Since I'm inclined to buy every paint program in existence but have a limited budget, I was wondering if Smith Micro's 'ArtRage' has any features I don't already have. How does it compare to Painter? Are the pencils, oils, etc, of high quality?

Dunno artrage , but GIMP and Photofiltre are both ok and FREE .

I know Artrage I have it I don't really use it a whole lot but to me the pencil drawing feature and the Airbrush feature can't be beat it is so realistic. I have Airbrushed and Drawn for years and it is so true to life it also has layers to import PSD or Tiff files, A tracing pad feature etc.... Cool tool have had it for a couple of years now 

I picked it up when they sent the email around and yeah it's a lot more like Painter than Photoshop. "Natural" art tools like brush, pallet knife etc. and materials like oilpaint, pencils, markers etc.

It's NOT a Photoshop or Corel draw program. Using it is more like traditional painting, so you have to approach it a little differently. Having the ability to create layers is a plus over the traditional methods, as is the fact that you can impport a picture to "trace"... by hand not like Corel's trace function. Depending on your skill you can get a decent "simulated" painting with a bit of work. If you have a graphics pad you can get more out of it than a mouse IMHO.

In all it;s a decent electronic substitute for traditional painting, for the money. I don;t thikn it;s for everybody. If you're looking to create photo realism or to souch up photos or even 3D renders it's probably not going to be much use to you. But if you've thought of doing oil, waterpaints, or pastels, it might be worth a go.

Letterworks said all... you cant use artrage for postwork and effects in image, its a traditional draw paint software, and isnt from SmithMicro:

http://www.ambientdesign.com/

In the Ambient Design you can get the free version to try yourself.

ArtRage sounds like what I’d like, virtual art equipment for free hand on pressure tablet. I’ll download the demo to see how the tools compare to Painter 9.5.  

Thanks.

markschum, GIMP is more than just "ok", its the best thing since sliced bread....and its free !

GIMP is a software? Never heard of it will look it up

Attached Link: GIMP

I 2nd that.

The interface take a little bit getting used to, but has everything you need.... well it has everything I need anyway =P

Attached Link: http://www.gimp.org

Quote - Freeware photoshop.

Better than Freeware, its Open Source!

ArtRage has a free starter edition you can try. It is the best paint program ever. I never use my expensive Painter ever now. ArtRage has some tools I do not love... the marker doesn't work well and there is no watercolor but in every other regard it is superior to Painter in every way and the brush strokes render hugely faster and more realistic.

Cloning from photos is much better too since it doesn't lay down the matching pixels but just samples the color dynamically from the source.

I use Photoshop for watercolor style using layer methods and layer styles but for every other kind of digital painting I use ArtRage. I can not recommend this software strongly enough... once you get going with the stylus you forget you are not making a real oil painting.

The pencil is also the best out there.

The only thing I really miss from Painter or some of the ink pens and those watercolors but really ArtRage is vastly superior. I just wish I could run my old Painter 5 on my current machine for the watercolors... I think Painter 5.5 was the best version of that program. Now that ArtRage supports layer methods I should see if I can use those to obtain the watercolor effect I want.

Anyway, you should try the starter edition available from the designer at Ambient Designs since it is not hobbled or crippled, just lacking is some features like stencils etc.