.

They offered a one time purchase when I upgraded to ver. 3 earlier this year.

Banes wrote:

So what do you all use?

I use a very very old version of MGI Photosuite (for Windows 95). Or other software to scan in draw images (in various stages of production from pencils to inked and ready to color). Mostly for ease of use and to get the familiar color palette. Will do a very basic inking and map out the colors.

Then paint.net for the finishing touches. I don't like the speech balloons but haven't figured out how to do it the way I used to with paint.net.

As I've said before, that's basically what my process is: pencil on paper, ink with pen, erase stray pencil marks, scan into computer and do all of the editing/tweaking, coloring, separating, and all the rest digitally.

plymayer wrote:

Banes wrote:

So what do you all use?

I use a very very old version of MGI Photosuite (for Windows 95). Or other software to scan in draw images (in various stages of production from pencils to inked and ready to color). Mostly for ease of use and to get the familiar color palette. Will do a very basic inking and map out the colors.

Then paint.net for the finishing touches. I don't like the speech balloons but haven't figured out how to do it the way I used to with paint.net.

Currently I do my speech balloons directly in CSP but for a while I exported my page without balloons (or many years ago imported it via scanner) and then did the balloons with Inkscape, which is a free vector graphic program.
So if you don't like the paint.net balloons you could just add Inkscape to your routne, here is a youtube tutorial