Looking to get into digital art soon, so I'm curious about the opinions of people who actually use these things. It's great to read articles from tech reviewers who deal with computers and apps professionally all the time and a whole other thing to hear pros and cons from the people using the apps for their work consistently.
Apr '24
Apr '24
I use Clip Studio Paint. It has good features, a ton of free brushes and assets, and runs on most devices, though you'd have to get an annual or monthly subscription if you're going to be using it on anything other than Windows/macOS. I got it on sale for like $25 and am honestly very happy with it.
If you're starting out though, maybe get a free program like Medibang, GIMP, or Krita. They're all pretty good, though Krita comes with a lot of really nice brushes and has a good layout. GIMP can be a bit more difficult to get the hang of and is better for image editing, but you can definitely make some good art on it. Medibang is the one with the least features but comes with some cloud storage for your art--which CSP also has.
Clip Studio Paint is an excellence drawing program as it was made to do just that. Photoshop is a ok one but for comics you will have to create stuff not automatically in the program for comic. (such as dialogue balloons and panels). Illustrator is the industry standard if you are going to do vector art. If you want to do animation, the professional tool is TVpaint, but it will cost you. For budget animation Clip Studio Paint (the EX version, not pro) allows pretty good animation tools.
I love the features in Photoshop. But when it comes to price, Clip Studio Paint is probably the best choice.
When I got a new computer and switched from Mac to Windows, I was still able to use CSP without buying a new copy. Plus there are a lot of tools for comic making.
I have a love / hate relationship with Clip studio paint.
I use it daily for portrait drawing and I do all color flatting and coloring
in CSP. I love that you can work on psd files which I can send to people
who work with Photoshop. I would use Photoshop but they have a monthly
subscription and I think that´s too expensive. I never got fully used to the
Clip interface and the tools, I customized everything and still don´t get used
to it.
I use Autodesk Sketchbook since I started digital drawing, it used to cost money,
it´s free now and it´s the perfect drawing software for me. It´s fast, the interface is
simple and perfect for me and it has a 3 in 1 tool which can move, zoom, rotate
and I´m using that tool the most
And some random information, this was my first ever drawing software, it was
called deluxe paint and I was really good and the main tools have not changed
when you look at the other software 40 years later
ive had a lot of folks recommend clip studio paint and even used the trial version (years ago) but i've personally been making good use of medibang paint pro and firealpaca for all of my art/illustration needs (including animation with firealpaca)
csp was difficult to return to as it's ui, for me, was really complicated so i liked medibang/firealpaca's simple to navigate interface plus it has all the comic, screentone, and text tools that i need where i wouldnt be drawing or making things myself as well as having the freedom to make or add my own brushes
picking art programs is definitely one of those YMMV situations because not every program will be one size fits all and every artist has their preferences but i hope you can find something thats to your liking
My main program is photoshop, it just has certain features (such as layer styles) that I use frequent;ly. Plus it's the program I've been using the longest, my workflow has been adapted to work with it.
I do dable a bit in Clipstudio, but I like it more as a loose sketch program, not for my main works. Meaning that, ironically, I do not use it to make my comic. While the text bubble and panel border tools are great, the overall experience of clip vs photoshop has me still preferring photoshop.
(note: I draw on a desktop PC, with a wacom tablet. hooked up to it.)
When I first started out, I used Clip Studio for my pencils/inks, Photoshop for my colors(I didnt like CSP's gradient tool, which I used gradients A LOT in my comic coloring process and the glow effects worked better in PS at that time), and Illustrator for my lettering...over time CSP's updates have allowed it to get better in certain areas- plus Photoshop kept updating and changing procedures to the point where I was doing a bunch of extra things to get the effect that I had always gotten in the past with one or two actions- so I dropped PS, and went with CSP for colors.
Its gradient options have gotten better(and I dont use them as much now). I dont use CSP for my lettering because I do my lettering a certain way and CSP cannot do it...
So yeah, if you're working on a laptop CSP is affordable in that it's a one time payment...if you're working from a tablet, CSP has a subscription cost(I have both, but my iPad subscription is about $5 a month); CSP does lettering, but their capabilities arent at the level of Illustrator yet.
I'm a huge fan of Procreate, it is super beginner friendly and has a ton of free resources! I've heard fantastic things about Clip Paint Studio for webcomics 
I owned and tried several, here's a few(depending on device and my personal assumptions):
Autodesk Sketchbook -minimal UI, but may be device dependent, good for learning how to use a digital drawing pen if you have one.
*IbisPaint(free-mobile?) - my first digital software on a portable tablet, a step up from Sketchbook and Paint, I assume as far as more features to play with. Worth paying for X if you like it and want to take it a "step up"
*Krita(PC/hybrid) - my second software, on a hybrid tablet/PC
-lots of editing features/filters
-good to learn how to work with layers and more advanced editing/filters
-animation is intuitive/easy to learn
-recommend if you like painting and/or drawing in general but don't want to pay for anything too serious.
(only recommend if you tried everything and/or want to take your work to more advanced level)
*CSP(PC/tablet?/mobile?)- better for more advanced artists, and very webcomic-friendly, my current fav
-advanced vector-based functions (vector eraser is a life saver for me, literally the reason I got it-with a discount)
-animation can be a little difficult to learn(weird folder/keyframe system), but it was made for more traditional anim versus computer-assisted anim (like Blender)
-there's a free 3-month trial, unless they got rid of it in recent update (I have 1.0 perpetual license still and don't update, frankly, until after a few years/versions cause I'm slow to change and dont wanna be scammed)
(Sorry if it's a lot of info, this is coming from 5-6 years of experimenting and a prior 3d animator wannabe.)
Back in 1995 it was MS Paint.
Photoshop since 2002. And still use it for stuff Clip Studio Paint cant do.
Clip Studio Paint since 2016. I like the interface, the large asset library and the features. And comes with a small cloud storage.
I use it for my manga, current animation software (used to use Animator Pro in 97 and Macromedia Flash in 2004. They just did a big overhaul of the animation part). Illustrations. Logos for clients too. I use the kinda vector then use the softwares new features of cross compatability with Adobe products. And then real vector it in Illustrator if need be.
I personally use procreate, cause it’s currently more practical for me, but Ibis paint X is completely free, available on mobile, and has tons of comic specific tools. It even has a little in app tutorial for the first time you download the app. Very good, the ads get a bit annoying, but you can always turn off the wifi lol
I also use procreate, but it’s not ideal for comic making I find, (because it lacks a panel and text bubble tool) As lots of people have said above, clip studio is probably the best for comics. It’s been a while since I used it, but I might someday.
If you're looking for a paid software/app, I recommend Clip Studio Paint.
If you want free apps, I'd say Medibang. It has good features to make comics for a free app. I used it a lot before I could afford CSP!
I use Clip Studio Paint. I was a Paint Tool Sai user at first, so the jump wasn't intuitive, but once I watched a few tutorials, I began loving it. There are so many good features and you can buy a perpetual license when they go on sale periodically. Legit my best digital art investment
I also recommend Paint Tool Sai there's a free trial but the paid version was 60USD the last time I checked. If I hadn't gone to CSP, I'd still be using Sai now
Medibang was good but I haven't used too much of it
