F*CK ADOBE
In light of Adobe screwing over a sizable chunk of their consumer base, an action that despite my disappointment unfortunately brings me no surprise, it's becoming more and more important to support open-source programs and their developers. Or if need be, take to the high seas.
Personally, I use Krita, granted I'm much more of an illustrator than an animator (though I am learning and adore it). I think it's an amazing program with so much to offer its users, and I would love to see the community grow. It can be intimidating for first time users, but I promise it's far simpler than it looks. If you've used photoshop before, Krita should be fairly intuitive, and there is a preset to set the shortcut keys to match Photoshop's. I have animated on Krita before though never large-scale projects, so while I've personally never had trouble with it, I'm more than willing to accept people's short comings with it.
Blender is another staple of open-source creative software. "Flow" the animated movie that won an Oscar for best animated feature was entirely animated on blender as far as I'm aware. Blender is amazing for 3D animation and modeling, and while it is definitely capable of 2D animation, it is not their main focus.
The reason I made this post, however, is because of an announcement TimTom made just a few hours ago as of writing this. If you don't know, TimTom is an animation youtuber that has been a part of the animation community for a long time and has over two million subscribers. He uploaded a video in which he revealed that he's been working on developing a new open-source free animation and compositing software called Sailbrush. Given the train wreck that is the current animation industry (and most of the world is in our late venture capitalist society), this has honestly given me a lot of hope, both for myself and others who wish to pursue a future as illustrators, animators, and generally creatives. The Kofi for the project is up, and I really want to see this take off. I hope it turns out wonderfully and provides the art community with a tool they can use and love.
TimTom Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tjpdy1lBw4 Sailbrush Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/sailbrush
P.S: If you are going to sail the high seas though, and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT MENTION THE NAME OF THE SHIP YOU SAIL ON. Unfortunately, sharing this information can often get these *ships* taken down and removed. If you want to share, do so IRL by word of mouth, PLEASE.
