I'm a freelance copywriter by trade, and I recently purchased a Surface Pro 3 tablet. It's a laptop running full Windows 8.1 with a detachable keyboard and a pressure-sensitive screen. I bought it mainly for work-related stuff like OneNote and editing PowerPoint, but I must confess I was also seduced by the art possibilities.
I used to do a lot of pen and paper drawing when I was growing up, but I couldn't make the transition to drawing on a computer. My brain just refused to process drawing while not looking at my hand. Since the 90s I've done some sketching and that's about it. Now that I have the Surface Pro, I want to get into being visually creative again.
I've used GIMP to do photo resizing and minor editing, but I'd like to get a program that's specifically made for drawing without paying an arm and a leg. I know nothing about 3D modeling, so for now I'll stick to 2D. I'd like to do fan art sketches, digital paintings, animations and such. What's out there that would work work for a newb like me?
