[mikajomc]

My birthday is coming up and I am considering Painter Essentials 4.

I currently use Photoshop CS2. I also have Deep Paint and Painter Essentials 2. PE2 came with my Wacom. I haven't liked it very much. I seem to do much better with Photoshop. Every time I read about some technique to try with either Painter or Painter Essentials, my version doesn't seem to be able to do it.

I'm wondering if upgrading to PE4 would be more usable or should I just stick with Photoshop. If anyone could share their good or bad experience with PE4 that would be great.
Or if you have any other suggestions for fun digital painting things I could ask for instead
Thanks!!

[Ted D.]

Originally Posted by mikajomc

My birthday is coming up and I am considering Painter Essentials 4.

I currently use Photoshop CS2. I also have Deep Paint and Painter Essentials 2. PE2 came with my Wacom. I haven't liked it very much. I seem to do much better with Photoshop. Every time I read about some technique to try with either Painter or Painter Essentials, my version doesn't seem to be able to do it.

I'm wondering if upgrading to PE4 would be more usable or should I just stick with Photoshop. If anyone could share their good or bad experience with PE4 that would be great.
Or if you have any other suggestions for fun digital painting things I could ask for instead
Thanks!!

The interface for PE 4 is better than previous versions - more intuitive. You might also look at Art Rage. I think it may be a case of your preference or what you have got comfortable with.

[Steve Conway]

Sounds like you already have experience working with brushes from scratch. I have Painter Essentials 4 and have yet to come up with anything I consider good. I work with the auto paint part of it as I am not a brush and palette person.

I have tried every brush combination, and light combination, and style combination, you can imagine, and have come up with nothing but a smeary mess. For auto painting, I recommend Gertrudis pro.

Steve C.

[mikajomc]

That's the kind of info on PE4 I'm looking for Steve, thanks.

I'm trying out Gertrudis and find it interesting. But in some ways it seems very similar to Photoshop's art history brush. Or am I missing something? Maybe Gertrudis is more flexible than I'm giving it credit for. What do you think it's strengths and weaknesses are?

Thanks for your input!

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by mikajomc

That's the kind of info on PE4 I'm looking for Steve, thanks.

I'm trying out Gertrudis and find it interesting. But in some ways it seems very similar to Photoshop's art history brush. Or am I missing something? Maybe Gertrudis is more flexible than I'm giving it credit for. What do you think it's strengths and weaknesses are?

Thanks for your input!

Strengths and weaknesses......well, strengths: ease of use, versatility(many ways to change brushes and the way they lay on paint.) Ability to use several of these brushes on the same image, ability to change colors of the brushes, full screen painting, these come to mind as I am trying to come up with why I like the program. Cost might be another consideration. It's very reasonable for what it does. And I like to combine some of the painterly effects I get using Gert with various plugins to come up with an entirely new look.

As for weaknesses, I haven't found many. Maybe more brushes are needed, or more styles. Stay tuned, a new version is in the works as we speak, and it's got some nice new features. Even if you buy now you get a good discount for upgrading. The new version has not been scheduled for release yet. It's still in beta.

The attached was done in Gert with 5 different brush styles. I used the default brush and settings in each, but as you may have seen, you can change brushes in each style if you wish, and also change to other settings in each.

Steve C.