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Nobody is doing that.... I'd be harassing myself, lol.... (okay, that sounded reaaally weird) Who did that ? Seriously, I want to know... I could be called more of a linux zealot myself, as I do believe that they ( the other linux users showing up in these threads) should be (instead of , er, harassing a commercial company that produces ONLY closed code apps. To my knowledge) defending (as I do) more pure community open source software like the great Gimp, Scribus and Inkscape. And nope, this is not sarcasm (I'm a one-neuron kind of guy, can't afford sarcasm. Seriously, I'm probably the only one here liking those...). Simply, I believe Linux is MORE than just an escape from Windows (and Mac? why they always say just "from Windows"?)... We'd be missing its main spirit, and to me, personally, that'd be terribly sad. As I did believed once in what Linux is trying to do (still do, in certain way...But not sure if they have lost their track a bit) I accept them. Fully. I agree with parts of them, even (I believe more than the vast majority of the Windows/Mac users). But "some" linux users need to be ready for debate, not for just posts praising their line of thought. A forum is a place for debate, not only for promotion fo something in one single direction.... Not agreeing with you, arguing, is not "harassing". Calling a debate like that is an attempt of censorship... and that is... UGLY, to say the least. Goes in both ways. I like to hear what you have to say. Trying to shut down other opinions like I'm sensing from the Linux side.. not cool.. (and wont happen, btw). And I wouldn't be so sad/angry about here happening a debate. It helps keeping alive a thread that the staff could have very well chosen to close. They did not, despite that is the habit in other vendors when it is about a company statement and they don't move from their position. You would get waaay less bumps of the issue/matter if you would be able to effectively censorship us, as a bunch seems to be willing to. Oh....! @mvlad Then it was your statement who had sarcasm in it ? Man, Spanish is so much easier to detect these things..... Indeed ! We all are. Until further notice. I am finding more instances of some of the linux users telling the other side to shut up... No one (other than moderators, staff) should go in that direction... IMO. Er...not my mission, I always want a healthy debate. In this, or other matters. Er...nope... at all. That'd be an extremely difficult task to achieve, btw. In a more serious note. I'd LOVE that a Linux version painted a bit better financially. Indeed. I just don't see how. Till date, (one of the so many reasons (another is, just for fun) I don't want this thread closed) I have not seen any solid strategy (not in implementation and code -altho they don't know the code base, anyway- , or, ahem, just the installer. But commercially. Based on income reasons.) with solid numbers to REALLY be somewhat effective in changing Serif's mind. And... I even think I'd be able to at least try to think of some !. But I have not lost my hope of something like that showing up. THAT would be a credible way. If someone has amazingly good contacts to make a certain set of meetings happen, etc. And had the confidence (sometimes translates as mountains of money, not some coins, like 500k) to convince whatever the investors or group that could be behind Serif (or the company itself). And I mean... Is not impossible ! We've seen things happening in one direction or another. No alliance surprises me anymore, in tech. If you'd speak in that line, I'd have more ears.... (nah, more than 2 is not aesthetic). I'll keep making this FAQ post, answering your questions, that you seem to ask to the audience... Absolutely not. iPad versions were done, had great success (mainly as they're greatly made, even if don't have an iPad Pro, just can sense it in YT videos, the touch gestures, etc) , and still, the desktop (I can only speak for the Windows version, would like to have a Mac machine) apps, specially the current customer betas, absolutely rock, at least in my experience. Plus, again, to make someone "afraid" of anything, tends to require a royal lot more than forum posts... Do you really think it worries us ? I can only speak for me, but... really, not the case. I'm worried about a client telling me that the print company needs all remade now in a new size and format, and that's a ton of work... no room to worry about a forum post, lol... For once and all... A bunch of us trying to get a realistic (specially in the ways to get the sustained (not a one-off) income they need for the project. You need to move away from the KS campaign as the sole solution, or we'll be stuck for ever) discourse here, would LOVE a linux version. Even the mention of threat here is funny, or just ... a bit out of place, sorry. (the real censorship attempt strikes again) Oh, do you really want us to do so ? We can do that. Then it'd get the eventual bumps like other people wanting their particular feature implemented (dxf, tga, arrow heads (already in beta), better raw editing (already improvements in a beta), raster auto tracing, etc.... ). I guarantee that's a TON less of visibility (and traffic, post views, and "weight", and...) than what you are getting now. But hey, what do I know, I only worked with marketing departments for some decades. And yep, not wanting any interaction, just religious praise (btw, religious is not a bad adjective or term... fanatic or fanaticism is) is a bit "fanatic" itself. But rights-wise, we have the same rights than you to post, sorry. We're saying a lot more than that. Well, I am. And about repetition... *cough*. Untrue. Nobody stops you from saying anything. You want SILENCE, censorship on the other side... Admit it, we'd be clear on what are we really talking about.... The problem I see with the 500k number is: Besides I don't know if that would really cope with the needed investment (not just coders, is all... licenses, marketing, etc. Many expenses involved. I've worked at CLOSED source software developers (btw, many years at an open source related one, too), and...it's always really bigger numbers. That only sounds big for a bedroom coder kind of project...), is that... is not laid any plan to demonstrate it'd gain more money than same effort, resources and personal put to work in say, the Windows, Mac OS and iOS platform. Specially when their plate of work is already pretty full.... You think I'm "harassing" you. Besides I'd never do that (leaving aside that I have zero motivation for it) I indeed am very curious for any serious proposal / idea in that line. (money, income. A plan.).

Oh... language barrier or lonely neuron (my issues, I mean).

Er.... please allow me to strongly doubt that, having even talked to some members by PM. Is not in the way/style of going of this company, by any means. At least in what is reflected in so many of its actions, motto, care, etc. (they've got 30 years of history, have never been a sell out, as the products have always stood by themselves (quality, ease of use, availability of old versions in mag covers, empathy, price).

Old school linux ppl of my generation -me included- used to have several machines at home... Right now I don't, had to sell it to help certain friend. I mean, when you have two machines, is not that big of an issue, as the other one has the other OS, or, as is not the main machine, so to speak, well, wont interrupt the flow even if was doing sth in the background in a Windows....Indeed, in my last stage of having several machines and OSes, that's what I'd typically do... only dual boot the machine less used, not the main one. During earlier years, the second machine only would have linux, several distros. So, no rebooting needed. But yeah, not everyone has the cash, or the space... Although as linux used to require less machine, it was often the case of just using the less recent machine with some distro, use Windows with the modern one (mostly as Windows would go much slower back in the day in old computers. Today maybe it is that I know too many optimization tricks)

Actually, a bunch of those not seeing a linux version as a good idea are Mac users... Shouldn't obsess so much about particularly Windows... I have not seen "fierce" anything around here, tho, in any of the sides... I mean, I've seen "fierce", in my (RL) life. Let us not exaggerate.... About windows users not caring (am a hybrid OSes user, tho), yup, trust me on that: some of us do not really care. But are allowed to ask questions or take part in a conversation (in other forums the last word (quite solid) of the staff would have closed the threads, so, I don't know why some users (often license owners) can't give an opinion while the other party can/is allowed....). I insist that I would like to see a Linux version (not like in as "hoping for it", or "needing it". But as not seeing it as a bad thing) . I just don't see it likely to happen. That someone points out the difficulties and/or reminds the staff statements about it shouldn't be so much (er, "fiercely"?) attacked... (and is not repetition: If someone provides a new idea, twist (and often, repeats the same petition), others can reply to that. It's a forum. You should expect conversation...IMO. ) PD : You probably will never believe it, but I, a current Windows user (and more expert in Linux than a bunch of pasional linux defenders here), am kind of sad that the Wine possibility is currently not working.

