0 Comments Computer Scanner Options For Aging Hardware

I find it troubling that a expensive scanner that still works is relegated to the trash due to nothing more than lack of updated drivers - forcing a new purchase.

Sure companies say that the hardware is "not compatible" with new operating systems, but is complete bull. Thankfully there are a few options to fix the "incompatibility" that is better known as abandoned driver updates.

0 Comments Smoothing Drawn Lines - Comparing Options

To finish off my current round of software reviews the last ones are for drawn line correction, stabilization, smoothing, tracking, altering, and other names given to the same task.

That is any line drawn in software and corrected, rather it be mouse or graphics tablet input.

Reasons to need it range from your hand is shaky, your mouse/tablet drivers are incompatible at some level (common lately even for Wacom), a subpar graphics tablet/mouse hardware issue, art program brush limits, and to whatever else. Sometimes called a drawing crutch, which is humorous in many aspects itself, and the reason for the strange image above (obviously without any stabilization /correction either). 😁

0 Comments Software Reviews Nearly Finished

After 23 software reviews with 407 screenshots of art related programs (counting only unique programs), I am reaching the end of my reviews. I can only imagine anyone who views it all thinks my site is little more than one of those bogus paid/spam review websites. 😏

Truth is I get nothing from my reviews, and any software I reviewed was purchased by me through the years, or tested as trial demo's.

I wrote my reviews as I was looking at what is currently available for artists, as I am getting back into it myself after a few years. Plus sharing those experiences may help others from installing dozens of programs or buying some to find out they do not have certain functions.

0 Comments Art Review: Serif Affinity Designer

Program - Affinity Designer (Serif (Europe) Ltd.)
Tested version - v1.6.4.104

Price - 15-day trial, $49.99 to purchase
Notes - Their new replacement for DrawPlus, and is a amazing upgrade
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.7.5 (Mac Store)
Official website - https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/

Raster or Vector - Both Vector and Raster. Two layouts, Draw Persona (vector) and Pixel Persona (raster), with seamless switching.

0 Comments Art Review: Ambient Design ArtRage

Program - ArtRage (Ambient Design Ltd.)
Tested version - v5.0.5

Price - Unlimited time trial, $29.90 Lite, $79.00 Full (version comparisons)
Systems - Windows Vista/7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.6, Android, iPad/iPhone
Official website - https://www.artrage.com/

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: Serif DrawPlus

Program - DrawPlus X8 (Serif (Europe) Ltd.)
Tested version - v14.0.1.21 (final)

Price - $24.99 to purchase (discontinued, but still available at the discount).
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - http://www.serif.com/drawplus/

Raster or Vector - Vector

0 Comments Art Review: Autodesk SketchBook

Program - Autodesk SketchBook (Autodesk, Inc.)
Tested version - v8.5.1

Price - 15-day trial, $29.99 per year subscription, $85.00 Enterprise per year subscription (comparison, scroll down their page)
Notes - The demo has very limited features unless you sign-up for the 15-day trial with an account.
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X, Android, iPad/iPhone - see complete details.
Official website - https://www.autodesk.com/products/sketchbook/overview

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: Pixia

Program - Pixia (Isao Maruoka)
Tested version - 6.04f

Price - Free
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: SmoothDraw

Program - SmoothDraw (Qingrui Li)
Tested version - 4.1.4.0

Price - Free
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - http://www.smoothdraw.com/

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: AzDrawing and AzPainter

AzDrawing

AzPainter

Programs - AzDrawing2 and AzPainter2 (AzSky (Azel))
Tested versions - AzDrawing2 v2.02 and AzPainter2 v2.12

Price - Free, open source
Notes - Both programs are a complementary package, so I am including them together too.
Systems - Windows XP/Vista/7/8.1/10, Linux
Official website - Linux (newest) http://azsky2.html.xdomain.jp/ (English translated)
Windows (discontinued November 22, 2011) http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA033749/index.html (English translated)

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Differences Between Corel Painter Essentials 6 vs Corel Painter 2018

Corel Painter Essentials 6

vs

Corel Painter 2018

A basic comparison of the differences between Corel Painter Essentials 6 vs Corel Painter 2018 - with a setup as similar as possible. I have already reviewed Painter 2018, but I see no need for a individual review for Painter Essentials 6 (beyond this difference comparison).

0 Comments Art Review: Corel Painter

Program - Corel Painter 2018 (Corel Corporation)
Tested version - v18.1.0.651

Price - 30-day trial, $199.00 for full version
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.10
Official website - https://www.painterartist.com/en/product/painter/

Raster or Vector - Raster with some editable vector tools

0 Comments Art Review: CorelDRAW

Program - CorelDRAW 2017 (Corel Corporation)
Tested version - v19.1.0.419

Price - 15-day trial, $469.00 for full version (or $198.00 for a yearly subscription)
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - https://www.coreldraw.com/en/product/graphic-design-software/

Raster or Vector - Vector

0 Comments Art Review: Inkscape

Program - Inkscape (Credit list)
Tested version - v0.92.3

Price - Free, open source
Systems - Windows XP/Vista/7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.7, Linux
Official website - https://inkscape.org/en/

Raster or Vector - Vector

0 Comments Art Review: MediBang Paint Pro

Program - MediBang Paint Pro (PGN Inc.)
Tested version - 14.0 (ver 2.0.1)

Price - Free, ad supported (single closable window) no malware in version tested (or ever heard of).
Notes - The software Terms of Service. This software is aimed at artists that want a MediBang account, but is not required.
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.9 - iPad / iPhone / Android (see site for those specs)
Official website - https://medibangpaint.com/en/

If you are wondering what are the Differences Between FireAlpaca vs MediBang Paint Pro then read my post.

