I personally use Affinity for my 2D work nowadays. Mostly because it is the closest to the Photoshop experience on a budget. Personally I don't value realism physics for my brushes. As long as the brushes are responsive and accurate and the program doesn't have bad overall performance on big canvases I'm fine with most brush engines. The things I can't live without are for example liquify, adjustment layers, and solid layer management. So far only Affinity has checked off many of those boxes while remaining familiar to my old Photoshop workflow. Though, at the end of the day most programs will do the job fine as a 2D artist. There are plenty of options to choose from nowadays, which isn't something I could say about 4-5 years ago.
@@chris60036 Sadly no. Though, there is a plug-in that works in Affinity called Lazy Nezumi Pro. It has a lot of perspective features as well as brush patterns and stabilizers. Used by a lot of professionals. Highly recommend it.
I really enjoy the 3D features of Clip Studio Paint. Modeling and importing posable characters and objects to reference with different lighting directions makes the comic creation pipeline clean and straightforward. It’s excellent for sketching, cleanly inking, and coloring illustrations. Theres’s a neat tool that lets you thicken or thin selected areas of lineart. The bubble tools are also incredibly handy.
For me I'd go 1.) Photoshop -maybe just because most studios we use it so im used to it, but for making concept art quickly for deadlines its great, best editing tools but worst art features. 2.)Procreate-the best UI to me, everything is so simple and fun, but extremely powerful. I feel other apps can learn from it. 3.) Painter- has the best blending of all programs to me, but the UI is outdated/complex and layer system can be improved. 4.) Infinite Painter - best perspective grid features, like drawing shapes in perspective is incredible, and the pencil brush might be one of the best I ever used. 5.) Blender - Still learning it but so far its pretty amazing drawing things in 3d. Great for concept art to get ideas out quickly in 3d. But if my main goal was to draw comics, or anime related I'd probably go with clip studio as 1, or even krita perhaps. Alot of it depends on what your aiming for.
Of course Corel's bloated nightmare is spotlighted. When I use it, I can tell it's old technology w/ bandaid patches. Time for a page one re-write. I'll stick with Rebelle and wait for masking features and use Photoshop plug in as needed.
From all of them My top 1 is CSP, then Paintstorm and then Realistic. I'm a person who prefers much more the digital media and just plays with the brushes that imitates natural media for fun. Painter is too heavy, its interface is too cluttered and there is a lot of things happening at the same time. Clio studio is not intended to make fine arts, it is for comic and manga artists.
Good review, Aaron. I've been using Painter since 2007 and, no matter how hard I try, I can't find a comparable alternative. I really enjoy the pencils in Clip Studio, but I don't enjoy the brushes--they're extremely sluggish and the settings aren't logical to me. And as for Photoshop, for painting it fails to feel natural and spontaneous--too mechanical for straight up painting.
Clip Studio Paint will become much more expensive in 2023 with the monthly plan coming. But I doubt they will completely rehaul the app and modernize it substantially anytime soon.
I love clip studio but the one thing keeping me on the edge is the brush engine feels stiff. It’s so close to being my favorite software but it just doesn’t flow right.
Thank for this! You matched my guesses before I watched. These days rebelle has been my go to. Corel has been 2nd. Updating every year is a pain in my pocket book, so I'm stuck in 2018... What do think of procreate? Thats my ipad go to when I'm mobile. This overview was well done. As some apps better at one thing, so the other millions of choices are only an distraction. Like if you are a Al Hirshfield pen and ink guy...I was trained by Tim Shelbourn from the UK. Haven't seen him in a while though, and i miss him. Heather the painter is another corel master i traning with... I take my favorite parts and combine them somtimes...Thanks again Aaron.
Hey, Humble Bundle currently has Painter 2021 in its “Create With Visual Impact! ENCORE” bundle. This is the second time they’ve offered this bundle so I dunno that they’ll do it again. You’ve got six days from when I’m writing this message to grab it for $30. Not the latest version but it’s definitely better than being stuck at 2018.
I remember back in 2005-2010 or so there was a bunch of very interesting software out there, Painter didn't belong to Corel by the way kudos to Corel for respecting the Painter, thing you can't say about other events involving other companies.
