How does AP compare with Clip Studio Paint and Corel Painter and other painting software

[Psych 6]

I obviously like Affinity Photo as an image editing and manipulating software, but I'm not sure about the brush engine, feature set and the experience in general for artists in Affinity Photo. I'm not a professional myself so I can't really come up with a solid argument against it or against the other software. I mainly search and look for opinions from professionals or at least from people who are very familiar with digital painting and have experience with different software.

So my question is, is Affinity Photo on par with CSP, CP or even Krita for that matter? Is it a valid choice for artists? Is it lacking essential features that might ruin the whole experience? And if it is lacking, and needs more focus, are there any plans in the future to make it better?

I'm interested in illustration and concept art.

Thank you all.

[walt.farrell 4,009]

For illustration and concept art Affinity Designer might be better for you than Photo.

You can install it and play with it for 10 consecutive days: https://affin.co/designertrial

I can't really compare it with the other products you mentioned.

[gdenby 648]

Hi, Psych,

I've used Painter, but its been several years since, and Krita a bit recently.

AP is basically for photo development, adjustment, enhancement, compositing, etc. It has a good range of "brush" tools, as well as vector shapes. Unlike the above, it is not primarily a natural media emulator.

For work being done w. both APhoyo & ADesigner, see here.

[Cecil 206]

Corel Painter $339, AP $50.  I used Painter for many years and it is a powerful digital painting program.  I would suggest AP is not designed to operate as a replacement or even designed to equal Painter and should not be.  Each program is designed to provide specific consumer needs.  

[PixelPest 320]

Painter2019 is 25 bucks on HumbleBundle right now.

Aside from everyone is ignoring the questioner asking about AP I highly recommend to try the different apps to get a feeling; get a decent briefing, watch one tutorial and try your way through the app one after another, make some notes on what you like and what not to get kind of comparison chart.

I guess you won't have much fun with a tool that has everything when it's too complicated to grasp/handle.

Just my 2ct of course.

[firstdefence 2,513]

3 hours ago, Psych said:

So my question is, is Affinity Photo on par with CSP, CP or even Krita for that matter? Is it a valid choice for artists? Is it lacking essential features that might ruin the whole experience? And if it is lacking, and needs more focus, are there any plans in the future to make it better?

CSP and CP are really different apps to Affinity Photo, Affinity Photo is not what you need.

 CSP and CP do what you want very well, CP can be a bit daunting with the myriad of options for brushes but that is what makes it so good. Krita is well worth a try. 

[Cecil 206]

51 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

Painter2019 is 25 bucks on HumbleBundle right now.

Aside from everyone is ignoring the questioner asking about AP I highly recommend to try the different apps to get a feeling; get a decent briefing, watch one tutorial and try your way through the app one after another, make some notes on what you like and what not to get kind of comparison chart.

I guess you won't have much fun with a tool that has everything when it's too complicated to grasp/handle.

Just my 2ct of course.

https://www.amazon.com/Corel-Painter-2020-Digital-Studio/dp/B07SFZMBSG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=CF4HEDZHGFBI&keywords=corel+painter+2020&qid=1570885474&sprefix=Corel+Painter%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMFA5U1dNQ05ZWThSJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjcxNzQ2MlhQUzQ2TlZMNkhBUiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzg3ODQyM1FFNlI4OTJYUUs1SiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
 

Are we talking about the same Painter program?

[walt.farrell 4,009]

41 minutes ago, Cecil said:

https://www.amazon.com/Corel-Painter-2020-Digital-Studio/dp/B07SFZMBSG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=CF4HEDZHGFBI&keywords=corel+painter+2020&qid=1570885474&sprefix=Corel+Painter%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMFA5U1dNQ05ZWThSJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjcxNzQ2MlhQUzQ2TlZMNkhBUiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzg3ODQyM1FFNlI4OTJYUUs1SiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
 

Are we talking about the same Painter program?

