I've been playing with my new Christmas toy this week. It's called ArtRage...a digital painting, drawing, collage program by Ambient Design.
I had my eye on Corel Paint, but it's a little expensive. One day while searching for paint programs I found ArtRage and downloaded the free trial version for Macs. After a few minutes...I was in love!!
I painted this zinnia with ArtRage and it's almost as much fun as painting in oils...only without the fumes! The brushes wiggle back and forth like real brushes and the paint has visible brushstrokes if you want them. If you don't you can turn the strokes off. The program is very intuitive with more settings and preferences than you'll ever use.
You can paint in oil or watercolor, use pencil or inkpen, felt markers, crayon, airbrush, paint tube, glitter tube, chalk, paint roller, palette knife, or gloop pen.
ArtRage works in layers like Photoshop.This feature allowed me to paint the background, blossom and stem each on separate layers. It really comes in handy when you want to erase or change something without disturbing the whole picture. You can also turn layers off and on with a mouse click. This give you the freedom to try something completely different without losing what you've already done. It makes it a lot easier to forget about the finished product and just play!
If you've always wanted to get into digital art... check out the ArtRage website to discover the infinite possibilities. You'll also need one more thing...a Wacom tablet to make drawing and painting easier. The new Wacom Bamboo Fun has the touch features of an iPhone as well as a pen for drawing and painting.
There are so many fun ways be creative! Whether your choice is hi-tech or simply pencil and paper...try adding a little art to your life each day!
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