It wasn't an answer it was a series of poor excuses that made no sense?? Sorry I'm being kind of mean about it but I'm so tired of hearing "it's made for photo editing" as an excuse for why Photoshop's user interface is so bad.
Ugh I just want to be able to do the fancy painting you can do on Photoshop. For the few frickin minutes at a time I get it to work it really is nice. Then it does something jenky again and I have to stop to figure out what's going on.
If I could just use the few tools that are applicable to me and ignore the rest it would be fine. But Photoshop won't let me do that. It seems to have a mind of its own and likes to change settings for me so stuff starts working differently all of a sudden and I don't know what changed. Something will be working for a few minutes and then it won't be.
Wow … huh … I don't think I've ever encountered those things before? What version of PS do you have and is it legit? Also what OS do you have and what version of that is it? And for good measure, what tablet are you using?
As far as the brushes, the top settings are your basic ones (mode, opacity, flow, and different pressure settings), if you really want to tinker with a brush, that's when you go to the side menu, it should have a preview of what changing a setting does. You can set a brush to how you want and save all the settings for it as a new brush. (fyi, I'm on CS6 so it may be a bit different for yours depending on the version) Go to the top bar, and in the second drop down menu where it has the brush shape and size click on the little paper icon with the folded corner to create a new brush preset. You can then select this brush anytime you want.
Hand tool glitch: can't say for certain but that might be a hardware software issue? Like sometimes if I'm zoomed in on the canvas and use the brush at a certain size, a mirrored section of the workspace appears all glitchy at the left of my screen and goes away after I zoom out. I looked it up and it's just some compatibility issue with the current Mac OS and CS6. It was worse before I did research and found a plug-in to remedy it. It's fixed for the most part but will still come up on occasion. It's annoying but not "stop the presses I can't work anymore" annoying.
Window mode. Hm, well there's three window mode types and perhaps by trying one or the other it can fix your problem? The first mode is where it's a free floating window and the border takes on whatever border your OS uses. Then there's the tabbed mode, it's attached to the top PS bar and if you have multiple tabs open you can see them all there, kind of like an internet browser. Then there's another mode (you can switch between window modes by hitting "f") where it jumps "into" the window and you can't see the tab anymore. Well, there's also a "display" mode where you go one more step and it just shows your canvas against a black background and all the tools/UI are hidden.
Right hand section: I believe you can move those sections around. Like if they're tabs in the same group you can grab one and move it out of the group and place it above or below.
Disconnect: Do you mean lag? Because it might be another hardware software issue? There's no lag for me when I'm drawing in PS on my Mac, but when I try CSP on my PC I feel it's not as quick and there's just the smallest of lags. I would do some research to try and pinpoint this.
Look mate, if you want people to parrot your words, that's fine, but I'm simply telling you what I have discovered over 20 years of making comics and using different software over that time.
If you think I'm making 'excuses' I suggest you read again. As I said before, if you want to make comics, there's better software out there because Photoshop is not made for it.
I really don't know what you want to hear and frankly I couldn't care less as it seems that you want to fight me over something YOU are having problems with.
You are a great reminder of why I don't frequent these forums anymore.
How long have you been using Photoshop?
Just from my personal experience: when I started to use it I got frustrated too, even to a point where I didn't use it at all for weeks and months at a time. I realized that it wasn't the programme that sucked, but my attitude. I expected to be able to draw nice shit right from the get go, which wasn't the case. It's a matter of practice, like with everything in life. You have to learn it step by step, it's not going to let you do fancy paintings from the start.
The interface isn't bad in my opinion, but it takes some time to get used to it. If I have issues finding the right feature or Photoshop does weird stuff I don't want it to do, I just google it. 99% of the time there is a solution in the form of tutorials. But getting mad at Photoshop never helped me making progress in learning the programme.
... Well, I will just say my opinion that some people can use Photoshop for painting extraordinary art.
Example : Sakimi-chan. She use Photoshop to draw and if you didn't know her, go check her DA : http://sakimichan.deviantart.com/13
And well, I think that the tools is just a tools. You can even use MS Paint and get extraordinary art out of it if you compatible with it. I means, I have see a lot people make awesome art using Photoshop, MS Paint, Corel, SAI, Fire Alpaca and many more programs. I even found someone who can draw on Excel lol. No kidding, google it.
So well, if Photoshop isn't suitable for you then just move on to the next app. There is many cheap or even free drawing app to choose.
Just my 2 cent.
I have CC 2017 Photoshop. It's from Adobe's official website and looks the same as the Photoshop on the school computers does (minus the language change) so I have no reason to believe it's not the official version (besides it being terrible). I have Windows 10 on an Acer computer and I use a Wacom Pen & Touch Small.
Why are the basic settings at the top? That's less accessible than the window on the side. I think I managed to save my brush preset but it doesn't really matter because it still likes to change brushes on me for some reason.
I don't think the window thing is a glitch I think Photoshop is just lacking a feature I liked in other programs which is the ability to move the canvas around within the black background so I can get it centered even if I don't have interface centered on my screen.
Right hand section: I try to move them around but it just won't let me have more than 3 open at a time in that section. It's weird because there's all this extra space the windows are stretching to fill but I can't put another window in there without one of the ones that was already there folding up.
