a few months ago, a friend told me about a Japanese program called Paint tool SAI (http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/). So I tried it out.
Every digital painter should at least try it. SAI blends colors much easier than Photoshop, and its pretty cheap too (~$60). I'd recommend it.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F805%2F568yX9_sai.png&hash=ed0910728fc5a24c89d7a8f864d11d221ef156a7)
60 bucks is pretty cheap for a program
but ill download it for free
ive been having this. i like it because it works wonders on my 11 year old computer..
lags like shit whenever i attempt to make a line but apparently it's just me
im surprised people still havent heard of sai. its a really great program. it lets you get more out of your tablet's pen-pressure than photoshop can. I'm not sure if im just imagining the increased pen sensitivity or if its an actual feature but if you have a crappy tablet you should give it a try
I like the brush engine on this alot - I've been using it for years now!
In fact, I think everything I've shown on tba was done in SAI
it's a pretty cool program especially for inking but i'm too used to PS now
sounds like what i need