[digihamid]

painter or photoshop which do you prefer?
photoshop is so easier but its so hard to do pro works with it and I think painter is so hard but if you learn how to work with it you can do anything!

[MC1986]

Originally Posted by digihamid

painter or photoshop which do you prefer?
photoshop is so easier but its so hard to do pro works with it and I think painter is so hard but if you learn how to work with it you can do anything!

It really comes down to a matter of personal taste. Photoshop is pretty versatile and stable (it's much less likely to crash than Painter), and it has a lot more features that make it a bit more forgiving (ie layers, masks, filters, colour correction, transparency, history palette, blending modes, photo manipulation tools), and expand the possibilities of how you can make modifications to your image without just painting over it again. Painter has some, but not all of these features, and aren't quite as easy to use. It's designed primarily to mimic traditional media, and its interface is designed for the program to be an easier transition to digital media for the traditional artist. The brushes closely mimic the handling properties of traditional wet and dry media, and contain far more variables to achieve this effect than Photoshop's brush system. However, Photoshop's brush settings can be customized to create a nearly infinite library of effects, and although they won't handle quite the same way as Painter's brushes, the appearance will be hard to distinguish with the right skills.

[RANDOM]

Try both and then go with what you like and what you need. There are artists using Painter and Photoshop depending on the part of the image and what they want to achieve. Keep in mind the tools aren't that important, it's what you do with it.

[Manon]

I don't have much choice as my computer just WON'T handle the brushes on Painter, its just too slow. I do find Photoshop much easier, however its probably because its the one i've used the most. I would like to try out the new Photoshop brushes though, but upgraded JUST before they changed everything!
I have friends who only use Painter however and swear by it.

[Murr]

I've been going back and forth on this for a while, but have ultimately switched over to Painter. For me, it's the difference between creating a "digital image" versus a "digital painting" (if that makes any sense). Getting natural looking brush strokes in Photoshop can be a nightmare and I found myself doing more custom brush collecting than actual painting. That said, I always bring a finished painting into Photoshop at the end for touch-ups and color correction because the program is just unbeatable in these areas.

[Peter_Coene]

Originally Posted by digihamid

painter or photoshop which do you prefer?

um...both? Well, I guess I see photoshop as being the core must-have program, while I could get by without painter.... so photoshop.

photoshop is so easier but its so hard to do pro works with it

say waht? Most professional works that I've seen were psd.

and I think painter is so hard but if you learn how to work with it you can do anything!

What have you been smoking? Painter is just as easy as (if not a little easier than) photoshop. The difference is that painter ends up looking more like traditional media (which I see as a gimmick) while photoshop has more tools and has a wider variety of uses, but is limited in its ability to look like traditional media. Due to the crazy amounts of things photoshop can do it can be a bit daunting, which I think makes it the harder program, especially for the beginner.

[Lythix1]

Is it too much to use both?

I am new to digi art.. but painter allows me to use my wacom as if its a pencil. It does have a learning curve though but now that I have CS5 I find myself liking Painter's brushes better. I agree they can be laggy but if you can use it I say painters more for someone who isn't familiar with how to use all the awesome things Photoshop can do. With painter 11 you can also customize brushes, but I think Photoshop is more known for its brush customization for some reason. I think most people will tell you to go with what you personally prefer. Painter 12 is out and does offer a free trial, and so does Photoshop. Try them both out trust your feelings young padawan

[moebocop]

I don't have anything to add that's different than what is above. I can say that I have used P.shop for the longest time, but only recently started using it to try and paint with.

Painter I also grabbed recently, and I find that for me it's a bit more natural to use.
You basically just open it and go. I like a lot of the brushes that come with it, but the one thing that I have yet to achieve is the way that finished art jumps off the screen in Photoshop vs. Painter. I think because Painter is meant to work mimic traditional media, you're not going to get the really fluid and translucent look like you get in Photoshop and Photoshop's brushes.

However Painter is really great for drawing with because it is specially made to be uber sensitive to the pressure of a wacom tablet to give it a natural feel.
I go back and forth, but it seems like the only answer is trail and error to see which one you like..and if you can't pick..well... get to know them both, and use whichever feels best. It takes a while...I guess that experimentation is the key.

[andrecastelo]

Well, Painter is certainly more able to mimic traditional media than Photoshop, but that isn't to say Photoshop CAN'T create professional works.

I've seen GREAT stuff done both in Photoshop and in Painter, and crappy stuff done in both too. In the end it's just a matter of preference and style - you won't paint like Bouguereau just by switching software.

And, honestly, I find the "Oh, Painter can mimic traditional media" reason a rather weak one -> I personally LOVE the style of Android Jones (and he uses Painter, so it's not me against the software), Jaime Jones and Richard Anderson and how their styles push the boundaries of what we think can be done in a digital painting.