From friends and stuff ( I don't typically need that) I hear a lot are using shutterstock and istockphoto. I believe istock used to be the most cured, in quality, of the bunch. Dunno now, tho. I kind of consider both. Or just two providing what those do : One with a massive archive (shutterstock, if I'm not wrong, but haven't used it as a... user), with gives you the so much needed variety when doing a design, then other with highly vetted quality. I went through their (istockphoto) quality tests some years ago ( again, maybe it's a lot more relaxed, now...dunno), as a submitter (vector illustration, only) as the company I worked at told me to do that.... And....maybe they have relaxed it a bit, and tho I passed ( I carefully went through a ton of requirements... felt like work, lol, I'm required to roll so in any case), man, were them strict and had a very artistic/sharp eye... Is not just specs... at least, the staff I could deal with back then, those folks did know about art creation, composition, color, etc.

Is there any source (link) for that ? I mean, no offense, I might have been living in a cave (kind of, indeed....) but is the first time I hear that... I had always heard it was all about numbers (sells).

Yup, I believe they quite much scan a lot of stuff, petitions and feedback. So, maybe a thing to consider is , even if there are no staff replies, most surely it (your particular issue/s) is heard, and considered / studied in the sense of what can be done there in relation (if it is possible/easy to do and integrate) with their current development and code. Eventually sometimes implement a solution, after x months, or etc. Actually have seen that happening a lot. (it's kind of a pattern, I saw this happening in Blender communities and development) No idea about if the posts had any influence, though (surely YEP), and/or just observing the pro market needs and their own usage leads them to this. Or a mixed situation. But several of the lacks I saw (whether I posted about them or not) in the A. Photo and Designer first betas, have been corrected, improved, added features... Some are absolutely genius and are not so easy to discover.... PD: I happily see pro focus in both Adobe and Serif, currently... Might just be me (but am a pro! ) . I love both suites, btw (just not the "purchase" options in one of them). Heck, I also love Corel...

...that said, I completely realize now that was a too long text. And... absolutely useless, given its effect. Shall I keep it to one-line posts (or none at all )

Oki, completely fine. It was mostly advice... Is one of the reasons (this kind of reaction) why I post quite less, lately.... Cheers,

Well, that might explain some things... Graphics are my main job since '95, and I do put all my efforts to get the best (this includes comfortable) set of tools. I would disagree here, as I believe is more of a psychological barrier, or one that our brain (the lizard brain) sets due to its resistance to change and adaptation. And... that is not good. Not even for a hobby. Besides, if only that would be true, that the main suite (in 2D, 3D, gis, VFX, whatever, is sth that can be applied to other fields) does have you covered in every possible use, and that is really more comfortable, and not simply just all conditioned by the habits you have, that would be super cool. But imo, is not really different or better (imo it'd be the opposite, but is hard to convince anyone about this...unless they've done it) than having polished the use and selection of tools to get you your best possible workflow. Yep, takes extra work, but IMO, works way, way better in the long run. For a hobby, too. Yup, a suite is usually thought for better integration and yadda yadda, but I have plenty of cases with Autodesk tools (by using other alternatives, for example) and even with Adobe's, the latest one very recently, where Affinity Publisher beta (!) even saved the day when an expert with InDesign I worked with was stuck ( and solved by the non-expert in publishing(me) with a beta alternative...lol ). It simply has a feature more, and for that, you needed a somewhat more convoluted workflow in Adobe, that this person (very experienced with InDesign) did not know how to perform (as it had not that feature/capability directly in the editing app) because, INDEED, out of her comfort area, was a bit lost. This is why comfort zones are not always that good or desirable. I could always UV Map in 3DS Max, at work, quite some years ago, it was the less resistance path, indeed, as the brain resistance has many faces... the bosses would not trust a solution which is not in the standard suite. IMO, that was very, very short sighted. Happily, I proved them wrong, every single time with this and other apps.(trust me, I'd have been fired, if not ! Those weren't places to play games, if you forgive the pun (er, were game developer studios... and other software companies, mostly)), which was often not tools fully replacing the entire suite, sometimes not even an entire app, but a work task... But doing specific tasks much, much better, and easier. By those years, Ultimate Unwrap was outstandingly better than the UVW unwrap window in Max for unwrapping. Which was a so crucial task to do in game production. Examples like that, there are in the hundreds. Yes, it takes a bit of research, but often is work half done, as is reported by expert users, so you can start from there. (ie, here a lot of people give advice about really good DAM alternatives). In the actual forum post (or blog article, video review, etc), each time, you can easily see if the person is an advanced user, or someone more casual who installed it for a first time and just liked the GUI colors. They will follow their plans, but also do things as possible. IMO, developing tools is like mentioned by someone, something quite organic : You find obstacles and surprises on the way, judging my years working besides programmers doing exactly this kind of thing. Is not exactly easy (or possible) to establish a fixed date, or know if the business is going to allow to allocate enough time for some particular line, specially as events, investment, competition, the entire market and ecosystem changes/evolves. No one is speaking for a brand. At least my posts are about common sense and using to the best possible capabilities anything (indeed, I am sure they don't love that I so often mention and even link alternatives...Other vendors do literally forgive this practice in their forums...) you have in hand (not just Serif's). But not sure if the opposite isn't the case as well. Sometimes a few posts look like speaking against a brand. If they have no time and resources to pull all what they wished, in an initial moment, then is like beating a dead horse. Very specially in this case, as a DAM is sth they have stated they would like to have ! Is not like when people ask for an animation program. They there clearly state they have no future plans on doing anything like that. So, my take is... if they have not finished it, is because they are indeed polishing the core apps, the main functionality : The tools that allow creation, which are not fully complete yet. Plus...I do believe they ARE (or have been, quite) working on a DAM. I believe it could be the case that if it is very pre-alpha work, posting it would bring just a ton of overhead, complaining threads of people not understanding what is an alpha or pre-alpha, and in the end, just adding a lot of distraction work over the pile. Or, just mentioning some advances, would be taken as written-in-stone promises, lol. Also, I don't think we have a right to know how they work internally, or when do they stop to have coffee, pickup the kids from school, etc. I mean, that's an exaggeration, of course, but what I mean is, they produce software, they sell you the released one, not the beta. A lot of brands wont give you so any beta (which here you get once being a customer of that app). That's a gift, imo. I don't defend a brand per se. I will always defend those things that a brand does BETTER than the competition, though, that's for sure. There's a point where you can't keep expecting the vendor will solve everything for you. Any particular vendor. Not even Adobe !. I saw this while working at very crazy, fast, over pressured environments, often in software development companies and media agencies. You need to solve the issue, not... "WAIT". Hobbyists would be happy to discover that is the best path for them, too. So, you do whatever is needed. You find the tool, and put to good use. (and if my other option was only to stick to CS6, heck, yeah, I'd be really busy doing that already...sooner or later the app can get even not possible to run in an OS, as is a total dead end, no updates) I mean, this seems hard (it is), but in the long run, is a so, so much better habit to have, than wait sth to be as what your preference is (IMO, it indeed could NEVER be the case. So one must take a more active attitude, solve the problem vs waiting it to be solved. ). I dunno, am too much of a person of action, more than for waiting things to eventually happen. Besides, IMO, is a more satisfying take....