My biggest issues with digital art is learning how to save my work to never change it and the worst is wanting to add to my work and needing to zoom it out to add around it but my original work start showing pixels. I hate that because before recently starting I would watch others paint thinking that I could create a image and then turn that whole image into a eyeball of another image and so on like the ending credits of Men In Black.
I so greatly appreciate Aaron Rutten's expert advice, saving me so much trouble, so I subscribed today. Help. I have a question about the best program for keeping a digital sketchbook? I learned Photoshop, but it's always crashing (& it WAS free during community college). I need an alternative. I want to keep a simple digital sketchbook (win 10 lenovo yoga 14 + wacom one screen tablet) for art ideas, with simple sketches/ color. (Plus I plan to continue abstract/ semi- realistic-not full render digital painting)... (+ messing with photography). At the least, (if there is not a one app for all this)... What is the best software for a digital sketchbook? (I'd prefer to not waste time with wrong choices, as an older artist). I'd prefer free or low cost programs & find PS steep at $120/ year, especially when they penalize you if you want to take time away to do other art / non-digital media.
Painters interface, shortcuts and configurations are fully customizable. Rather than give up on the gold standard for digital painting, you should buy a training course and learn how to customize the program to fit your needs.
I still have the free version of Sketchbook Pro. I know it's paid now, but if the paid version is like the version I have, it's still a good deal for $20 or whatever.
Excellent advice and very helpful to someone who's not paid enough attention to recent art app developments. Thank you for the concise comments and valuable tips!
At the beginning of the video he starts off saying no free digital applications, my best guess is that this is for people who are thinking of investing on digital programs and want to make an informed choice
@@3DMegaGamer You're right, that might be the reason, but since he compared a couple of pay options against krita, i though he would also talk about it. I tried a couple of them, including krita and clip studio, but they were clunky in my opinion; I end up selling my digital tablet and buying an ipad + procreate, night and day difference, both in price and quality of life.
"The only reason to choose ________ over Krita is..." I like Krita quite a bit, but honestly it has some stability issues, and that makes me nervous. I've kept CSP open for a month straight until Windows qas like, "Hey, could I get a reboot over here?" Granted, I had issues with Krita 4.x, and 5.0 just hit full release, so maybe it's more stable now.
Darn it, its so hard to choose what to pick up as a first program for digital work. I am a traditional painter (acrylics, Graphite and such) but I have used lots of programs in the past. Far, far past. I remember when the first program came that didn't require pixelation haha. Anyway, as I'm a trad painter now, I feel that perhaps one program with that mechanism as focus and not so many features and menus are up my tree? And my daughters. Problem number two is, should I buy a tablet upgrade for my stationary computer? Hmm.. Wish I could try the different options out irl.
I have to disagree about the realism of Painter's Thick Paint and impasto. It looks quite artificial unless you really go out of your way to tweak it to try to look more realistic.
7:58 Here i am seeing that you have the curser of the actual tool you are using but in 8:03 i have noticed that it is gone... i really dont like the tool as my curser so could you show how to remove it please?
Clip Studio Paint is ruined for me now, with the new subscription service they wanna set up..... I don't want a subscription!!! Which is just... so disappointing, because it's my favourite art program I've used so far... (I don't really agree that you can mainly use it for Manga and Comics, I feel like you haven't really used it a lot? I use it for everything and people who've used photoshop say it's just as good now that it has the liquify tool)
First tried digital art in 2016 with firealpaca and autodesk sketchbook, then used medibang and currently using clip studio paint. ive only heard about 3 in this list, i thought the most mainstream apps would be here but got pleasantly surprised at the hidden variety. i would be interested to know how many softwares you tried for this ranking and what you left out
Yeah I also tried Medibang, Krita but about of the ones he mentioned here. I own CSP and loving it, but also have all affinity apps, everything Adobe, Procreate, Painter and so many others. I wouldn't mind checking that Rebelle he liked so much.
Absolutely agree with artrage. Somehow it lacks the innovative drive it had before or in comparison it just lost the feeling of "wanting to be the best".
Corel painter does not work with pressure & tilt on Windows Surface Studio laptops with RTS touch screens & pens. Corel support has stated that they do not plan to fix this. You get broken lines. All other programs work fine including Rebelle. I agree that masking in Rebelle is difficult, but other than that, Rebell is very nice.
