Which 2D Painting Software Package Do You Use?
polycounter lvl 11
I use Photoshop and have used GIMP as well as Paint Shop Pro but I'm really interested in learning Corel Painter and I just want to know it's use in the industry if it has much of one 
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Once it updates with transform tools, canvas sizing, maybe a symmetry tool (it already has canvas rotation)...it'll be a beast for concept/ sketch work for $0.
Alchemy/Photoshop here.
If what you're after is just a program that will give you a natural media look & feel I'd suggest giving ArtRage a try, really convincing results and much cheaper than painter.
last versions have been shit though, stick to IX.5 if you are on windows (even though 12 comes with 64-bit support and multithreading, so you may give it a try.)
currently looking at clip paint lab that is like a relevant version of sai, basically
japanese only though
artrage has its brilliant moments, but it really feels like a <<< $ 100 brush pack for any other software package (which is not bad)
lack of customization for brushes might turn you off. also probably the best wet into wet paint simulation to date.
idk whats the difference honestly, but clip paint is a state of art package (native 64 bit, 50k px dimensions for documents, 2k max brush size)
but the interface is quite ugly and it's Japanese only right now.
compared to painter it's also super fast, with better blending and you literally have pressure curves EVERYWHERE, for any mappable brush parameter, so awesome
I'm still curious about differences between CPL and illuststudio, but I really love that they made a mac version of CPL too.
if anyone here has a good handle of Japanese and has some spare time, I'd be really thankful for explaining differences between two.
I never tried illuststudio myself, just seen trailers and promo stuff, so don't really know how it has more focus on painting than CPL. CPL is more complex and more sufficient for painting than sai already.
and yeah, I've been under impression they pushed IS back as well, but CPL is really more or less the same to me tbh, hoping for a proper Englsh release sometime.
(by the way, do you have any idea if it's possible to create custom brush dabs in either IS or CPL? it was a pain in sai and I never figured it out myself