Dianne wrote:
SAI is amazing u can go between photoshop and Sai to get your stuff done and what you need. Its simple and just great to use.

Its like painter and photoshop in one . I swear by sai .

ANd i just love plain sketching pencil to paper. More intimate for me and able to connect with my pencil instead of my tablet.

Hear hear! I love SAI too. I find it the easiest program to use when inking but I still switch over to Photoshop for colouring (but that's mostly because I'm more used to it).

Before I got my tablet I used to do anchor points with the pen tool on Photoshop and it was time consuming and frustrating (if you so happen to lose a point like I'm prone to doing >_<) but with SAI and a tablet it's so much quicker and the end result looks better too.

I use a Wacom Bamboo Pen and use the program Corel Painter that came with it. I wish I had Photoshop because I hear so many wonderful things about it. But with my MAC I haven't been able to find it compatible with it. Oh well, I'll stick with my painter it at least has a large variety of brushes.

I'm kind of a princess when it comes to my art software/equipment.

I use:
Photoshop CS5 (I actually have the whole Adobe Creative Suite and I upgrade it with every new addition. Apart from Photoshop, the Adobe program I use the most is Illustrator.)

Cost: Well since I'm a student, I get it at a very serious discount, but it's still a few hundred dollars.
What I use it for: Photo editing, photomanipulating, doing special effects on paintings, and doing rough sketches for paintings.
Is it worth it: It is to me. I would be lost without Photoshop.

Corel Painter 11

Cost: Again, it's a few hundred dollars at the student price.
What I use it for: Painting, drawing, and lineart.
Is it worth it: YES. I've never used another program that had the capabilities of Painter and that was as nice to use.

Extra Large Intuos4 Tablet

Cost: Mine was a gift, but they run for about $800
What I use it for: Everything. I can't draw with a mouse, much less a track pad on my laptop.
Is it worth it: YES. Having a tablet, especially one that is the right size for your computer screen, makes your life as an artist SO much easier. If I hadn't been given one, I would have bought it for myself.

I also work on a Mac. I have a 17" Macbook Pro laptop that I got specifically for it's art capabilities. I got it back in 2008 and have asked it to do all sorts of ridiculous things and it still runs like it's brand new.

XD I told you, I'm a princess.