Ive recently joined the art fun so been looking over software/ value. For now at least my main focus will be on cartoon type characters, 2D animation and 3D modelling in Blender and later Unreal5. I couldn't decide between Adobe illustrator and CSP. I ended up getting Adobe cloud and CSP. Getting photoshop, after effects, animate and a bunch of other apps won the day. CSP has some great features, but i work mainly in Blender and Illustrators for now until i get basic learnings down.
I found this very unbiased at the end. I could tell Aaron is a trained PAINTER. So I thought in ways that he was been biased but then he was professional enough to have a quantitative scoring that made his review not opinion only... even though he said is only his opinion. YES for painter it makes sense that Corel Painter is number one, but I was happy to see Clip Studio Paint as close number 2. That said for illustration and manga or comics which is what CSP is made for 100%, CSP is king and undisputed. Another point why I liked this review is that he kept saying what artist and designer who are not fanboys or fangirls will say is that many or lots of PAID apps are not better or worth to pay for when you can get for FREE apps like KRITA. I will also add MEDIBANG and VECTONATOR, but those are for illustration and vector design and illustration. I been around since PS 3.5 and FREEHAND, but also Corel when it was king. I'm not married to Adobe so I am objective and I don't care for brands. Aaron is a good reviewer. Also if h had included Photoshop as an art app I would have dislike this review and cancel him, LOL!
Gotta say Aaron, I think ArtRage is better than Adobe Fresco. The brushes are much better, and I think there is a lot to be said for the fact that ArtRage can be found on all major platforms. For me the measure of an art application is when I am done, and have it printed on canvas does it look like a computer? Or does it look like paint? ArtRage passes that test. Of course Corel Painter is my first choice.
i use corel paint 4.0 until today . my first digital art work was made with this tool . in this early time getting the memory fast overloaded . and the export to the copyshop was an adventure ego shooter .
Everyone complains about Painter being too expensive compared to the alternatives that's now available. My question is, how does the lightweight version of painter compare to these alternatives. Corel Painter essentials 8 only costs $50 bucks. It does everything I need it to do currently. But how does it compare to say, Clip Studio Paint, that sells for $60.00 dollars. Is comparing the full feature rich version of Painter, that sells for $400+ to a $60 dollar.program a fair comparison?
⭐ Support CREATORS not advertisers by becoming a Member of my UA-cam Channel: aaronrutten.com/join
Clip studio paint Gang, Bang bang
I personally use Affinity for my 2D work nowadays. Mostly because it is the closest to the Photoshop experience on a budget. Personally I don't value realism physics for my brushes. As long as the brushes are responsive and accurate and the program doesn't have bad overall performance on big canvases I'm fine with most brush engines. The things I can't live without are for example liquify, adjustment layers, and solid layer management. So far only Affinity has checked off many of those boxes while remaining familiar to my old Photoshop workflow.
Though, at the end of the day most programs will do the job fine as a 2D artist. There are plenty of options to choose from nowadays, which isn't something I could say about 4-5 years ago.
Does Affinity include perspective grids yet?
@@chris60036 Sadly no. Though, there is a plug-in that works in Affinity called Lazy Nezumi Pro. It has a lot of perspective features as well as brush patterns and stabilizers. Used by a lot of professionals. Highly recommend it.
I really enjoy the 3D features of Clip Studio Paint. Modeling and importing posable characters and objects to reference with different lighting directions makes the comic creation pipeline clean and straightforward. It’s excellent for sketching, cleanly inking, and coloring illustrations. Theres’s a neat tool that lets you thicken or thin selected areas of lineart. The bubble tools are also incredibly handy.
I was just thinking, "I wonder if Aaron has any ideas on what is the best of the current painting programs?" And here we are, thanks Aaron!!
For me I'd go
1.) Photoshop -maybe just because most studios we use it so im used to it, but for making concept art quickly for deadlines its great, best editing tools but worst art features.
2.)Procreate-the best UI to me, everything is so simple and fun, but extremely powerful. I feel other apps can learn from it.
3.) Painter- has the best blending of all programs to me, but the UI is outdated/complex and layer system can be improved.
4.) Infinite Painter - best perspective grid features, like drawing shapes in perspective is incredible, and the pencil brush might be one of the best I ever used.
