Transitioning to digital?

MOO

I have Clipstudio Pro and a little huion tablet that I have barely used.
I am interested in photoshop. I have GIMP and am somewhat familiar with it but I know that most people use photoshop.

Do I need both Photoshop and Clipstudio Pro? How is illlustrator different from regular photoshop? I can look that up, I guess.

I have had one photoshop class for design but no illustrator. I had the Craetive Cloud for a year at the student rate. I'm going to call and see if I can talk them into a senior discount for a non professional

This is what I want to start with:

Work traditionally and scan my work into the computer and then make adjustments and move things around, add text, etc.

I might then print it out and do all the coloring traditionally again.

I am not techy (in fact my husband says I have a technology dampening field :-). He says I should have been Amish....oh well.) So, any tips on how I can ease my way in and what should I use? It takes me forever to draw and redraw and resize on my own. I'd like to try and be more efficient. Thanks!

JerrySketchyArt

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen I'm quite experienced with Photoshop (since the 90's) and prefer CSP now (I have the Pro level too). I think you'll be fine using just that without paying into Adobe's subscription model. Everything you mentioned can be done easily in Clip Studio. I reformatted my work PC a little while ago and didn't bother to reinstall PS. Haven't missed it yet.

MOO

@JerrySketchyArt Oh good! Glad to hear that! Now I just need to learn how to use clipstudio

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen Hello!I use clip studio paint and love it! I also like to paint on canvas then take a photo and upload it into Clip studio to add shading, textures etc...
If you ever get stuck you can turn to YouTube as they have so many tutorials on there to help figure out the software. My budget doesn't cover photoshop sadly, I do miss using it but clip studio definitely wins it's cheaper and still reliable! Good luck on your clip studio learning journey!

NessIllustration

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen You don't have to use Illustrator, or even Photoshop even if it's what most people use. The important thing is that you use a program that allows you to do what you need and that you're comfortable with. Photoshop is great for painting, but if you only want to move things around, add text and then print it out again, it seems like Gimp would do the job just fine and there's no need for you to use Photoshop. As for Flash, it uses vector to draw shapes so it's useful for logo design or very clean and polished flat illustration. I don't think you would need that at all

MOO

@lou Thank you! So glad to hear this. I think I will be pulling out the tablet this week and see how it goes. Thank you!

Susan Marks

@JerrySketchyArt Jerry-do you use CSP to color your work? I've been listening to a couple of reviews and they both have said they use CSP for linework, but still do their coloring in PS.

I've never used PS. Shocking! I'm new. I think PS has lots more than I need, and I'm not a fan of software subscriptions. I'll probably have to get over that.

julian beresford

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen I use CSP as my main program for illustrating, then I use an old copy of Photoshop for finishes, text and any technical stuff CSP doesn't do. I also have an old copy of Illustrator but I barley even use it as I don;t do vector illustrations.

MOO

@julian-beresford awesome. Sounds like I will be fine then. I'm going to pull out the tablet tomorrow and play around. Wish me luck!

Coreyartus

There are other alternatives besides CSP out there... Gimp is free, but there are also programs like Krita, Paintstorm Studio, Medibang Pro, and Sketchbook that all do various Photoshop functions or painting. I am not sure they're all free, but they might be worth exploring if you're looking at cheaper options than Photoshop's subscription.

JerrySketchyArt

@Susan-Marks I've started using CSP from start to finish for paintings. The brush engine is really solid in my opinion.

MOO

@NessIllustration Thank you!

MOO

Okay. I pulled out my little tablet and pen (Huion 680S) and set it up with the nib and put a battery in. I pulled up my Clip Studio Paint Pro and found some lessons to follow. The only problem is that my pen won't make a mark on th ecanvas! I googled for a fix and found a few ways but they didn't work for me.

preferences: make sure it's on PC tablet

Unplug the tablet and replug it in.

One more I can't remember right now.

The cursr shows, I can select things, but it won't make a mark.

Does anyone here have any idea of how to fix this problem?

Thanks!

julian beresford

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen could you take a screenshot

MOO

@julian-beresford Oh, I don't have it out anymore. I'll have to try later and take a shot. I know this happened before but I can't remember what I did to fix it. It's something with the connection maybe? I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks.

JerrySketchyArt

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen I did have to replace the pen for my old Huion once because it died, but luckily it was really cheap to get a replacement.

The Huion software called "PenTablet" has a box that says "Support Tablet PC". Try checking that one on and off to see if one of the settings works. You can also test the pen inside of that software. If it's not working there, and nothing else seems to fix it, the problem might be the pen.

MOO

Okay, thanks! I'll try it.

MOO

I downloaded a free krita paint program and my hion works with it so I'm just going to use it for awhile and learn how to go digital. Not sure why clipstudio paint doesn't work with my huion but, I now know that the pen works! I just wish I could find some actual lessons with assignments to help me learn it better...or a book. I've played around with the different tools, etc. Watched a couple of videos, etc. I'll just have to be patient and read thehandbook, I guess

JerrySketchyArt

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen Glad you figured it out, at least! I've heard good things about Krita despite never using it myself. Check out Ctrl+Paint for some tutorials on the basics of digital painting. Most programs use similar features that easily carry from one program to the next.

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen Hi Marsha, I've been working for years in the same manner:

Draw/paint a piece, scan it into Photoshop, Edit the scan, then digitally colour it.

Last November I invested in an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil. It was simply the best thing I've bought because it's cut down so much time spent at my computer editing and colouring everything.

I'm drawing directly into Procreate app, colouring and editing in there too. It's been so great because now I can push ideas out at a much quicker pace. I can work in my kitchen on my iPad because it's portable.

Just my two cents coming from a very laborious art process!