Except that the one on Humble Bundle is the 2019 version, not the 2020 version, yes.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/painter-create-with-confidence?linkID=&mcID=102:5d8baa4b8ef0ef7253028552:ot:56c3d50d733462ca893e2dc9:1&utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019_09_25_painter_softwarebundle&linkID=&utm_content=cta_button

[PixelPest 320]

1 hour ago, Cecil said:

Are we talking about the same Painter program?

Not sure which one you mentioned when you said you're using it for many years already.

I wrote "Painter2019". Oh and the update is 179 to v2020.

[Cecil 206]

Tried to update mine, over $200.  The one Walt posted, I don’t know if I would trust that, no reason not to, just something doesn’t ring true.  Painter is outstanding, just too much $$$.

[PixelPest 320]

Got this email from corel today: http://links.email1-corel.com/YesConnect/HtmlMessagePreview?h1a4v9702ZWk8sO9kogDOoUahYd8eeFW4H4L16W-qp8=.enc

Can't tell if this will help you though.

Cheers

[Cecil 206]

6 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

Got this email from corel today: http://links.email1-corel.com/YesConnect/HtmlMessagePreview?h1a4v9702ZWk8sO9kogDOoUahYd8eeFW4H4L16W-qp8=.enc

Can't tell if this will help you though.

Cheers

I do thank you for link, like Adobe, no free upgrades to program.  Great program, without exception, for professional digital painters. When my Windows computer failed and I upgraded to macOS, I tried to get download of Mac version.  They offered 10 day trail link and upgrade $229, although I had valid license.

I did online review of Humble Software, take your pick, many unhappy campers.  I did not get I to the details but seems like a contribution subscription, may totally be wrong.  Thank you.

[SrPx 857]

 

On 10/12/2019 at 1:13 PM, walt.farrell said:

For illustration and concept art Affinity Designer might be better for you than Photo.

While is very, *very* rare for me to disagree with you, I have to, kindly, in this one. Photo is VERY similar in functionality to Adobe Photoshop, and trust me, there are legions of professionals working with it ( I have, for decades) for digital painting. Significant amount (if not massive majority) of concept artists in video game companies, with all the money that the industry handles... It is an indeed total requirement in most of the companies across many fields, so, if anything, you can indeed rebuild those workflows in Photo more likely than in the eye-candy traditional painting specialized tools. And than in Designer, actually, particularly, as you mentioned illustration and concept art. Concept art can be done "illustration style", or pure matte painting, or even just photo bashing. More often with a combination of techniques so that it is fast but looks well. For this, Photo beats ANY of the tools mentioned in the thread, except Photoshop. That said, I hate concept art conceived that way, am a full brush illustrator. But the industry uses that very heavily.  These is an overall focus in the matter too often not considered, while it's pure reality check. Even for "pure brush work", so to speak, the image correction, export, cmyk mode, large resolution allowed in PS/Photo, etc, are not "optional", are absolutely key.

You can totally paint with Affinity Photo, and I like quite more its raster brush system that Designer's vector-to-raster or textured vectors (or pixel persona), specially for the lower accuracy on the strokes when translated to vector. The pixel persona in Designer is great but limited compared to Photo, so, for that kind of use (raster illustration, digital painting in general, concept art for games or movies), is better all the way directly with Photo, as a global tool. So, sorry, but a +1 here to using Photo for actual painting, rather than Designer. Even if the actual developers were not intending it to be so... (sorry   ).

I'll speak in more detail about Photo and painting down below.

 

On 10/12/2019 at 2:13 PM, PixelPest said:

Painter2019 is 25 bucks on HumbleBundle right now.

Can such an expensive tool (Corel Painter) be offered for 25 bucks , an almost up to date version ? I mention it as every time I find such deals are well disguised ilegal versions. Like every single case I've checked (be it in ebay, amazon, or etc). All what is not an official distributor...

 

 

On 10/12/2019 at 2:13 PM, PixelPest said:

I highly recommend to try the different apps to get a feeling;

Yup, try always every tool, that's the key. An advice, video or written review is never enough.

