Slime

[Ai]

Waht? I thought from something you had said earlier in the thread that you had bought a tablet. If not, you should be aware that you haven't 'really' started to CG until you are using a tablet -- 'drawing with mouse' and 'drawing with tablet' are practically in different universes. There are rare people who CG with a mouse, but nobody who's tried both would seriously dispute that tablets are much faster to achieve a given effect. Which gives you much more time to experiment with different effects and learn how they work and whether they are suited to the context.

About mouse-usage I cannot comment much, all I know is that using a mouse in MyPaint acts as if the pressure were 50% of maximum pressure. This may mean that adjusting the global pressure curve as I mentioned will help (make a point in the centre of the curve and drag it to the top -- if I'm correct this will make the effective pressure level 100%)

You can also use the line tools (see the top toolbar) -- they were actually programmed by someone who only uses a mouse, and provide 'artificial' pressure attenuation via a curve. I find these pretty useful for lineart and painting any shape (curved or polygonal) that needs to be very regular/neat.

[yaomon17]

Yep, just have to get some money. 

[surt]

What Ai said about MyPaint. Top two lines are mouse with default pressure curve, lower two are with the displayed pressure curve.

[Mathias]

Get yourself a real drawing program - Photoshop CS2 is now free: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=cs2_downloads

[Ai]

^ Photoshop is not even a drawing program, despite the fact that some people make it serve as one. Actual drawing programs can be good drawing programs. Photoshop, GIMP, Pixel, etc. can get the job done, but they're hardly optimized for the purpose. There are plenty of actual drawing programs that will not subject you to the acres of unrelated cruft and complexity found in photo editing software.

[yaomon17]

I don't have a serial number and it is asking me for one very sternly.

[Mathias]

^ Photoshop is not even a drawing program, despite the fact that some people make it serve as one. Actual drawing programs can be good drawing programs. Photoshop, GIMP, Pixel, etc. can get the job done, but they're hardly optimized for the purpose. There are plenty of actual drawing programs that will not subject you to the acres of unrelated cruft and complexity found in photo editing software.

Oh . . . you're one those too, eh Ai? Hehe
I honestly don't care how anyone defines Photoshop. What if Alexander Fleming looked at the mold spores he accidentally discovered as having bactericidal properties and thought, 'Naw dawg, dat's jus' nasty ol' mold, mang', then threw it out the window? Hmm? HMMMM???
It's irrelevant.
We all have opinions on software. My opinion is that Photoshop is well suited for digital painting. Are you fully researched on it's current capabilities (CS6, not CS2)? Are you suuurrrre?
Besides the fact that I understand Photoshop very very well, one of the big reasons I've stuck with it all this time is the very reason you cite as it's downfall - all that cruft. By intelligently utilizing all that cruft in combinations, one can do just about anything. Even 3D now. You don't need the histogram panel for digital painting? Neither do I. So, let's just not use it.
I'm glad your preferred drawing program(s) works well for now (which I assume have features you don't use/need). And I'm glad Photoshop works well for me.





Not working?

[Ai]

I'm not objecting to your presenting Photoshop as an option, because it -is- an option and it does work for some people. Just with your presentation of these other programs (notably MyPaint and SAI), which are -dedicated specifically to drawing-, as 'not real drawing programs', and presenting Photoshop, which is -not in any way- dedicated to drawing, as a 'real drawing program'. That's quite plainly false.

I would like to point out also that a newbie to digital painting will not actually know -what- to ignore (you seem to be speaking from your position as someone who already knows the software), so even if they settle on Photoshop (or GIMP, or Krita) eventually as their tool of choice, it's not a very smart option to -learn- the basics of digital painting on. Even just the basics of digital painting involve a lot of factors.

[Mathias]

Photoshop isn't a dedicated tool of ANY sort - photo editing, painting, 3D modelling, etc. Never said it was.
And yes, it has multiple feature sets. Its drawing/painting feature set is clearly superior to many programs that only possess drawing/painting features, though. So, to use an app that's "dedicated to drawing" means nothing. Photoshop is, and has been for years, the digital drawing program of choice for a vast number of serious digital artists, pro's and hobbyists alike. It has great video card support. It's 64-bit. It uses the newly implemented Mercury Engine. Now what's a "real drawing program" anyway? One that gets the job done. My slightly snide, passing comment may have rubbed you the wrong way, but I think the conclusion here just needs to be - to each his own. Opinions . . . that's all they are.


LET THE SLIME FLOW

[yaomon17]

Actually I think this could be an interesting activity to try to create the most slime like texture using pixels ( could be other textures too but given the context...).