Software for Beginners to Digital Painting
This article was written from my personal experience. Some of my opinions have changed since I wrote this article and it is one of the first I wrote when I started blogging around 2016. I have not been sponsored or asked to write about any of the software mentioned in this article and I’m not reviewing any of them, just voicing my opinions. I don’t think I really need to justify my choices regarding this and I don’t like the polarisation these sort of topics cause, but I’m keeping this published anyway.
In 2004 the only options for digital painting I personally had access to were MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Fast forward to 2017 and there is a bewildering choice of software and tablets.
These days getting into digital painting is easier and more affordable.
When I started out, prices of digital painting software were much more expensive, the only decent pressure sensitive drawing tablets available were by Wacom and there was no where near the amount of training support available. I won’t go into hardware, tablets or training here but I can give a general overview of the software available.
I’ll be mentioning software which tries to emulate natural artistic media but with digital painting you can pretty much get any effect you want.
My Experience with Digital Painting Software
Over the years I’ve tried Paintstorm Studio, Mischief, Artweaver, Affinity Designer, Black Ink, Expresii, ArtRage, Rebelle, Clipstudio Paint, Krita, Adobe CC and Corel Painter. Here are my thoughts on them so far.
Paintstorm Studio
Paintstorm Studio is a recent addition to my collection and I’m impressed by the brush engine. It is easy to use and nice to paint with.
Edit 2024: I haven’t used it much, Corel Painter 2023 which I got cheap off of a Humble Bundle is fine if I want to use blendy brushes.
Artweaver
The free version of Artweaver is something I tried years ago and I thought it was OK. It has brushes like Photoshop and blendy brushes like Corel Painter. I did buy it at some point to support the developer. The only reason I haven’t used it is because I’ve already got Photoshop and Corel Painter. The interface is a mix of Photoshop and Painter and it has similar brushes.
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is good for vector graphic creation and painting. It can mix both raster and vector artwork together which is interesting. There is free online support and tutorials which are great for beginners.
Edit 2024: If I need to do vector based graphics I still use this.
Black Ink
Black Ink impressed me with weird procedural brushes but I found it too technical for my general use. It’s great for someone who is already confident with digital art but I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.
Edit 2024: The new 2023 version of Black Ink is really improved from the older version and is much easier and nicer to use, although I still don’t understand how to make shaders for brushes yet. I like the brushes because they are useful for concepting ideas and work really fast.
Expresii
Expresii is one of a kind for it’s realistic Eastern watercolour painting brush engine. Artwork can be exported as PSD files. This software is very specialised, but if you are familiar with digital painting it is worth a go.
Edit 2024: I still keep this software in mind in case I ever need to use it, even though there are watercolours in Rebelle it is a different type of simulation and effect.
ArtRage
ArtRage 5 is the best I’ve tried for realistic digital oil painting and the interface is easy to learn. The way the paint seems to react to the canvas texture is the best out of all the software I’ve tried so far.
Edit 2024: Rebelle 7 is really nice for oil painting and sometimes I use Corel Painter, I haven’t upgraded or used ArtRage for years so I couldn’t say what the recent versions are like.
Rebelle
Rebelle 2 is another watercolour painting software and is easy to use. Editing options are limited but formats can be exported for use in other programs. Painting in Rebelle is fun, but I would suggest using it along side something like Photoshop or Krita to give more editing options.
Edit 2024: the newer version of Rebelle is a big improvement from older versions of the software and has more editing options. I would probably also still use an editing software with it as well, but I could say that for any of these really.
Clip Studio Paint
Clipstudio Paint is a good all round alternative to Photoshop or Corel Painter and the inking brushes are fantastic. It also has animation tools.
Edit 2024: This is probably still the case although since they introduced a subscription pricing model I stopped using it and started using Adobe Photoshop CC instead since it wasn’t much more expensive for the basic Photoshop plan and Photoshop includes more brush sets. Clip Studio has more specialised features for comic work which is something I don’t really do anyway.
Krita
I used Krita last year and really liked it. I started using it more than Corel Painter because it has nice brushes and the layer support is much better. The latest version of Krita is a big improvement so far and now works with my Ugee 2150 tablet (with the newest Ugee driver).
Edit 2024: I use a Huion Kamvas tablet which works fine with Krita, much better than the Ugee did. Krita has improved in the years I’ve been using it and is a good all rounder although it is not as good if you want the natural medium simulation like you get in programs such as Rebelle. I still use it more than Corel Painter or with Corel Painter depending on the result I want to make.
Adobe Photoshop
I tried the Adobe CC last year but I still have Photoshop CS3 so I had no reason to upgrade and the subscription model puts me off.
Edit 2024: I subscribed to the Adobe CC again after I stopped using Clip Studio Paint. You get a lot more brushes for free with the software than they used to offer and it works very well. It also has some AI tools (I’m not talking about the image generation here) like depth map generation which are useful from time to time.
Corel Painter
I’ve used Corel Painter less and less in favor of Photoshop and other programs. There seems to be a paid update every year which is far too expensive for me to maintain and I don’t need more features than it already has. If anything I would like fewer features, more stability and no internal advert nags. Other than that it’s a great program and still has gorgeous and customisable brushes. I find the layer system very frustrating but it is fine if you generally paint on the canvas layer. The version I use is the 2016 release. Layers may have been improved in future editions. What I do to overcome the layer problem is paint in Corel Painter on the Canvas layer only. I then go into Photoshop or Krita with the image if I need to do further work on other layers and editing.
Edit 2024: I have written since about how I overcame my frustrations with Corel Painter because out of all this software it is the one I love the most deep down despite wishing it would improve a few things still. Perhaps it is nostalgia. The Humble Bundle offers made it more affordable for me to upgrade as well, although I don’t really approve of such marketing by companies because it punishes those who buy it full price.
Affinity Photo
I am trying Affinity Photo because the features rival Photoshop for editing. It supports the more recent file types and I want to try 360 Panoramic painting. I’ve tried out several brushes and they are great to paint with. There is also a mixer brush option for doing blendy painting techniques. So far it looks very promising.
Edit 2024: I use it all the time for editing work.
Some features to look for in digital painting software
A crucial rule for painting software is it should run well on your operating system and work with your choice of tablet.
Stability is important. Painting can take a long time to do and file sizes can get large, you don’t want to lose hours of work with crashes or bugs. How far it is in development is also a factor to consider.
The painting engine and what you can do with the brushes as well as photo editing capabilities are factors. Some of the software I’ve mentioned does not have photo editing features. Because of this file compatibility and PSD support is important. Being able to save and export your painting in the top supported formats is essential. As long as it can export to .png that is good too.
The interface is a consideration as well. The main questions I ask are is it easy to understand, does it look nice and can I customise it? If the interface is hard to use or looks old fashioned it puts me off no matter how good the program might be. Some people like the retro look though.
Community, documentation and training support available are also vital to consider as a beginner.
Conclusion
These software’s have their pros and cons, it depends what you want to achieve and what your budget is. Krita is great for a free all round option and it also has 2D animation tools.
I hope this article has been useful to you for discussing some options available for digital painting. I advise you look at the software’s websites and weigh up the options for yourself depending on what you need. It really doesn’t matter what you use as long as it works for you.
