Hardware Digital painting requires one of two types of hardware. The first is with a graphics tablet connected to a computer and the second is with a standalone tablet. Graphic tablets can then be broken down into two categories: tablets without a screen and tablets with a screen. The first don’t have their own screen, so the surface area of the tablet is mapped to the computer display. These can be more difficult to use as there’s a disconnect between the surface that’s being drawn on and the screen displaying the image. The second have screens, which are typically easier to use, but are considerably more expensive. Tablets can also have both pressure sensitivity and tilt-response. Meaning both the pressure and the angle of the stylus affect the digital brush. There are many companies that produce graphics tablets, the most notable being Wacom, XP-Pen, and Huion. Standalone tablets have increased portability as they don’t need to be tied down to a computer, but they are usually smaller than equivalently priced graphics tablets. Some tablets that can be used for digital painting include iPads, Microsoft Surfaces, and the Wacom Mobile Studio. Software There are many different types of software that digital painters utilize. These range from programs that are intended to mimic traditional painting programs such as Corel Painter to image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop. There are different benefits to each digital painting program so it depends on how the artist wishes to work and which tools are important to them. It also depends on the cost of these programs with many switching to a subscription based model instead of a single once off purchase such as Clip Studio Paint, formerly known as Manga Studio. Many of the digital painting software for computers have an app version for standalone tablets, but there are also apps designed entirely for them. Procreate is one of these apps. Hybrid techniques There are other methods in which artists digitally paint too; they can range from using different programs to achieve different effects. As in doing certain aspects in one program and then transferring to another for another aspect, this is typically more how 3D artists work. More commonly practiced would be doing the initial stages of a painting on a piece of paper or canvas and then photographing or scanning it into the digital painting software to then further complete the piece. Origins