Someone on Twitter asked me about ArtRage 2.5. ArtRage is a terrific natural media graphics program from Ambient Design that only costs $25. It’s not as powerful as Photoshop, doesn’t handle photo editing or stuff like that, but if you want to draw and paint on the computer, ArtRage is the program to go for. Here’s a recent sample of work I’ve done.
This is nothing fancy, just a quick portrait done to give me a feel for how ArtRage might handle manga style artwork. My only real complaint is that the marker tool is not all that great for inking. I’d rather sketch an image in ArtRage, take it to Manga Studio for inking, and then bring it back into ArtRage for coloring and painting effects. Thought if I want something seriously polished, I might handle the last part in Photoshop.
But even so, this image was all done in ArtRage, and I think it turned out pretty well. So there ya go. ArtRage. (And version 3 comes out soon, with a new inking tool. Sounds promising to me!)
I wish I could draw. There’s so much I’d like to do with Yaoi stories.
Leigh,
I wish I could draw more often. I’m trying to set aside a couple of hours a week just to play with my graphics programs. I’d love to do more yaoi/manga style illustrations, especially if I could pair them with story excerpts and post them online here on the blog or at places like Renderotica. I have a feeling I’d pick up a few readers that way!
I’ll second your comments about artrage. Even as a photoshop user (which is great for my photography) Actually it’s one of the few electronic painting programs I use, since it feels far more painterly.
One reasons is that I’m cheap and I like the Starter edition being free. It has very limited features, (only one layer, limited tools and templates available, etc.) but it is fun to doodle with, particularly when i want to mess with acrylics/oil and not get messy. I’ts definitely on my list of 2010 purchases, after I buy new tablet.
Steve,
I love ArtRage! It’s painting tools aren’t as polished or smooth as painting in Photoshop, but I think that’s to its advantage. It really does give that painterly feel. And no, the price cannot be beat! I also love that I can rotate and move the canvas to any position on the fly. Can’t rotate the canvas in most other graphics programs. In fact, Manga Studio is the only other program I’ve got that will do that. I understand Corel Painter will do it too, but I don’t have that kind of money, honey.
I’ve been setting aside a little time each week to play with ArtRage, so there will be some more doodles showing up on the site. I’m trying it out for manga and yaoi images, using Manga Studio to do the inking, but ArtRage to handle the sketching and coloring. It’s a pretty good process so far 😉
[New Post] Just Doodling – Manga portrait – via #twitoaster http://www.cynicalwoman.com/2009/12/03/j…