Digital Artist Workshop - Tips, tricks and advise for Kiwi's by Kiwi's

[harbleglarb]

can anyone in the know suggest programs for 3d sculpting/modelling? it's something i'm interested in but i'm not sure where to start program-wise.

along with the other programs suggested, there's also Sculptris. i don't do 3d sculpting so can't comment on its quality, but it's free, so might be worth trying anyway. i think it's overall a simpler program than zbrush.

 

[WXY]

thanks for everyone's input! i actually ended up buying zbrush core, and i'm having a ton of fun with it. i'm excited to learn, and especially excited to play with zspheres!

 

[bother or annoyance]

hey there sorry if this is such a bother i am just wondering what animation program i should use? i remember i had cc animation program that was a 2019 version for free (aka cracked version) however it got too complicated for me to learn even after watching tutorial videos. i am willing to try and start learning again but at this point i am completely unsure what animation program i should use. i was also just thinking i can start off by animatics from sai and placing them into sony vegas as i figure out the whole animation thing then animate them later? i remember this other animating program that was similar to cc animation but overtime i completely forgot it and i pretty much dislike myself for it lol.

i think the reason why cc animate got so confusing for me is knowing how coloring layers and such works and all the weird boxes became a big cluster thing. i was also thinking that i could try animating from sai and placing it in a editing program although that sounds like a lot more work than needed. any inputs? should i try to relearn cc animation or try another animating program? or what is a better program for me to use? i feel so hopeless and lost now ):

 

[NoSpiceLife]

You need to add Darktable.

Originally something Linux based, until a hell of a lot of pro photographers got on board, and now it's the better option to Photoshop for everyone.

Spiel off the home page: darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them.

There is the tendency for the 'die in the raw' users to get very 'you can't edit jpegs with darktable' but meh, fuck em...

 

[douzheng]

FireAlpaca is the free Digital Painting Software that is available in 10 languages and compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows.

Huion and XP-PEN are both making reasonably priced tablets that are at least as good as current Wacom stuff. They each have a big product range, so I'm pretty sure artists will be able to find something they like.
I use a XP-PEN Artist 12 Pro art tablet with screen for digital drawing, it's a very good and cheap display tablet , I use FireAlpaca because IT'S FREE!!! and it has all the tools that an artist need.

 

[big potato]

Seconding FireAlpaca as a good free program, as well as Medibang, which I think is made by the same company. They're basically the same program but FireAlpaca has a simple animation studio, and Medibang has more features aimed towards illustration/manga. Both free and both very competent programs. Medibang also has a real neat custom brush system, so you can make new custom brushes stupidly easy just whenever you need them.

I've been using Clip Studio Paint for about a year now and I would also recommend that for digital artists looking to take the next step up, it's pretty reasonably priced. About a million brushes available, and just a very natural feel when you draw. Probably the best watercolor brushes I've ever used digitally. It also has a linux version, I do believe? So if you're into that, that's a boon.

Oh and they recently added a timelapse function that lets you record you drawing and then export it as an mp4, which is slick as hell.