Review by J

I use this on an older tablet PC with pretty dated hardware specs, yet Sketchbook installed and runs smooth as silk. This was my first opportunity to use this program and I must say I am impressed. In the past, I’ve used vector-based programs like Illustrator, but if you are a traditional freehand artist who just wants the flexibility of paper tools without compromises like the frustrating pen tool, this is the ticket. The first thing I noticed when I fired up this app was the weird UI. It consisted of the traditional menu bar and a weird looking semi-circle type menu in the bottom left of screen. I later discovered the semi-circle is known as the Lagoon. After a bit of playing around with the Lagoon, I instantly fell in love with it. You can call up any palette from the Lagoon, adjust colors, pens, sizes, undo errors, and pretty much perform anything available in the program from the Lagoon. It can also be customized any way you wish. There are a wide array of brushes and tools available for use. You can even customize existing brushes, import brushes, or create a whole new brush. Within an hour and without any tutorials or difficulty, I was drawing and exporting cartoons into Photoshop where I balanced and evened everything out for that polished look. I then exported to base photos to use with Comic Life. I love the flexibility the tablet gives me. I also love the fact that this program exports to Photoshop, so you can clean any rough edges and jazz it up even more. I place cartoon characters against real life backgrounds and add layers of my kids to give the effect that they’re in that Roger Rabbit type world. They love it. Whether you’re a pro or just a casual artist like me, this program fits the bill for easy efficient digital art.