Features:

  • Autodesk SketchBook Pro offers professional-grade capabilities for artists, designers, and doodlers
  • Fast and intuitive user interface; so easy to learn, you will be productive in minutes
  • Ultra-responsive and customizable digital pencils, pens, brushes, markers, and airbrushes
  • Capture your ideas in writing, typed comments, and sketches... then email them instantly
  • Work on standard images formats, including TIF, BMP, JPG, PNG, and PSD
Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2011

This is a great piece of software for drawing and painting on the computer. I have been drawing and painting using regular materials for over forty years and this software comes the closest I have found to working with those materials. It has an intuitive interface that I found very easy to use and the drawing tablet response is great. Also the "learning curve" is very short; I learned all I needed to know in a few hours. Though I have a more expensive, fuller featured software suite, I found drawing and painting with it to be relatively awkward by comparision, and it took months for me to feel comfortable with a lot of its features. Obviously, this software was designed by someone who is an artist, or had good input from one, and not a "techie" type, interested in "bells and whistles". However, in regard to the latter, I did miss a few things on this software: in particular its handling of objects and text, and being limited to one image at a time to work on. But I was able to transfer my files from this program to my other one for those purposes. Last but now least was the great low price. My advice is, whatever you're using, if you're interested in actually doing art on the computer: get it!

KOOL SOFEWARE ROCKS!!!

As animator, I am always looking for sofeware to achieve excellence in my productions. I need something to create backgrounds and characters, at reasonable cost. The program also works with other programs such as CS4 ToonBoom Studio & Animate & FLASH. The tool menu are easy to use and great to handle, using the stylus is like using the real tool with real control. I sugguest download the trial version before purchasing. Corel Draw X does not compare to the ease of Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 11. I wish the can add folders to layers, and batch import like tga, tiff and so on. There is no downside to Autodesk Sketchbook Pro can also be APP on the IPAD. iTS WORTH IT!!!

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

I really enjoy this software. It makes digital sketching much easier. If you are familiar with PhotoShop, then you won't have any problems learning to use this software as it utilizes many of the same concepts and features. When I want to sketch I use Autodesk Sketchbook. I will actually work on one piece using both Autodesk Sketchbook and PhotoShop for different things. Autodesk Sketchbook is much easier to "sketch" with than PhotoShop, which is why I use it. Great product at a very reasonable price.

The missing link in illustration creation

I've yet to find a single illustration program that has every feature you might want AND has a great interface. One program simply doesn't do it all, yet. Here's a little speculation as to why that's so, for what it's worth. Say you built the United States and it took you about 300 years to do it. Let's then say you know you could redo every single aspect of the country better, all you have to do is bulldoze and level the first one. Too much investment to loose right? But that's how software, corporations, and all systems for that matter become obsolete. Which is to say those programs we are familiar with today, the standard bearers will go away- not because they don't have great features but because they can't (or aren't willing to) pay the costs involved with scrapping them and starting over. Man, they should, or just take a lesson from Apple. Anyway. I don't buy software on a whim. I've been able to get a lot of mileage from simple 'MS paint' and Adobe Photoshop 5 for many years now but my illustration needs have grown significantly. That said, neither of these programs can meet my needs. So I went searching for an illustrator program and ran across a few. I dreaded the idea of buying Adobe Illustrator because I simply HATE the Photoshop interface which it mimics. HATE HATE HATE it. It has to be the most 'PC' of all interfaces, meaning, 'let's see if you can figure this out so you can brag to your friends that you actually understand our cryptic software. Feel like a genius? If you do, thank us and don't pay attention to how this affects your workflow." I'm not a teenager with all the time in the world to waste or the need to boast that I solved Photoshop/Illustrator or whatever else Adobe makes, regardless of how good it might be. Seriously, is 'magic lasso' intuitive? When you first saw that ridiculously tiny icon what did you think it was? How did you use it? Hence my dread of adopting Adobe Illustrator. So I searched and came across Sketchbook. I'd heard of it but didn't like the idea of 'sketching' anything. I want my illustration work done NOW NOW NOW, not in phases of sketching. But they (Autodesk) offered it as a two week free full-featured trial. Fair enough. Twenty minutes later I was hooked. The program took about a minute or so to download and I was up and using it in ten. It's THAT intuitive. So I considered giving Adobe Illustrator a fair shake as they also have a free download/trial period. First Adobe loads a download manager to me. OK, perhaps I might want to manage ONE download. The trial period is free so it's just a minor thing. But then I start the download. Adobe said I would have the download complete in about... 3 hours. Maybe it might have taken that long. Maybe their download manager would allow me to do other things while their insanely huge file reached me. Whatever the maybe's might be I will never know because I didn't want to stick around 3 hours to download the software. That just seems insane, and like something that is absurdly huge. Considering Sketchbook took about a minute to download and so this suggests Adobe illustrator has 180 times the features and benefits (using my formula 1 download minute = 1benefit, 3hrs.=180minutes=180 times greater benefit than Sketchbook). As I haven't seen people dancing in the street shouting Adobe Illustrator's praises I doubt it's THAT good or worth THAT long of a wait. To me it seemed like more of the same. A long process to get results that aren't worth the process. So what's the benefit of Sketchbook? First off it's layout is as simple as grabbing a pencil, paintbrush, airbrush or whatever tool you draw with, dabbing it in paint and going to town on a piece of paper. It's quick to load, quick to set up, quick to learn, quick to use. I feel like my workflow is streamlined and it is. And the tools produce gorgeous results that you can get in Adobe but only with fanagling, manipulating, wrangling and Houdini-ing, that is unless you've dedicated 1/2 of your life learning Photoshop. What was really striking to me are the circles. The lines are so smooth and pleasing to the eye in Sketchbook, whereas in Photoshop they just look like a cheap, 80's cartoon outline. And it's these reasons that Sketchbook seems like the very best and first place you should start when you have a graphic idea you want to put to paper. It IS a Sketchbook. My ONLY wishlist item with program is the inclusion of a grid. I'm sure they have a reason for not including one and there are work arounds but it would be nice. Still, you start adding everyone's wishlist and you have Photohop. Sorry Adobe, that was a cheap shot. True, but cheap. And speaking of cheap, there's another great thing about Sketchbook. It is DIRT cheap, especially by comparison to Adobe products. So am I ready to chuck Adobe for good? I wish. Adobe still has many editing tools that really help put the final touch on a graphic project. Autodesk appears to acknowledge this as they steer you to save your creation in PSS (photoshop file) format. Fair enough. Now the only bad press I've read about Sketchbook is from Mac users. I've read about of Mac compatibility/bug issues which is sad because I'm ready to dump my PC and all things Microsoft. I've never used Sketchbook on a Mac so I can't speak to any experience in that area. So there you have it. Great software, great price, easy to use, not everything you need but the first you should grab for your graphic creation needs. Maybe Adobe will wise up and learn from Autodesk.