On 10/12/2019 at 11:04 AM, Psych said:

Painter2019 is 25 bucks on HumbleBundle right now.

 

Quote

. I'm not a professional myself so I can't really come up with a solid argument against it or against the other software.

I'm a pro (since decades bring food to the plate by painting and illustration and doing other graphics tasks, and receiving constantly great feedback from authors and project owners, and bosses, if one can define all that as pro, somehow), I hope I can give you some advice.  To start that among the two, as I mentioned, I prefer Photo over Designer for digital painting, but consider that the brush system is not among the best ones for painting (but is definitely much better than some people think), there are some issues when painting zoomed out, and etc. I'm not as worried as others about it not being art-focused, as Corel Painter or Rebelle or Art Rage or etc are. As Photoshop has always done the deal greatly, specially among professionals. There is actually some polishing needed in the already existing functionality what would end up indeed putting it quite on pair with Photoshop for digital painting (not as some think, extra specific painting functionalities). And that's a LOT. (it is all what is really needed, trust me, a PS-like). While still not there, one can use it for painting in a digital paint style. I know as I have used Affinity Photo so. You need a pair of tricks, but is all solvable. So, if purchasing Photo, unless finding some issue with your particular tablet (but the trial period is there for trying that among other things) , yes, you should be totally able to do digital painting and illustration with it. Sorry to disagree with most people here (and probably in the whole forums) in this. But I know I'm right  .

Now... is it the BEST app for digital painting ? That is rather subjective. How is your work ? Some illustration work (if not most of it) needs so much basic image editing and export functionality at professional level (and text tools, supporting big canvases, CMYK mode for some prints, and etc) that indeed, this fact makes some of the eye-candy other apps useless. At some point, I had a workflow with certain companies where I did had (not today) a total need of working in CMYK mode (at least for the last stages), so, both the great Art Rage and Corel Painter (yeah, 2019 and yet no mode for that....    ) were/are out of the table. Corel has Corel PhotoPaint, though, which supports that mode, but u need to purchase the whole 700 bucks entire suite for that.

So... what's the option , then ? Well, as some mention, CSP is a great deal. BUT...! If you would want to take me as one of the many possible examples, I do heavily use both applications (and Designer, for graphic design) . The image editing and export capabilities in Affinity Photo are absolutely essential in any complex, serious workflow (that is, anything professional). I often draw and paint in CSP (I love its inks but also its way less known oil brushes, which are deeply good and versatile, while not trying to mimic oils at physic level like Rebelle, Art Rage, C. Painter, those very specialized/specific tools) but edit, tune and export in Photo, becoming the main tool in every workflow: In a complex workflows environment (like mine), having many projects, if I'd have to choose over having an overall tool like Photo, and a great painting/drawing tool (despite me being mostly an artist) like CSP (for drawing, IMO, is the best in the market) , I'd choose Photo every time, as is a "fine-for-all" deal, which is way more important than a lot of people think it is.

Luckily I don't (we don't) have to choose at all. I use a combo of CSP and Photo for all my digital painting, pixel art, comic works, 3D texturing, UI (depending on the case, I do this with Designer) works,  and etc. And for graphic design, I use a combination of Designer (doing in it a 98% of the work) and Inkscape (for a 2% of lacking features in Designer)). I use more tools, but those are my main combos, currently (used quite Krita in the recent past).

Quote

And if it is lacking, and needs more focus, are there any plans in the future to make it better?

