Learning to use Photoshop

Your situatiom really resonates with me, since I thought I was the last artist in the Industrialized World to finally go digital. Like you, I worked only in pen (and paint) on paper and do a lot of crosshatching, and for me it's Photoshop all the way. Illustrator just has a different look to it, not as organic in my opinion. Here are some that I did in Photoshop -in addition to the various brshes, you can download specialized crosshatching brushes around the internet. Try googling for those as well. There's a learning curve for sure, but stay with it and you'll be glad you did. I save a fortune in art supplies now! Let me know how you're doing.

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@17840948 wrote:

I've seen [Photoshop] recommended but I don't know if it's mostly for working with photographic images or what.

Folks use Photoshop for much more than working with photographic images. If you post a sample of what you do with pen and ink that you are hoping to do in Photoshop, we can better advise. It's best to start a new thread.

~ Jane

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@17840948 wrote:

Furthermore, since I'm brand new to it, are there built in tutorials? I see there's a tutorial section on the Adobe site but was wondering if there are in program tutorials so I don't have to click back and forth between Photoshop and the web browser.

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When you are in Photoshop, there are two places you can find tutorials that don’t need a web browser. On the Home screen, the Learn panel has a number of them.

Then, any time in Photoshop, you can choose Edit > Search to open the Discover panel that lists tutorials as well as letting you find tools and features quickly; the Discover panel is great for learning and remembering where things are.

All of the tutorials above open a document in Photoshop for you to work on, and the tutorial window is built into Photoshop.

As far as cross-hatching, I think Photoshop or Illustrator could work well depending on the types of graphics you do. Photoshop might be more natural for traditional pen-and-ink cross-hatching; Photoshop contains a range of fine art pen, pencil, and brush presets and more are downloadable. Illustrator can do it too, but may require thinking ahead a little more to account for how you edit that type of drawing in a vector-based graphics application. I suppose the more structured the drawing, the better Illustrator would be; the more freeform the drawing the better Photoshop would be.

>>>so I don't have to click back and forth between Photoshop and the web browser.

Highly recommend a second screen (external screen if you're on a laptop) so you can work with two side by side. You can then work away in Illustrator/Photoshop on your main screen with your tutorials open in the browser on the second screen.

Also a drawing tablet such as a Wacom will be invaluable.

Photoshop has some basic tutorials that you'll see when you first launch the program. Photoshop is for working with photos. It is also for doing artwork. However, you depending on the type of artwork that you do, you might be more interested in Illustrator. Illustrator will give you clean crisp edges and smooth lines. If you do a search for 'Photoshop Artwork' it will give you an idea of illustrations that can be done in Photoshop.