5.) Blender - Still learning it but so far its pretty amazing drawing things in 3d. Great for concept art to get ideas out quickly in 3d.
But if my main goal was to draw comics, or anime related I'd probably go with clip studio as 1, or even krita perhaps. Alot of it depends on what your aiming for.
Of course Corel's bloated nightmare is spotlighted. When I use it, I can tell it's old technology w/ bandaid patches. Time for a page one re-write. I'll stick with Rebelle and wait for masking features and use Photoshop plug in as needed.
From all of them My top 1 is CSP, then Paintstorm and then Realistic. I'm a person who prefers much more the digital media and just plays with the brushes that imitates natural media for fun. Painter is too heavy, its interface is too cluttered and there is a lot of things happening at the same time. Clio studio is not intended to make fine arts, it is for comic and manga artists.
For me Realistic paint studio is the best value software, What it delivers at 19$ is unmatched.
right :)
Good review, Aaron. I've been using Painter since 2007 and, no matter how hard I try, I can't find a comparable alternative. I really enjoy the pencils in Clip Studio, but I don't enjoy the brushes--they're extremely sluggish and the settings aren't logical to me. And as for Photoshop, for painting it fails to feel natural and spontaneous--too mechanical for straight up painting.
Clip Studio Paint will become much more expensive in 2023 with the monthly plan coming. But I doubt they will completely rehaul the app and modernize it substantially anytime soon.
If I want something look like real watercolor Rebelle is the best choice?
You better believe it!
You should try Art Set 4. Super realistic oil paint
I love clip studio but the one thing keeping me on the edge is the brush engine feels stiff. It’s so close to being my favorite software but it just doesn’t flow right.
6:26 I like this one
using soft, can't wait to get my hands on it.
I’m surprised to see clip studio being second. I’m satisfied with this list. Also I don’t paint but will soon.
Thank for this! You matched my guesses before I watched. These days rebelle has been my go to. Corel has been 2nd. Updating every year is a pain in my pocket book, so I'm stuck in 2018... What do think of procreate? Thats my ipad go to when I'm mobile. This overview was well done. As some apps better at one thing, so the other millions of choices are only an distraction. Like if you are a Al Hirshfield pen and ink guy...I was trained by Tim Shelbourn from the UK. Haven't seen him in a while though, and i miss him. Heather the painter is another corel master i traning with... I take my favorite parts and combine them somtimes...Thanks again Aaron.
Hey, Humble Bundle currently has Painter 2021 in its “Create With Visual Impact! ENCORE” bundle. This is the second time they’ve offered this bundle so I dunno that they’ll do it again. You’ve got six days from when I’m writing this message to grab it for $30. Not the latest version but it’s definitely better than being stuck at 2018.
Wow! Thank you for this fair and thoughtful review. (I own Painter 2022 and Clip.)
Painter 2022 is on Humble Bundle right now for a song. Well worth checking out.
I remember back in 2005-2010 or so there was a bunch of very interesting software out there, Painter didn't belong to Corel by the way kudos to Corel for respecting the Painter, thing you can't say about other events involving other companies.
Where is Krita :)?
My biggest issues with digital art is learning how to save my work to never change it and the worst is wanting to add to my work and needing to zoom it out to add around it but my original work start showing pixels. I hate that because before recently starting I would watch others paint thinking that I could create a image and then turn that whole image into a eyeball of another image and so on like the ending credits of Men In Black.
My choice is Rebelle in Version 5
Thankyou that was ready helpful.
what a great video! thank you
I so greatly appreciate Aaron Rutten's expert advice, saving me so much trouble, so I subscribed today. Help. I have a question about the best program for keeping a digital sketchbook?
I learned Photoshop, but it's always crashing (& it WAS free during community college). I need an alternative. I want to keep a simple digital sketchbook (win 10 lenovo yoga 14 + wacom one screen tablet) for art ideas, with simple sketches/ color. (Plus I plan to continue abstract/ semi- realistic-not full render digital painting)... (+ messing with photography). At the least, (if there is not a one app for all this)... What is the best software for a digital sketchbook? (I'd prefer to not waste time with wrong choices, as an older artist). I'd prefer free or low cost programs & find PS steep at $120/ year, especially when they penalize you if you want to take time away to do other art / non-digital media.
i want to enjoy using painter but, the interface , shortcuts configurations ,etc is too outdated for my workflow
Painters interface, shortcuts and configurations are fully customizable. Rather than give up on the gold standard for digital painting, you should buy a training course and learn how to customize the program to fit your needs.
