So it appears that Autodesk did a thing.
holy hell this is a real, legit thing! bless Autodesk
so i don’t normally reblog things here beyond sweet gift art to this blog, but i wanted to share this - for those of you hunting around for a good art program, Autodesk’s Sketchbook has gone completely free!
this isn’t the ‘trial version’ sort of free, either - the entire program, full access, is completely free. i’d been eyeing it for a long time but couldn’t justify it, but i just downloaded it and played around for a couple hours and despite my pixel-oriented-butt not being particularly skilled in painting at all i was able to get a solid feel for it within a couple hours, even with shortcuts not being the same as you might find in PS or SAI!
honestly, i’ve been wanting something with a simple and good UI for working on character design blocking and basics (those simple little blocky guys, the one on the bottom left and the 5 in the bottom right) before i commit the immense amount of time that goes into a finished pixel product - and from the feel of it so far, i think i’m going to go with Sketchbook!
it’s worth checking out if you ask me <3 whether you paint or do cel blocking shading and lineart, or even just doodley sketches, it’s really versatile for what you want! this guy does a good comprehensive intro tutorial to the program if you want that, and also - as you poke around the brushes, know that you can both easily create your own, and also there’s tons of professional free ones downloadable from within the program itself. rad as hell, i’m telling you.
