Hello All.

I've noticed a few artists in ImagineFX magazine mention that their tools include both Photoshop and Painter.  At the present time I own Photoshop CS5 but never did own Painter and am wondering if I'm missing out on something there.  Why would someone need or want to use Painter if they already have Photoshop CS5? I'd like to hear from someone that is actually using both.

Just.. on the side with this.. sometimes, there will be a feature or operation that is more easily done in another app... also, at times, there is something that YOU can do more easily in a different program, simply because THAT particular feature/operation is more familiar to you in the other one. I find The Gimp to be useful when I want to manipulate alpha channel... true, I could use CS5 but The Gimp is more familiar when I am.

  have you ever used Illustrator? yes, I know, it's Vector Vs Raster, but you can see, even with the difference between the two that there are SOME things that you really should be able to do in, say, Illustrator, but have to do in PS.. and vice versa.

Hello archdruid.
Photoshop is one of my tools for working with digital art projects.  My other tools are Adobe After Effects, Cinema 4D, and Vue, to name a few.  In the past I have used Photoshop for post touch up work on 3D rendered scenes. This year I'm going to spend some time in exploring raw digital drawing / painting (art without the aid of 3d tools providing a base) with photoshop and Illulstrator.

So if you or anyone can point out what Corel Painter can offer in this area (raw digital drawing / painting) that would make it worth it to add it to my other tools then please do.  I am going to see if I can download Corel Painter today, hoping if I can find out as well but like most mature art products I suspect it will be filled with a huge list of features which will take more time than the trial period will provide to uncover. 

If you have Photoshop then painter will be of interest mainly for its natural media brushes, which go far beyond what PS offers. If you want a tool for retouching and colour adjustment then stick with PS - Painter will not offer anything useful for those tasks (it has features there, but they are not as usable as those in PS).

  Like RHaseltine says and, as well, what I was talking about.. there are features that can be useful to someone who needs it.

  Also, like I was saying, long familiarity with an app can go a long way to making it one that you want on your sys... mostly, just because you mastered some feature and are better at it with that one.

  Something that occurs to me... there is a GNU app called Ceasium, (I have no clue, why THAT name), it is available from Source Forge... if you don't know that website, I strongly recommend you browse through there. everything there is free to use with the regular GNU licence.. can't sell copies and so-on.

  Caesium is an app that does an excellent job of reducing file size while minimizing loss, which is inevitable with any reduction.. give it a try.

The brushes are amazing in Corel Painter. You can use oils, acrylics, watercolors, charcoals, crayons etc. It also has a great color mixer. You can also choose the canvas surface to paint on.

for me, it's the surfaces that painter has to offer (as dreamer pointed our) that steps it up from photoshop. i know you can scan different paper surfaces and PS even has canvas textures but the way painter interacts with the chosen surface while you are working fantastic.

scott

I have and use both, Painter has a larger set of brushes that give the appearance of natural media, it also has a set of effects, lighting and texture set which is great to create a different look,  although some of this can be replicated in photoshop, it is convenient to use both rather than develop the tools in one,  I can remember earlier on when I had several different programs for purposes of exploring different options, I have settled on painter and photoshop as my tools for the things I find useful.  It is like anything else the tools are that tools and they should fit your workflow...I have one or two effects/plug ins that I use for only one of themany effects simply because they are part of my toolbox...

Well, I tried to not answer this post but I couldn´t avoid it... hehehehhehehe... well, I use both painter and photoshop, I never used real oils or much of what is said that painter mimiks in real life, so I can´t say how good it is on that sense, I can say that I draw and paint doing stuff as an ilustrator... so I usually start drawing in painter and do the basic painting and blending, then I usually ended up moving to photoshop to finish the paint and wrapping it up... and it works for me... painter is really good to help with the drawing part of it, and photoshop is really good for the finishing stuff, like getting it all together and wrapping it up. Sooooooooooooo.... it all depends on what you do with what you have you know? Oh yeah I also use iluststudio when I have to deal with super perspectives ( like when I can´t get away with simple perspective)... anyhow I guess one can do everything with photoshop nowadays, but painter makes the drawing and inicial painting so much easier... so... in the end I´d tell you to get a trial and check it out, see if you like it and if it´s for you or not... and have fun.... I think archdruid got it right... 

