Hello everyone!

Well i started to to draw on paper( they are not looking too good sofar but i'll develop my skills) And i have a scanner so i can scan it but i don't know what drawing program should i use for coloring them. For example what does carrot, smitty g or darkmirage are useing for their work? What do you guys recommend? (I know that the program will not influence my drawing skills but it's better to use a great program, and do you think drawing with right side of my brain would help me draw better?).

Ratte uses Paint tool SAI, Feretta uses Manga Studio 5, Tokaido uses Adobe Photoshop.

They all have their pros and come but those 3 programmes are the most commonly used by artists around the planet.

GIMP is good for coloring, if you can figure out the interface.

Xesnogard said:

Hello everyone!

Well i started to to draw on paper( they are not looking too good sofar but i'll develop my skills) And i have a scanner so i can scan it but i don't know what drawing program should i use for coloring them. For example what does carrot, smitty g or darkmirage are useing for their work? What do you guys recommend? (I know that the program will not influence my drawing skills but it's better to use a great program, and do you think drawing with right side of my brain would help me draw better?).

Personally I think you should definitely aim to use a program which supports a dedicated smart colorizing function; it will take a lot of manual work out of coloring.
There are two systems I know of -- LazyBrush, and GMIC's Interactive Colorize. IIRC the former is available only in Photoshop, the latter is available in Krita, GIMP, and probably others (several programs support GMIC.)

There is a little GMIC Interactive colorize tutorial here that should give you the idea what sort of thing I'm talking about.

IMO it's also important (if you are learning color, and don't already understand colorscheme planning) to have a color selector that will help you with getting a grip on color schemes. MyPaint has a very nice and interesting interface for this -- David Revoy also wrote another article which includes an illustration and description of it (search "Gamut mask").. There are other methods -- websites and programs that can generate schemes for you (I use GPick for this personally).

Personally I'd recommend Krita if I had to recommend a single program only.
I don't really believe in using a single program only, though.

Uh.. one thing I don't see mentioned in your post is a graphics tablet. Whether you have a graphics tablet or not will -definitely- impact your ability to do quality coloring, no matter what program you use.

MSpaint

A program is only as good as you know how to use it.

I used Photoshop for a long time until I tried SAI, then never went back to Photoshop. While SAI lacks a couple (and I do mean only a couple) functions that I sometimes use, Photoshop is so bulky and full of garbage you will never use that I really don't mind it.

To be honest it would be wise to use traditional media for coloring for a while before buying a tablet and working digital. As said, without a tablet, coloring (or anything in an art program) will be much more difficult and your results will suffer.

I use Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.

For the most part, I'm either touching up my sketches that I still have backlogged, doing anatomical sketches, or doing linearts of my past sketches. I've barely touched the surface of coloring through Photoshop though.

I have read a few books and seen a few tutorials on how to do it though.

If you use OS X I'd recommend checking out Pixelmator. It's not free but it's well rounded and more in line with what PS has to offer.

Otherwise Paint.net (free, Windows) and PaintTool SAI (shareware, Windows, Unofficial OS X port I haven't tested) is what I'd recommend checking out.

What you prefer though depends on your personal workflow and what you are trying to do (e.g., line art, vector, realistic, etc.).

Just to add that to my knowledge, SAI "Free" isn't a shareware : It's a cracked version that has been around for a while now. You can use the legit version for free but you cannot save your project and export, so, kind of not a good idea to be using it for free for serious drawings unless you plan on keeping the window open and printscreen the picture. You do need to get a license (Which is around 50$) but since there's that "portable" version around, no one is getting it. However SAI is still one program that I would recommend, with a very simple interface easy to understand and get in to. However the brushes are very lacking in options so don't expect anything fancy with them.

There's also Krita, which is free and resembles PhotoShop in some ways. The interface is 100% customizable, the brushes have some really good engines and you can customize pretty much anything for them. Only big drawback is some of them are very resource hungry and the program lacks a linetool option like in SAI, which I need because I suck at drawing good looking lineart

Neitsuke said:
Just to add that to my knowledge, SAI "Free" isn't a shareware : It's a cracked version that has been around for a while now.

From what I've been told, SAI 2 Beta is fully operational and free from company to use...they just warn about fact it may have bugs since it's not finished development. A number of artists I've talked to use it.