And use what works for you in every moment. Couldn't get simpler.

Lucy, first of all, I'd check the formats to exchange files with that software. A lot of those only deal with DXF format, yet not supported by Affinity Designer. I'd have no issue in exporting from A. Designer (AD from now on in this text) to Inkscape (an open source vector based software, in my very particular opinion, a great companion for AD : some people need it for a 10% of a project otherwise done almost fully with AD ), and export from there a DXF, but quite some people seems to see that as a problem (but you can actually export a file to Inkscape, and export a DXF from there. People would just love the convenience of a direct export.... ), so, I needed to mention. Indeed, I use Inskcape since always as part of my workflow for my 3D extrusion, 3D printed logos, and etc projects. But it lacks the full power and capability of AD (and for a lot of people, the quite superior AD's user interface, due to many reasons) , that's why I use inkscape as a companion. I think it is extremely clever to have BOTH installed (and updated always to last version). The machine itself should be capable of fine work if you don't use very node-heavy designs (surely totally fine for CNC works), I guess. Is in the low end of performance, aimed at low energy usage laptops. A bit kind of comparable to an old sandy bridge i7 in performance... I wouldn't fully agree in it beating the i7 7500U in every possible case. It does beat it largely in multi-core operations. Logically as it counts on 4 cores, 8 threads, while the i7 is a very trimmed down i7, having only 2 cores, and 4 threads. In Cinebench benchmark, in single core testing, the i7 beats clearly though not by enormous difference this Ryzen. That said, in Cinebench multi core, the difference is WAY bigger in favor of this Ryzen. (I keep saying "this", as the incoming 3700x, quite a different price range, yet "main stream", in Cinebench multi core beats even the super mighty i9 9900k. And that's the heck of a lot, as that intel processor is a beast ). I believe it would be complex, even with a firmware update, to make one of the new ryzen cpus work in a laptop like this, but... who knows ! (you'd be amazed, if so.... ). The chipset compatibility of current Ryzen mother boards, and the outstanding summer-incoming 3k series (the 7 nm cpus) , is something I don't get solid info about... some say it will be a matter of a firmware download and update, but I guess, even so, a lot of its capability might not get used if not getting a new mother board... Don't quote me on that : I don't know. But if I'd be a Ryzen current user (planning to be one), I'd be quite excited, lol... So, probably one of those cases where the switch to Affinity makes TOTAL sense... for this machine. With adobe 2019 CC, this machine would not deal well with the suite (that said, the Adobe suite works very well when the machine is even just a bit over average. And even with a subpar one if you know how to configure things (to the level I mean here, maybe is a 1% of digital population, lol)... but should, for your purpose, very well (IMO) work with Affinity. Adobe and other apps do favor single core vs multi-core (that might change, tho), while in Affinity the multiple core thing is quite well used. Now, even so, the clock speed is vital, too. And the issue with this low end consumer Ryzen model is it has a very low base clock speed, the base frequency is only 2GHZ, while the i7 2.7 GHZ (yeah, turbo is 3.6 GHz in Ryzen, while is 3.5 in the intel, but turbo in all four cores is 3.5 in intel case, and "only" 3GHz in the Ryzen). Given the fact that yet in the Ryzen 2000s the IPC (a cpu "thing" that makes intel's processors very fast, in that regard, intel's faster than Ryzen, at least till now (dunno what'd happen in June....)) is quite worse than intel's, meaning, single core, 2 GHz would beat 2GHz from Ryzen, this is quite a difference. I would expect the intel be faster in apps that heavily use single core. That said also, the 2500 is more modern model, so, there might be some advantages compensating a bit. Indeed, I find intriguing that in most games, seeing also (not interested in that, but sometimes is a clue) those benchmarks, the Ryzen 2500 seems to give much better results in almost every title.... Looking at all, globally... Yep... seems in single core it is a somewhat in between a Sandy bridge i5 and an i7 of that generation (2nd gen). Which is not terrible, as those were capable machines (meaning: the jump from 1st gen (mine) to Sandy (2nd), was huge. Later on changes were more in the range or 5% - 15% between one gen and the next) . But in multi core, it seems gives much better results. I do all sort of graphic work, vectorial and raster, and mine is first gen i7 ! Quite worse than intel's Sandy Bridge. AD and AP work GREAT here. I'm geeky, have the OS optimized and all, know tricks... but still, it tells you that, unless you'd be doing extreme work loads (ie, working with RAWs in Photo or using millions of vector nodes in AD), it should be fine. The RAM is a bit short, but is the RAM I have (indeed, mine is for sure much slower ram), and you wouldn't imagine the size of the files and project that I handle with this piece of history, lol.... For usual regular vector designs, you should be fine. I'd install the apps in the SSD disk (I'd have installed the OS as well, maybe setting the temp and cache folders to be in the HDD, just to prolong the SSD lifespan, and for space issues) Also, because that way you'd notice great speed benefits. Some people use SSDs for caching and continuous big files write, but IMO they are fine if they find out they have to replace a SSD every 2 or 5 years. As speed for them is more important than other factors. (often related to your income, your investment in the activity, etc) That said, am speaking only over specs and available benchmarks in a 5 secs google search. If I'd have that laptop I'd knew immediately just by testing it in any other application... Also, typically the U series are not thought for performance (in intel, and I feel AMD is using that kind of naming standard as well) but portability, low heat, low energy usage, and low price. It's a nice laptop, tho, IMO. I know I would be able to work with it. But YMMV.

Thanks a lot ! I was not aware of that detail. (very important for illustrators and d. painters)

Sorry, a bit in a hurry, lately, will reply in large later... If it is for a tileable texture, you can't make things too characteristic... be it water or stones...those, when I've done 3d or 2d games, are better added later on as an alpha texture, or a shader of some kind.... it depends on your workflow, of course. (ie, this is not a game, is mere 3D rendering for making a comic, a complex approach, but seen more strange things done... Only one fast thing about the tablets... 400 euros is reaaaally expensive if it last 1 year . Even 2 years, compared to maybe 11 of the cintiq... I have 4 wacoms at home.... 1 is scratched because at a game company, the guys started to through things savagely in the middle of a game.... another, because the pen did fall over its tip since a very crazy height. That's it, in all respects, they keep working. One is the WACOM 1 A4 size......... XD Cintiq 16, I am only avoiding its purchase because (besides that I'm a cheap bastard that loves to use old hardware till the last bits of strength it has) I do know I can only be happy with a 22+.... Here's some idea... if you find on inet someone (and doesn't look fake) who posted somewhere that has been with an XP-PEN 7 years, no degradation on the device... that would be an argument against this Cintiq new cheapo line.... If Wacom releases a 22 in this cheapo line, and is around the alternatives' max price (800 - 900 euros) for sure they will have my money. No doubts. Heck, for the price is a good monitor (my NEC spectraview costed me 1200 with some weird shipping extras) even if, like me, I'd use a display-tablet only some hours of the day, as I can't stand longer (body ergonomics/eyesight), my XL is not going anywhere, that's for sure. I know, you could say this about the alternatives (even more the case, as that XP has in paper much better specs than the cintiq cheapo line! )... But having a XL, Small, Graphire, and Wacom 1, I know how RELIABLE and solid are this brand's devices... till now it was the price issue, but....

