38 / 68
Dec 2015

Hmmm. You think so? I certainly don't know how to save brushes, but I'm sure if it's buggy at all. So far its as useful as I need it to be smile

Manga Studio is great for comics, and I do everything in that smiley Before I got it, I used SAI, but not being able to use text layers in the same program was really annoying... Still use SAI for most of my non-comic drawings

I use DAZ3d for a lot of things these days:

  • For Traditional art, I use it to check perspective, layout and anatomy before I start the drawing stage. I keep the DAZ render by my easel as I am drawing to make sure everything stays fairly accurate.
  • For The Shadow War, I do my layouts in DAZ, then print them as line drawings to put on the lightbox before I start inking and painting.
  • For Warmage, I do the complete panel in DAZ, before exporting to the next tool.

For 2D graphics, I use GIMP. Free. No subscription. Has a boatload of plugins, filters, brushes, and scripts, and it will use PS plugins, scripts and brushes with no problems. What more do I need? I do all of my 2D stuff in GIMP, using an old Bamboo tablet, and I love it. For Warmage, all of the panels go into GIMP, and get adjusted, layered, and altered until I have the look I want. For other things, I will do sketches and such in GIMP as often as I use pencil and paper these days.

And for comics. Comic Life 3. There is nothing better.
It does perfect panels. You can pick the final IRL paper size, and all of your pages will conform. You can drag and drop balloons, captions, and panels from your script directly onto the page and play with them. When balloons are resized or reshaped, all of the words inside them adjust to the new layout while you are doing it. Kerning, border spacing, and word splits adjust on the fly. You can set up templates for each character regarding font, size, balloon customised features, and anything else you want.
The panels autocrop your pictures, and you can shape the panels anyway you like. I can assemble and letter a page in under 15 minutes, and that includes placing the panels, importing the art, and placing the balloons. CL3 even lets you edit your pictures in another programme, then updates the picture version within CL3 with a single push of a button. No importing required.

I have a copy of MS5, and while it has some cool features, all in one place, I would rather switch programmes to get all of the features I need, than not have them.

Eagle
(Not on the MS5 wagon)

Can you get pressure sensitivity in Gimp? I've used gimp but it felt lacking, I just assumed I'm clueless on how to use it.

Manga Studio / Clip Studio Paint! smile

I had used Photoshop for almost a decade and just kept being sad when the features I was waiting for never came with new versions - until I discovered Manga Studio which has everything I ever wished for!
Perspective rules, awesome blending brushes (Photoshop's mix brush is a total failure TBH), multicolor brushes, brush sorting....
PLUS it can do most of the things I was used to in PS, like clipping layers, layer adjustments, modes...

The only thing PS still does better is handling text (in MS you can't even rotate text layers), and I still miss the brush preview from PS. So for the World of Wishes I do everything in Manga Studio, except text and backgrounds (for a reason hard to describe), which I do in Photoshop.

I've been using Paint Tool Sai for pretty much everything including my pages xD (Though I've been wanting to move to Clip Studio Paint for pages but I haven't been able to really get a comfortable enough process for making them in it Dx )

//pretty much dependant on SAI hurr

I've been using Photoshop since the old 7.0 version (before all the CS madness). I'm currently working with a CS4.

(And every time I try GIMP I end crying in the ground. Sorry, but I can't handle that interface :/ )

I don't think my tablet does sensitivity at all. Or at least I can't find any controls for it in or out of GIMP. It's an old Bamboo Fun, and it barely does anything fun.

EDIT: I checked, and other tablets have sensitivity controls in GIMP, so I would have to say yes.

Eagle
(But it lets me draw and erase, that's enough to make me smile)

I also used a lot of things the most I got expert in is photoshop but now for sketching and creating artworks I no use artrage and I do the editing on photohop, artrage and photoshop come hand in hand btw. I mean almost all the control shortcut is the same.

Loving how almost everyone seems to use Manga/Clip Studio for comics.

@eagle1 and woah, comic life 3 sounds pretty intense. I might look into that just because of curiosity. I love looking into new programs.

I use Manga Studio 5.
I started off traditionally, but switched to digital, as I found it much faster to complete the pages.

Its an awesome program, especially when you can find it on sale almost every month. I always found sketching weird in Clip Studio, I think it might have something to do with the stabilizer thingy, even when I turn it down it still feels like it is on.

Did I mention that it will allow you to export as images, PDF, CBR, or web-optimised images? And you can export the whole book at one time. And it is also a comic scripting programme.

I do all of my writing inside CL3, my drawing in GIMP and the workflow is wonderful.

Eagle
(Keeps me sane)

@okellymx I've noticed that as well, it was a weird feeling after getting used to Photoshop's lack of a stabilizer but it's useful when making long lines.

@eagle1 I don't think I'll use gimp, I remember trying and never being happy with my lines for whatever reason, but CL3 seems like fun when I get some free time to play with it.

Photoshop for the sketching, Illustrator for the inking/coloring/detail.

I use photoshop right now, but I wanna learn how to use paint tool said and illustrator but they're so confusing. I just rely on photoshop to much. I also would like to try manga studios, is it really like photoshop?

its an odd mix between photoshop and sai. it's not as customizable as phothsop brushes (I think I usually just download mine, I don't make them) but it's pretty good once you get the hang out of.

It's a tie between Paint Tool Sai and Photoshop. I do the line work in Sai and the coloring/effects in Photoshop. I can't do my work without both programs. blush