ArtRage Studio 3 is Released! Celebrate with ArtRage 2.5 Video Tutorials

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ArtRage time!

In Celebration of the release of the new ArtRage Studio 3,
I'm bringing back the video tutorials for a return engagement!

I use ArtRage every time I paint a cover for Nickelodeon Magazine. ArtRage is a digital painting program that imitates the look of real paint, as well as other natural media like pencils and pastels etc. etc. The thing that makes ArtRage such a wonderful program is that it's ridiculously easy to use -- you can just jump right in and play!

And it's not like I knew how to paint before I used this program. ArtRage is so easy and so fun to use that I just gradually picked up the techniques by playing around with the program. I've never even read the manual! Okay -- every once in a while I'll look something up in one of the tutorials... but 97% of all the tools and features are totally intuitive.

But it isn't just for play... I've been using this program for professional jobs for the last three years, and I don't need to look any further for a digital art program that gives me exactly the tools I need and the results I want.

work-in-progress version and finished cover

(By the way, if this is your first visit, I've been posting video tutorials that show how I drew, inked and painted this recent SpongeBob and Patrick cover for Nick Magazine. The list of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop tutorial videos is HERE, and the original post with the full-sized artwork is HERE.)

Here's the weird part -- for some bizarre reason, this amazing ArtRage Studio application only costs $40 (or $80 for the Pro version, or only $20 for version 2.5, which is the version I used for all my paintings). The "other" famous digital painting program costs $400, and it's so freaking complicated that I always end up tearing my hair out before I can actually get any work done.

ArtRage Studio is the bargain of the century. I strongly encourage you to download this application and try it out. And ArtRage runs on both Mac and Windows!

They have a bunch of great tutorials and very helpful forums on the ArtRage website, too.

Since this is the first video in the series, it's primarily dealing with setup and tools. And I'm going to show you the exact settings that I use every time I fire up ArtRage.

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How to import a PSD file into ArtRage

#1 When you import a layered Photoshop PSD file into ArtRage, it has to be in RGB mode, not in CMYK mode. You can change the mode in Photoshop before you bring it in to ArtRage.

#2 When you import your drawing, ArtRage will put it on the lowest layer and give it an opaque paper background......To be able to see through your linework to the color paint below, DO THIS: On your imported Drawing layer, go to "Edit Paper Settings" and near the bottom of the options dial the "paper opacity" (NOT the layer opacity) to 0%

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More ArtRage Tutorial Videos:

ArtRage #1 - Intro to ArtRage 2.5
ArtRage #2 - Mixing Colors on the Canvas
ArtRage #3 Painting Reflective Light
ArtRage #4 - More Reflective Light & Colors
ArtRage #5 – Bump Modes & Finishing Patrick

ArtRage #6 – Painting Highlights and Shadows

Note: These tutorials were all done with ArtRage 2.5, but new users of ArtRage Studio 3 will not have any problem following along. The new interface is basically the same as the one shown here, but the new version has more features and more fun options!