VAs tend to get you great deep blacks, if they are as they used to be. In premium models (they are putting now VAs in more mainstream ones, since quite some years) you could find really good VA monitors for photography or anything image. 32"....I really hope you are at a good distance... if not... my gosh, your neck, could be like watching a tennis match ! ;D That said, that screen must be gorgeous. A wet dream of mine: The 32 inches recent Cintiq Pro... But there's so many things one can do with +3k bucks.... If serves as inspiration... I move houses VERY often... and in the past was some times as fast as once per month...got a habit of setting up all quick and cleverly (indeed, so many movings make you minimalist in what stuff to really keep... )I always set all the cables in the floor.... Yeah, it's crap for cleaning, but if more or less organized and grouped, a vacuum cleaner is all you need. Anyway, each home is a different puzzle. I have the large XL, but my monitor is small, 23 ", because I wanted it to be of certain color accuracy, and you know how that makes screens really expensive. Going 27 would have been ideal, but prohibitive, in those specs... As mentioned earlier, as seems you are going to be opnly painting textures for a long while, well, that's sth really doable in a 16 inches, even if clearly less comfortable/accurate than a 22. Things to consider.... No one has tested for 11 (his cintiq... and my intuos Pro XL is 9 years, now ) years that the alternatives may last that. Even more, I hear /read to often how an alternative have broken, stopped working, or etc, just in a few months. Or in 1 year, past the warranty. Wacom is clearly better in that, no contest even. Another thing... is the pen wobble... it still is clearly visible even in a low res non maximized window in a recorded video from Brad....is better than in most alternatives I've seen... But it's there !! Wobbling happening by its own hardware issues. NOT what I was speaking about earlier, with any tablet, of the coordination of hand-eye-brain-screen, the proportions difference among screen-tablet (although you have some sort of fix in the driver, but imo is not perfect), or the lack of resolution compared to your hand, pencil and paper, extremely more accurate than even the best tablet of the moment (meaning, the grid in a tablet always is an averaging, an approach! This leads to many of the problems of line accuracy...It has "bigger grid cells" than our traditional drawing on paper, if we could speak in these terms with humans ) Not even about the polygonal shapes when drawing fast in some apps or some low machines.... or getting t hat effect when painting zoomed out and fast, in some apps......this is not part of all that. This adds on top of ALL THAT. The wobble / jitter caused by the hardware itself, the tablet. It was for some time in Wcom's, but since some time, is not an issue in Wacom products, while it is in the cintiq alternatives, with a very varying range, going from horrible, to... Acceptable by Brad, hehe. But he does a type for drawing, comics, extremely different to my hyper realistic work, also, he has fast, confident lines, is natural that the jitter is less of a problem, as tends to disappear. There are people like me that do both, depending on the situation : fast and slow, and for slow strokes, yeah, not that great, for that single reason I'd be strongly in favor of wacom. My bet for XP-PEN, Yiynova and other alternatives has been always due to price. Now, as a way to react, the premium brand, wacom, is producing 600$ 16" cintiqs. I'd say, that's the path to take. Unless you don't have a hardware color calibrated monitor that can serve as te reference for any color issues with your work, want to depend only on your display-tablet screen, solely. YEAH, then the choice must be for the XP-PEN pro, or the pro from Artisul, as both have a surprisingly wide color space, surely, from all what I have read and watched, good enough for some decent color. Having a pro, reliable monitor on the table as the reference, I'd say go Cintiq 16. I mean, in the past, and that's really not long ago, we did not have alternatives. It was only the 12, later te 13 inches, or jump to the 22 -24 cintiqs, always super expensive. So, at that huge difference in prices, it was obvious recommendation to tell people just get an Intuos Medium for 180 - 200 bucks, as that can work with some training. With the arrival of alternatives to cintiq for 600 -900 $, the advice over breaking the bank for a cintiq 22 -24 (2000, 2400 bucks, etc) was very obvious, too. Now... Between a cintiq 16 and a alternative cintiq, unless is for the color thing, I'd say go Cintiq, strongly. Indeed, I have not seen its specs in full depth, but I'd be to think those cheapo cintiqs at least support sRGB color range, and that's even fine for a ton of POD print stuff. (and of course, for everything screen). Plus you can always color-correct your final piece, do some adjusting previous to send to print, using your pro or semi pro desktop monitor. Absolutely. But Apple producing even a 20" iPad Pro, as a dedicated work station (not really mobile, tho yep much more than a desktop to move among your house or company rooms...Again, I've been going to work with a mini tower under my right arm, everyday during 1 or 2 weeks, everytime the job would need that workflow, even in the bus, and boat sized heavy computer (BIG tower + CRT big and heavy as a gorilla) in the back of my car every weekend as I worked in one lil village lost in a sort of wilderness, and had the family at 300kms cross country) ...young ppl these days have a different concept of mobile... for me, mobile is everything I can move.... ) that ain't gonna happen. If at some point, facts prove me wrong, It'd be a happy event, as I'd love such device. But don't put many hopes on that, lol... Dell has made the Dell canvas (not really a computer, but yup a drawing large tablet while they are not in that business... making a very comparable tablet quality to a Cintiq 27 QHD... and that's... a lot of goodness for only 1700 euros) , and MS failed very well with its MS Studio (that one, yep being comparable, as is really an ALL-IN-ONE, huge resolition, huge screen, great quality, but the CPU and card can't really move well those resolutions in heavy load, not like better balanced machines can... And its pen jitters.... HORRIDLY, like all their portable Surface line, except Surface 1 , I believe that one was before they banned Wacom from their surface pens and screen, sigh.... I don't see apple making this move... but I didn't see coming the Pro version of the iPad. And WAY less making actually a pen to handle the device. So... with Apple, who knows... ! Anyway, I too much need a lot of 3D software and of other nature that is not in Apple, and viceversa, most software that is in Apple, one have a version in Windows, almost in every case. In that aspect, for me it's Windows all the way. Now, if one ONLY illustrates (far from my case) then, yeah, an iPad Pro 20 / 22 inches would be a dream come true.

Is not the only reason (there are MANY more) why I am recommending Wacom new cheapo Cintiq over anything else (well, I recommend bigger sizes, tho), but an extremely important one is that you have some wobble/jitter, even if the one in that XP-PEN model is about the best you can get in an alternative, but you don't have that issue in Wacom since some time. This is super important to me. Both for painting and (mostly) comic inking. You don't wont the cursor making unexpected waves by its own when drawing slowly. I have not seen a single review yet of an alternative brand not having this issue. And I have seen tons, and for a very long time. Probably any flavor that you could think of now, of what is available. Seriously. 600 bucks. Buy that Cintiq 16.....

