Trying to find a good platform for digital art work

[ShadowNova2024]

I'm looking into working with digital art/ 2d art software in order to convert my novel into a comic can anyone give me some good software that is easy to use and great for beginners to work with

[delladz]

I use Krita! It's free to download and is a decent place to start if you want to try digital art without the bells and whistles. There's a ton of tutorials online if you don't know where to start. You can also do 2D animation in krita but I personally haven't explored that too deeply

Digital Painting. Creative Freedom.

[VibrantFox]

The main ones I typically recommend are firealpaca and medibang paint. Free to use, simple interface and built in comic tools.

FireAlpaca｜Free Digital Painting Software

https://medibangpaint.com/en/pc/

[Lensing]

I recommend Autodesk Sketchbook. It costs around 30 bucks now but it´s 1) not much
for a good software and 2) 100% worth it. It used to be a photoshop style subscription model.
Then it was free for some years. They fixed some issues with it and now it costs a one time
payment.

It´s so easy to learn and so convenient to work with. It has tools that I miss in other software
and that I use all the time. One of the tools is a cut out/move around/scale/turn tool in one.

The whole app feels super intuitive. The interface is the opposite of overwhelming, which
is great for beginners too. And I´m using AS pretty much every day since 10 years, even
though I have all other kind of apps like Clip Studio Paint. My first sketch/layout/lettering etc
is always in Sketchbook because it´s the easiest to work with.

[BoomerZ]

I would always recommend Clip Studio Paint to make comics. It was literally made to make comics. Usually goes on sale at 50% off all the time.

[chaneymiller5908958]

dinosaur game said:

I recommend Autodesk Sketchbook. It costs around 30 bucks now but it´s 1) not much for a good software and 2) 100% worth it. It used to be a photoshop style subscription model.Then it was free for some years. They fixed some issues with it and now it costs a one timepayment.

It´s so easy to learn and so convenient to work with. It has tools that I miss in other softwareand that I use all the time. One of the tools is a cut out/move around/scale/turn tool in one.

The whole app feels super intuitive. The interface is the opposite of overwhelming, whichis great for beginners too. And I´m using AS pretty much every day since 10 years, eventhough I have all other kind of apps like Clip Studio Paint. My first sketch/layout/lettering etc is always in Sketchbook because it´s the easiest to work with.

Yeah, I’m with you on this. Sketchbook doesn’t get talked about enough anymore, but it’s still such a solid tool. That one-time payment feels totally fair, especially compared to subscription fatigue everywhere else.

[GothickangelStudios]

I second Clip Studio Paint. Been using it since it was Manga Studio. I did the perpetual license which is 1 time pay. They do free security / bug updates. But I also do the yearly extra new features access pass. US its cheaper. For me in CDN its $40 a year. I got the perpetual license on sale too it was 60% off.
The free asset store brushes, stamps, 3d objects, backgrounds, etc. That pop up daily. I call it my window shopping lol.
I love how it has the industry standard premade template sizes for bleed, safe zone etc for my manga already.
An emample of a page from a couple months ago. Alot of those magic and special effect brushes are free.

An illustration I did for an in-person Toronto art gallery in 2025. I used more free or paid magic + special effect brushes + the new liquify tool. The new tool was for the wings to give that flamey edge.

[kyupol]

I use ibis paint.

I like it for it's easy to use interface

[Itsjustdrawings]

I second this, Krita is a great program. It has a ton of possibilities but is also easy to figure out if you’re new to digital art. The animation on it is also nice, although that is a bit more tricky, but after a bit it will start to feel intuitive. I used krita for a while before I got an iPad, now I use procreate, which I love but the price of the iPad and apple pen might be a turn off