As I've said for the past few years I have the artistic ability of a turnip. My wife disagrees and I did survive some art classes, and I understand lighting, shadows, and perspective so with my Christmas money I bought Artrage Pro which was on sale. I hope and my wife is certain that I'll become a useful citizen in the artistic community. (fingers crossed)

Freehand artistry is far beyond my capability. I struggle with computer aided graphics. That looks like it has limitless potential for someone with talent. Let us know how it works for you.

I had Artrage (free version) many years ago. Some very unique brushes no doubt. I'm a filter guy though GMS so I only toyed a little with it. Hope you get more use out of it then I ever did.

looks impressive - i've never used a software with all those brushing choices and stuff. good luck with it and remember rome wasn't built in a coffee break and most of all it's supposed to be fun.

I think I can get to the point where I can draw simple things. I wish I would have had some drawing lessons.

I wish I could draw but I can't, even when I was young and practiced a lot, I just don't have the latent talent.

me either.

Artrage does look very nice for natural media emulation. It's not quite as well known as Corel Painter but I've heard it's good.

Maybe worth comparing are the free alternatives. The main open-source program I know to actively aim towards natural media emulation in a big way is currently Krita.
Personally I mainly use MyPaint for painting - it's not exactly natural media emulation but it's very fast and clean to use which is my main interest - and you can get natural-media-esque results if you really want to.
GIMP itself has much better brushes these days too, you can produce nice results with that although most painters I know either rely on Krita/MyPaint for the brunt of the work, or use the GIMPpainter plugin.

Would be interesting to compare these offerings with proprietary software like ArtRage.
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Griatch

I have mypaint and I like it too. Nothing on this planet can induce me to buy anything from Corel. They have jerked me around way too many times. I got a limited copy of painter bundled with my bamboo. I used it for a while then dropped it in favor of mypaint. I had paint shop pro and video studio x3 and Corel tried to bully me and I don't get bullied. My wife insists that I have the artistic ability, I'm not so sure although I feel more comfortable with watercolor and chalk modes than oils. I tried tracing last night the coloring it. I thought the result was ridiculous but she said it was a good start. I guess everything takes time.

No kicking and screaming and just do it!
I'm sure you're good, you just need practice.

No, I'm not good, I can draw a stick person and that's about it. I have some knowledge of light and shadows, perspective and some color theory.