AWESOMENESS at a professional level!!!!

This guy with the negative feedback doesn't know what he is talking about, or he can't draw, or he's not a professional. This is one of the best drawing softwares on the market. I have been using it for years, and for 30 dollars...it can't be beat. The line quality of the pencil imitates the real life feel of drawing on paper...which is what I have done for 15 years as a conceptual artist inside the film industry. The new upgrade of the COPIC markers...are fantastic. They act like real markers. But I dont have to spend 7 dollars each on replacement marker..... :)

Best drawing program for the money

My review is from the perspective of a professional artist in the entertainment industry. I first used Sketchbook when I purchased a tablet PC a few years back to take full advantage of the tablet's capabilities. I was blown away by the drawing interface and how natural it felt. I have used Photoshop and Painter extensively and was really impressed at just how much better it was to draw using Sketchbook. With this new version running on a MacbookPro and a cintiq I am even more impressed with the new tool set and capabilities. For illustrating, doodling, making visual notes, storyboards.... this is my preferred tool. I still use photoshop for more complex color work, but since Sketchbook exports and opens PSD files they work great together. Autodesk has really created a simple but effective tool for artists which is very easy to navigate. I highly recommend this program for professionals as well as students. This is the best program for drawing I have ever used.

Got this for my son, works great

I got this for my son as well as the wacom intuos4 tablet and it works great. I did a ton of research and it's the software used in many city colleges. This pretty much sold me and my son loves it, tons of features yet simple enough to dive right in and start drawing. I would highly highly recommend getting some type of tablet to draw with as it makes a huge difference. He is still going through the many features and capabilities of the software but so far a big thumbs up.

Incredible... Simply Incredible

I can lose myself for hours sketching on Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2011. Once you get the hang of the quick-flick navigation system, you will be amazed at how quickly you can add-merge-delete layers, choose brushes, zoom in/out, move the canvas... so instinctive, so fast... so easy! And the ellipse and ruler tools are - all by themselves - reason enough to shell out the 40 or 50 bucks to pick up this program. I can't explain in words how these two incredibly versatile tools work - I would have to show you - but with them, you can do in seconds what it would take many minutes to do in Photoshop as it relates to drawing spheres and complex line designs. Amazing how those two tools simplify and greatly expand your creative range to sketch comic-style line work which you can use to easily pen structures and perfect ovals. The icing on this incredibly colorful cake is that you can actually save files as a PSD. That's right! Total compatibility with Photoshop here! What you draw in Sketchbook pro, you can open up (with all your layers intact) in Adobe Photoshop! And the price for such a beefy little sketching program is incredible. Everyone with a computer and even a fleeting desire to draw should pick up this program - you will be amazed.

Tool for Aspiring Graphic arts students

Let me explain I am by far no expert on software, and I patiently trying to master adobe illustrator, but meanwhile I am in college to teach art to teens. So I bought this...it seemed an outstanding price, and now 2 fellow college students , who want to make comics, are trying it out for me. So far it seems to be a huge hit with these beginners. It can introduce story boarding, basic manipulation of the tools, how to market art and comic strips on the internet...and more.

Nothing else works for me.

I spent a lot of time trying to get a certain look, which is hard to describe, out of digital art programs. I purchased Corel Painter 11, which has its uses (few, in my world), but I am NOT a computer techie, so many of the nuances of Painter made me want to scream. I still haven't made peace with that program; the term "buyer's remorse" keeps fighting its way to the front of my mind. Not so with Sketchbook Pro. After a couple of days of fooling around with it, and watching a few tutorials on YouTube, I managed to very easily dial right in. I haven't had as much FUN with art in years---almost like discovering a new set of superpowers! In the past, I would have to draw a picture with a brush on bristol board, scan it, then add color using Painter, which never looked "right" to me. Since Sketchbook is so intuitive and easy to manage, I can do pencil, inking and coloring very quickly, and all the art looks integrated, so close to traditional media that the differences aren't worth mentioning. Fantastic software. I recommend it highly, and it's inexpensive...a rather nice bonus. You really ought to have a Wacom-type tablet to wring the most out of this program, so get that, too. You'll be glad you did.

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