Which drawing program do you use for your digital art?

I use illustrator. I use it to originate vectors and I'll also trace my hand-drawn illustrations. Photoshop is basically editing software, used to touch up images and alter them. Though it has some merit as origination software, it takes a lot of mastery to do it well. Most illustrators I've used work by hand and scan or use graphics pads with corel draw and illustrator.

A bit late to the discussion here and I am very much an amateur - mainly doing some images for a video game I'm working on - but Paint.net is my go-to program. It may be a bit limited compared to other premium products but after using MS Paint for years like the poor bloke I am, I discovered the free .net and it's been lovely. Layers, shading, stylization effects, it's great for the 2D manga/anime style I'm going for.

Evan as an amateur, I do like to have a selection of programs available to me. I think that it is a case of having the right tools for the job and, usually, one is not enough. My graphics programs consist of Photoshop Elements, GIMP, Clip Studio (formerly Manga Studio), InkScape, Artrage, PostWorkShop Pro 3, Poser, and Carrara. I know that 3d software is a little frowned on for covers but it can be very handy and, in any case, I work hard to ensure it doesn't look like 3d.

I don't think that it is enough to have just the right tools though - the right resources are just as important. I suppose my biggest bugbear in book cover design these days is the use of fonts. Not just having the right fonts but also having software that will allow to work with it properly (GIMP is actually rather good at that now).

Of late, I have been experimenting with re-creating the look of pulpy mass-market paperbacks. This means a work flow that largely consists of Poser, GIMP/PSE, Artrage, and then back to GIMP. I'm a big advocate of Artrage as it can do a fantastic job of turning a 3d render or photo into a faux painting - it's not an automated process though, so you do have to do the work but it produces the right results (and has the virtue of being much cheaper than Corel's Painter and much, much easier to use).

R.Barrows said:

PaintShop Pro user, because it's cheap and simple. Unfortunately it's also become as buggy as Hell. I'm considering Photoshop, but I don't 'really' want to learn it since I've been using PSP for fifteen years. If it only quit crashing all the time, I'd be fine with it. I really need another solution.

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Are you using an old version? I was married to my PSP8, but it started crashing during crop in Win7 and became unusable in Win8. I finally switched up to PSP7X, it wasn't much of an adjustment for me, and I got it on sale for like 25 bucks. Worth the switch if that is your problem.

That said, I use a combination of Pixlr online and PSP7X. Here's a cover I did last night. Keep in mind I'm a writer, not a cover artist. I still have some tweaking to do with the text, but I'm really pleased with how the art turned out.

I downloaded Krita, but then remembered I need to learn how to draw first. I'm learning graohic design and don't want to shell out 100+ dollars for a weird program, so I'm using pixlr. I have hit a wall and haven't made anything, but I'm oushing through. Krita is great and seems to be really well made. I also have to admit, I love the free price tag on it too!

I'm using an old version on PSP too. I have a friend who does some design work for me and is getting better at letting me have some creative input. I also use an online cover service and have tried freelancers, but it was an enormous waste of money.

I use a really old version of Photoshop - version 7. I used to teach it, so I know a few tricks.
I agree, it's not ideal origination software, but sometimes you can come up with something really beautiful.

Used to use Photoshop. Now use Paint.net, which is free.

I use photoshop for everything and have used it for years and years. Sometimes I'll hop into Illustrator for logo work, but it's mostly photoshop!

For me, Corel Draw is my go-to and has been pretty much forever. Vector graphics based, but does much more—it's pretty much a one-stop shop (more versatile than Adobe Illustrator, in my opinion). For the occasional quick photo editing, I do have GIMP.

I love Coreldraw, been using it since version 2.0 for Windows 3.11. Comes with Photopaint so I used to use that for everything.

When I bought a Wacom tablet a few years ago it came with Photoshop Elements 9.0 and that's what I've been using ever since.

Still a beginner, gradually learning techniques etc but I love taking a couple of days off from writing to just draw.

I draw in Clip Studio Paint (this often goes on sale for like, around $20 and it's GREAT to draw in with a tablet, lots of brush flexibility, it's honestly superior to Photoshop in many ways) with a Wacom Cintiq 12wx. I use Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC for other appropriate tasks. I only recently upgraded from CS4, and I can say that Illustrator is REEMS better, and Photoshop has a few things I like better and a few things I don't like, and the brush stuff is way different, so I haven't had the chance to muck around.

Clip Studio Paint / Manga Studio. Totally worth it if you have a tablet and do digital art. It's aimed for comic creators, but it's the best cheap program I've worked with, and I consider it indispensable for its ink pen stabilization. Doesn't get enough love! Not a graphic design program, but great for the illustrative work.

I just bought Corel Painter Essentials 6 thanks the the Humble Bundle but I usually use Opercanvas 6 for the super crisp lines, and Photoshop for colouring.

I've been ignoring art in favour of writing and am slowly getting back into it.

See?

GIMP, Pixeluvo and Inkscape for vectors

JoeSlucher said:

Paintstorm Studio!

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That Paintstorm Studio looks pretty nice for nineteen bucks. I may have to try that out.

The OP mentioned Krita—it's okay, if you're looking for a free app I MediBang Paint Pro isn't bad. Neither one is as good as some of the paid apps, but that one's all right. There's also FireAlcapa.

Truthfully, I've been getting interested in Affinity Photo. It looks like the first serious competition for Photoshop to come out in a while, and it's $50 one-time. I think it might be time to give it a try. https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/

Photoshop and Illustrator

I did my covers on GIMP and I'll be sticking with it. It's free and it has tools comparable to photoshop.

Photoshop hands down.

Keira has been getting lots of praise though, so I'd say it's worth a try.

No one using an android platform?

Photoshop and Illustrator.

Jeff

I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 myself for all my artwork.
Was lucky enough to get that for my 15th Birthday - which seems like a looooong time ago.

Thank God my pics don't look THAT bad anymore, lol. XD

I use Krita, GIMP, Inkscape. Recently, I have been learning to use 3d art programs so Blender has entered my repertoire.

I prefer using SAI, my siblings are more fond of using traditional media and the Photoshop Series. I know of and trialed Manga Studio, Fire Alpaca and Inkscape. I used to love plain pencil on paper but now i just feel bad for trees.

This one isn't an art program persay, but it helps with perspective, proportions and creating Dynamic poses over static ones. It's a 3d modeling tool with pre-set sliders for you to mess with called DesignDoll



Unfortunately you can't Save or Load files in the free version, but that's what screenshots are for. Have fun~!
http://terawell.net/terawell/?page_id=56


Here's a pose I did for fun

My team always use AdobePhotoshop. There are a lot of free guides on YouTube which are helpful in learning Photoshop. Also, this software allows to use a lot of different effects and create amazing detailed designs.

Oh God, how can you people use Illustrator? It's made by deamons . . .

In all seriousness, illustrator is good for typography and stuff, but I find Photoshop has everything you need. Corel painter is good, but like, it crashes so much.