I've recently acquired SAI since I was wondering why it was such a popular CG art tool - so I've played around with it and wanted to give a quick personal review.
Please do keep in mind that I'm only mentioning things -in comparison- to the other tool; therefore I'm leaving out general statements that cannot be compared or saying that it is the best program out there for a specific feature.
I'll update this post whenever I find more useful info while playing with SAI ^^
Please do keep in mind that I'm only mentioning things -in comparison- to the other tool; therefore I'm leaving out general statements that cannot be compared or saying that it is the best program out there for a specific feature.
I'll update this post whenever I find more useful info while playing with SAI ^^
- Not only for CG art, but also effective in photo manipulation (original use of this program) - Almost an infinite amount of options for the brush tool: | Making/ downloading custom brushes and patterns | Customizable brush presets - personally I change 'shape dynamics', 'scattering', 'texture', and 'dual brush' - Various tools: | Dodge/ Burn (recommended only for beginners to help choosing colour ranges when lightening/ darkening) | Selecting tools such as 'lasso tool', 'polygonal lasso tool' and 'magnetic lasso tool' - Other features: | Layer Style lets you play with layer effects such as 'drop/inner shadow', 'outer/inner glow', 'bevel/emboss', 'color/ gradient/ pattern overlay', and 'stroke' | Countless filters that can change the layer's appearence such as 'brush strokes', 'texture', 'stylize', 'blurring', 'distorting' and 'rendering'. *It takes a lot of experimenting and 'studying' to get used to this program and take good use of these features but it's worth it, especially if you're an experienced artist. As someone who has used Photoshop for 5+ years, SAI seems very limited in many ways. | - Affordable - Simple and easy to learn how to use - More fluidity and control with brush strokes - 'Magic Wand' tool selects more effectively, as PS tends to leave a gap between the lineart and selection - Less 'lag' - Useful tools such as 'Scratchpad' to experiment on the side, 'Colour Mixer' to help you find the right colours. - Easily flipping/ rotating artwork for checking proportion - Brushes such as 'Watercolour', 'Oil', and 'Marker' have individually unique blending effects - 'ctrl + z' lets you undo several strokes, while PS only undos one (you have to manually delete from history) - 'Linework Layer' features many options when making lineart; yet recommended for graphic designs and cartoons as I require pen pressure for lineart (too much work to play with adjusting the pressure of each line) *I find it perfect for sketching, flat colouring (anime style) or a painterly style (due to realistic effects of water-colouring/ oil painting/ colouring with copic markers) *I recommend this to artists that are just starting out in computer graphic design and illustrations. |
Currently, I am using both - switching .psd files between the two softwares and taking advantage of what each one has to offer; since I've only started using SAI, I'll be posting an artwork finished with both very soon :D
There are many more options and tools I would like to recommend to artists but did not mention here as it applies to both programs. Please comment if you'd like for me to mention those with instructions as well on another blog, or even to mention if this was helpful! <3