Disconnect: Maybe it is lag? I guess it's similar to how it is when I don't have my tablet on the correct screen setup. I'll do some research.
I'm talking about practice. It's a complete different thing. The most skilled and so called "talented" people are able to bring whatever software they are using to their full potential, because - guess what - they practiced. A lot.
Allowdley Photoshop is pretty complex. But in my opinion the more often you try, the better you become. That's all I'm gonna add to that conversation.
You're missing the point of the whole thread, though.
I'm totally satisfied with my painting ability in Photoshop. It's the fact that I frequently have to stop painting to troubleshoot that really bugs me.
Again, not a matter of practice, but of a software that isn't nearly as user friendly as it could (and, in my opinion, should) be.
Okay I appear to have fixed a couple of the issues I was having with the brush at least, so now it's much more usable compared to before. One of those issues was, admittedly, purely user error, the other one I'm still not sure what the cause was but I fixed it by replacing my brush preset.
I'm starting to think you only read the last sentence of my original post and guessed at the rest, including the title.
I did read it all. But I'm not in any way obligated to contribute to all the questions. I chose the topic I had something to say about (which was this question of yours: "Does anyone else hate Photoshop like I do?") and gave my statement. That it wasn't to your liking is not my problem. If you wanted answers for only one specific matter, make that clear.
You sound very frustrated about Photoshop.
I've been using Photoshop CS, CS2 and CS5 since 2005 and sure, in the beginning the software were really difficult to use, but as time goes (and software upgrades) you learn the program and also know how to change the layout of it.
(Like, moving around the windows and such, the bar is usually just set and you've gotta learn it the hard way by clicking around)
Now, I'm not at all familiar with CC and I probably won't get it either (because I'd like to buy the program instead of having it on a subscription and right now that seems to be impossible).
You said you've got a pen & touch function on the tablet?
Have you tried turning off the touch function?
That could actually be the cause of your problems, I've noticed the same thing on my wacom Intous Pro M, even though I ran it with a MAC.
The Touch function made everything weird, sometimes the pen pressure changed, the brushes were deleted and what not D:
And as others has stated, Photoshop was mainly made for photo editing, but lately have understood that artists enjoy working with the software (as do I) and thus started to advertise it as a program for artists as well.
So it's made for 3 different groups of artists, painters, graphics and photo editors. Hence why there's so many tools you probably won't even know there is.
Paint Tool SAI and others, like Clip Studio are completely made for artists and which is why those programs run a bit different and are easier to learn and understand as all the tools are developed by and for artists.
(And I don't think Photoshop sucks? When I used it on windows, it was laggy as hell, it took forever to start up and it was overall terrible. Switched over to MAC, and it ran perfectly?? Takes less than 10 seconds to start up, saves fast and isn't laggy!)
Yeah, after a bunch of troubleshooting it's finally starting to work a little more smoothly. I could barely use it until I turned off pen & touch. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust to it now. I was just getting super frustrated earlier because I didn't understand what was happening.
It actually runs pretty fast on my Windows 10 but on the computers at school it is so slow it literally takes a good 10 minutes just for the window to open. 15 or so to become usable. Photoshop at school is a whole other issue. Imagine trying to learn how to use a software in a language you can barely read.
I honestly believe that hand drawn bubbles look more lively anyway. Being able to see the artist's hand is subtle and lends a lot of character to the dialogue.
Actually, I'm personally more comfortable coloring in Clip Studio. There's just things offered in Clip that aren't there in Photoshop. Like I can set a layer to clip to a group/folder of layers but in Photoshop I can't do that to groups just individual layers. This helps me since in Clip, I have a group for each character containing a vector layer with lineart and raster layer with colors. I can set another raster layer to clip to a character's group of layers and freely color ontop of the lineart and fill color creating interesting rim lights, shadows, and effects.
Also Clip has a tool that I just discovered and figuring out how to effectively use it, the Contour line paint. It looks interesting where you can dab swatches of color and then use this tool to have them automatically blend for you.
Plus, I can adjust the magic wand tool to automatically expand 3px instead of in photoshop having to manually expand each time. And the Paint Bucket tool has a setting for closing gaps so I can quickly color things even with the lines aren't fully closed. And there are sub tools that can fill in those few white pixels that get left unfilled in points and peaks of drawings. AND I'm a fan of the Glow layer blending option for an added effect of glowy magicness.
Honestly, I only use photoshop these days for formatting images. If it needs to be a special size for print or online or creating a quick ad with image assets.
And side thought on Adobe, in general it's really ridiculous with it's monthly charges for using it's software. I rather SmithMicro's system of you pay and you get the program. Eventually with Adobe's utility people start paying more than what the one time charge to buy the program used to be.
Clip Studio has spoiled me : P
It might be worth it for you to take watch a few tutorials about Photoshop. It can do so much and the interface isn't very intuitive. Just having someone explain how it all works, or even seeing how another artist is actively using it can help with your own workflow. I have been using it for awhile and I still pick up tricks, shortcuts, and new features whenever I watch a tutorial.
On another note, switching to Clip Studio Paint for illustrating has really gotten me better results. My lineart looks better and the program is really tailored for drawing. I don't really like to do digital painting in it so I for really photorealistic stuff I still use Photoshop. I would suggest that if you do try it out, look up some tutorials because the tools were not very intuitive when I transferred from Photoshop.