Hello everyone and sorry for the clumsy English done with Google translate and sorry for the question as I am very beginner in digital painting. What substantial differences can be found between Krita and proprietary software such as Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint or Affinity Foto? Does it affect the characteristics of the colors, the rendering of the brushes? is there a difference or not? I was wondering why I saw a tutorial by an artist who uses photoshop and creates beautiful animal images. The same artist also uses Krita and I saw that, perhaps ignorant, there is so much difference in the drawings. Is it my impression or not? thanks to all of you
1 Like
Can you give a link to that tutorial?
It may be that the artist was not familiar with krita.
1 Like
The artist is Aaron Blaise, someone I’ve been following for some time. Observing many of his drawings and tutorials I noticed that in my opinion, there is a lot of difference in the final result between one program and another. It is not a criticism indeed, just to understand a little how digital painting programs work. If indeed paid programs “help” the creativity of the design
In fact krita you can also pay, as long as you want, you can donate unlimited.
If the more I spend and the better I draw, maybe I should… 
The above is a joke, please don’t take it seriously.
- Different software does have different functions.
You can test the differences between different software by yourself. - Some features are unique to krita and not to other software.
This makes krita more difficult for users who are used to other software.
(They’re used to using krita the same way they use other software, even if some of krita’s features are better to use.) - The painting level has nothing to do with painting software. Excellent painting software can improve efficiency, but it cannot make people paint better.
- I also know that someone uses a certain software to draw very well, but what does this have to do with me?
Will this make me draw as good-looking as he does? - Please believe me, the painting software that suits you is the best.
Different people want different painting software, please choose the one that feels the best for you.
4 Likes
Not really. Creativity of the design is always dependent on the creativity of the artist. I’m sure you’ve seen terrible paintings or drawings done in Photoshop, right? And there are some amazing Krita artists like @Soma (https://www.artstation.com/somartist) and @yagrum (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChd8_Jf1ZQaTO5NFAm3lbmA) . (And note that Aaron Blaise is new to Krita so he might not know all of the advanced features yet, which is completely understandable).
There are differences, of course, between every art program out there. But whether it’s better or worse it depends on your purpose. What kind of style do you want to paint in? Anime, something looking like oil painting, watercolors, modern digital, photobashing, something else?
Right now one of the best painting software (so, direct rival of Krita) is Clip Studio Paint, not Photoshop, in my opinion. Photoshop was evidently made for photo editing, not long ago it still didn’t have brush stabilization, it has nothing like Colorize Mask, I don’t think it have any useful assistants and you have to draw by yourself any perspective vanishing point or grid you want to use, while Krita’s assistants are constantly getting better in that regard. Krita’s and CSP’s brush engines are much better than the Photoshop’s one, too. I think the only assistants system better than in Krita is in Lazy Nezumi, but that’s more of an addon which you can use with any program you like, including Krita.
Krita has some better features and CSP has some better features. Some of the brushes in Krita are better, wrap-around mode, I think, Colorize Mask is better than automatic filling options in CSP, especially if you take into account the work @deif_lou has done recently, Krita has better color management, I think in CSP CMYK is still a bit wonky. Krita has the popup palette. Possibly the multibrush functionality is unique to Krita, too. It’s a bit hard to tell because I don’t know 100% of CSP, and I don’t remember all Krita’s functionality, either. I know that not long ago CSP still didn’t have Liquify tool, but they added it recently, I think (Krita has it for a long time already).
Other programs have other advantages but it’s not linear, it’s not completely “the more you pay, more features you’ll get”. Some features are unique to programs, even to free or cheap ones.
Also usually you can get the same results in any programs you use, even MS Paint, more features usually mean less time to achieve a specific effect, not better effects, maaaybe except for some randomized smei-traditional brushes.
Btw @Eranthis_stellata 's joke about just spending lots of money donating to Krita to get results unachieveable in other, obviously cheaper programs, is gold 
8 Likes
Guys, thank you so much for your support. In fact, I really like Krita and being a newbie in digital painting I still don’t understand the limits and how it all works. You have been very thorough and thanks again and sorry for Google translate 
3 Likes
@anuki80 Aaron Blaise also made some piece in Krita closer to his “Photoshop style” than the one you mentionned 
6 Likes
Good question, I used to use different software (Corel Painter and Photoshop) before finding Krita and deciding it suited my needs better (put simply the costs of subscription and expensive software are not really worth it when compared to Krita or Clip Studio Paint in my opinion).
I try to keep an open mind of course and I try other software from time to time, but I use Krita 99% of the time these days and only use other software if there is a particular feature in them that I can’t use Krita for.
I wrote an article about my tests with painting software last year: Comparing Digital Painting Software with Parrots - The Art Squirrel
4 Likes
I don’t know PSP as paint program but I worked on CSP, PaintTool SAI2… I don’t think softwares make any difference in painting and drawing ability. I tend to show CSP to beginners as it’s very fast and quite simple to use with good ergonomy. But I prefer to work in Krita because I like the way the brushes are behaving -more natural for me. And for some professional coloring jobs, I cannot rely on CSP because it’s CYMK manaqement.
“Old people” like Photoshop because it was the reference program for a long time and, it seems to be the most complete program. But if you don’t need any specific only PSP functionality, alternative programs like Krita are excellent. And I know a lot of people who try to work on Procreate as it’s handy.
2 Likes
You’re absolutely right … the problem is of course mine and doing a personal analysis I find that my limits are many. As far as traditional drawing is concerned, I arrange myself, pencils, watercolors, oil and various other I can make beautiful drawings even if I am learning. I struggle with digital because it is very different from a pencil and a sheet of paper. Also I have an old 2007 notebook and a 2003 bamboo fan wacok … I will definitely try to make some money and upgrade the hardware. As for Krita I absolutely like it, I have been using Mint for a long time now and I use Gimpne RawT for photos … otherwise I don’t know Photoshop and the like because my philosophy is currently free software and donations to Linux. Thank you
1 Like
Maybe try to use some more traditional looking brushes? There are some nice graphite bundles out there, working with them in Krita should be somewhat similar to how they work in real life. The same goes for at least some oil-painting-looking brushes.
Fair warning, watercolor brushes in Krita gives you pretty watercolor effects but the technique is of course completely different. But sticking to oil painting, chalks, graphites, pencils etc. should be enough to feel somewhat familiar and maybe make a few nice looking drawings/paintings
3 Likes
I’m sorry I didn’t read much of the topic, just reacting to the original post (giving my 2 cents about render difference induced by the software):
If someone is not used to the gymnastics of braking habits (which is mostly what happens when changing soft). Then he will need time to get past the discomfort of not finding his workspace, shortcuts, brushes and blah and that could affect the first results (when you feel frustrated and can’t focus…).
Aaron Blaise, unlike the numerous traditional medias he masters (he can do whatever you want with whatever is in his hands), doesn’t usually switch software. I don’t think he enjoys changing software every once in a while.
Apterus on the other hand is just the opposite. He used to swap software every year or so…he has used a lot of them (recorded) and the result is absolutely consistent (funny for the most unpredictable artist out there). You can even see him use a mix of software for the same painting sometimes (painter + photoshop for “retouche” for example)…
1 Like
Thank you so much guys, Krita I love it. I only lack practice and a lot of study but I will use this significant program. Thank you all
1 Like