well... have fun

vince

my blog: http://insanitariumenglish.blogspot.com.br/

Well Photoshop was created by photographers, with 'darkroom' technique stuff in mind. So at the root of it, it uses photographer jargon and had the expectation of mostly being an image editor.  All the other cool stuff has been added on over the years

Painter was created specifically as a painting tool for real media artists to get the real media experiance. the interface (used to be) simpler and the jargon is more artist than photographer.  ie  friskit vs mask

Why use both?  photoshops brush dynamics come close to painters real media brushes now, but they didnt used to.   So these days it comes down to easier and more comfortable. Some people like one, and some the other. While some find a certain tool works more to their liking here than there.

Lyrra

As many mensioned painter has beautiful brushes.

Well, between Photoshop and Painter, I believe it just depends on what you are more comfortable using. Maybe they use Painter because they are more used to it in some aspects than Photoshop. As for Photoshop and Illustrator comparison, it's a matter of which software specializes in some functions/purposes like Illustration is better for vector-based works than Photoshop. In the end, it all depends on the artist and what he does.

I use both Painter and PhotoShop - PhotoShop for photgraphy - adjustments, layers and effects. But I use Painter when I want to create a natural brush piece .... PS can apply a brush but it is not easily a 'brush' app. Painter is. So when I want to go at a Paint project using virtual brushes and a Wacom - I go at it.

The big reason many folks in ImagineFX switch back and forth is for specific toolsets that makes things easier.

Example: Start your drawing, then color washes, and painting the full image in Painter. You're done, right? No.

Save that image (TIF, PSD, dealer's choice, really) and bring it into Photoshop (PS). In PS you can do overall color adjustments, masked adjustment layers to hit large areas but not the whole thing (or the whole thing - change what you want to change), big changes, small changes, etc., adjustting tint, tone, color, and contrast.

This is what graphicnovel was getting at as far as "finishing". You can adjust individual colors or color sets - if you wanted your yellow brighter, the reds richer, the blues darker, etc. If the scales of the dragon were too low contrast you can punch them up REALLY fast with complete control - get the idea?

I hope this was helpful - enjoy painting!

-Lew

Your question has been thoroughly answered at this point. I'll underscore some of the previous comments as an update.

Photoshop has really improved its brush system, damn them, and so I often don't feel like I have to leave Photoshop as much as I used to go to Painter for the painterly effects.

For illustrations, graphic novels, storyboards I thought Painter was great for some of the spattering brushes. 

Image hose! 1001 uses.

The dynamics of following angle and your motion path were key attributes that PS didn't have back then. 

My work path has changed and I don't use those items as much anymore so Painter has fallen in the background. It's been a while since I put both to the test. Painter 10 is my current version.

I loved Painter and yet its PS type tools were clumsy. And yet, I also seem to remember one could import PS plug-ins.

I use both Photoshop and Painter. I also use Corel's Photo-paint. Each program has things it does best that the others don't do as well. I use painter when I REALLY want to paint. It gives me more controls over the color and the mixing of colors. Plus, I seem to work better with my Wacom in Painter than I do Photoshop. In Photo-paint, there are special effects and tweaks that I like. Most of my images aren't finished until they've gone through Photoshop and Painter, and often Photo-paint. For example I'm working on a cover for my B-movie book at the moment. I'm putting the image together in Photoshop. But because I need a particular style, I'll paint it in Painter where I can get that style. Then do the final tweaking in Photoshop. Most artists I know who do illustration use both programs. It's not about which program is best, but about expanding the tools you have to work with. I don't use Illustrator, but when I got the Corel graphics suite, it also gave me CorelDraw, which is essentially the same thing as Illustrator. The more tools I have to work with, the better the job I can do.