Corel Painter Essentials 8 | Beginner Digital Painting Software | Drawing & Photo Art [PC/Mac Key Card]

I am a Mac user, and of course Macs do not have touchscreens. So in order to use this software, you need to connect an iPad that supports the Apple Pencil to your Mac using Sidecar (That is the software that Apple created that allows you to use your iPad as a second monitor for your computer). Although I do have a Mac and an iPad that should be compatible, I have had trouble getting this software to work. I believe that it has a lot of bugs that will hopefully be fixed in future updates, but until that happens and I can get it to work correctly with my hardware, I cant say much about the features of the program. From what I have read online, this program seems to work more reliably with a touchscreen Windows computer, such as a Microsoft Surface Pro. Its not unusual for companies to perfect the Windows version of a program before they fix all of the issues with the Mac version, since there are generally more Windows users in the world. But it is still frustrating for us Mac users.

If youre unsure about whether this software is for you or will run on your hardware/OS, you can download a 16 day free trial from the Painter website which has the exact same software so you can try it out before you buy. I strongly recommend doing this because it allows you to get a good sense of this software before buying. This listing simply provides a box which contains a serial number to activate the software beyond the trial period.

This paint software is an amazing!! I love how easy it is to setup and use. Colors are absolutely beautiful when using the different brush sizes and settings. This is a digital download so just be aware that you will not receive a physical disk.

Ever since Adobe Photoshop moved to a subscription model, I have been looking for a good program to replace it that still uses a perpetual license model. Ive been using Photoshops CS4 for a very long time now due to Adobes model change, but after upgrading to a new computer, I found I couldnt use it very well on my new PC. I dont think it will be compatible enough to use past another upgrade and is a bit of chore to get working well on my current one. Finding a new software to use became more essential so I decided to try out Corel Painter Essentials 8 to see how it compares. Overall, it was a moderately decent replacement option, but I think I would have to upgrade to their Painter Pro or more likely switch to their PaintShop Pro to get closer to a good replacement option for my needs. This program however is a much better fit for my daughters needs.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed using Corel Painter Essentials 8 | Beginner Digital Painting Software | Drawing & Photo Art. Ive never had much skill as an artist, but that hasnt stopped me from trying, and that is what makes this program so great, because it welcomes users of all skill levels to jump in and start creating.

Enter the key and for some reason does take it, like if someone else already used the key!

Good

Im not a graphic designer or animator, or anything like that, but I do like to dabble with trying to draw on my computer, as well as take certain photographs that I have taken, and give them a little bit of an artistic touch. I will say that I am often stubborn and like to try to figure out how to use programs like this on my own, but I think with this type of program, it behooves you to watch a tutorial or two to get up to speed. After watching a tutorial introducing me to some of the basic features of the program, I was able to go ahead and sort of re-stylize a lot of pictures that I had intended to try to do that with. In many cases there really are quite a few templates that you could simply apply that make it quick work. I do have a Wacom tablet that I can use with this program, but I havent had the opportunity to really give it that much of a try yet. I do have a friend who is an animator at Disney, or at least was before she went independent, and asked her opinion about this program for a beginner like myself. She said that it was actually pretty decent, and for somebody whos just learning is a great place to start. After getting familiar with some of the aspects of the program it was fairly intuitive to try and stylize some of my pictures with a couple of quick clicks, and give them a whole different type of look. I really do hope to have the opportunity to spend more time learning about this program, and possibly getting more creative by using my tablet. All in all as a beginner, I would say that this program provides more than I could even imagine Id use. I think to be honest, if you are mid level to even an expert level type artist, youd really enjoy tinkering around with this software.

I have been an artist for as long as I can remember - it is something I quiet enjoy and this program really is powerful and gives you the best of everything.

Well ... my mistake. I chose this, thinking it was for a MAC and would work for me. You need Sidecar to be able to operate it. Sidecar is only available on the 5K 2015 models and later. I did not realize mine was so ancient lol. I have a retina 4K 21.5 late 2015. I am getting ready to upgrade my computer this year, but that does not help me now. Installs fine direct from the website. A little finicky, but ultimately was ok. Check your model before purchasing. Will update this when I get it working fully.