Paint Tool SAI : Affordable Art Software
By Kelly | March 13, 2010
Everytime I post a Photoshop tutorial, there are loads of comments complaining, “I don’t have Photoshop! It’s too expensive!” You can get a student version of PS for a reduced price, but it’s still pretty steep if you are a poor student or don’t plan on being a professional artist. Well, I feel your pain.
In addition to the free Open Canvas beta, I use another Japanese art program called Paint Tool SAI (or Easy Paint Tool SAI, or SAI Paint Tools). Unlike Photoshop, this software is designed specifically for digital art and illustration. It’s affordable too – the cost is around $50 US. SAI is my go-to program for digital inking, for example see Chapter 3 from my Roza webcomic.
Roza panel, inked with SAI
Paint Tool SAI: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Loads almost instantly
- Preview PSD thumbnails in file browser
- Customizable brushes
- Customizable hotkeys
- Smart color blending
- Load and save PSD files
- Can load corrupted PSD files
- Brush smoothing option
- Magic wand tool is more accurate
Cons:
- Can’t load very large image files
- No support for fonts or text
- Less brush options than PS
- Max brush size is not that big
- No gradients, vectors in v1.0.1
- Fewer layer blending options and color adjustments than PS
As you can see, most of the cons are things that SAI lacks compared to Photoshop. For a program that’s less than 1/10th the price, it’s not that bad at all. There are other cool SAI features I haven’t mentioned, but here I’ll focus on my primary use: digital inking.
Inking with SAI
The SAI interface is fairly intuitive
For basic inking, you just need to find the following:
1. Adjust smoothing – makes your lines less wobbly. I usually set it between 5 and 9.
2. Pen tool – the default works fine for me
3. Layers – similar to most image editing software, add new layers and adjust opacity here
4. Brush size – adjust here to presets, or use the slider or hotkeys to scale more gradually
Once your art is inked, you can easily color with SAI or another program that supports PSD.
Please note that in the example above, I’ve customized the placement and settings for the control panels. You’ll find them pretty easily and can arrange them however suits you.
Conclusion
I’ve used SAI mostly for inking, so there are plenty of other features I’m skipping over here. Still I’m confident that this software will do most of what any artist needs, and at a very good price.
If you’d like to give it a try, there’s a free 30 day demo.
Happy painting!
Topics: Digital tutorials, Resources | 18 Comments »
August 25th, 2010 at 5:49 am
AWESOME SOFTWARE!!! Definitely going to get one
August 17th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Thank you for the tutorial. Are you going to be writing a fresh Flash tutorial any time soon?
August 1st, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Hi! I used GIMP (both Linux & Win version) it’s very similar to PhotoShop.
It work pretty well ;-)… and IT’S TOTALLY FREE! :-D
July 28th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Awsome What about UK Programs? xDDDDDDD
July 15th, 2010 at 7:39 am
I love working with SAI, especially the per brush customisable pressure settings and the vector ink brush.
It takes some getting used to since it works quite different from photoshop, but it’s well worth the price & effort.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Potato Stapler: yeah, it’s PC only, but there are emulators you can run on a mac to vicariously run PC programs.
I have no idea why everybody thinks SAI is better for lineart: it is capable of the exact same things as photoshop where that’s concerned unless you use the lineart layers (which I admit are nifty, But I never found them too practical)
Sai’s REAL advantages are:
A) insanely intuitive hotkeys for zoom and canvas rotate (which is a massive help, BTW)
B) the smart blending and blending options available in the brush and watercolor tools.
Believe me: unless you’re doing cel-shading ONLY (or photomanipulation), SAI is more intuitive, simpler, cleaner, and the end result is simply, undeniably, higher quality art.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:03 am
I know its probably blaringly obvious, but I just didn’t see it. . . or I’m stupid, but is it windows only compatible? or Mac to?
May 14th, 2010 at 8:42 am
I prefer using freeware, because I’m not that swell at drawign on the computer. Thanks for telling us about Open Canvas!