Sorry for not posting art lately, that comic has kept me busy, anywayI figured I should share more about the tools I use to draw, so here they are.

Do tools matter when making art? Yes and no. A lot can be done with just a pencil and printer paper, but I still think tools of your choice do matter. I would be miserable without the “undo” button. Yet, I know some recommend digital artists to get art tablets with screens/displays, but I’ve managed without one. I bought one (I think it was Huion, it was under 200€) for my wifey and tried it, but it wasn’t for me. I did my first pieces with a mouse! Even drew a few comics like that! Wifey likes her screen tablet tho.

As for the art programs, I can’t really give recommendations. There’s a lot to choose from and you can get pretty good ones for free. I would recommend trying as many as you can and then choose. My wifey used SAI when she was younger, but nowadays she has Clip Studio Paint. My first art program was… Well… Paint, but after that I got Photoshop Elements, then I got my first tablet and it came with Manga Studio (now CSP)! I've seen people recommend Procreate (if you have a tablet), Krita (this one was not for me), Clip Studio Paint, PhotoPea and MediBang Paint.

With art programs comes brushes and even though I’ve bought way too many packs, you can get soooo many for free and they are just as good as the paid ones.

I forgot to draw one other program for this pic and it’s Lazy Nezumi. Due to my shaky hands, I need smoothing assistance and Lazy Nezumi is for it. Some art programs come with their own line smoothing tools, but I needed a separate one. It’s 28€ now, but I think I got it for like 12€… But it’s really useful and the newest version has a lot more features than what mine has.

I put the price estimates up, because I wanted to show how much I’ve spend on art stuff (not counting art school[s]). Didn’t add one to the program/app one because it depends on what you choose to use. My tablet might have been cheaper (the drawing area is about the size of an A5 paper.)


Finding the right tools is an adventure and I hope everyone finds the right tools for them!

Update: My laptop is actually not from 2010, it’s from 2015 (I think!). My previous laptop was from 2009! (I like laptops…)