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.
