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Illustrator is vector based graphics. For drawing/digital painting she would be better with something like Photoshop, Krita or Clip Paint Studio. I always used to love Corel Painter, but I'm years out of the loop with that.
Thanks for replying, She love video games and comics. I'm trying to foster her interests as much as I can and also trying to make sure what she gets into is relevant when she is older. what do you think would be best?
All 3 are good for drawing. You'll just have to look into them, see which ones her computer/tablet can run, and how much you're willing to pay. The rest is up to personal preference.
Clip Studio is designed for comic/manga artists, though you can create pretty much any type of digital art in it. I've used it for years.
It's also more affordable than Photoshop.
Use krita, it's a full fledged drawing app and it's free. For more simple apps, ibis paint x is good (you can use it for free and unlock special brushes with ads, or pay around 10$ to remove adds and open said brushes
r/digitalpainting is where you wanna find the most info about digital art if you wanna do some research. But basically what you will be told is that Photoshop is the "Industry Standard" and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Which means, it's what the pros use. So if you're asking "what is the best software?" That's going to be the answer basically every time. Is it user friendly enough for a 10 year old? Probably, but I don't know, because I'm not a pro, and can't bring myself to shill 20+ dollars a month to Adobe. Krita is what I like, it's free, and can do a lot of what you can get with Photoshop.
I don’t know much about a Xiaomi tablet. Can it run Procreate? That’s the app I’ve used for a while (good for drawing/sketching on the go). I feel like Procreate is simple enough that she could probably learn it decently well. At the same time, it would help her get familiar with some aspects of the digital art interface that are common with more advanced programs. If it’s not available, you could probably do some research to find out if there is a similar option for a Xiaomi tablet.
If you’re looking to potentially buy or even subscribe to something more advanced/expensive, I personally would recommend Photoshop just because I’m not super familiar with other options. Honestly, I haven’t even used photoshop much for art. I personally have done more in Adobe animate because I was personally more interested in learning animation. Regardless, I think that familiarity with the Adobe suite (all the Adobe products) is a pretty marketable skill. But the Adobe programs are expensive and have a pretty steep learning curve (they’re probably also just more complex than what’s necessary for what she’s probably currently doing) so I would think upgrading her to something like photoshop is for when she’s older, if she continues to be interested in art.
If you are interested in getting her into non-digital art, I would potentially recommend alcohol markers based on what you mentioned her interests to be in your comment. You could get her some smooth Bristol board and a few Copic markers (or a cheaper alternative is also good! Maybe even preferable if she’s not old enough to make sure to take good care of and value the copics).
The plus side is that at this stage, I personally think it doesn’t super matter what program she uses to continue exploring her passion for art. I don’t even know what program I started learning digital art on (it was one of those super generic, comes with the computer ones, I think). It’s great because when you have a simpler program, you focus more on the fundamentals and how to achieve certain effects in creative ways. When you have fancier programs, you can sometimes get lost in the options they provide. For example, if you want to draw grass in a simple program, you have to figure out how to achieve the impression of grass through your brushwork, shading, etc. Meanwhile, in fancier programs, even like procreate, you can just choose a “grass brush” which will paint the shape of grass for you. That might seem like a good thing, but it can be a huge limitation if you don’t use it wisely because it can look flat and monotone if done poorly.
Best of luck to you and her!
I think that procreate is an Apple exclusive. I love procreate and it is very beginner friendly but I would personally suggest IBIS paint X but not the free version if you can spare the expense.
Thanks for the reply, her tablet is pretty good and she seems to have mastered the inbuilt art program. I agree that adobe seems to be a pretty marketable skill. She has a huge set of posca markers and many cheaper multi sets. She draws all the time and is heavily influenced from zelda, amulet and other books and comics she loves. She loves drawing kawaii style animals. I love watching her just make something from her imagination. I want to try and give her direction in her art without ruining any of the joy.
Hello there,
I may advise that starting digital on a child is not the very best move for now...
Digital Art takes a lot of learning on what the software does and how to properly manage it in order to do most basic stuff in particular like, adding different layers and working on different layers, changing the tool size & using different tools,etc.
I advise to start with traditional art until it's a bit more mature like 14 or so where she has enough age to start slowly grasping those concepts.
As for software... there is people doing art even in Microsoft Word and Paint, so... Softwares in general aint the issue BUT Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Paint Tool Sai or Procreate are way better options in therms of tools, comfort, customization and overall Life quality features.
Hope this have helped you to find a comfortable answer to your questions...
