It’s the second time I decided to appeal help to the community, and I would like to share a bit about my current situation:
The tablet I use: Xiaomi 6S pro, without a stylus.
I am new to this application, the second time trying on this application so I go though some of the menus but it’s like GitHub, very user unfriendly so I didn’t check on them very much.
If other information required, please ask me down below.
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The menus are not user-unfriendly, they are just dedicated and have functions to provide. Krita, including the version for Android, is a professional graphics software and as such has a huge number of functions.
However, if you just want to paint or draw a little, you can start without the menus, but if you use them, they open up unimagined possibilities. The thing is, you have to acquire it, learn it and show commitment, the really powerful functions won’t just fall into your lap, they have to be learned. And the learning curve can be steep.
In the beginning, you will probably want to look up many things and can do it via a hit on F1 (if you have a keyboard for your tablet) which will open Krita’s well written manual for you, that you also find via this link where you could download it as an e-book in EPUB format, or, if you like it better as PDF, you can get it out of my cloud. Both, EPUB and PDF are in English, but using a translator like DeepL.com or others will help you with those passages where you may have issues to understand it.
For the “standard process of painting”, you should make yourself familiar with Krita’s interface first. Maybe you open every menu and see which options it offers, which, as it seems, you are already doing, then you can look up those points you do not understand or find interesting, at least that was the way I once took to make myself familiar with this massive tool, because Krita is a behemoth under the hood, with so many options that it would take month’s to describe them all at least in short.
Krita has two very important things, on the one hand it’s so-called “Toolbox”, that is where you can select the Freehand Brush Tool, the Text Tool, and all the other tools, and their main counterpart allowing to fine tune any of the tools you select in Krita’s Toolbox, that is the so-called “Tool Options”-Docker and you can find it, in a fresh installed Krita, on the tab under the Color Selector in the upper right corner of Krita.
I would say, you should just begin and see where it takes you, and in case of specific questions use our forum to ask them. But do not expect the functions falling from heaven, you have to discover them, try things out, play around.
Michelist
Most of the brush presets use pressure or other stylus sensors to work properly, without a stylus that supports them, you won’t get very much out of it. A stylus is needed to utilize them to the fullest. Otherwise it’s like having a car but only pushing it instead of driving with the engine on.
Yes, the stylus is probably the most valuable tool of digital artists, but we have users here in the forum that do anything exclusively with a mouse, @KRITAKOUGAR for example (but he isn’t the only one, he’s only the one who came to mind), and these artists prove that amazing artworks are very possible without a stylus.
But I have to admit, that a stylus can make many things far easier and there are things that can only be achieved with much more effort put into that particular piece if you’ll try them only using a mouse. And although I’m hardly able to use a stylus with presentable results these days, there are things I will always try doing using my stylus.
A stylus will most likely raise your rate of productivity, because it allows a more natural way of painting, maybe you did a stroke with varying pressure using some oil brushes, so something giving thick impasto impression, that is time you can save using a stylus, because you do not need to recreate such a stroke with a mouse, which would be complex and time-consuming.
Michelist
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If your tablet supports painting with your finger (or a passive stylus that you can buy for a couple of dollars) you can use Krita. Your brushes will register 100% pressure at all times.
Are you asking about the Android version of Krita? I use it all the time without a stylus.
There are brushes that will not work at all and some will work but not as expected because the results are based on pressure signals. I went through my brushes and tagged all the ones that work well with finger painting and I only use those. I say “only” but there are lots and lots.
You can have fun without a stylus but it will take some adjustments on your part. Krita isn’t made for this type of use.
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You can also try pixel art! No stylus needed, no pressure needed. We do all our pixel art with a mouse, personally.
Also very little manual dexterity needed, if you work at small sizes. Just a good eye for where to place pixels.
– Frost
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Yeah, I better just stick with IBIS paint afterall… None pen works when I try to draw and that brush indicator just always froze where I pressed when I try I make a troke.
Thanks alot. I know pixil art and I work with it since when I like 12 or something. Still a great tool of expressing your creativity and emotions!
