Summary: Dave Nagel: I give Corel Painter IX.5 a Strong Buy recommendation as both a full version and as an upgrade.

Summary: This is a program that every digital artist should own. It includes all of the features that anyone could imagine, plus a few that I had not previously thought of myself.

Summary: Dave Nagel: Painter Essentials 3 easily exceeds my expectations for a consumer-level painting application. It has the power of the brushes built on top of the Painter engine; it has fantastic cloning and automatic painting features; and it pe...

Summary: Jake Widman: If you're an artist or artistic wannabe, there's no other software that does what Painter does. Do yourself a favor, though, and get a drawing tablet to go with it.

Summary: Pros: natural media simulation, vast variety of techniques, easy cloning. Cons: antiquated interface, limited drawing tools, limited layer management. The Bottom Line: A unique program for the creative computer artist with talent, but of limi...