Of all the apps in our group test, ArtRage Studio Pro is the easiest to get started with. The wonderfully designed interface and easy-to-use tools make it a cinch to start painting right away. And it’s rewarding, too. The way the app lays down watercolors, oils, and so on makes it feel like you’re getting somewhere with your digital art. Even if you can’t paint at all, ArtRage somehow makes you think you can. You don’t need any kind of manual--everything is put together intelligently and it just works.
ArtRage Studio Pro makes it simple to just open up a window and start painting.
SketchBook Pro is a little trickier. While its interface is undeniably genius, it can take a little while to get used to. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Painter do take some time to master--the sheer number of tools they offer can be intimidating to beginners. But with Photoshop and Illustrator, of course, you get more than a painting app. That’s a boon if you also dabble in photography or graphic design, but if all you want to do is paint, they can feel like overkill.
Studio Artist is hard to judge. It’s easy to get started creating paintings from your photos, but its wide range of presets and options can be confusing.
As an all-around imaging tool, Photoshop is the best there is. But when it comes to digital painting, its brush set isn’t as comprehensive as that of Painter 12. And Illustrator, although taking a bit of a back seat in this test, is an amazing tool for creating fluid brush strokes.
ArtRage Studio Pro and SketchBook Pro never fail to impress, thanks to their intuitive interfaces and ease of use. Studio Artist can help you create incredible artwork--it just takes a while to master. But in the end, the winner has to be Painter. The original natural media painting app has gone from strength to strength under Corel, and version 12 is just excellent, with an amazing array of brushes and tools that make it a must-have for any digital artist.
driverajr
March 30, 2012 at 12:45pm
I recently purchased the Wacom Bamboo Connect and even though I get the sticky-pen thing on the screen (Macbook Air 13 mid-2011), it's a very nice tool to use on all of these programs...they go hand-in-hand.