Just now I don’t usually spend too many time on it and I am more focus on a much bigger canvas.
(Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, english is not my mother tone but I tried!)
Unfortunately I can’t find any stylus that might fit my tablet so I think I have to stick with other choices. I know Krita is for experts and might get very difficult to setup in the first place.
Also in addition, I have literal no budget can afford a stylus at the moment and the earliest I might have a chance is like half-year later so unfortunately I have to drop Krita in the begging since it’s obviously not for some artists without a styles. I blieve this applications have unlimited possibilities but simply, too many thing is ahead of me to be discovered and to be learned enough I can control this thing. Especially the fact It’s english and I can’t find any langue switching button which is quite irritating.
I have done some digging but I prefers something that is more easy like IBIS for exp.
(Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my mother tone.)
Thanks for the helps and the references. I get what you mean and I appreciate it very much. It’s just the fact that I can find and afford any Stylus at the moment because my wallet is literally thinner than a school lunch pizza slice. So yeah… I am sorry but unfortunately I have to say I have to drop out Krita at the begging since it just didn’t seems for me at the moment eventhough it’s free to use.
Thanks alot for the support. And now I am aware of my current situation.
Dr-MaxMillian (DevinatArt)
It is in the settings menu under “Switch Application Language”, which I can see in the screenshots of Krita for Android, that you can find in the Play Store. I would be very astonished if Krita for Android would not have it, so maybe you weren’t looking properly!?
But perhaps other Krita for Android users can point you to the correct menu for setting the language if I were wrong.
Furthermore, I did not say you need a stylus, only that you need (sometimes much) more effort for certain effects. Take a look at this portfolio, where every picture was made only using a mouse. And here are many pictures painted only using a finger or an inexpensive stylus without pressure (these cost only a few dollars, I’ve got a few very good pressureless pens for under $2 each).
The thing is, you can paint without a stylus, but you have to do some things differently, and that can be time-consuming. But sometimes I have the impression that young people are too quick to throw in the towel and give up without even trying, too quick to say “that’s not possible”, “that’s too complicated”, “I can’t do that” and also read too superficially, because I didn’t write that you need a stylus, just that a stylus makes some things easier.
Or to put it another way: working without a stylus may mean more effort, but it’s by no means less satisfying to draw with your finger, probably even more satisfying if you create a great picture with it, according to the motto: “With a stylus? Anyone can do that, I drew it with my finger!”
Michelist
2 Likes
But none of the brush even worked when I try to make a stroke? That brush indicator just freezes at where I pressed and it didn’t follow as my finger glides over the screen too. Is something wrong?
I can say I got this application new and barely touched it, there is no way that I accidentally did anything wrong or something that I have to redownload, maybe???
Try the b) Basic-1, that brush needs no pressure. If you can not paint with that brush, then create a screenshot of your complete Krita window (don’t cut anything of that belongs to Krita) and upload it to the forum (the maximum size the forum accepts is 3MB (no photo with your cell-phone¹)), with open Layers Docker and Tool Options Docker, while the brush is selected.
Michelist
¹Step 1. Navigate to the screen that you want to capture.
Step 2. Press the Power button and the Volume Down button simultaneously.
There, this is the screen shot. Hope that is what you asked for?
Dr-MaxMillian (DeviantArt) {2024.10.15/19:25:00 [UTC+2]}
OH WAIT!!! SORRY MY BAD! I FORGOT TO SELECT LAYERS TO DRAW!!!
I DIDN’T KNOW I HAVE TO SELECT LAYERS FIRST!
THANKS ALOT!
I am kind of used to ibis paint which is it usually select default layer for you already.
Thanks again! Now I can draw without any problems!
Dr-MaxMillian (DeviantArt) {2024.10.15/19:30:00 [UTC+2]}
4 Likes
As is so often the case in life, as soon as you start to do something right, things start to work.
I’m happy that you found the culprit, and if you had posted a screenshot of your setup right with your first topic, you would be already painting…
I wish you much fun with Krita, and always happy painting!
Michelist
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