Freeware: Pixia

This blazingly digital monstrosity you see before was made with Pixia, a very apt freeware program made specifically for and by the anime and manga community in Japan.

It works a lot like Photoshop... with a very different interface. The three most useful features to me, that I could imagine using, are 1) pattern outputs direct-to-brush, 2) auto-smoothing of strokes with all pens, like in Manga Studio, and 3) the ability to instantly mask with selections, simply by clicking a checkbox. I imagine these features are useful for manga. For normal drawing, as in this picture, I overlooked them.

It's a little difficult to get used to. Like Artweaver, it seems like parts of layers can't be moved individually. In order to move things, they must be copied and pasted. An emphasis is put on selection. Selections and even pasting act like brushes. Selections are very clear, using a transparency method that fades out everything that isn't selected, instead of the usual animated black and white border. Filling is not done with a paint bucket but with a single click on a tool in the uppermost toolbar. Selections can even be made to automatically fill upon resolution.

Otherwise, it behaves much like a standard image-editing program, with some filters, layers, brush size and brush palettes, color selection, and a few different types of effect brushes. With practice, it could be a useful program for comic creation, and for general image production.

If you'd like to try it, click here: [link]



As for the image, there are no words...