Experimenting with OpenSource drawing programs
January 29th, 2008I have been “playing” at this whole toon thing for just a short time. I am no where near in the league as some of the webcomics out there. In fact since I do mostly one panel toons right now, some purists will say what I do is not webcomics. I will do more traditional webcomics coming up though. So since I have no real delusions as to making a living doing this I really can not justify spending any real money towards it. So, I have been trying a few opensource drawing programs and there are some nice ones. Almost all of my toons have been done with MS paint, which really keeps me in a geek state of mind. However Paint is severely limited. So lately I have been trying Paint.net , I really like it. I am struggling a bit to fully understand and use layers. Still wrapping my brain around it, but i will get there. If anyone has any suggestions on any opensource programs please let me know.
Anyways, I’m still having fun with all of this. I’d like to thank all 3 or 4 people who have visited so far. I appreciate any positive feedback. Negative feedback will just make me sad, so please don’t do it. 
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hmmm, I’ve played a bit with sketch-up, which is quite cool for back up work - Otherwise, I’m using either photoshop elements or Corel Paint. Layers are awesome - Think of them like animation cells
One for the background, one for each character then another for special effects.
I’ll send you some really cool links on various tutorials I found that are really useful for the principles.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Have you looked at The GIMP? That’s a link to the Windows version of it. It’s a crossplatform program that emulates Photoshop in a lot of ways, although people that know more than I do say the interface isn’t quite up to snuff compared to the real Photoshop. But it does have a ton of options and advanced features! There may be a bit of a learning curve…I don’t use it (often) myself. I like Paint Shop Pro personally, and have versions 5 and 7 of it, but it’s not free. PhotoFiltre isn’t bad for non-layer-based quick image editing, and it’s free.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I laughed out loud. LOL about this. I’m all for using free stuff or what you have rather than spending tons of moola on more programs that are out of date before you learn how to use all the tools in them.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Just took my first look at your site. I am impressed at what I have seen. Being mostly computer illiterate I’m interested to see how things are done. You have a great start so keep on experimenting and learning new ways to bring your comics to life. I will be visiting the site and see how you come along.