This can only be replied by the developers, but they have done so, in quite many occasions, might be hard to find some of them, though.  In general, yes, there is planned since a bit long to be done a revamp of the brush system. As far as I understood,  it is planned to be also redone some thing that is related with precision while painting (sorry, I'm not a developer, so, don't focus on my ignorance on internals of the app and stuff) , as for example, there is a setting for tablet precision in preferences, but this is only a fix until they get all that reworked. It sounds to me as it'll take a very long time till any of those matters will be done or even retaken, and even more after that, polished to perfection so to be useful. So, my advice is to try Photo's painting, do your usual stuff as a real but fake project, do it to quite some depth or you wont catch your personal particular issues or glitches. And then, conclude if you can use it or not. I prefer to paint with CSP, but in some projects the back and force is too much hassle and then I paint directly in Photo, and it works. But yeah, in general, for someone doing concept art and illustration, I'd recommend something like Clip Studio Paint or Art Rage (really good one, and the mimicking of trad. media is amazing even if can't ever be perfect, if u have been a trad painter you'll notice) but always that you also get Photo, or you might have huge problems, if not directly in your matte painting, at least for preparing the file and many, many other situations, for the other apps being way to specific for your every day work.  You'll hit with obstacles in any real project pretty soon if not having Photo (or Photoshop in that regard, but I'm allergic to subscriptions).

Could you SOLELY use Affinity Photo for your digital painting ? Absolutely YES. Do I advice it ? I can't say... each person is different. Just give it a go to the several apps out there : for ONLY painting: CSP, Art Rage, Expresii, Rebelle, etc (sorry, I don't usually recommend the iPad or mobile in general). All these share the thing of being very affordable yet amazingly good in that specific use. But do yourself a favor and whichever you choose (unless you find you're happy enough in painting with Photo, it very well could happen) and get Photo as well. If you plan of doing something minimally complex, even if not being it technically a pro thing (aka, for the money or very advanced personal work). You will need Photo /PS.

( As a li'l background, as u mentioned you're seeking for opinions from pros, I have worked at 4 game companies, 6 others doing more a mixed thing of 3D/g. design/illustration/web coding, etc, and since quite some years, a full time freelancer, doing gigs in all my fields. This does not make my opinion any more valid than a hobbyist's one, anyway. But there are things you don't recon as issues until you face them).

EDIT: Very IMPORTANT. If you have in any distant future, even the remote idea of getting into the industry, getting a job in : Games, films, DTP design, advertizing agencies, 3D studios, even middle size, local film studios, architecture studios, etc, etc, do consider that your total must is to fully master Adobe suite (if possible the entire suite, meaning PS, AI, After Effects, InDesign, Premiere) as the one priority. Anything else is secondary. Not doing so and focusing on alternatives ONLY before having learnt to professional level that suite, is about the most silly thing you could make. You would heavily regret it. This does not mean you can't have Affinity for your personal and freelance work (indeed, the more UIs you master, your brain becomes more flexible and able to extract the general essence of 2D and 3D, and thus, making you a better pro).

[walt.farrell 4,009]

1 hour ago, SrPx said:

Can such an expensive tool (Corel Painter) be offered for 25 bucks , an almost up to date version ? I mention it as every time I find such deals are well disguised ilegal versions. Like every single case I've checked (be it in ebay, amazon, or etc). All what is not an official distributor...

In my experience the Humble Bundles are all legitimate. Generally the purchase price is split between Humble, the original product creator, and a couple of charities.

In this particular case, I have have received a product key from Humble along with the download, installed the Painter 2019 product, provided the product key to complete installation, and registered its purchase with Corel.

[Lagarto 571]

10 hours ago, SrPx said:

Can such an expensive tool (Corel Painter) be offered for 25 bucks , an almost up to date version ?

Just upgraded my 2018 version to 2020 at EUR 96 (VAT0), the USD price was a bit under 100, as well. It was an offer but directly from Corel. I think there was no strict version eligibility so the price would probably be the same even when upgrading from an earlier version. And it covers both Windows and macOS versions. 

[Cecil 206]

13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

In my experience the Humble Bundles are all legitimate. Generally the purchase price is split between Humble, the original product creator, and a couple of charities.

In this particular case, I have have received a product key from Humble along with the download, installed the Painter 2019 product, provided the product key to complete installation, and registered its purchase with Corel.

Walt did you have to subscribe, use Pay Pal or credit card? Your purchase has increase my attention to this offer for Painter 2019.

[walt.farrell 4,009]

5 minutes ago, Cecil said:

Walt did you have to subscribe, use Pay Pal or credit card? Your purchase has increase my attention to this offer for Painter 2019.