Now a bit in a hurry, but some fast notes : - I'd.... maybe buy an Ikea cheapo table, I got mine long ago, 40 euros (and I believe about 30 for the other table parts in total), about 80 cm depth, i believe, so, it's quite far, the LCD from me, and the XL is between me and the monitor when I draw. I handle then the keyb in one side, mouse at the other. When typing, I mount slightly part of the Intuos Pro into the monitor base -surely should not be doing that, but till date no bending has happened- and fit the keyboard in front of me, just before the XL (the usual position for typing (mouse still on the right, but is where I have it always, now, and when I used an A6, lol..... Space is important to draw well.... Drawing now in that extendable drawer makes it way more difficult to have a controlled arm (shoulder or elbow) flow. Also, I bet you might start getting back and/or neck pain, sooner or later. Body position , a correct one, is KEY for we people drawing so many hours all year. (besides doing pauses and stretching : at least each hour, little walk, some light stretching of neck,back, arms, wrist, hands. Specially when you are drawing 8 or more hours per day) - So little desktop depth Is it maybe due to having a CRT still? man, change to a LCD, they tend to be more healthy, and there's really good ones now....(you gotta pay attention to specs, and specially, advanced professional reviews (not youtube or general tech reviewers). - If you move all the drawing matter to the right area in your L shaped table, by buying a cintiq or cintiq alternative, yup, that could do. Tho I insist in having a deep table, and enough table space, in general, as key. - So, if you go for display-tablet... My today's favorite purchase is the Wacom Cintiq (non pro, always that you have a pro or semi-pro monitor, well calibrated, so that you can always send to the monitor (or if you have it in clone mode, just will be easy to catch things) to check color accuracy in what you are painting. Surely calibrating (many tablets can't be COLOR calibrated ! ) the display-tablet color as close as possible to the pro monitor) ....THAT's by very, very far my best advice. BUT...if dollars, even that not such of a big difference (maybe is from 450 to 600 ? Wacom deserves THAT difference, IMO) are so very tight, then, IMO the best take is NOT a 12 or 13 inches... Don't do that. Don't make that horrible mistake... I made that..had to sell second hand -loosing tons of money- just 8 months later of heavy pro work. Was a wacom, and was not giving probs, but that size is not the good one, trust me... At least get a 16, although by all means, if you have space in that right area, ideal would be to go for the 22 from XP-PEN. Again, if money is the super barrier, well, then the 16 latest from XP that we mentioned : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDmFzYZclyk It is about the best purchases of the moment in that range. I would NOT go huion for these sizes. Maybe not even artisul. I reiterate that my choices here would be: if 16 inches, no-brainer, is Cintiq NON Pro 16, for so many reasons. If you can jump to 22" (around 800 bucks) , then XP-PEN 22E, ...OR the highest of the gamma in Yiynova (I believe around 900 $, no idea right now), but none of the lower ones. I myself have it super solid that I wont purchase never, ever again (and that was a Cintiq!!!) a display-tablet of 12 -13 inches . Actually, nothing smaller than 22 ". Those 8 months were.... well, can't use the most accurate word , here...

They have them now.... It needed a community effort to make the big push, making it actually open source. Initially was a commercial product. The real growth of it has been fully the community, everywhere. Sponsors have really come after the fact. If you take only the current photo, that's not even half of it. It was a ton of volunteers, tons of people making tutorials, donating money, spreading the word. Not a shame, at all. But these apps are extremely easy to learn in a first glance, specially to designers. Of course tutorials can be (sometimes it's slower) a faster way. It was a question, the term shame or any adjective at all was added by you. I might be surprised, as the little I've fiddled with those, make me see how easy those are to handle, specially having both coded and designed. Are an absolute divine gift. But surprise <> shame. Indeed... had noticed at some points, as some features requested by some around, are in Gimp but not in AP... That means nothing, though. Only that, despite AP being quite superior, I'd tell usually people that Gimp, despite its weird ways, has a lot of power under the hood (if you're fine with the strong differences, ...and quite some lacks, can't deny that...) Sorry, I was being way inaccurate. I have lately not needed at all to import PSDs from other people. I'm Clip Studio Paint focused for a big while, also. While I know it is super common to work importing PSDs from other people. At companies that was a must, constantly, in our usual workflows. (But I work late years more as a one man band, and rarely importing PSDs from others) It does open PSDs (you can download free psds from internet and test), it keeps as layers, and its effects... BUT... Seems drop shadows... not so well (you need to hit the gear tiny icon in that fx layer, adjust intensity, is similar to "spread" value in PS's drop shadow dialog. Otherwise you wont even see the drop shadow (too subtle). Some complex bevel stuff and some gradient noise features, might neither import well. In general, there are many settings that wont translate well. You can download from internet free PSDs having those. Just avoid those using PS's smart objects, as those wont work here.. Will see how in many cases wont look like the rendered example. Yep, is WAY better than most apps not being adobe's. Specially note the difference with the customer beta (you can only download it if you purchased AP), AP 1.7.x, which is great in every sense, but seems much improved in this as well. You now can set to import text layers in PSDs, and unlike in the stable, it will keep as well the FX by doing so. But with the cons I mentioned for all fx layers. I'd ask your client to save the PSD in max. compatibility mode, that might help. Also... is not too terrible : You can have a PNG rendered side by side, and adjust the FX as you have mostly the same than in the client's file. 1:1 pixel by pixel , between two different apps with different values scales for the parameters... I doubt you get it in a reasonable amount of time, or ever.. .visually equivalent for 99% of the clients? Sure. Time consuming? heck, yeah. But is expected. It's a native file for PS. They protect the business by making it hard for anyone to import (or just not making it easy), and also, many features are specific to PS internals. Hard to translate all that and replicate it 1:1 in AP. In theory, one might be able to "discover" the exact relation / numbers to get the FX behave in a similar manner. That could be a good approach. But dunno if it'd work, as a rule. All in all, surely one of the best approach attempts I've seen for an external app, not inside the Adobe suite. One reason more to be hopeful towards 1.7. If you need fast exchange 1:1 all fx layers, objects, everything identical and ready to go, in a fast environment, FORGET it. That's not happening with any app that I know of, other than actual Adobe's. Other than flattening the layers. (maybe except text layers, and asume recreating the FX for those, or partially).

Do you really need tutorials? :O Anyway, you have tons of dirty cheap tutorials (actually full courses) in Udemy and other similar places. If willing to spend the little bucks in Affinity (which is a great idea, the 3 apps, AD, AP, APUB (in the future). These are jewels. (Used APub beta in an important recent project. It saved the day!). Using an OS you dislike should not be an obstacle, if you are serious. The best bucks put in software right now even if you would have to launch Windows or Mac OS for that) then the even smaller expense in one or two courses would do great... And if the FREE tutorials are very new, yet valid, no issue... The important part is that there are free tutorials, too. I'd deeply recommend invest some money in the best paid ones, no matter what. Makes a huge difference. I'm doing so for my new coding learning , and I don't regret it a bit. And yeah, web design, in the old way (in which I worked a freakin' crazy lot till 2013) , in the way you mentioned is old news. Maybe except in freelancing where, depending on what you do, you could still be doing stuff like that (indeed, tons of people do, currently). But today is all about Sketch, or kind of "almost" was: Am seeing a shift to Figma and Invision... Don't quote me on that, could be just a perception. And we're extinct ("web designers", at least in the term and in those habits)... Go search for "web designer" jobs... Of course there are yet companies putting the offers like that, but only as they are not aware (or even clueless) of the whole thing. Now is ... UI/UX experts (involving a lot more than just graphic design and some html & css, meaning, lots of studies about user experience, information flow and ROI. Meaning you need to STUDY lots of theory there, yeah, buy books, etc) or if not, then web developer : front-end, back-end or full stack. And often knowing very solidly your framework, whichever you pick, depending on your region or field (Vue getting stronger, and I wouldn't have expected that). Plus learning a ton of other tools/utilities and workflows that didn't even exist just 5 years ago. Of course Gimp is painful to use in some aspects (but imo, how the web has developed, am not sure if now a raster tool is any more the key for the job, and more something like Inskcape or Affinity Designer, for that task. And surely much better, Figma, Sketch, Invision, Adobe XD...) but there are always neat workarounds. You seem to be ready to disregard any of those... And the fact that is a completely community made tool, from Linux and for Linux. But I guess I'm fully alone in that, together with the eventual old timer in the Linux world who thinks like me/know how important are/should be certain matters... But again, web stuff is going in the route foxie pointed out (and to what I added some detail). And... the future seems bright now (didn't till very recently) for Gimp; a very noticeable new push from new coders and the GEGL implementation. I'd cut it a LOT more slack, if I was defending really the Linux cause. And not just my own convenience. You would have hated Blender the year 2002. I knew it would become huge, and mates at my (game) companies always laughed about that. (btw, these things never stopped me from mastering the highend tools, like Max, Adobe's, etc). Blender only did grow to what is today because the community believed in the project, and helped it, instead of constantly trashing it. But fine, to each his/her own.

