Saturday, May 5, 2018

Update with Free Software to Create Comics and Graphic Novels

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

art copyright 2018 Howard Simpson

DIGITAL TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Today, we update a previous post about the software you can use for creation. New to the list is MediBang Pro and Mischief - both available for free. And now SketchBook which had free and paid versions, now only offers a full-featured free version.

Do you know of any others I should add to the list? Tell me about them.

RASTER-BASED IMAGE APPLICATIONS

Adobe Photoshop

  • The industry leader. It is used for drawing, coloring and painting. Not good to use for lettering.
  • Available for Mac OS and Windows.
  • Download at http://www.adobe.com/

ArtRage

  • This is a powerful and easy to use drawing and painting program. 
  • Available for Mac OS and Windows
  • Download ArtRage

ArtWeaver

  • An alternative to Corel Painter. Artweaver is available in two versions: The Artweaver Free version at no cost and Artweaver Plus version at 29 Euros with more features than the free version.
  • Available for Windows.
  • Download at http://www.artweaver.de/

Corel Painter or CorelDRAW

  • Very popular leading digital art software.
  • Available for Mac OS and Windows.
  • Download at http://www.corel.com/

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)

  • A powerful open source image editor application 
  • Available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows
  • Download for FREE at http://www.gimp.org/

GIMP tutorials
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/10-websites-to-help-you-master-gimp/
GIMP video tutorials
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/gimp_video_tutorials/

Paint.NET

SketchBook Pro

  • Offers sketching and drawing software capabilities.
  • Available for Mac OS and Windows.
  • Download for FREE at https://www.sketchbook.com/

MediBang Paint

  • A lightweight digital painting and comic creation program that comes loaded with brushes, fonts, pre-made backgrounds and other resources for Mac and Windows. Has comic book creation tools also.
  • Download for FREE at https://medibangpaint.com/en/

Mischief 

Krita

  • An open-source raster graphics editor, designed primarily for digital painting and animation purposes.
  • Download for FREE or buy at https://krita.org/en/
Thanks to +Juan Ochoa for suggesting Krita.

Clip Studio Paint

  • Digital drawing & painting software to create illustrations, manga & comics available on Mac OS and Windows.
  • Download at http://www.clipstudio.net/en


Thanks to +Skot Whitman for reminding me of Clip Studio Paint

MyPaint

  • Nimble, distraction-free and easy tool for digital painters to create illustrations available on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux.
  • Download for FREE at http://mypaint.org/

Thanks to +Ronnie Tucker for suggesting MyPaint.

A word about software choices. Photoshop was created to be used by photographers for retouching photos. It was the creativity of artists that started using it for drawing and painting. So don't feel bad if you can't afford an expensive application. Use free or low-cost tools available. Your creativity can make the tool sing and come to life to fit your needs and style of art. Much like the early creative visionaries did with Photoshop by taking a tool that wasn't intended to create art and bending it to their will.

After all, people have made professional-looking movies on iPhones! There's nothing to stop you from creating a professional-looking comic strip, comic book or graphic novel with whatever tool you choose right now. Start today! Just create something!

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment.
Remember... Just Create!

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copyright 2018 H. Simpson

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