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Differences Between FireAlpaca vs MediBang Paint Pro

FireAlpaca

vs

MediBang Paint Pro

For this I used the newest versions of both programs from PGN Inc., FireAlpaca v2.0.1 and MediBang Paint Pro 14.0 (ver 2.0.1) as of March 31, 2018.

0 Comments Art Review: FireAlpaca

Program - FireAlpaca (PGN Inc.)
Tested version - v2.0.1

Price - Free, ad supported (single closable window) no malware in version tested (or ever heard of). Or an ad-free version for $39.99 on Steam (ironically).
Notes - The software Terms of Service is found on the download page (half-way down the page).
Systems - Windows Vista/7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.7
Official website - http://firealpaca.com

If you are wondering what are the Differences Between FireAlpaca vs MediBang Paint Pro then read my post.

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: Corel PaintShop Pro

Program - PaintShop Pro (Corel Corporation)
Tested version - v20.2.0.1 2018

Price - 30-day trial, $63.99 to buy
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - https://www.paintshoppro.com/en/

Raster or Vector - Primarily raster; however, some things are done in vector format too.

0 Comments Art Review: Artweaver

Program - Artweaver (Boris Eyrich Software)
Tested version - v6.0.8

Price - Timed trial, $42.30 (34 €) for Plus, they also offer a limited Free version, see comparison
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - https://www.artweaver.de/en

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: Krita

Program - Krita (KDE)
Tested version - v4.0.0

Price - Free, open source
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux
Official website - https://krita.org/en/

Raster or Vector - Primarily raster; however, various things can be done in editable vector format too.

0 Comments Art Review: Paint.NET

Program - Paint.NET (dotPDN LLC.)
Tested version - v4.0.21

Price - Free (custom license)
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10
Official website - https://www.getpaint.net

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: MyPaint

Program - MyPaint (MyPaint Contributors)
Tested version - v1.2.1

Price - Free, open source
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X, Linux
Official website - http://mypaint.org

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: PaintTool SAI

Program - PaintTool SAI (SYSTEMAX Inc.)
Tested version - v1.2.5

Price - 31-day trial, $51.49 (5400JPY) to buy
Systems - Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista/7/8.1/10
Official website - https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

Raster or Vector - Primarily raster; however, various things can be done in editable vector format too.

0 Comments Art Review: openCanvas

Program - openCanvas (PGN Corp.)
Tested version - v6.2.11

Price - 120-day free trial, $59.00 to buy
Note - Version 6.2.11 is the newest version available from their website, however they sell openCanvas 7 through Steam (if you want to install/use Steam).
Systems - Windows Vista/7/8.1/10
Official website - http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/oc/

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program

Program - GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program (The GIMP Development Team)
Tested version - v2.8.22

Price - Free, open source
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, Solaris
Official website - https://www.gimp.org

Raster or Vector - Raster

0 Comments Art Review: Manga Studio

Program - Manga Studio 4 (Smith Micro Software Inc. \ CELSYS Inc.)
Tested version - v4.0 EX

Price - Manga Studio is discontinued.
Notes - CLIP STUDIO PAINT was formerly resold as Manga Studio by Smith Micro, statement here as a physical disc box. It is now being dropped once supply is sold-out.
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X, iPad
Official website - http://my.smithmicro.com/manga-studio-ex-5.html

Raster or Vector - Primarily raster; however, many things are (or can be) done in editable vector format too.

0 Comments Art Review: CLIP STUDIO PAINT

Program - CLIP STUDIO PAINT (CELSYS Inc.)
Tested version - v1.7.3 PRO

Price - 30-day trial, $49.99 Pro version, $219 EX version, version comparisons
Notes - Internet required to download asset materials, and to apply updates. Formerly resold as Manga Studio by Smith Micro, statement here.
Systems - Windows 7/8.1/10, Mac OS X 10.10, iPad
Official website - http://www.clipstudio.net/en

Raster or Vector - Primarily raster; however, many things are (or can be) done in editable vector format too.

0 Comments Drawing Software Teaser and Dopefish AutoIt Script

 

As I alluded to in my New Year 2018 post, I have been busy testing new art software since then (twenty-six of them too...). One thing that became apparent in my beginning tests was I needed something to consistently test the drawing tool capabilities in the programs.

That is where the cartoon green fish character above, Dopefish comes in (yes, Dopefish Lives!). Dopefish is a character in the Commander Keen: Goodbye, Galaxy! PC game series by Apogee software, that was designed by Tom Hall.

The fish above was drawn automatically by a simple program I made for my drawing tests. 😃

0 Comments Greasemonkey Script for GoComics

One of the online sites I read cartoons from occasionally is GoComics.com, but unless you sign-up and get a paid subscription it is plagued with multiple ads and limited features. Even with my broadband Internet speed currently tested at 85.94 Mbps their pages regularly take 10-15 seconds to fully load each page there with ads.

0 Comments New Year 2018

It's been a long time since I've been back to this site, and figured it was time to update. Since many things have changed in the last few years, browsers/coding/forms/links/etc, it's taken awhile to get it back running smoothly.