Creative Corner

I'm starting to dip my toes into the realm of digital art and am learning my way around my tablet. My next step is choosing software that is beginner friendly and preferably free, though I'm not opposed to spending some $$ either. I'd love to hear some feedback from the FR art community on which program(s) you started learning on, or recommendations for a green horn digital artist.

Thanks! :)

@ShivaMateria

I use both Photoshop and FireAlpaca. They're both great programs and work very well together.

Photoshop: $10 a month for a basic package - $20 a month for a slightly more advanced one.
FireAlpaca: Free!

The reason I use both is because doing the flat colors and one-color shading is a lot easier in FireAlpaca, and then I import the file into PS to do more advanced stuff.

I have a few speedpaint videos that kind of show what I do with both programs too, if you're interested in seeing that. You see me switch programs depending on which part of the drawing I'm working on.

I would recommend MediBang Paint. ^-^

@ShivaMateria

As already suggested MediBang Paint/FireAlpaca are good free choices! Both are by the same company or are sister companies I can't quite remember...I would say MediBang has more brushes/functions than FireAlpaca. You can also save your work on a cloud and work between devices.

Krita is another free program that's pretty powerful...However I've heard it's quite daunting for new artists and when I took a glance at it it is a little bit difficult but there are many brushes if you have a more painty style.

When I first started off I began with PaintTool SAI...not technically free but there are really easy ways to get it: hooray internet ;) To now I still feel SAI has the best lineart capability. SAI has a lineart layer that's really easy to adjust/fiddle with. It just felt really nice, so if you have a more cartoony style I think it's a pretty good choice!

Paint tool sai :D
I pay for it but Im pretty sure there are cracked versions you can get for free! Its really good and ive seen many artists use it in speedpaints.

Fire Alpaca is also a good free one, I used it to start out, so if thats the case than this one would be good for you

@ShivaMateria

@ShivaMateria
I would recommend SAI if you're willing to spend a few bucks, but if not, I highly recommend MediBang Paint! They even have an app where you can work on your phone.

If you don't mind going super basic for short term drawing, the oekaki on chicken smoothie is pretty good. It's got a few brushes that you can edit, along with a soft and hard edged eraser, layers and layer effects, everything a beginner needs and it's all simply laid out. Runs in your browser, is free to use and also shows the time you've spent on a piece.

The only big problem is that you can't choose your canvas size and the pictures themselves are pretty small.


Personally, I started out with photoshop and I'm still learning how to use the darn program. If I didn't have a mac and easy access to PS, I'd probably try out sai or the other programs recommended above.

I use Paint Tool Sai. I like it because you can customize the brushes, which makes it very flexible. And yes there are cracked versions and you don't have to do too much digging online for those

I enjoy using Clip Studio Paint and Rebelle! - Both have free trials (either you can't save or there's a watermark)
Rebelle is nice for doing painty stuff (with real-time water effects/fluid dynamics) whereas CSP is good for pretty much everything else - it can do a lot of what PS can do :)