My digital art journey, man!

See what happens when you follow parental/caregiver advice? My mom says when you've lost something, just forget about it, & you'll find it later! Was busy writing down instructions from a blogger about a special effect in FireAlpaca, & that's when I found this index card I wrote IMPORTANT INFO ON.

My first job at 17 was as a college notetaker for disabled schoolmates! It was great and really helped me when I transferred to university AND years later, for grad school!

Anyhoo, I love FireAlpaca and Paint.NET! Like the blogger who posted instructions for FireAlpaca, I was a casual digital artist back in the day. Doing silly doodles, embellishing my traditional artwork. But doing a webcomic has really helped me become more competent with artist software!

I used PhotoShop for years until I couldn't. Before Adobe even moved into their subscription-based model, PhotoShop became harder for me to use. How do I know? Because I was a notetaker in those classes for Digital Art and Design.

I couldn't keep up with the instructor's/professor's lectures. It's well I can write fast, but I don't know shorthand, so I had to come up with my own shortcuts. Thank goodness my students could understand my notes!

I also still had my Adobe suite on my home PC. I practiced on my own time. Used my own artwork. Bought software books. It didn't help.

And don't get me started on InDesign! UGH!! Thankfully, I threw in the towel to just focus on traditional art, building my skills with different media and such.

Fast-forward to me wanting to finally work on a webcomic. I researched and dabbled for 2 years. The landscape of digital art software had advanced! I felt so lost. Like a prehistoric creature finding itself among more current and evolved animals!

But, unlike the Horseshoe Crab which is perfect and so hadn't the need to evolve in millions of years, I had to find the right intuitive software for a newbie/beginner.

And that's what Paint.NET and FireAlpaca are to me! Simpler to learn, intuitive, and fun discovering new techniques! Also, unlike when, back in the day, I had to peruse through textbooks, I can find most of art software/app info on older blogs and YouTube videos.

Why I Use the classic MS Paint

I use the earlier version of MS Paint for my webcomic, called 'Classic', because Microsoft screwed up the later and newer versions. The new MS Paint has layers like Paint.NET and FireAlpaca. 

If I erase the original document, it shows that checkered thing in a lot of art software. Also removes data. But earlier MS Paint just erases without removing key data.