That's just hearsay though since I bought the current SAI and have stuck with it. I also use GIMP to do the things SAI can't (text/animating).

That would be the actual legit freeware version of SAI. The version 1 is also downloadable and usable as I said, but you cannot save or export your project, same goes for the beta of SAI 2 without a license.

...

Actually I just remembered that. SAI 1 does have a 30 days trial fully functional, but once the 30 days are used, cannot save or export anything. However as far as I know, there's no trial for SAI 2

What about Inkscape? Its free and is pretty similar to Adobe Illustrator to some extent which you can use to clean up and color your sketches with vectors.

As someone who's been using it personally, the program's a bit dodgy to use sometimes (some features don't work or are broken) but the program itself runs pretty stable despite its shortcomings.

Paint.net

MT_r34 said:
What about Inkscape? Its free and is pretty similar to Adobe Illustrator to some extent which you can use to clean up and color your sketches with vectors.

As someone who's been using it personally, the program's a bit dodgy to use sometimes (some features don't work or are broken) but the program itself runs pretty stable despite its shortcomings.

Hm, that points out a distinction that OP should probably clarify: whether they just want to slap some color on, or *redraw* it in color.

I didn't recommend Inkscape because to me, that is what you might do if you want to basically 'redraw your sketch in vector art'. if you just want to put some color regions in on top of your existing art, vector graphics isn't really suitable for it (vector graphics have a dramatically different feel than most traditional media, so the combination tends to look strange).
Whereas the brush + filter based approach of raster graphics editors allows you to 'fit in' much closer with the style of the scan you already have, whatever it is.

I've personally used Paint Tool SAI, Photoshop CS6, and Krita. I definitely find Paint Tool SAI to be the best, followed closely by Krita (which I still need to learn how to use correctly, but it's entirely free AND has awesome features like the symmetry tool).

Use gimp or krita if you want a free program, however, they take some time to get used to. In all honesty, most art programs are capable of doing high quality art. You just need to get used to them and develop an artistic insight/experience.

What I use now is photoshop cc, I'm thinking of trying out paint tool sai. Maybe even manga studio 5...

Anyways, get used to one before you try another. Most of the simple programs are costy, and you might not like the free programs because their probably too "complicated". Have you tried a drawing and coloring program before? Perhaps a description of what you prefer/like would give you better choices than us randomly telling what you should use.

Rustyy said:
MSpaint

Hahaha...no. :/

Xesnogard said:

Hello everyone!

Well i started to to draw on paper( they are not looking too good sofar but i'll develop my skills) And i have a scanner so i can scan it but i don't know what drawing program should i use for coloring them. For example what does carrot, smitty g or darkmirage are useing for their work? What do you guys recommend? (I know that the program will not influence my drawing skills but it's better to use a great program, and do you think drawing with right side of my brain would help me draw better?).

I use SAI :D
Find it the easiest to *just draw* with, also has the stabilizer option which I literally cannot draw without lol

Manga Studio is very good though, gives you more tools than SAI and handles pretty much the same; Carrot uses this, I see a lot of artists using this one now.

SmittyG said:
I use SAI :D
Find it the easiest to *just draw* with, also has the stabilizer option which I literally cannot draw without lol

Manga Studio is very good though, gives you more tools than SAI and handles pretty much the same; Carrot uses this, I see a lot of artists using this one now.

If the stabilizer is an issue then there is always Lazy Nezumi Pro which works for every single program on the market (since it works on the OS level).

NotMeNotYou said:
there is always Lazy Nezumi Pro which works for every single program on the market.

there is always Lazy Nezumi Pro

Nezumi

:x

i do 99% of my art with paint tool sai. ofc sai cannot do everything since its very simple and stripped program but you can do pretty decent stuff with it if you know how to use it.

Mutisija said:
i do 99% of my art with paint tool sai. ofc sai cannot do everything since its very simple and stripped program but you can do pretty decent stuff with it if you know how to use it.

It's not the tools (or drawing programs in this instance) that's important. It's how you use it.

"Has anyone here seen Bob Ross's videos and what he can do with "simplistic supplies and techniques?

