/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

Use firealpaca instead, same thing but slightly better.

>>6651856
What does it have SAI doesn't?

>>6651866
3d perspective thing

Yeah SAI is a great lightweight program and the developer isn't a shitbag about the product either.

Of course it is missing a few features and I would recommend getting paint tool sai 2 if you work on larger canvases because the memory of the first one isn't the best. Plus some additional quality of life improvements.

Sai costs money and it's outdated and it only runs on windows I think
Of you just bought a tablet it's probably bundled with some software
The 3 tablets I've bought all came with serials for basic stuff. Adobe something and something from corel I think

dude i might be showing my age but all i see when i see that logo is limewire kek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QYNfvlLSX0

>>6651875
somehow i never got a single virus from there

It's great. It's paid but if you have some money to spare, I'd say that the developer deserves it. He's working on it all by himself. I find the brushes very comfortable to use and as the other anon said, it is not a particularly demanding program and its simple UI won't overwhelm a beginner.
I was 9 and couldn't speak english well when I first started using it, that's how easy it is to learn.

>>6651873
My wacom didn't come with anything.

>>6651881

Same

>>6651846
there is no "good beginner program". they're all the same fundamentally, i'd say start with Krita (free, and fully featured) and if you ever feel the need to branch out you can. all the tutorials you see for photoshop, sai, krita, clip studio paint, etc will apply to eachother.

Ok I guess you earned it OP

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY ART PROGRAMS BY ANON

Beginner: SAI/ MSPAINT

Sai is excellent and hard to beat, honestly you can do pro illustrations in anything if you know the program, know how to ctrl-z comfortably and its so lightweight it can work on any machine. (mine is a early 2015 macbook air with only 8gb of RAM and I do fine)

Semi-Beginner: GraphicsGale (free) (I just use it for its pixel filters when trying to save an image and conserve space, but it is a pretty good program for pixel art and pixel art animation.

Intermediate: Clip studio Paint- 1.0 Came for free with my cintiq and i still have access to the program to this day despite what everyone else is saying)
Excellent program, it takes time to learn how to tweak it but lag can be an issue.
Photoshop- Not my cup of tea but some people swear by it, I just dont fuck with adobe.
PRO: Whatever program you know best, that can do what you need to do. If you're looking for light, I did eons of pixel art in just mspaint. I'm Intermediate, so CSP I would say.

but again, none of this matters OP. Every program has a certain workflow, UI, you just find what works for you over time by trying out many kinds of programs through your career, some by necessity, some just by curiosity. Don't be the guy that says "UGH i cant WORK in this STUPID other PROGRAM because its NOT THE ONE IM USED TO REEEEE" and spergs out in digital art class. (I've since graduated you snoobs but this legitimately happened)

My tablet + programs through the years

Teens:
>Wacom Bamboo X SAI

20s:
>Cintiq 16 x CSP

25s:
>Apple IPAD + Procreate

30:
A combination of Ipad(for portable sketching) + Cintiq 16 + CSP (for home)

>>6651921
I downloaded FireAlpaca but sketching feels horrbile, if I don't apply pressure it doesn't recognize that I'm trying to draw a line, but it works perfectly in SAI. Am I doing something wrong? Also thanks I think I might go back to SAI if I can't get FireAlpaca to work.

>>6651925
Never mind it was just the stabilizer. I'm very new to this.

>>6651928

Yeah stabilization, pen pressure all that jazz is pretty consistent across all programs.
Keep trying, but ultimately don't give up if you cant get the program to do
"exactly what you want"

there is a disconnect, electrical in nature, from just traditional drawing. i have to sketch things out traditionally and scan them in, then ink them with stability added in a digital program like CSP.

I'm still learning to work digital art myself truth be told, even after all these years. Just keep going an "mind the gap" that is the distortion between you and the technology reflecting your lines. youll get used to it one day.

>>6651936
Alpaca feels really weird, like it's just worse and is way slower. I'm going back to SAI for now I think. I've never been one for art and this is my first foray into trying to draw.

My only complaint are the hotkeys and that every single brush size is its own brush, everything else is fantastic.

>>6651868
SAI2 has perspective rulers

>>6651846

I wish SAI had support for larger paper textures but you can just import these images in your canvas and set it to Overlay. And also wish it had more Filters, but again Filters are for begs so...

Where can I pirate SAI from bros

What do I do as a beginner that wants to learn to draw? Do I just trace until I suck less?