Anyway, pick the one you are most familiar with and discover what it can do for you.

[NDHill]

If I could, I'd just like to expand the question a bit. I use Corel Painter for all of my work. However, I also recently began seeking in-studio work as a concept artist and I see that studios will quite often require expert familiarity in photoshop. I can paint in photoshop but I don't have anywhere near the familiarity I have with brush customization and mechanics that I do with Painter. I do my best work with painter. At least as far as brush behavior is concerned, I feel totally unencumbered. I've come to rely heavily on Painter's ability to mimic natural appearance and behavioral mechanics in it's brushes.

I can get by in Photoshop on the level that general painting disciplines can be applied anywhere, however I don't feel that I have anywhere near the level of depth when customizing bushes that I've gotten used to in Painter. I tend to limit my use of photoshop to a couple of phases, compositional sketching and block-ins and final color and value correction. I know people obviously create incredible work with it. I have no illusions that the majority of the great professional digital painters that I admire use photoshop primarily. My question is this; how much pressure is there to use Photoshop exclusively in the professional setting? Would game development studios allow their artists to install their own personal copies of their software on their machines? Is my reliance on the few niche features that Painter utilizes something that I need to grow out of if I expect to work in-house?

[carol189]

I think You can get pretty much the same result with both, I love both and I use both together sometimes! the complementing each-other! If you have used Painter you get the traditional felling, with Photoshop, there's no such behavior on the brushes! Although I find Photoshop more comfortable alot of times! Since I am alot better on creating custom brushes there.. I think its a personal thing, if you want to use Painter or Photoshop, I prefer both! Painter is more complex though.

[mizimakov]

To be frank, I've tried Painter a couple of times and probably will give it a shout or two again but It's really hard to get used to. I like how it's concentrated more on imitating traditional media and I love some of the stuff I can do with it (some of the textures and brushstrokes are pretty amazing and add a special feel to it) but overall I really dislike the interface and some commands, also it's a heavy program so on my poor hardware it crashes pretty often.
In contrast, Photoshop is simpler and easier to get used to and the interface is well organised so the chances are your work will be a little less messier Yet, though it's more stable then Painter it's not quite lite and the brushwork can be really lousy.
My personal preference is Paint Tool Sai. It's lite, easy to get used to, really well organizes, doesn't have useless tools and the pressure sensitivity range is just

At the end of the day it all comes down to personal preferences so..

[Tida]

As everyone said, both programs are very nice and must have as for a digital painter. From my opinion, I absolutely love Painter more, especially Painter 12 with (updated) it's much faster than previous versions and becoming more stable. However I would rather force myself to get used to Photoshop, because it's a standard program that covers every industry. Moreover, Photoshop is very stable, fast and functional for any purposes. Photoshop just released CS 6 and it becomes spectacular than before. They have new brushes that you can try which are really similar to Painter ( however they aren't as good ) : ) You should try both and if it's possible, you could have both of them.

[jonhopkins]

Originally Posted by NDHill

If I could, I'd just like to expand the question a bit. I use Corel Painter for all of my work. However, I also recently began seeking in-studio work as a concept artist and I see that studios will quite often require expert familiarity in photoshop. I can paint in photoshop but I don't have anywhere near the familiarity I have with brush customization and mechanics that I do with Painter. I do my best work with painter. At least as far as brush behavior is concerned, I feel totally unencumbered. I've come to rely heavily on Painter's ability to mimic natural appearance and behavioral mechanics in it's brushes.

I can get by in Photoshop on the level that general painting disciplines can be applied anywhere, however I don't feel that I have anywhere near the level of depth when customizing bushes that I've gotten used to in Painter. I tend to limit my use of photoshop to a couple of phases, compositional sketching and block-ins and final color and value correction. I know people obviously create incredible work with it. I have no illusions that the majority of the great professional digital painters that I admire use photoshop primarily. My question is this; how much pressure is there to use Photoshop exclusively in the professional setting? Would game development studios allow their artists to install their own personal copies of their software on their machines? Is my reliance on the few niche features that Painter utilizes something that I need to grow out of if I expect to work in-house?

I don't know this for a fact (as I don't run a company) but I believe they would probably be opposed to someone installing their own personal software to work with, instead of using the software they have provided. I think Photoshop pretty much the standard for the industry. There may be a company that also has painter but it will probably be a rare commodity.

[kevin-]

personal taste, or both. i use painter simply because i learned to paint traditionally first and then moved to digital and painter feels more realistic than photoshop, but then i also use photoshop to edit my work from painter. you got to try them both out!