That is exactly why I said "not the case anymore". A lot of people didn't do so, for a collection of reasons, yet planning to eventually do in the future ( I will, actually, and pretty soon). Also, the "free upgrade" has its technical disadvantages compared to a clean install. Well, that's assuming a lot. I have very serious doubts about the legalities of those (and many in ebay, etc) licenses. When you contact to vendors, they inform you how almost all of those are not valid, illegal. Can you install warez? Yep, but, for a professional, IMO, is a very wrong choice. Sorry? nope...You can't either open a PSD with ALL features that you have native in PS. That's not doable for any app, be it Gimp or AP. Er... have you really used extensively AP ? Yes you can open a PSD with certain stuff flattened in AP, but start adding certain stuff in PS, and then pretend to open it in AP... This is because Adobe is not particularly open about its format and how it writes to it internally. Logically so : They are protecting their market. But in that, every app is mostly equally limited. Krita can open also PSDs with layers, but flattened FX, among other things, it can't import a lot of things, just like every other application. The implementation of a BASIC layered PSD can vary from one application to another, but basically all are strongly limited by what I just explained (badly, as I'm not a coder). Well....Just as an example, in the last company, 7 years, making all the web portals, web apps, sites for clients, landing pages, html for newsletter, templates for the company to sell... you name it. And being the only person in the company for that, which was a mountain fo work. Besides making already them websites as a freelancer in my free time. And that was just my last company. I've been in ten, and in 4 of them, I also did the sites even being game studios. The other 6, mostly software developers and agencies making sites like its main duty. Since '95. And doing ALL, from concept, to full graphic template, slicing it and/or using other methods for that, then generating all the CSS sheets and HTML for it... The only stuff I wouldn't do would be the JS and PHP, and mostly because there usually would be done by other people, very well versed in both. So... YEAH. I think I have an idea about cutting slices for a site. Or etc. And BTW, using everything, from Fireworks to PS, AI, Gimp, and a ton of other tools. Seriously... I'm requested often to handle Apple environment to get extremely nicely paid jobs. It is used in many very high end companies as the only OS to use. It works really well, very stable, and for companies, it reduces greatly the friction and learning curve for workers. In graphics, it counts with the major professional apps, specially in 2D. Sorry, it's no joke. I don't see how it could be. I dislike its pricing and kind of programmed obsolescence in iOS (but I dislike iOS, there I would be agreeing with you. Just not in the Aple desktop). I wouldn't dislike that, if that would have any possibility. I look around, people at companies, pipelines in the companies I worked at, people in the field I constantly talk to... I don't see Windows disappearing in any way possible in 5 years, surely neither in 10... And beyond that, I simply don't even dare to make any prediction. Indeed, in tech is risky to make a prediction even for the next month. Yeah, that was quite a bad day.... At least, DW and Flash evolved quite since then, for good. But Fireworks got sunk. Just like recently they have stopped Muse.. I have a friend who can code (she should have listened to me when recommended her she at least should have learnt a bit of CSS and HTML 5 ) and now is angry to no end because Adobe stopped Muse completely. Tons of people unable to code had their business around Muse.... So, not defending Adobe. But it's a company, defends its territory and income... I can recon this and still don't like it...