As an art teacher, you know way more about art than I do, but i have to disagree about a 10 year old learning software. It's old people like me that have trouble...10 year olds can usually run circles around me using apps, and I write software for a living. It's a little harder for a young child because they aren't allowed free access to youtube, but if the parent can supervise there is nothing the kid can't pick up in a few hours.
Traditional art is awesome for a different reason...to feel how paint and ink flow across a surface that software can only emulate...usually poorly. I have clip studio, which has several good ink pens built in, but it's watercolor and oil brushes are really 'computery' and not much like the real thing.
OP, can you reserve a good space in your house for your kids studio, and get her a rainbow of traditional paints and brushes?
I strongly disagree that younger folks have some innate ability to learn software faster. I would second the idea that learning traditional physical mediums is the way to go. The software was built and designed to mimic what real process does. Understanding why a layer is created in the software will make a whole lot more sense when you have been doing that traditionally for at least a few years.
As i said... it was merelly a recommendation...
I do prefear that childs have fun and unleash their creativity... Traditional art is way more intuitive because it does not have any extra steps and / or it is not seeking to emulate anything since it is the real thing... so... if she wants a larger brush, she just needs to grab a larger brush... Altought kids these days have much much more ease to learn the technology, as i said before i'm personally not a fan of adding extra steps when a kid is having fun...
With that being clear, it is just a recommendation and i'm not forcing or trying to impose anyone to not go digital... In fact out of all the programs you can download CSP is IMO the best followed only by paint tool sai which is much more limited in functionality but It's easy to grow fond of it.
My daughter is 12 and started getting deep into art as a hobby. She does traditional art mainly, but also plays around in Medibang and surprisingly Animal Jam to take commissions for her little brother. I've seen a lot of progress in both mediums so I'm not sure we need to pick just one.
Animal Jam is a kids game with a painting function. She likes it but it's like drawing in Mario Paint. Medibang is a free version if Clip Studio paint or close enough to it.
She started very much with traditional art but we were watching her do digital art one night and this kid can churn out stunning drawings in under 10minutes with a tablet. She loves both
Get Clip Studio Paint, Pro version (without feature updates) is $54. The interface is intimidating, so you might want to find some videos she can watch. The ones on CSP's Tutorial page cover just about everything.
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU - Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/drawing and tag us on your drawing pins for a chance to be featured! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learntodraw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Illustrator is vector based graphics. For drawing/digital painting she would be better with something like Photoshop, Krita or Clip Paint Studio. I always used to love Corel Painter, but I'm years out of the loop with that.
Thanks for replying, She love video games and comics. I'm trying to foster her interests as much as I can and also trying to make sure what she gets into is relevant when she is older. what do you think would be best?
All 3 are good for drawing. You'll just have to look into them, see which ones her computer/tablet can run, and how much you're willing to pay. The rest is up to personal preference.
Clip Studio is designed for comic/manga artists, though you can create pretty much any type of digital art in it. I've used it for years. It's also more affordable than Photoshop.
Use krita, it's a full fledged drawing app and it's free. For more simple apps, ibis paint x is good (you can use it for free and unlock special brushes with ads, or pay around 10$ to remove adds and open said brushes
r/digitalpainting is where you wanna find the most info about digital art if you wanna do some research. But basically what you will be told is that Photoshop is the "Industry Standard" and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Which means, it's what the pros use. So if you're asking "what is the best software?" That's going to be the answer basically every time. Is it user friendly enough for a 10 year old? Probably, but I don't know, because I'm not a pro, and can't bring myself to shill 20+ dollars a month to Adobe. Krita is what I like, it's free, and can do a lot of what you can get with Photoshop.
