Ah, yes, Affinity is one of the softwares in my wishlist, actually! I got the trial last month, but didn't get to experiment much with it... then came the time to renew my Photoshop subscription and although $50 for Affinity is pretty cheap, I didn't feel like spending all of that money all at once D: but! I'm definitely going to buy it one of these days... the vector illustration options looks definitely interesting and better than any other Illustrator alternative I tried so far!
So like every person who started drawing with a tablet in the early 2000s, I have my roots in photoshop when it comes to digital art. I had that program before I even had a tablet and was just messing around with a mouse. But when paint tool sai came out, it quickly became my main program for everything. I just liked how simple it was, I was struggling with translating my traditional art skills to digital form and the structure of SAI made it more comfortable because it didn't feel like a huge jump in tools or process---you put color on page and mix and blend or paint over with another color easy-peasy. I used PS to edit my final piece tho, but man Photoshop is heavy on my system and expensive af so fuck 'em lol.
Paint tool Sai is still my main for all things related to illustrated painted pieces. But when it comes to comic making, everything but thumbnails is in CSP EX. CSP for me was kind of like catalyst for comic-making. I hate wasting money, you know, so when I decided to buy the Pro version at full price I made sure to use it for the first short comic I managed to finish XD;;
It was the same when I decided to upgrade to EX. Thinking about the money i spent helped motivate me more to be actively using the program lol. I mean I always wanted to try drawing comics but the buy definitely solidified my resolve.
Anyways, I think it was worth it. I like how specific it is to this trade and all the cool assets and features it has. I was worried about sketching in it because I'm very particular about my draft brushes---basically I just really like and am used to SAI's normal soft brush. I use that for everything haha. But CSP has a similar brush literally titled "SAI brush" I downloaded from assets, so I'm solid lol
Photoshop is all I know. I’ve used it since PS5 (1999?) I was very smoll and it came with the PC, so I gave it a go. I only drew with a mouse too (don’t miss that), and used a scanner to import my drawings.
I eventually got a tiny old school Wacom, which was much smoother and quicker that using a mouse, but it still didn’t feel as good as traditional drawing (No drawing directly on the screen or anything), so I’d still draw on paper and scan.
These days I use a Cintiq, which cost more than my car at the time but aaaaah it’s just like drawing on paper - only better because you have layers, can move things about and the undo button Of course.
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I don’t use paper at all now, which I guess has saved me a few pennies on notebooks, pencils, pens and storage space.
Lately I am experimenting with painting in photoshop (for backgrounds) and I’ve purchased a few brushes from other artists - which are amazing.
I’m still using CS5.5 as I don’t really want to pay a monthly subscription for CC. 🤨
Aaa sorry I was gone for a bit so I was unable to check the thread but reading through all your responses, it's amazing how different and similar peoples processes are! I can completely understand like, for those of us who just had the software at the time to just keep moving alone with what we have, and for those of your trying new stuff out and finding what you like.
I forgot to mention that Paint.Net is actually also used for my comic, but I don't personally use it myself because my editor is the one who uses it to resize and put the fonts on. You won't be finding any of those fonts on MS Paint of course ^^"
I use Krita for all of my work because it's free and has a lot of good features for different types of projects. I've grown to really love using it, but it is a bit of a problem to make comics on because I can't figure out how to easily use the text tool so I have to hand letter all the words in my comic. Though I think having handwritten text can look cool sometimes.
I have a version of clip studio paint on my phone, that is mind blowingly fantastic, but I can't really use it, because it's this weird trial version that can only be used for either 1 hour a day, or 6 months free followed by a monthly subscription fee. I hate that, because I get such a great drawing experience from this app.
This was such an interesting thread to go through! It still blows my mind people can get so good with a mouse. However, I'm starting to think if I got a left-handed mouse I'd probably be able to drawing too...
Like many of us, I also use Clip Studio Paint (switched to it like 6 months ago after using Krita for 2 years). I think I got sold on it after I discovered their materials feature. I can create my backgrounds, tattoos, logos, accessories-- you name it-- and then save them as a material, and then drag and drop it into my comic panels anytime. I also LOVE their assets store. It's such a brilliant community effort and so useful.
CSP just has a way of surprising you with new, neat comic features as well. I don't know how many times I've hopped on twitter and seen the official CSP account posting a new tutorial for a tool that I never knew existed
I set up my files in Photoshop CS6, then move into Corel Painter for all my sketching, inking, and freehand text. Then I move back into Photoshop for coloring, shading, borders, text, and final layout. I also have some speech bubble resources I made in Illustrator to save me from going crazy from freehanding or just using circle bubbles.
I keep looking into CSP, but keep putting it off. If it gets down in price again, I'll probably get it. The more I see/hear about it, the more convenient it sounds, but I'd definitely need to be at point where I'd have the time to learn a new program and get into the swing of things. Maybe for my next project!
I use Photoshop for 95% of image editing, photo editing, pixel arts etc. In case of webcomic: I use it for cleaning/retouching scan images, adding screentones, texts etc, keeping .psd master files, outputing web versions.
I use Krita mostly for inking, filling flats, or retouching linearts, occationally i do color sketches and that's it. I still haven't get to try its other features.