Thread "rant on art programs" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 1:06PM, Jun. 2, 2012

Right, I'm not sure where this topic should go, so please harass me if it's in the wrong area.

I feel the need to rant about Corel Sketchpad. Again. Has anybody else touched that software? I mean, because it comes for free with a Wacom Tablet, so why not, right? Don't do it. It's a mess, and it looks like there's no support anymore.

For the last two freaking days, I sketched out 21 pages. It was both relaxing and frustrating at the same time, but in the end, frustration won out. I mean, shit, I had at least four crashes to desktop on every single page! Most of the crashes, I would lose the page I was working on. What the heck is up with that?

So I went online to check if anybody else has problems. I see absolutely everywhere rants, years old, about how Corel Sketchpad is shit. If the program is shit, why the hell are they still selling it, or hell, even providing it?

Last night, on the twenty-first page, my frustration just won out. I flipped my table. I exported all the pages to TIF and then uninstalled the stupid program. It's just a completely wonkey program. Sure you can save often, but the real bitch is that it usually crashes on a save. I don't know about you guys, but I don't save after every single goddamn stroke.

Just don't use Corel Sketchpad. The novelty wears off once you get fed up with the crashes.

—–
Now I'm wondering now, anybody else run into shit problems/programs like Sketchpad? Just under-maintained programs that have great alternatives? I really liked the feel behind Sketchpad, but it just isn't as stable as Autodesk Sketchbook.
Also, nothing against Corel in particular. I ended up downloading Painter this morning and came up with this.

And I'll be posting my results with Sketchpad in the next few days.

Posted at 11:06PM, Jun. 2, 2012

Never really tried it because it looked junky to me, but your results are pretty good! :)
Crashing is pretty bad…
Theonly way to combat that is to save every few seconds… the old "cntrl + S", or make one of your Wacom buttons have that function.

Posted at 12:06PM, Jun. 3, 2012

Hmm, I never thought of putting save to the Wacom buttons. That would have been a lot more convenient than moving my tablet to do Ctrl+S all the time.
Still, I'm finished with it. I'm sticking with Sketch Book or Paint Tool SAI until I find some absolutely lovely program.

Actually, I think I'll put that save shortcut on all of my tablet programs. Photoshop still crashes when I'm painting large game textures with a lot of layers. Thanks for the advice!

Posted at 10:09PM, Sep. 18, 2012

GIMP is so awful it gave me an irregular heartbeat.

Posted at 11:09AM, Sep. 19, 2012

I feel lucky to have dodged most of the really terrible software.

There ARE some good pieces of software I find little gripes with, though. I keep thinking, "Photoshop, why have you not yet replicated Painter's good brush system?" and "Painter, why does you interface still suck when there are programs like Photoshop to crib from?" And while I do a significant amount of my comic page in Flash, I wonder why there are certain bugs and problems that, after years of iterations, have still not been fixed.

But I count myself lucky, being able to use good software. I know it's not so good when you're making do with the stuff that comes with your tablet or scanner.

Posted at 9:09PM, Sep. 19, 2012

What you've said Hawk reminds me of some stuff-

- Photoshop and Illustrator could very easily be one integrated program and it would be super, mega amazing…
But I think the reason they're kept separate with Photoshop having joke vector tools and Illustrator with its own spoof parody raster tools and the poor artist jumping between the two with file formats and export settings out the arse is so that Adobe can continue to make a lovely fat profit out of having two programs instead of one.

And as to why Photoshop can't do Painter brushes and vice-versa, I suspect some annoying ip crap going on there - you know, like that utter wank Apple started with the phones and the suing over superficial interface interactions and aesthetic graphical similarities etc.
I bet you anything that both Photoshop and Painter are patented up to the eyelashes in every single aspect.

GIMP can sail a lot closer to the wind because they're not making any money, it doesn't mean it's immune of course, but people won't be as quick to bother suing.

Posted at 2:09PM, Sep. 20, 2012

You're probably right about both of those, Ozone. Sometimes it just feels like patents stand in the way of progress.

Posted at 3:09PM, Sep. 25, 2012

I'm experimenting on just using the ipad to make art. Using procreate for the painting and photoforge for color correction.

http://jesscalcaben.deviantart.com/

Posted at 8:09PM, Sep. 25, 2012

Not bad!
Don't you find the fingertip aspect rather tricky though? Or do you use a stylus for accuracy?
I'm considering getting the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or the Note 10.1 because of the Wacom style preasure sensitive stylus. But I'd really have to test it before I buy. You never know about lag!!

Posted at 1:09PM, Sep. 26, 2012

I use a waccom stylus, but its not pressure sensitive. One is coming out next month…ill wait for reviews though

Posted at 8:10PM, Oct. 2, 2012

I've been holding off on a Cintiq because I think they're going to be worthless once tablet pcs get up to speed. I'd say we're about 1 or 2 years away from a complete tablet solution for artists: good pressure sensitivy, battery life, and processing power.
I use Flash for my drawing needs, and despite all the complaints I have about this program, I'm sad to see it slowly become irrelevant. Damn you Adobe.

Posted at 8:10AM, Oct. 3, 2012

I also use Flash for my comics because of the vectorization and good smoothing options, and I agree with you. Even with its faults, Flash is a good program, and it's basically going nowhere. I know I could get roughly the same thing with Adobe Illustrator, but I hate its interface.