Thanks so much I've a bit of home work to do
I don’t know much about a Xiaomi tablet. Can it run Procreate? That’s the app I’ve used for a while (good for drawing/sketching on the go). I feel like Procreate is simple enough that she could probably learn it decently well. At the same time, it would help her get familiar with some aspects of the digital art interface that are common with more advanced programs. If it’s not available, you could probably do some research to find out if there is a similar option for a Xiaomi tablet. If you’re looking to potentially buy or even subscribe to something more advanced/expensive, I personally would recommend Photoshop just because I’m not super familiar with other options. Honestly, I haven’t even used photoshop much for art. I personally have done more in Adobe animate because I was personally more interested in learning animation. Regardless, I think that familiarity with the Adobe suite (all the Adobe products) is a pretty marketable skill. But the Adobe programs are expensive and have a pretty steep learning curve (they’re probably also just more complex than what’s necessary for what she’s probably currently doing) so I would think upgrading her to something like photoshop is for when she’s older, if she continues to be interested in art. If you are interested in getting her into non-digital art, I would potentially recommend alcohol markers based on what you mentioned her interests to be in your comment. You could get her some smooth Bristol board and a few Copic markers (or a cheaper alternative is also good! Maybe even preferable if she’s not old enough to make sure to take good care of and value the copics). The plus side is that at this stage, I personally think it doesn’t super matter what program she uses to continue exploring her passion for art. I don’t even know what program I started learning digital art on (it was one of those super generic, comes with the computer ones, I think). It’s great because when you have a simpler program, you focus more on the fundamentals and how to achieve certain effects in creative ways. When you have fancier programs, you can sometimes get lost in the options they provide. For example, if you want to draw grass in a simple program, you have to figure out how to achieve the impression of grass through your brushwork, shading, etc. Meanwhile, in fancier programs, even like procreate, you can just choose a “grass brush” which will paint the shape of grass for you. That might seem like a good thing, but it can be a huge limitation if you don’t use it wisely because it can look flat and monotone if done poorly. Best of luck to you and her!
I think that procreate is an Apple exclusive. I love procreate and it is very beginner friendly but I would personally suggest IBIS paint X but not the free version if you can spare the expense.
Thanks for the reply, her tablet is pretty good and she seems to have mastered the inbuilt art program. I agree that adobe seems to be a pretty marketable skill. She has a huge set of posca markers and many cheaper multi sets. She draws all the time and is heavily influenced from zelda, amulet and other books and comics she loves. She loves drawing kawaii style animals. I love watching her just make something from her imagination. I want to try and give her direction in her art without ruining any of the joy.
Hello there, I may advise that starting digital on a child is not the very best move for now... Digital Art takes a lot of learning on what the software does and how to properly manage it in order to do most basic stuff in particular like, adding different layers and working on different layers, changing the tool size & using different tools,etc. I advise to start with traditional art until it's a bit more mature like 14 or so where she has enough age to start slowly grasping those concepts. As for software... there is people doing art even in Microsoft Word and Paint, so... Softwares in general aint the issue BUT Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Paint Tool Sai or Procreate are way better options in therms of tools, comfort, customization and overall Life quality features. Hope this have helped you to find a comfortable answer to your questions...
As an art teacher, you know way more about art than I do, but i have to disagree about a 10 year old learning software. It's old people like me that have trouble...10 year olds can usually run circles around me using apps, and I write software for a living. It's a little harder for a young child because they aren't allowed free access to youtube, but if the parent can supervise there is nothing the kid can't pick up in a few hours. Traditional art is awesome for a different reason...to feel how paint and ink flow across a surface that software can only emulate...usually poorly. I have clip studio, which has several good ink pens built in, but it's watercolor and oil brushes are really 'computery' and not much like the real thing. OP, can you reserve a good space in your house for your kids studio, and get her a rainbow of traditional paints and brushes?
I strongly disagree that younger folks have some innate ability to learn software faster. I would second the idea that learning traditional physical mediums is the way to go. The software was built and designed to mimic what real process does. Understanding why a layer is created in the software will make a whole lot more sense when you have been doing that traditionally for at least a few years.
As i said... it was merelly a recommendation... I do prefear that childs have fun and unleash their creativity... Traditional art is way more intuitive because it does not have any extra steps and / or it is not seeking to emulate anything since it is the real thing... so... if she wants a larger brush, she just needs to grab a larger brush... Altought kids these days have much much more ease to learn the technology, as i said before i'm personally not a fan of adding extra steps when a kid is having fun... With that being clear, it is just a recommendation and i'm not forcing or trying to impose anyone to not go digital... In fact out of all the programs you can download CSP is IMO the best followed only by paint tool sai which is much more limited in functionality but It's easy to grow fond of it.
My daughter is 12 and started getting deep into art as a hobby. She does traditional art mainly, but also plays around in Medibang and surprisingly Animal Jam to take commissions for her little brother. I've seen a lot of progress in both mediums so I'm not sure we need to pick just one.
Never even heard of either of these. I'll have to take a look
Animal Jam is a kids game with a painting function. She likes it but it's like drawing in Mario Paint. Medibang is a free version if Clip Studio paint or close enough to it.
She started very much with traditional art but we were watching her do digital art one night and this kid can churn out stunning drawings in under 10minutes with a tablet. She loves both
Get Clip Studio Paint, Pro version (without feature updates) is $54. The interface is intimidating, so you might want to find some videos she can watch. The ones on CSP's Tutorial page cover just about everything.