Fantastic Alternative to Painter: MyPaint AND IT'S FREE

Hey all,

I've been wandering around the net, and came across a FREE painting program that does NATURAL STYLE MEDIA - and could be a great alternative to COREL PAINTER

My Paint: AND IT'S FREE.

http://mypaint.intilinux.com/?page_id=6

I've kicked the tires on it for about 5 mins and I'm thoroughly impressed. IF you don't want to dish out bucks for Painter or another paint program, go snag this puppy.

You can do watercolors, pencils, inks charcoal, pastels - there are a variety of brush sets and I don't know what else. Gotta dig some more.

It looks like it will be comparable, if not as good as painter - I already like the Watercolor in this much better than Painter. (Don't get me wrong, I love Painter - but this could be a really good FREE alternative).

Martin

@Christopher,

Photoshop is an industry standard. As is Corel Painter. (MyPaint is like Painter - but free.) Probably 95% of all comics are colored with Photoshop.

To be honest: they really don't compare at all. They are two separate programs for different functions.

Photoshop is really best suited for adjusting images/photos,
Painter or MyPaint are useful for creating painterly or natural media style images. However, adjusting photos/images in Painter or MyPaint is a royal pain in the butt. It can be done, but it's kind of rudimentary.
Making natural media in Photoshop is a tedious process of trial and error (at least until CS5). You can create your own brushes, or fiddle around with filters etc. to get the effects you want, but why play around ad nauseum when you can have the 'natural media' already at your finger tips?

That said, Photoshop CS5 may have alleviated some of that natural media stuff since they've added some new painterly/natural media brushes. Photoshop is also fantastic for dropping solid colors and doing what is considered standard comic coloring today.

However, if you want to change it up, and get a more "natural" feel to the images in your comic using MyPaint might be up your alley. MyPaint looks comparable to Painter - and if it is, and it's free, it is worth checking out. Only thing I can't figure out is how to size my image in MyPaint. Other than that I really like it so far.

MyPaint does have layers like Photoshop.

@Brian - I saw those tutorial DVD's and I'm definitely looking at getting the 'Blend & Paint' since 3D for illustration is something I'm looking into. I think that's how I came across MyPaint.

Replies

Martin Murtonen April 6, 2011 at 5:20am
@Christopher,

Photoshop is an industry standard. As is Corel Painter. (MyPaint is like Painter - but free.) Probably 95% of all comics are colored with Photoshop.

To be honest: they really don't compare at all. They are two separate programs for different functions.
- Photoshop is really best suited for adjusting images/photos,
- Painter or MyPaint are useful for creating painterly or natural media style images. However, adjusting photos/images in Painter or MyPaint is a royal pain in the butt. It can be done, but it's kind of rudimentary.
- Making natural media in Photoshop is a tedious process of trial and error (at least until CS5). You can create your own brushes, or fiddle around with filters etc. to get the effects you want, but why play around ad nauseum when you can have the 'natural media' already at your finger tips?
That said, Photoshop CS5 may have alleviated some of that natural media stuff since they've added some new painterly/natural media brushes. Photoshop is also fantastic for dropping solid colors and doing what is considered standard comic coloring today.

However, if you want to change it up, and get a more "natural" feel to the images in your comic using MyPaint might be up your alley. MyPaint looks comparable to Painter - and if it is, and it's free, it is worth checking out. Only thing I can't figure out is how to size my image in MyPaint. Other than that I really like it so far.

MyPaint does have layers like Photoshop.

@Brian - I saw those tutorial DVD's and I'm definitely looking at getting the 'Blend & Paint' since 3D for illustration is something I'm looking into. I think that's how I came across MyPaint.
Christopher Haupt April 6, 2011 at 4:58am

How do you feel about this compared to photoshop? Also, What program do the pros use when it comes to coloring comics? Like Image Marvel DC. I would think photoshop but I could be wrong... Also this mypaint looks really cool.
southpawdoesart April 5, 2011 at 9:34pm

I looked this up... seems this training dvd and this other training dvd make mention of mypaint. Thanks for sharing.

This reply was deleted.