Art programs for Mac?

[aleshapie]

Hey guys!

My middle child is currently an art student that is buying (with her own money!) a MacBook Pro this weekend! She has her dreams set on becoming an animator for Disney/Pixar. She primarily uses Photoshop, sometimes Sai. Help me help her. Which programs are best for Mac? Where can I possibly find Adobe cheap? (Not $240 per year?!!)

She has worked SUPER hard for this and has saved every penny she has earned for over a year! (Birthday money, babysitting, mowing lawns, umpiring softball/baseball games, etc). She just cannot afford the unreal prices that we are seeing out there!

So...her specs:
15" MacBook Pro i7, 16 gb memory, 512 flash hard drive.
Wacom Intuos pen & touch (small)
Wacom Bamboo (older) also small

Thanks a million for your help! I know all you creative geniuses will guide me in the right direction!

 

[DaCoSim]

Best of luck Casey!!!!!! I know she's stoked!!!

 

[strawberrigod]

I'm not sure if you really need a student email for this, but I pay 20$/month for all the adobe creative cloud! It comes with photoshop, illustrator, lightroom, indesign + some more I'm not too familiar with. Also, I think blender is a popular animation program! I tried it for a bit, but animation just isn't for me. Very cool though c: good luck to your daughter!

 

[himeki]

aaaaahh i wouldn't actually recommend a mac for art related stuff, because wacom tablets are known to have issues with mac os and sai doesnt run on it without losing pen pressure x.x
however, if she still wants to get a mac, id say medibang paint and photoshop!

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I'm not sure if you really need a student email for this, but I pay 20$/month for all the adobe creative cloud! It comes with photoshop, illustrator, lightroom, indesign + some more I'm not too familiar with. Also, I think blender is a popular animation program! I tried it for a bit, but animation just isn't for me. Very cool though c: good luck to your daughter!

ahh you need a student email for the student discount, but if she has one then definitely do this!!!

 

[visibleghost]

aaaaahh i wouldn't actually recommend a mac for art related stuff, because wacom tablets are known to have issues with mac os and sai doesnt run on it without losing pen pressure x.x
however, if she still wants to get a mac, id say medibang paint and photoshop!

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ahh you need a student email for the student discount, but if she has one then definitely do this!!!

ye i ssecond medibang paint

 

[Jeonggwa]

I use an iMac and Macbook Pro with Windows on it via bootcamp. Bootcamp itself is free and all you need is a Windows ISO with a valid key to install it, which is not overly expensive.
When I'm on Mac OS I use Photoshop CC with the student discount and Clip Studio Paint; it is pretty good. They occasionally have promos with cheap $15-$20 offers and the website has brushes and materials to download. I heard good things about Medibang as well (haven't used it much)