I don't mean that as in textures on meshes, but as in the textures of objects. Such as the 'feel' of wood. Some art work can really bring accros that sense of bupiness and texture, others can't. My art falls into the second category. So, how do you good artists out there do it? Obviously, theres no magic trick or anything, but do you have some process that you use to get that 'feel'? Also, please tell me what programs you use. I use The Gimp and FreeHand 5(nice program, but really old now). Oh, and ms paint... I'm really a programmer, so I don't expect my art to be great, but this has been something that has been buggin me for a while. Thanks in advance.

I haven't used any of the programs you mentioned other than MS Paint, which is horribly inadequate for creating realistic textures. I would suggest getting Photoshop or Painter. Personally, I think Painter is more versatile and powerful for creating textures than Photoshop, but Photoshop is still very capable for texture work.

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Original post by engineeredvision I haven't used any of the programs you mentioned... I would suggest getting Photoshop or Painter.

GIMP is actually the open-source competitor to photoshop, it is not yet quite as fast or capable, but you can do most of the same operations, and in a similar way, and whatever its drawbacks, its free.

Fractal Design, then Corel, somewhere else, now back at Corel... Painter 9.0 is an impressive application in terms of adding texture and impasto. Also helps you emulate texture from gesso.

Highly compatible with Adobe Photoshop.

The Lighting filter in Adobe Photoshop can also be used for texturing effects by custom Channel.

If you don't have an artpad, you should probably consider getting one. The control is remarkable. Wacom is good.

i think this is obvious but have you tried using bump mapping? it can give the flattest texture a real rugged look. that or use emboss filter in ps.

No I haven't used bump mapping, I'm still only making 2D games.

I'll have to look into those programs that you mentioned, but I don't have enough money to buy a 200$ drawing program.

I can do the outline of the character pretty well. When you do the inside of the outline, do you do it pixel-by-pixel, use some effects in the program, or whatever?