@@sentry8992 will give it a chance.
Amazing ! Is it possible to export a video of the living water color diffusion ?
Could you make a Best digital art software for PC list?
How are trained digital artist becoming really good oil painters on canvas. Thk you.
I still have the free version of Sketchbook Pro. I know it's paid now, but if the paid version is like the version I have, it's still a good deal for $20 or whatever.
"There is no better fluid media simulation on the market".... Expresii software would disagree. Please review it.
@@hcbs1986 You need to learn to speak first before making judgements out of your league.
TYSM I APREESIATE THAT
Excellent advice and very helpful to someone who's not paid enough attention to recent art app developments. Thank you for the concise comments and valuable tips!
Have you heard about a new version of Corel Painter coming out soon?
What tablet and stylus do you use?
honest question, coming from a noob in digital art, why is not krita in the list? isn't it worth to learn?
At the beginning of the video he starts off saying no free digital applications, my best guess is that this is for people who are thinking of investing on digital programs and want to make an informed choice
@@3DMegaGamer You're right, that might be the reason, but since he compared a couple of pay options against krita, i though he would also talk about it.
I tried a couple of them, including krita and clip studio, but they were clunky in my opinion; I end up selling my digital tablet and buying an ipad + procreate, night and day difference, both in price and quality of life.
"The only reason to choose ________ over Krita is..." I like Krita quite a bit, but honestly it has some stability issues, and that makes me nervous. I've kept CSP open for a month straight until Windows qas like, "Hey, could I get a reboot over here?" Granted, I had issues with Krita 4.x, and 5.0 just hit full release, so maybe it's more stable now.
Krita 5.0.2 is the latest one. It is more stable than the version 5.0. Version 5.0 had a crash issue.
Darn it, its so hard to choose what to pick up as a first program for digital work. I am a traditional painter (acrylics, Graphite and such) but I have used lots of programs in the past. Far, far past. I remember when the first program came that didn't require pixelation haha.
Anyway, as I'm a trad painter now, I feel that perhaps one program with that mechanism as focus and not so many features and menus are up my tree? And my daughters.
Problem number two is, should I buy a tablet upgrade for my stationary computer? Hmm.. Wish I could try the different options out irl.
If you live near Portland, Oregon, Wacom has a place where you can try tablets out in person. The Wacom Experience Center.
@@aaronrutten i love in Northern Sweden but I think I know a place that sells all kinds of these.
Cosmigo pro motion NG . low dpi PixelColor ramping
What top free apps video is he referring to at the end? The one from five years ago? There's no link.
I have to disagree about the realism of Painter's Thick Paint and impasto. It looks quite artificial unless you really go out of your way to tweak it to try to look more realistic.
7:58 Here i am seeing that you have the curser of the actual tool you are using but in 8:03 i have noticed that it is gone... i really dont like the tool as my curser so could you show how to remove it please?
I hate it when channels like this are underrated
Your artist na should be "Kristal Klear" because that was what I just watched here.
Clip Studio Paint is ruined for me now, with the new subscription service they wanna set up..... I don't want a subscription!!! Which is just... so disappointing, because it's my favourite art program I've used so far...
(I don't really agree that you can mainly use it for Manga and Comics, I feel like you haven't really used it a lot? I use it for everything and people who've used photoshop say it's just as good now that it has the liquify tool)
Corel painter price got shaking
*video continues* "........you can change the tempo by clicking and DRAGGING"
I don't think Clip Paint should be included, feels more for comics
But still most artists use Photoshop👍
Paint Tool Sai
Can you also please review Krita 5.0 ?
First tried digital art in 2016 with firealpaca and autodesk sketchbook, then used medibang and currently using clip studio paint. ive only heard about 3 in this list, i thought the most mainstream apps would be here but got pleasantly surprised at the hidden variety. i would be interested to know how many softwares you tried for this ranking and what you left out
Yeah I also tried Medibang, Krita but about of the ones he mentioned here. I own CSP and loving it, but also have all affinity apps, everything Adobe, Procreate, Painter and so many others. I wouldn't mind checking that Rebelle he liked so much.
