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This Manga-esque piece was created jointly by CreatureBox’s Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin in Sketchbook Pro
Autodesk's SketchBook Pro app has become such a huge hit on tablets that it’s easy to forget it began its life as a desktop program. The latest version (£50 or £40 for an upgrade) reminds us that it’s still very much alive and well on large and unwieldy computers and, in fact, better than ever.
There's a bit of a learning curve, especially if you've never used SketchBook Pro before. The interface is a little simplistic, with no labels and lots of slightly confusing colour wheels and menus.
The openness of Autodesk’s software inspires lighter and more fluid art. Image courtesy of CreatureBox: Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin
A slightly odd element for those new to SketchBook is the Lagoon, a quarter-circle menu that gives you quick access to essential functions and features.
Yet once you grasp its workings, SketchBook Pro 7 is revelatory. It looks and works like no other, and the minimalist approach means that it feels freeing.
Useful new features in SketchBook Pro 7 include a Flipbook option and these perspective grids.
New to version 7 are perspective grids and the nifty Flipbook feature that enables you to create flipbook-style animations. There are no tweens or skeletal animation systems here: instead, it's an introduction to proper old-school, frame-by-frame cel animations.
Despite our initial problems getting our heads around SketchBook, it's still one of the best pieces of art software out there.
Autodesk has even added a subscription plan - you can use the software for a very reasonable $25 a year, and there’s a stripped-back free version that you can try for as long as you like, before buying the full version. But, most importantly, it makes digital drawing plain ol' fashioned fun.
Beren has worked on creative titles at Future Publishing for over 13 years. Cutting his teeth as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, he moved on to edit several creative titles, and is currently the Ecommerce Editor on the most effective creative website in the world. When he's not testing and reviewing the best ergonomic office chairs, phones, laptops, TVs, monitors and various types of storage, he can be found finding and comparing the best deals on the tech that creatives value the most.