GameManiac said:
It's not the tools (or drawing programs in this instance) that's important. It's how you use it.

It's both.
A good artist can make a good picture with weak tools. But they can still make a better picture with stronger tools.

IMO the artist needs to be able to connect mentally to whatever tools they are using, imagine using them in the same way they can flex their fingers. To me, that means that you need to choose a tool that is a little (but not too much) above your level of experience as an artist -- something you can grow into. From that POV, MyPaint or SAI have plenty for the beginning artist to explore, and later they might choose to move on to something like Krita (which accommodates almost all digital art creation, without encumbering the artist with unrelated features like GIMP and Photoshop do)

Thanks for that video, I made some notes and can probably find some Krita brushes to achieve those effects now.

I think maybe we are in danger of getting a bit OT though.. it would be nice if the OP would comment, hopefully having tried out some of these programs and now having a better idea exactly what they do and don't want.

Aeon18King said:
Hahaha...no. :/

What's wrong with MS Paint?

Mutisija said:
i do 99% of my art with paint tool sai. ofc sai cannot do everything since its very simple and stripped program but you can do pretty decent stuff with it if you know how to use it.

Have you seen the upcoming Paint Tool SAI 2? It sounds incredible and may make it so that I never have to open Photoshop again, especially with the font tool.

Kida said:
What's wrong with MS Paint?

Wow that's pretty neat! MS Paint can achieve nice line art from I've seen before...no denying that! But for a starter to start in MS Paint...would be difficult and practically wasted. Anyways, I'll give you your points.

Kida said:
What's wrong with MS Paint?

What's wrong is that you don't get layers, meaning you have to be good enough at a one-time go over in it.

Furrin_Gok said:
What's wrong is that you don't get layers, meaning you have to be good enough at a one-time go over in it.

Also 3 undo operations and sometimes wrong "undos" after cloning (ctrl+drag) and clearing a selection.

On the other hand, you have three colors at a time (left click, right click and ctrl+click) and "custom" brushes (select a part of the image and then shift+drag)

That's on Windows XP's MS Paint, btw

It's bizarre to use MS Paint for CG stuff -- which a) generally uses smooth brushes, not aliased ones, b) is pretty much defined by layering.

Even using it for pixel art is far from optimal (compare it with GrafX2, Graphics Gale, or Pro Motion; the only dimension that MSPaint wins on is having 3 drawing colors rather than the typical 2.)

Kida said:
Have you seen the upcoming Paint Tool SAI 2? It sounds incredible and may make it so that I never have to open Photoshop again, especially with the font tool.

oh sweet! now i dont need to buy lazy nezumi since sai got the ruler tools and perspective guides

Thanks for the answers! Now i just have to learn how to see.

Kida said:
Have you seen the upcoming Paint Tool SAI 2? It sounds incredible and may make it so that I never have to open Photoshop again, especially with the font tool.

This is exciting :D

I got intrigued about this Lazy Nezumi program thing and wanted to give it a try : It makes my SAI (Both the "portable" and my registered copy) crash as soon as I try to draw something after I hooked the window. It does work fine on Krita at least. Still a big bummer it won't work with the main drawing program that I use

Neitsuke said:
I got intrigued about this Lazy Nezumi program thing and wanted to give it a try : It makes my SAI (Both the "portable" and my registered copy) crash as soon as I try to draw something after I hooked the window. It does work fine on Krita at least. Still a big bummer it won't work with the main drawing program that I use

I thought Krita incorporated stroke smoothing anyway (mind you, until fairly recent Krita -- 2.9.x -- the smoothing option didn't work. It appears to now.). MyPaint certainly does, as well as GIMP. MyPaint's smoothing is the nicest smoothing I've tried TBH, but it's admittedly a bit annoying to have to go back and forth to/from GIMP for types of editing MyPaint doesn't support (selections, scaling/rotation, gradient tool)

It's mostly for the rulers and those fancy curve graph things that I wanted to try, plus maybe stabilize the pressure because the pen I got isn't really that great for pressure control even if I prefer it over Wacom.

I did try some other drivers and it does work with the "recommended" one, however this driver makes the smoothing on SAI not working properly, so I don't think it's worth spending 50$ on some app that would force me to cripple smoothing and always need to set the slider on that other window just for that