>>6651976

I don't know what jagoff trolled you, but nobody said "Don't use Filters EVER or you're just a /beg/"
Next time you're going to see a movie in a theater
look at the movie posters and you will see filters, nonsense, the whole shebang.

What separates the average /beg/ mindset and the team working on a major film is that filters are dessert, after you have a solid, groundbreaking, fundamentally tight image that was has weight and gravitas THEN you apply silly filters because everyone likes filters.

/ic/ is full of people who are either jaded by seeing so much mediocre art get views on reddit and literally everywhere elseon the internet that all of the autists, schizos and trolls have all banded together to ENSURE the next generation of begs and Dunning-Kruegers do no repeat the mistakes we have seen firsthand.

Trust me, there will always be popular shit art, we're being mean to you because we want to actually teach you to fish, instead of just giving you free fish, views, likes whatever.

Artists are all prima donnas. period. the only way to shatter through that impenetrable fortress of WOW IM THE BEST ARTIST EVVVER feeling is by being horribly mean to you. I remain one of the kinder schizos on here (or is it schizo to be kind on /ic/ idk) but I had to battle through years of my art getting roasted.

Your art isn't going to better because you did what /ic/ told you to do, your art is going to get better because you took the critique to heart, and for one fucking moment thought "Maybe I'm not as hot shit as I think" and thats a shitty feeling but its paralleled in when people go to music school, even if they were the best musician in their hometown, suddenly the bar is now raised because everyone in the class was the best from their hometown.
Now we separate the ngmis from the gmis, and its not always who you think it will be mr.talent.

the talents could go schizo, the tumblrina could actually get good, who knows. thats the thrill of the game.

>>6651846
SAI 2 has all you need

I got good enough to make line art on sai2 so
give me links or some tips on shading and rendering on sai2 please, all such tutorials all assume you use csp/photoshop...

>>6651846
For a complete beginner it's excellent. Lots of pros still use it to so even after you've improved it still be able to do 90% of what you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lmSMb3i-e0

SAI2 is more than capable, it's way better than any of freeware junk.

>>6651846
if CSP didn't exist, SAI would be my program of choice. there's something unreal about the brush engine and it's really comfortable to draw in. can handle anything you throw at it bar some gradient features and adjustments. it's a onetime fee but i highly recommend supporting the sole dev that's working on it. dude's been at it forever

>>6651989
is krita good?
it seems like it's really capable and well designed and supported...

>>6651983

I don't know why so few people recommend Krita around here. It's much more complete than SAI (even SAI2), and while it doesn't have the fancy adobe stuff it's more than servicible for art, they even added perspective grids and color-fill tools last update. Here's my two cents.

>SAI
Simple, efficient, and I think it's great for beginners because it's the most straightforward software. But as you get better, it becomes limited.
>Photoshop
I see this as a master software. Realistically speaking he who controls Photoshop can make anything the other programs do and more. But it's too complicated. Learning to do simple stuff in photoshop can be a pain in the ass. I'd say that if you know photoshop already, keep using it, if you want to learn it exclusively for art, look for something else
>Krita
It was very buggy but I think they've fixed so many problems with it. Pretty much all the photoshop art options are here, missing the image editing stuff for a more streamlined experience. I love how simple it is, but how capable it is also. And best of all, it's free.
>Clip Studio
I will admit that I haven't used this one a lot. To me it seems like it'd be worth learning for comic creation, but otherwise I'm not sure how well equipped it is or isn't. I know you have perspective grids and 3D modes so that's kinda cool. Seems like it'd be a lot of work to learn all that but probably good for your art. I will say, I think the interface is annoying. Very ugly and intrusive UI at times.
>GIMP
Not a drawing software but it deserves a mention. If you're a photoshop brainlet like me GIMP is a lifesaver. It's free, it's more streamlined and for simple image-editing work it gets the job done. Krita + GIMP is almost like diving Photoshop into two seperate software.

>>6652271
it works and is way better than it used to be years ago
or just pirate photoshop
simple as

>>6651846
Can confirm that Sai is a wonderful and comfy program. I used it for nearly 10 years before making the eventual switch to CSP, and even now I sometimes switch back for sketches or quick pieces of art. Handy, feels good to use, lightweight. The only downside is that the UI is too bright for my mole eyes.

>>6652943
thanks for your reply
just wanted to know if i'd be totally off track with it

>>6652911
thanks for the overview too
looks like my perception of krita+gimp isn't delusional

>>6651846
i used SAI and would recommend you go with Krita. it's free and i've seen that it's good for you even in the long run. It's better to learn that.

>>6651846
best stabilizer that's for sure

with procreate