Most items in that Humble Bundle were perpetual licenses, including Painter 2019 and PaintShop Pro Ultimate 2020. A couple were 1-year subscriptions.

They take cards, PayPal, Amazon, or (iirc) Alipay.

[Cecil 206]

Walt my $25 lesson, totally my fault.

[SrPx 857]

10 hours ago, Lagarto said:

Just upgraded my 2018 version to 2020 at EUR 96 (VAT0), the USD price was a bit under 100, as well. It was an offer but directly from Corel. I think there was no strict version eligibility so the price would probably be the same even when upgrading from an earlier version. And it covers both Windows and macOS versions. 

It's a very nice deal for all what Corel Painter offers to digital painters, certainly. Still, the first time, not-being-a-client scenario, a bit steep yet (if direct from Corel) compared to Art Rage, Rebelle, etc, which are pretty good tools.

But nice to know they do offers to clients, like other companies (ie, serif).

[SrPx 857]

@Cecil  ...ouch....

[SrPx 857]

On 10/12/2019 at 2:13 PM, PixelPest said:

Painter2019 is 25 bucks on HumbleBundle right now.

Aside from everyone is ignoring the questioner asking about AP I highly recommend to try the different apps to get a feeling; get a decent briefing, watch one tutorial and try your way through the app one after another, make some notes on what you like and what not to get kind of comparison chart.

I guess you won't have much fun with a tool that has everything when it's too complicated to grasp/handle.

Just my 2ct of course.

Painter is not too complex for any pro at this. It's a joy, indeed. Although it hasn't got a bunch of functionalities in image editing (so, as an example, me as an illustrator, I need Photo and Designer no matter what. And often Inkscape, CSP, video tools, and a long etc. Some people (not here) spread the word that a tool like painter, art rage, or krita is just enough, and I'd agree only if it's a light hobby, otherwise, nope.)

Well, I didn't know about that site, good to know...seems legit. It's mostly partnerships for charities, and short time limited offers, seems to me, so, makes sense.

[Lagarto 571]

1 hour ago, Cecil said:

Walt my $25 lesson, totally my fault.

Which macOS? Have you ensured that this is not just a Gatekeeper issue? (Curious because I just installed the 2020 version on macOS Mojave, no problems.)

[Cecil 206]

8 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Which macOS? Have you ensured that this is not just a Gatekeeper issue? (Curious because I just installed the 2020 version on macOS Mojave, no problems.)

Catalina 10.15, I sent them, Humble a message; however, no reply.  Corel Painter 2019, on website is compabile, some issues with Sidecar and tablet.  I will wait and see if they do reply. I purchased using the Amazon link, hoping if I had a problem, they could or would assist.

[Cecil 206]

16 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Which macOS? Have you ensured that this is not just a Gatekeeper issue? (Curious because I just installed the 2020 version on macOS Mojave, no problems.)

I also had a Wacom 3 and older version of Painter.  They will not update driver to tablet to work on macOS, even Mojave did not work.  I verified this with their support staff.  Wacom and Corel both on my S list, that is the only reason I tried the Humble web link.

[R C-R 4,229]

14 hours ago, Cecil said:

Catalina 10.15, I sent them, Humble a message; however, no reply.  Corel Painter 2019, on website is compabile, some issues with Sidecar and tablet.  I will wait and see if they do reply. I purchased using the Amazon link, hoping if I had a problem, they could or would assist.

I had to dig around on the Humble Bundle website a bit but finally found this page in the support section. According to that, Corel Painter 2019 is compatible only with Mac OS versions OS X 10.11 through 10.13.

PhotoMirage, PaintShop Pro Ultimate, & Pinnacle Studio 23 Ultimate are windows only. ParticleShop is compatible only with Mac OS 10.10 through 10.12. Gravit Designer PRO is compatible with "Sierra or later" but it is listed as "1 year," whatever that means.

So from that it would seem that for most Mac users running any recent version of the Mac OS this bundle does not offer much.