Review by Daddy Shawn

I have felt that Adobe Photoshop is getting stale for a while. I’ve been wanting to try out some other products for my webcomics, but wasn’t sure what to use. The thing about Photoshop is that it’s so geared for photos that it’s really not great for creating art.

I got Corel Painter 2015 and jumped right in. Probably not the best thing to do. I just didn’t realize what I was getting myself into. Corel Painter 2015 has a ton of features & the complications to prove it. It feels like the first time I used Photoshop…actually it’s 100 times worse. The learning curve is steep, so if you aren’t ready to put in that many hours then this might not be the program for you. But you’ll only get out what you put in. Worth the investment.

Pros:nnSO many options for your brushesnGreat color wheelnVery responsivenMany output options.nRuns fine on Windows 7 and Windows 8.nThe result is so close to the real thing that you’ll swear it was made with paint, ink, pencils.

Cons:nnYou won’t be posting your first art projects online, Corel Painter 2015 takes some time to learn.nNeeds a lot of monitor space so you can have all the options/toolbars at your disposal.

While Corel Painter 2015 is not the easiest program to learn, I can already tell it’s worth the effort. My cartoons are really getting better and better. I absolutely love the line-work I can do with the brushes and it’s MUCH simpler than Photoshop. And while I love Manga Studio as well, it’s easy to see that Corel Painter 2015 goes way beyond. I’ll probably be using a combination of Manga Studio and Corel Painter 2015 for my next comic.