Only a small comment in this fluid conversation we have going on here ( ) , I would agree to that, but with a lil comment, here... The on-screen is not as good as most people think, and to my experience, it still inherits a bit of the magnetic grid lack of accuracy (IMO, that trial and error wouldn't happen to you if drawing on paper. I know as I have conducted "kind of" scientific tests... And that super random "huh, I land where I want, am a line with personality, dude" you would find it diminished as you go to bigger and bigger tablets. To some extent, I believe it is even more important than the on-screen factor, just that removing fully the coordination problem means a lot (not a prob after some time, though). So, I believe you would get the benefit in both cases (if going for a bigger tablet, or if going for a bigger and on screen one). Now, if going for painting on-screen...Not that much of a difference, and probably a lot of money invested, yet. The exception can be the iPad pro. IMO, their tracking tech is simply superior, and the pencil feel, too. But is like throwing gold to the trash can, not offering at least one single size at 16 /* 17 inches. Or using the tech to make a MS Studio (the AIO) or Cintiq competitor. If that tech is applicable to large screens, I believe it'd wipe out everything else... Others could only use price as a tactic. But that wont happen. They even made an 11 inches Pro, this time, lol. Meaning, ... I could see sense in purchasing an iPad Pro, has many advantages. Not my cup of tea for illustration, but the technology for drawing is really advanced. But 12 -13 inches for a tablet, meaning, cramming there a typical desktop UI... I wouldn't get that in any way... I've tested that, during months.... Now.. display-tablet, 16 inches. That starts to make "some" sense. yet a bit too tiny. My point is : A Wacom L or even Medium, a better purchase than a small 12/13 inches display-pen. Perhaps(for some uses) with the exception of the iPad Pro (not so with Surface, as much as am a Windows user for ever). I tell you, with XL I draw from the shoulder and elbow... And I noticed the very first day, IMMEDIATELY how it was much, much better to ink lines than my previous Medium and Small. That was dunno if in 2009 or so. Still kicking. helping me produce entire games, large sets of illustrations... A pro is vague term. I see a lot of people doing higher quality stuff than what I've seen inside companies. And at the end of the day, I don't really see that much of a difference with a current alternative brand and most cintiqs, to be honest. Well, yep, the color management, that's for sure. But again, the top end Yiynova is VERY accurate in that regard, and has nto hit yet (surely it will) the 22 models, but I believer the xp-pen 22E pro latest version is a 88% NTSC or sth like that. This is already quite good, and you can always have your hardware calibrated monitor besides, so to be aware of the issues, and compensate balancing the tablet monitor as needed. As I was telling you, I've made work that went to the stands with sth way worse than ANYTHING on the cheapest ebay offer, today (a graphire 1, I think it was... oh, and a bestbuy....) ...They all allow you to paint. I wouldn't break the bank just yet with a cintiq pro 32, that's for sure. That one seems good to me, too. That's the one I was telling you it has (according to vendor, but none of these are tested like pro monitors, with color calibration tests and etc. Or...not often. So, hard to know how much of promised by the vendor passes a test. That said, can't remember of many tests like those for Cintiqs...) a 92% of Adobe RGB color space support (94% in the pro competitor of this size in Artisul). And well, that, in whatever the monitor is A LOT. :). I'm waiting till the "alternatives" tech brings this level in color to 22 sizes. It hasn't yet, surely a production prob. Euh....wait, nope. Seems they released a new model...okay, let me watch what Brad has to say about it... Pretty neat, yup. Personally, I only consider XP-PEN for the Deco 03 (but not over a Wacom L ), because the outstanding price for that size, and XP-PEN 22E (pro or however they call it now) , because at that size, any cintiq is super prohibitive in price. Now, just having released Wacom a Cintiq 16 (NON PRO) , at 600 bucks... Dunno, I trust WAY more Wacom for longevity in their devices than XP. And I mean, A LOT more. Also, look at the labels of demanding test certifications passed. In the case of Wacom is crazy. For XP, well, Deco 03 I think has some, but does not get close. Of course, doing that costs a ton of money, but.... Meaning, having a nicely priced cintiq 16 right now, even if the xp-pen new one is laminated, and the new cintiq 16 is not (to make a difference with their pro, or one of them) , which means less parallax (so, the distance of where the tip touches, and where the actual pixel lays, is smaller, meaning, the XP new one lets you draw more naturally in that regard, less offset of the cursor, if any) I'd still go for the Cintiq. Yeah, no side buttons in the tablet, neither disc, which I would miss. But the the function keys, I'm always having the keyb on the side as a I draw, so.... But having finally a nice pricing line in cintiq FOR THAT SIZE, I'd go Wacom. For 22, no way, Cintiq gets there super expensive. Aaaannndd....even that said, the key point here is that they have put it -the new xp pro- as low as 400 bucks, 200 cheaper than the Wacom Cintiq16.(and a tad more than a Cintiq 16 PRO) Sooooo....might worth the risk, you get A LOT for 400 bucks. Just... do not press hard: Never do with any tablet, but surely to get the best touch, happens as happened some time ago with wacom's : great feel films tend to be more tending to get scratched. Just draw with care. Others report from xp devices, that some get broken after some months, somehow. Not a lot, tho. I've read WAY more cases with other companies. Seems to me too, that XP has probably among the best support, lately. Maybe... being 400$. I could take the risk. But as I paint for very serious stuff, I personally would still go with the Wacom cheapo cintiq. (and more likely, with just a Wacom L standard tablet). NOW, among this or an iPad Pro... I don't even doubt... This. My personal and super impopular opinion, haha. At least for what is drawing heavy sessions (which I do 90% of the time), serious stuff. Hmmmyeah, I did used to think so in the past. But nope, is not like that. You already know how to draw and paint. You are not facing that you are worse or anything. Is that the tech "is not there" yet. You use the stabilizer in the process or getting familiar with this new thing. You go lowering its value in a natural way. Not how you think you should do it to be a purist or anything, but as you are 100% able to do your craft with full control. That full control will be able to be produced each time with less value of the stabilizer. I mean, I have reached the point I can do decent inking without stabilizing in most apps. So, I come from there with this comment. And how is not really a need to learn to draw "manly" with it. As it acts differently. You are just fighting a poor magnetic grid issues. Use the stabilizer to fill that gap. Our brain-hand system is much better, it'll adapt to it as you go diminishing the setting, your capability comes naturally with almost no trying, just drawing a lot. I see the case when people is tracing a photo "to draw better". That's stupid. Your brain ain't working in the process. But this is different. You are being disallowed to get the accuracy you have with a pen and paper. You're only winning it back in a progressive method to get used to the machine deficiencies. Nobody would blame you!. To my knowledge, not even PS has it ! . And even with just a W key toggle. I've done too tons of textures for the plate of food, and that feature is literally invaluable. Plus, don't worry. Krita is lacking a ton of functionality that AP has. Logically as is done as a digital painting solution. Sadly, most graphic apps developers STILL think that doing a super painterly app is enough for the 98% of the work of an illustrator. Fatal error. In real life gigs, you need just a bare good working brush with good flow and opacity control, and then the features that PS or AP have. THEN you're covered. Not with a canvas rotate, symmetry , watercolor with dripping water all over the table or a canvas that ends in the borders like real natural paper. That's nice for the toy purchasers, not for full day work and complex gigs... Edit: About typos. You will find MANY. As am not reviewing this wall of info/text, lol...

But...have you really tried setting a high (or a middle, as if not, gets unusable) line smoothing setting ? Clip Studio Paint has the best on the market, but you have it also in Affinity Photo, Krita, and almost all digital paint solutions. I mean, is not A solution, is THE solution, until hardware evolves to a really seamless solution compared to traditional drawing. And from there you go training yourself by forcing yourself to get less and less "help". I had to do so despite being a realistic painter and comic artist for 40 years...These digital devices need a very strong training, due to be yet very far from our human accuracy, even if that sounds crazy, and only to get at a 60% of what you could do in traditional (compensated by the other advantages of the digital world, specially for fast production (color...)) There it goes. There lies the problem (well, 50% of it. The rest is ...u gotta draw with these things. Get used to this cr4p, haha. ). I myself would be unable to draw -at least with any comfort- with a Intuos Small. For that I'd rather draw in paper and scan the lines. (Dunno if the W. Art has yet the MEDIUM size as it used to. If yours is Medium, then that's fine (kindda)). The "Small" would require such high setting in line smoothing in every tool I know, that you could be even better off just drawing with the mouse, lol. Is fine for photo retouching, tho. For fully drawing and painting... IMO, no way. I HAVE used that for producing the entire artwork (well , my part of it, included pencil-like sketches, textures, matte painting, maps, sprites, etc) for a large video game (we were 3 artists) during 8 months at a game company. And we're talking the wacom's models back then, I believe 256 levels of pressure... It can be done, is just WAY worse. Drawing the pencil concepts was a nightmare. And back then, the only ones with line smoothing/averaging, were Corel Painter in raster (and am all for raster) and Flash/illustrator in vectors. That's it. You don't really get full control like in paper. Forget that dream :). You get enough so that is bearable and at least usable in production. In line art, I enable/disable line smoothing, sometimes to get fresh lines, sometimes as I want a very steady very long curve that I need very accurate in placing. Sometimes because I get bored of the smoothing... Only in line-art/comic inking. As in digital painting, I totally disable it, in all my tools. Is not needed, there.(maybe yep in the cell shaded style you are kind of making... or better said, the Blizzard's WOW style from some years ago. Yeah....Not sure on the 4, but those tend to have a bad ( borderline terrible) palm rejection system. Also, since they trashed the wacom tech ( I smell business fights, as technically makes no sense...) to go with n-trig (not sure about what they use in their latest ones), they've been having terrible critics in every single device (included the huge AIO, the MS Studio) for having horrid jitter/wobble/however you call it, trembling lines I mean, very bad pen control for drawing. And unlike some thought about the Surface in first moments, is not for the slippery screen. The problem runs deeper. Plus other issues like being way too small (12 inches) but also with too high res for those inches, while running desktop apps, showing there really tiny icons , tiny UI fonts, due to that. Making them anything but comfortable. Again, at least for illustration, painting. As portable computers, not bad. But I always recommend better, to have the same or better, a much better priced laptop (asus, lenovo, acer, hp, whatever) of enough power + a medium wacom, or medium size whatever. Both things together fit in a regular bag. I have had sort of that, but with a 18" laptop, hehe. That's an option. Which I can't recommend. xD. At least for the task in hand... Or can I. .. in your case... if you definitely felt comfortable in the Pencil experience, then, why not. If after all you are doing zoom-ups, so to say, that is, you only want it for textures !! Not for a complex illustration of a battle full of solders and horses, on a complex battlefield scene, where you prefer not to loose the global view, the composition and still keep the capability of painting many details, without loosing the view, neither having to work in zoomed-in a 95% of the time... You are actually "zoomed in" all the time, so to speak, by working in an actual texture, which is neither hyper-realistic in treatment. Neither big complexity in composition or scene detail. Each thing depends on the planned usage. My only grip is that with a, say, XP-PEN 22E, you have 22 inches for detailed work, but still, you can do gorgeous textures like those you are making now. And you are still on a fully capable PC/Mac. And the investment is around (quite less if comparing with the 12inches iPad pro, as they are now way expensive) the iPad pro cost. Yes , the portability advantage, and you get a full working autonomous, portable device, but you get disconnected from the environment of your 3D production (blender, Max, Maya...)... Dunno, even in your case I see more sense in getting a 22 XP-PEN (my fixation with it is only due to the reviews I've read and watched, and some friends testimonies), or a HUION of the 20 or 21 models... In the case of Yiynova, I can only recommend their top of the line model. As in the lower/mid ones I have seen issues that are a total no-way for me. (but their highest model is, in contrast, among the best screens on the market). IMO, these give a ton more control over the lines than an iPad Pro. (have handled both). Now an interesting product is the latest launch of Wacom. Older tech, despite being a new model, meaning, probably is tech comparable to the prev gen (but heck, even an arcane 21UX cintiq is a God send! ) , some stuff stripped (none of which affects my work, mine at least) but at 600 bucks, FINALLY. Issue is it's a 16 inches display. I still can only recommend stuff from 19 and up, and more likely nothing smaller than 21/22. maybe for your very specific usage a 16 one is fine. But in that case, you get quite cheaper offers, and with a 92 - 94 % of Adobe RGB coverage, in XP-PEN PRO 16, and Artisul 16 (pro, I think), respectively. Not much cheaper, tho. Maybe from 100 to 200 $ cheaper. While I believe the Wacom's in that line get less wide color coverage. If what you have is a Wacom SMALL , you would see a great benefit with the XP-PEN Deco 03, or just a Wacom Medium. For the eye-hand-screen coordination, surely, only a solution that paints on screen, if want to get productive very fast. Also the nice part of getting used to the pen-tablets, is that when you then get to switch to a Display-tablet (ie, in the job ! ) you are outstandingly good with it, better than other ppl : You already trained yourself to the magnetic tablet tracking (is the same in a cintiq than in a non display tablet, for that matter) , but having now the advantages and easiness in a display-tablet. At that point you don't need those advantages, but find you are extremely faster than people who only trained, directly, in a cintiq or cintiq-like. But is a weirdo advantage that requires also years of training (in my very arguable opinion).

