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My 14 year old grandson has a Mac and is getting interested in drawing. He can't afford TVPaint but my son will buy him a Wacom tablet plus drawing software price around $200. Does anyone know of any raster software for Mac in that price range that would let him just draw and maybe paint? It doesn't have to have all the bells and whistles. I don't have a Mac so I don't know of anything.

I'd get him The Gimp -- it's very powerful, does most things PhotoShop can do, and even does some basic animation (nothing like TVPaint, of course). And it's FREE (open source)

http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

ArtRage is a really nice drawing and painting application and it's very inexpensive. It does not have animation capabilities however. They also offer a free starter edition. This along with The Gimp would really get him started.

guitartist wrote:ArtRage is a really nice drawing and painting application and it's very inexpensive. It does not have animation capabilities however. They also offer a free starter edition. This along with The Gimp would really get him started.

I second the Art Rage recommendation. The full commercial package is only $25 and it works great with a Wacom tablet.

Sierra,
Art Rage (full version) has layers, so worth the cost. The interface is intuitive and the software does its job very well.
Regards,
Jules

Hi Sierra,

Just yesterday I picked up a copy of ArtRage 2.5 at Target for $20.00 (CD includes .PDF manual). Also remember that Wacom Bamboo comes with Photoshop Elements and Painter Essentials, both very good for new users.

Sven

Actually I have ArtRage...I forgot I had it because I never use it. Thanks! I enjoyed some of the textures it has, I remember now. Gimp sounds very interesting. I think Painter is far too complex, at least I really didn't like the learning curve with it. But I also have that around here somewhere, he could always try it.

Thanks to everyone for the ideas.

If he expresses some interest in drawing animation take a look at Pencil at http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/penci ... d=Download
It's a simple free open source drawn animation program. I had a student use it in an intermediate animation class last spring and he got some nice results from it.

Charles Bandla

No, I wouldn't recommend "Pencil" right now. Basic stuff is still missing.

slowtiger wrote:No, I wouldn't recommend "Pencil" right now. Basic stuff is still missing.

As far as free animation tools go, Plastic Animation Paper looks pretty good (except not available yet for OSX). The Gimp also has a simple animation plugin:

http://wiki.gimp.org/gimp/AnimatedGif?h ... imatedgif)

With some patience you can do cel animation also. It ain't TV Paint but not bad for a free product.

Well I don't know if he would like animation but it's great to know of these other programs for beginners for possible use in future. Thanks again.

Sierra K Rose wrote:Well I don't know if he would like animation but it's great to know of these other programs for beginners for possible use in future. Thanks again.

*blink* Not like animation? Is such a thing possible?

I know. But I've been brought up short by artists who have not one iota of interest in animation while I'm going on in the conversation assuming they do.

Sierra K Rose wrote:I know. But I've been brought up short by artists who have not one iota of interest in animation while I'm going on in the conversation assuming they do.

To add:
Animation can be very boring.
To suggest a few common faults:
Visually bloated, self obsessed, and the writing is usually performed in slow motion.
As for artists.....
Jules
PS. My comments have nothing to do with drawing on a Mac
PSS. PAP does offer a free tool for drawing (in mono pencil) and making animation- but not yet for OSX.
PSSS. All grandchildren should be disciplined to draw, and make animations, before going to bed.

Sierra,
It seems your artist friends were on the line, given the level of response to your aside
All the best,
Jules.
PS. Get your grandson to post?