Life Without Adobe

[gangstershit]

After using adobe for the better part of a decade I'm switching to open source freeware. I would use but it just costs too damn much. So for now I'm mostly using PaintTool SAI. That's the only one with any benefits that Adobe can't match. I'm also using Gimp and Inkscape, both are ghetto ass adobe wannabes. They can do the same things but just make it difficult.

I'm also switching from an intuos to a tablet PC. It's like trading a car for a motorcycle. Key commands are less practical, My stylus doesn't have an eraser and the screen is too slick to draw slowly and cautiously. There are benefits to the tablet PC. This puppy is light and the battery life is about 8 hours so it's very portable. There are some benefits of going from stylus to screen. I can finally draw a straight line for instance. Hand eye coordination feels more coordinated. Coordinating with the tools is a different story all together.

I sort of have to admit I have a problem and start over. I'm not going to have anything portfolio worthy for a while.

Anyways here are some gestures from Game of Thrones.

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Here's a little Walking Dead coming at ya.

[gangstershit]

I did this little doodle for the hell of it just now. I might expand on it later.

[gangstershit]

Just working on my drafting skills. Never been strong at vehicle design.

[gangstershit]

[gangstershit]

I've been screwing around with AZ Painter. It's Japanese, but I found a half translated patch, so it's in Engrish. It's all good though this program is worth the trouble. Notice how the navigator is flipped. I don't think this is very suitable for loose painterly rendering or graphic design. But like I said, this package is in broken engrish, so there is much to figure out.

[Amit Dutta]

Hey man, nice going with the open source exploration. I almost exclusively use Gimp for my stuff, and while it is not as intuitive as PS I guess I'm used to it now. Also run mypaint for a painter equivalent and inkscape alchemy etc.I switched to Linux about two years ago after I got so sick of windows I vowed never to use their crap ever again. :) Keep pushing!

[gangstershit]

Hey man, nice going with the open source exploration. I almost exclusively use Gimp for my stuff, and while it is not as intuitive as PS I guess I'm used to it now. Also run mypaint for a painter equivalent and inkscape alchemy etc.I switched to Linux about two years ago after I got so sick of windows I vowed never to use their crap ever again. :) Keep pushing!

Thanks for the recommendations dude.
For some reason I can't install mypaint, I think it's windows 8's problem. With all of the freeware I have to spend a bunch of time chasing down patches and updates.

Gimp drives me mad. Sure it can kinda do what photoshop does, but it just doesn't make anything easy. The brush engine is interesting, but it just doesn't function rationally. That and there are formatting issues. But it kinda works for graphic design.

I think I need a book on inkscape. I had trouble with illustrator too. Inkscape is even more confusing.

I just started getting into SB pro. The steady stroke feature is the closest thing to the feel of a real brush. But it's all %100 brush engine, there isn't even a lasso or magic wand tool. So it's a pretty shallow program after all is said and done.

I'll post some stuff soon.

[devinn]

Very nice work so far! Your comments within your sketches are hilarious hahaha

[gangstershit]

Mannyhaatz- Thanks. You gotta have fun when you are drawing for the sake of getting comfortable. I find writing funny crap on an image to be helpful for blowing off steam.

Without further adue This is the image where I fell in love with Sketchbook pro. It's a CHOW entry from last week. The subject was "secret agents sidekick"


I started writing a comic last night and it spawned my creativity. I started making logos for factions that exist within the world I'm building. Once again SB pro made it insanely fast and easy. Unfortunately its not a professional typography program.

[Amit Dutta]

Because I run linux, everything pretty much updates itself and keeps track of itself unless I want to try out development versions...I don't miss all the stupid admin crap I had to do with windows that's for sure.

I found the inkscape help online pretty useful. It takes a bit of learning the tools as anything else, but once you get it, it's powerful as hell. I use it mostly for graphic design or anything typographic or pattern based. I have SB Pro on my tablet and use it as a sketchbook...the tablet version is decent. Good enough to get ideas down anyway.

[gangstershit]

I haven't tried the mobile version of sb, but as I understand the app version of sb pro is a completely dumbed down version. It has a polygonal based brush engine. So it doesn't actually do curves.

I doubt the mobile version can do anything like this. I was just playing with the synthtic brush tool and the smudge tool and sort of Rick Berried my way into this. But I could only take it so far.

Gimp picked up the slack. Unfortunately, the ATOM processor on my tablet hates Gimp much more than me. The brushes lagged more and more until it crashed. But I think I'm more comfortable with gimp now.

[Amit Dutta]

Yeah the app version is definitely a stripped down version and it was even worse before the latest update, because it had almost none of the features that the ipad versions had and we had to pay more!. So people were getting really shitty with Autodesk. Not sure what you mean about it not being able to do curves, but it seems to be fine for me. I use it to sketch with, more than paint, but I have painted with it with some sucess. No smudge tool though!

[gangstershit]

Just testing out a dry brush I made for sb pro.