Not the case anymore... I mean, there are ways to do the upgrade yet now. But I doubt on legal aspects of it, license wise. The only possible direction is Linux? With all the production environment already in Windows? Sorry, but nope. The only one path that indeed makes sense is Windows 10. Or, if anything, Mac OS. As a lot of the pro software is there, too. These are the two OSes having the greatest number of pro software for producing graphics. You have....options in Linux (for ever underrated, for what I keep realizing) , but for a pro what really makes sense is to keep in Windows or move to Mac OS. About Gimp. You can install the layer effects plugin. Well, is not as advanced as in PS, but hey, the price is right. As I mentioned, I was able to work with it without even this plugin or layer effects at all (there are workarounds). Is all about workflow and use its strengths.... https://youtu.be/CspiWs127F8 Slices... well not per se, but you can get quite a lot of that workflow : https://youtu.be/XNnpvNpPowk And with other methods. Stroke along path. Sorry, dunno what decade was your version from.... Yep, there is, the proper feature. Menu Edit/Stroke path. No need a video for that. This is in Gimp since a while... https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/gimp-path-stroke.html ("stroke with a paint tool" option ) Editing channels... My main grip in Gimp was for a while not supporting CMYK, : This is changing pretty soon, thanks to what Gimp is going to also own a massive improvement in so many fields: The GEGL implementation. About editing channels, yup (not cmyk ones, of course, yet) it has it. Limited? Yep. But you will find there are people not happy in how you can edit channels either in Affinity Photo, so, mostly, IMO there is NO replacement for Photoshop. Is: Use other thing or pay the darn subscription, have the rest of limitations that comes with it. There you add me some info I did not have. The fact is I am disconnected from my 3D profiles other than using Blender since I stopped working at companies to become a freelance (among them, games ones) , and I'm only loosely following Allegorithmic's news. That's quite sad... But expectable. They had already in place some sort of subscription, and they have become a game industry standard ( and Autodesk, Microsoft and Adobe tend to acquire what they can't compete with, or, that can make them good money). No surprise but I need to check the news in depth... I wouldn't use the word cancer here: It diminishes the term and all what involves to so many people, but also, Adobe is just a company, not an evil creature, which has tremendously helped to get us where we are now in terms of 2D industry evolution. This doesn't mean I need to like their policies, renting-only and pricing system. Gimp is not to be judged by its current state, but for what is going to be ( and... should have no issues with that! You are willing to trust all for a FUTURE A.Photo linux version...! ), with all what they are preparing. Is even in its current state and I could handle all the graphic needs of a very production heavy company, being there the only graphic professional. It is possible, it is doable, just requires more patience and workarounds. Is up to anyone to go for a little sacrifice or swallow whatever you find by subscription models... ( as IMO, A. Photo ALSO requires quite some adaptation from a pro very used to Photoshop, and handling very complex activity, required by the market. If you have used quite A. Photo, you'd know what I mean. If not, then you might yet get some surprises.) Of course, PS is better than Gimp. And Photo is more complete than Gimp, still, for a user heavily trained in PS, this person will notice a ton of things when using AP as a full replacement of PS.

That's so true that first time I read certain complaints about cintiqs, it made me almost cry in laughter.... "I hate cintiqs: My hand gets in the way" (meaning the hand covers their drawing, lol.... seems they can't integrate the usual hand withdraw to check how it's going as a non conscious mechanism in their brain... it's all about mechanical habits...! ) ....Is a strange generation that has grown with the computer as the main toy (I built my own sling and other stuff as a kid, enjoyed the countryside, not a nintendo) they more rarely do handwriting and a lot of them have almost never seriously tried drawing on paper or the like. Dunno, sounded funny to me. But that generation is one point in time : As soon as cintiq (not only the alternatives: Wacom is finally producing a cheaper cintiq line... But they need to bet for it more strongly, in more sizes) become a cheaper norm, I'm guessing the non-screen ones will still be produced for more casual usage, signing, retouch, as no matter what, they're cheaper to produce than a magnetic system AND a screen monitor. But most artists, amateur students (large target market for the 15.6 ") included, will probably be able to afford at some point a 200 -250 $ device, and I asume this could come to the 15.6 size, as in the current 12" for that price is a bit useless for certain serious uses. By that point ALL will find the hand "not actually getting in the way". In a way, this is good, as is so similar to draw on paper that they should do just find if left alone with pen and paper.