Sorry, but I like what I like

Love how, as I'm learning to create more in Canva, sell on Ko-fi and in Gumroad, Clip Studio Paint ads have been quietly presenting themselves in whatever YouTube channel I'm currently watching. No thanks. My FireAlpaca is serving me just fine! It requires NO SUBSCRIPTIONS and has CONSISTENT UPDATES. And it's easy for me to learn and use! 

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.

Software Try-outs & Downloads (ALL FREE)

The following list are just some of the graphic art softwares I tested over the course of 2 years. 

These are NOT reviews, simply my listing what was tried and what was eventually chosen to best suit MY personal needs. I pretty much liked most of these!

Here's what I did use in the past: QuarkXpress, Microsoft Publisher, Macromedia suite (before bought out by Adobe), later, Adobe Photoshop and a little Illustrator.

The official link to FireAlpaca 

https://firealpaca.com/download/

The official link to GIMP

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

The official link to Inkscape

https://inkscape.org/release/inkscape-1.2.2/

The official link to Krita

https://krita.org/en/download/krita-desktop/

 

The official link to MediBang 

https://medibangpaint.com/en/app-download/

The official link to JUMP Paint, made by the creators of MediBang software and app and based on Shonen Jump Magazine license

https://medibangpaint.com/en/jumppaint/

The official link to Paint.NET 

https://www.getpaint.net/download.html 

Gravit Designer is associates with Google but since I couldn't get a proper link (forums, chat rooms, and mirror sites) from an official site, I'm just going to leave this here.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gravit-designer/pdagghjnpkeagmlbilmjmclfhjeaapaa#:~:text=Gravit%20Designer%20is%20a%20full,a%20couple%20of%20new%20features

As I said earlier in my post, this wasn't a review post, just what I experimented with and I only picked what was 'easier and more intuitive FOR ME' to use. All these interfaces and user experiences were fun and enlightening to use, so feel free to try them out on your own!

This Artist-Writer Rants About Photo References

Now that I'm making my way around Paint and FireAlpaca, went through my folder for more completed comic episodes to scan, I'm back to looking for more background settings and can I tell ya: Pinterest p1sses me off! 

It's a wonderful platform to use when creating vision boards and aesthetic collages, but when it comes to backgrounds, I need an idea where in the world a place is. 

For instance, Peter is from Old Money Black Wealth. These families also fled the South during the period between 1919-1960s, early 70s in what we now know as the Great Black Migration.

Since I'm recreating a world based in the real world, I need wealthy housing in the Northeast, and not in the Southeast, though, according to my story, the different branches live in different states. However, SUMMER TO WINTER takes place in the Northeastern states, so I need luxury houses in NY, PA, NJ, and perhaps MA. And then I can take a little from this photo and a little from that photo of mansions to piece together homes for Peter Dunlop's family members. 

This is why I'm preferring using real estate listings as references. I see where the houses are located! I also get to know the architectural styles so my OCs can speak about their residences as though they are real people actually living there! 

I'm getting there...

Been working on how to get my Bosto pen to work in FireAlpaca. The pen works fine in both Paint and Paint 3D but the strokes are off when I tried coloring in FireAlpaca, which is what I need it for. When I checked my laptop settings, I learned my Bosto Pen Display updated its own drivers and didn't need my help on that end. 

After much digging, YouTube viewing, and whatnot, finally found a TechShift article that explained you need to download the latest Wacom drivers. Those drivers, while from another company, helped calibrate with Bosto's pen since the display tablet updated itself. Sheesh! I'm really out of the loop!