In England PSPX is far cheaper than any of the others,and great value for money. I would recommend
{{!gwi}}

Hi pls8xx,
As Stardom says, it is far less expensive than the others (even in th US)....I have Photoshop Elements 2---- got it as a gift and had ULead's PhotoImpact, but if you love animation, PSP is the way to go, in my opinion!!

Thanks for the replies. The reason I ask is that I have been thinking about going back to an old hobby, art. Years ago I enjoyed going to some of my favorite places and painting the landscape, oil on canvass.

This time around I'm wondering if I could do it all on the computer. No supplies to buy, no waiting for the weather and light to be just right. No paint on clothes or furniture, no clean up to do.

What I used to do ....

{{gwi:49302}}

Before I get too far, I'd like to get the best software tools. Something that mimics the way oils work.

Pls8xx,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful artwork.
PSP allows you to "smear" & soften etc.

RULES!

Like mentioned above, it is the cheapest which does what one could want to have do, besides FUN!

Urlee

Your artwork is beautiful. You are very talented. Thanks for sharing. Charlene

Thank you, thank you. Your words are much too kind. No doubt the art world would find my painting amateurish. But I paint for my own enjoyment, so it doesn't matter.

I think urlee homed in on the most important feature needed, the ability to "smear" or blend the color, to push or pull the paint.

I went to the Corel site to look at PSP. It wasn't very helpful to understand what features would be available or how the "feel" would be. Is it limited to 16 bit high color and would this be a shortfall from 24 bit true color?

I'm almost certain there is gonna be a trade off between the power and number of features compared with simplicity of use.

I've had PhotoImpact for years, but my use of the painting features has been very limited. It does work with 24 bit true color. If it has a problem, it is with the complexity of the brush tools. There are so many parameters!

Select from paint brush, pencil, chalk, or one of the many offered. Set the size and shape of brush. If the shape is oval or flat you might want to turn the brush to any angle wanted. Will the color be opaque or some percent of transparency. Use a hard edge or blend with adjoining color, how much blending. Load the brush with one color or multiple colors. Freehand or straight lines. Use a texture file to control pattern of paint applied.

It's all just soooo complicated. But if I go with something more simple, will there come a time when I wish I had all those features?

I'm in the process of giving it a try with PhotoImpact. I googled up a photo to use as a model. A work in progress ....

Here is just some of what PSP does.
I think Joy could better answer the abilities towards paintings that you could do with PSP if she see this post.

{{!gwi}}

Pls8xx....
If you want to paint from scratch, I really don't think PSP is what you want. It works great for altering a photo, but, not great for painting from scratch. I use PSP X and can make a photo look like it's painted, but, not starting with a blank canvas (could be lack of talent).

ArtRage.....free program (starts with a blank canvas)
ArtRage 2...$19.95

Also, Google 'ArtRage' you will find more information.

Check-out...Deep Paint and...
Corel Painter V
I think this one requires a photo, not sure, have seen some beautiful work done with Corel's Painter.

Joy

Here is a link that might be useful: ArtRage

I'm baffled. Why would you want to 'paint' on a computer? Photoshop is fantastic for image manipulation, but the best thing for painting is canvas and a palette knife, or rice paper and a brush, or whatever else gets your hands dirty in the best possible way.

When photography was new, photographers tried their hardest to emulate the great painters. Eventually the medium found its feet and photography became an art of its own. Now painters try to emulate photography again. Hilarious.

urlee,

Thanks for the screenshot. PSP looks a lot like PhotoImpact with many of the same named paint tools and features. Since I'm already somewhat familiar with PI, I doubt it would be worth the re-learning to make a swap to PSP.

Joy,

Thanks for the links. I downloaded the free version of ArtRage. It has a much better feel for what real painting is like. And not near so complicated as a photo editor. But it lacks some of the useful tools of aplying color found in PhotoImpact. You really need to get a tablet and pen to effectively use ArtRage, a mouse ain't gonna cut it. ArtRage hosts a nice forum for people doing art on a computer. It's a big help to see how others are using the software. It looks like they have a lot of fun.

I also downloaded Deep Paint. Though offered as a plug-in, it works as a stand alone. It reminded me of a very jazzed up version of the old MS Paint. People who want something for free might combine the use of ArtRage and Deep Paint. Though it would be a little unhandy to swap your work back and forth between the two, it's probably about as good as it gets for freeware.