Knowing What Painting Software Essentials to Look For!

Painting software essentials are a group of tools that help you paint in the best way possible. Having said that, you will discover that most popular digital art programs have setting or tools that are similar to one another in terms of capabilities.

The most popular software are:

• Adobe Photoshop
• GIMP
• Corel Painter
• Paint Shop Pro

Each of these four has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Photoshop has better color manipulation than GIMP. However, GIMP is free!

I’m not here to determine which digital art tool is better than another. What I am here to do is list the helpful stuff that you should look for if you decide to look for an obscure digital art software. That way, whichever program you decide to pick, you can still do excellent 2d digital art!

Here’s what you need to look for once you start a new digital painting:

1. Finding the brush tool

In any painting software essentials, you will definitely need to look something to draw with. Sometimes it's called the paint brush in one program or a airbrush in another. Take some time and experiment with it after you find it!

Most of the time, the paint brush will give you plenty of options to play with. You can change the size of the brush, the type of brush used, and you can even change how the brush behaves.

For me and for you, the most common options you will definitely need to use are the pressure sensitivity options. Usually, it’s given out in a percent so you can give a constant level of pressure when you need it. If not, there is an icon that turns on the build in pressure sensitivity of the digital stylus pen.

Even the eraser tools are brushes in its own way because it subtracts color from your digital canvas and carries almost identical brush options.

Other important brushes are the dodge and burn tools. These brushes are counted on regularly to make individual objects stand out through the manipulation of light and shading.

2. Know your layers!

Layers are painting software essentials that separates a good art program from a bad art program! It is key to organizing your objects and colors.

What are layers? Well, just think of them as transparent cells that you put on top of each other. That means, if you work on one layer, you won’t affect the other layer physically unless you link them.

For example, if you draw random scribbles on one layer, the layer underneath it will not have these scribbles. But depending on the options and transparency, it will interact with layer underneath it.

There is always a window that has all the layers that are currently active in the picture and which layer that you are working on. As with all the digital art tools available, the layers have plenty of options on its own just like the paint brush.

Use as much as possible to organize your painting but don’t go overboard with the layers, though. It will increase your file size and slow down your computer. It may not be important now, but when you do full size drawings on larger canvases, it will make a difference!

3. Finding the rest in painting software essentials

After that, one of the few last things you should be aware of are the filters and color management abilities such as an eyedropper tool of some sort. It will help you sample colors more easily.

Most good painting programs have filters as well. Generally speaking, filters only add that extra touch to your painting but shouldn’t be the main focus. Excessive use of the filters will dilute your painting and make it look artificial.

Trust me, people who have experience with 2d digital art will know which filters you used!

Color management is the same thing. With these painting software essentials, play around with the color settings to find out what you can and can't do for the program that you are using specifically.

For example, some programs will not have CYMK options which is important for printing. Though it won't be a huge issue, it's something to consider as your colors can be slightly off during printing time if your software is not capable of it.

One more important point is extra tools that are unique to that program. Some may have a special effect brush that others may not. That's OK because you can always create a custom brush in any program to emulate it!

4. What to draw with

The last painting software essentials are the programs' ability to synchronize with the hardware. Some are easier than others while some require some manual setup to get it to work correctly.

The most common physical digital art tool is the WACOM tablet. From my experience, you don’t need their top of the line tablet immediately.

When I started 2d digital painting in 1999, I had the original Graphire tablet. Although I’ve bought about 3 Graphire tablets over the course of 6 years for separate computers, besides the scratched plastic, none of the tablets have failed on me yet.

Just recently, I have purchased a WACOM Intuos tablet. It is better than the Graphire simply because of the 1024 points of pressure sensitivity. All other features are a bonus. As a digital painter, it does make a difference!

Take my advice: if you’re planning on getting a tablet, whether it’s from WACOM or another company, be simple and get one that has high levels of pressure sensitivity without being extravagant.

I personally went for WACOM because the tablets have a higher compatibility percentage than other tablets since it is widely used everywhere. Regardless, once you have your program and stylus of choice, you can start learning to paint as soon as possible. Always keep motivated and having fun with the digital art tools available!

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