Review by Tracy Rowan

I’m surprised at how much I like this program.

Having tried quite literally dozens of paint and photo programs since the early 80s, including, of course, Photoshop in half a dozen different iterations, the one drawback I’ve found with most of them is that they either deliver functionality or they’re easy to use. Corel Painter 2016 is a remarkably functional program with an easy learning curve. Or at least I’ve found it so. Within a few minutes of booting it up for the first time, I produced the quick cat sketch below. It took me no more than about ten minutes to figure out how to use various brushes to good effect.

Using the Dynamic Speckles and various particle brushes was a little more difficult, but I got a handle on them pretty quickly and produced the landscape below in about half an hour. Yes, I know both images are rough; they aren’t intended to be finished products, just examples of what you can do if you’re willing to play a bit and explore the various controls. Only occasionally did I end up yelling at the program for some non-intuitive method of working that temporarily stumped me. (Yes, I do yell at programs. It helps.) Of course it helps that so much of the functionality adheres to Photoshop standards. Much of Painter should feel familiar to you.

Look, everyone who uses this is going to have a different response to this program based on their experience with other image programs. Since this is a chunk of change, I would say go to the Corel website and download the trial version before you lay out any money. Try Painter Essentials (another program I like) as well as Painter. Play with them and see how they feel. It doesn’t matter how much functionality a program has if it feels clunky and awkward to you. If you do like the feel of it, as I do, then I really recommend that you take the financial hit and buy Painter. Essentials is good, but not nearly as good as the full version.

And have some fun! That’s what this is about. You’re getting this program to help you express yourself. If it’s not fun, why bother doing it? And if you do use it, why not post a review with some of your work?