Absolutely agree with artrage. Somehow it lacks the innovative drive it had before or in comparison it just lost the feeling of "wanting to be the best".
Corel painter does not work with pressure & tilt on Windows Surface Studio laptops with RTS touch screens & pens. Corel support has stated that they do not plan to fix this. You get broken lines. All other programs work fine including Rebelle. I agree that masking in Rebelle is difficult, but other than that, Rebell is very nice.
Ive recently joined the art fun so been looking over software/ value. For now at least my main focus will be on cartoon type characters, 2D animation and 3D modelling in Blender and later Unreal5. I couldn't decide between Adobe illustrator and CSP. I ended up getting Adobe cloud and CSP. Getting photoshop, after effects, animate and a bunch of other apps won the day. CSP has some great features, but i work mainly in Blender and Illustrators for now until i get basic learnings down.
Is that a bob ross chia
I found this very unbiased at the end. I could tell Aaron is a trained PAINTER. So I thought in ways that he was been biased but then he was professional enough to have a quantitative scoring that made his review not opinion only... even though he said is only his opinion.
YES for painter it makes sense that Corel Painter is number one, but I was happy to see Clip Studio Paint as close number 2. That said for illustration and manga or comics which is what CSP is made for 100%, CSP is king and undisputed.
Another point why I liked this review is that he kept saying what artist and designer who are not fanboys or fangirls will say is that many or lots of PAID apps are not better or worth to pay for when you can get for FREE apps like KRITA. I will also add MEDIBANG and VECTONATOR, but those are for illustration and vector design and illustration. I been around since PS 3.5 and FREEHAND, but also Corel when it was king. I'm not married to Adobe so I am objective and I don't care for brands.
Aaron is a good reviewer. Also if h had included Photoshop as an art app I would have dislike this review and cancel him, LOL!
I have found more problems with Krita then Clip Studio Paint. I guess CSP has been updated recently and that's why it's 100x better.
do you guys know what the best drawing and animation apps that youtubers use like the Odd1sout?
Gotta say Aaron, I think ArtRage is better than Adobe Fresco. The brushes are much better, and I think there is a lot to be said for the fact that ArtRage can be found on all major platforms. For me the measure of an art application is when I am done, and have it printed on canvas does it look like a computer? Or does it look like paint? ArtRage passes that test. Of course Corel Painter is my first choice.
1- Clip Studio Paint EX, 2-Krita, 3-Photoshop
i use corel paint 4.0 until today . my first digital art work was made with this tool . in this early time getting the memory fast overloaded . and the export to the copyshop was an adventure ego shooter .
Everyone complains about Painter being too expensive compared to the alternatives that's now available. My question is, how does the lightweight version of painter compare to these alternatives. Corel Painter essentials 8 only costs $50 bucks. It does everything I need it to do currently. But how does it compare to say, Clip Studio Paint, that sells for $60.00 dollars. Is comparing the full feature rich version of Painter, that sells for $400+ to a $60 dollar.program a fair comparison?
When they release a new version, the prior year's version is on sale various places for $30 Everytime.
Rip csp...
Why have you called it the top apps then slag some of them off and say you wouldn't pay for them. They aren't top then are they.
Considering that there are much more than 7 art apps in existence, I'd say they are.
paintstorm over all 🙃
Would love to see your review on an app called PaintTool SAI.
Too basic to rank on my list. But I did review it in my older version of thls video.
What happened to procreate
As stated in the review, this is for Windows and Mac compatible apps only.
Until Realistic will let you output a reasonably 300 dpi large image. it will remain an amateur "play only" app.
Yes, indeed. And custom ratios, etc.
Last version improved the resolution output.
@@bdlapierre Thank you. I was not aware that they had an update. I will check it out.
@@bdlapierre Thank you, I didn't know.
Why is he using multiple pens?
Because I can
@@aaronrutten I'm asking if there was a reason other than for a gag in the video I the pens are all the same right?
@@Meithighs No. The Wacom Art Pen is the only pen that supports barrel rotation. There are many pens that have unique properties.