PS for kids drawing with tablet/pen

[gonnahavemesomefun]

Hello,

In short....

Which PS package is best for kids drawing using a drawing tablet and pen?

The guff...

My kids could use the free software that comes with their drawing tablets (ArtRage Lits or Corel) but I thought if they're going to learn a new piece of software why not invest in something that will provide them with skills that will be useful into their adult life!

My kids (8 and 6) love drawing and have started to show real interest in electronic drawing.

The Wacom Intuos "Art Pen and Touch" will be for Christmas and ships with ArtRage Lite or Corel Painter Essentials 5.

I have used PS to a bery limited level and I see now there appear to be so many different 'versions'. I was hoping there is a version that can be recommended to make it Ella's easy as possible to get them started, and they'll soon pick up the basics and be on their way to mastering PS I am sure. --I see PS is no subscription/based but it looks possible to pay for some versions outright st around £80 ($120).

Any help would be massively appreciated so I can make a good decision today that will not only allow my kids to get the most out of drawing on a computer but also put a smile on my face when I can say that my kids know how to use Photoshop 🙂

Many thanks!

[Mylenium]

Honestly, your whole post makes me cringe. At the age of 6 and 8 I'm sure your kids surely have other priorities and interests than becoming PS masters and to boot, they're not going to learn real artistic skills with all this digital painting nonsense. How would they even emulate an artistic style not having used a real pencil or brush? That aside, no, the versions you can pay outright don't even have particularly sophisticated "paint" tools. PS Elements is merely meant for manipulating existing photos and making them look better. So there you go. Adobe has nothing for you unless you care to pay for the "big" PS in a subscription, which would be utterly foolish. If the focus is digital painting, then there's enough altrernatives, including paying for the Pro version or ArtRage, buying PDPaint/ Dogwaffle and so on. Still, the whole notion sounds just plain weird, given the kiddos' age.

Mylenium

[gonnahavemesomefun]

Wow! You have made some pretty epic assumptions there man 😞 it makes me really sorry that you have become that way, to kinda assume such negativity.

I wish you knew me dude because I think I am doing an ok job as a parent, certainly trying my best which is all I got I am afraid.

But anyway, I hope you find happiness/are happy my friend and thank you for your opinion and the info - it at least made me think twice about my approach, parenting, the universe and everything, for that I am grateful. Even though your assumptions were wrong, I get where you are coming from man, just might be an idea to look before you leap next time because people get offended and take this stuff to heart, it's tough to bounce negativity off sometimes x

cheers

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Why not give the software that came with the tablet a try, you can also download this it's free, just click on the desktop version of choice

https://krita.org/en/download/krita-desktop/

[Trevor.Dennis]

Ged, you beat me to it with Krita.  It has a great brush engine, and there are plenty of tutorials.  Oh, and being free doesn't hurt.

[gonnahavemesomefun]

Thank youiu Trevor, kudos to you too 🙂

[gonnahavemesomefun]

Thank you Ged, this is fab Iwill download both the free software and Krita too thank you so much. Often what my son's do is sketch their drawings on paper, or make a cardboard/paper/plastic character and then attempt to draw it on the computer just using MSPaint and a mouse or in Powerpoint believe it or not!! They are basic things they create but they love creating using any medium.

[Guest]

No worries, glad to help

P.S. there's nothing wrong with little creative minds

[davescm]

Hi

My daughter uses Corel Painter Essentials that came with her Wacom tablet. The skills she learns using that software are transferrable. Yes the different software packages work slightly differently - but the principles of building up a digital painting in layers, using different brushes, mixing colours on screen are just as usable in that simple package without being laden with lots of other tools that she would encounter in Photoshop but does not need at this stage.

Photoshop is a great piece of software, but due to its power it is fairly complex. At this early stage I would keep it simple.

Dave