I don't know who would be interested and I understand that the word "artist" is a very broad term but I wanted to see if there are any artists/designers who use Linux (professionally?) and want to open up a line of discussion/communication with other artists.
I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do artistically but I love using all the different software available and I'd be interested to hear about others' workflow and projects. If anyone is interested lmk
Oh nice, yeah I'll check him out
(recently ended)
No it didn't. Three episodes still are in the making.
I've written several novels on my Linux system. I do a bunch of Blender and Krita but that's on my Windows machine.
Any issues with fonts or publishing?
I've self-released all my stuff for free so far. Still working on something I can make money on but I intend to self-publish at that point.
No issues with fonts. LibreOffice actually worked better at embedding the fonts in a print-ready file than Office 2007 ever did.
That's good to hear. I like LibreOffice a lot. I know for publishing (beyond Scribus) there's Viva Designer. I know it's paid, but I don't mind as it's a more professional option
Inkscape can do multi page pdf
I've heard about that but never tried
Check it out if interested
https://logosbynick.com/create-a-multi-page-pdf-with-inkscape/
Logos by Nick is a good one. He provides graphic design tutorials using only free and open source software: https://youtube.com/@logosbynick?feature=shared
Most of the high end movie fx and animation industry uses linux.
That's good to hear. Film is my childhood passion
I use darktable for the images I create with a camera, and am exploring krita, but am professional with neither.
Oh, and LMMS is being explored because I had creating a soundscape suggested to me and I'm always sucked in by creative challenges, so I'm currently recording audio in lots of places (not recording anything that others have a copyright on, of course)
I've heard of LMMS. That who field of DAWs is very interesting. Have Ardour atm but was looking for something to complement it
If you're not aware of audacity, you would be well served by spending the time to look it up and install it as another companion.
I'll check it out. I have a field mic (zoomh2n) and it can record 4 channels so I've been trying to find software that can work with that
for art there's Krita and Blender, video editing there's Davinci resolve but idk much on the music area.
I'm working with Krita and Blender for some time as freelancer artist, it really depends on what the jobs tells you to use for example "Adobe" or "3DS Max/Maya", so i have to dual boot in this case.
I've played around with blender. I really like it. Krita, too. I'm trying to avoid dual booting, but yeah, as you said, it really depends on what is asked for
Davinci resolve had issues with my formats I couldn't use the one my phone was recording with so I switched to Kdenlive
well... I am an artist who uses linux but I don't use computers as my medium. I don't know if that counts?
I'd count it lol. What sort of art do you make?
photography is my main medium. also paintings, video, installations and graffiti (or combination of these) are my point of interest.
Oh nice. I dabble with video/photo and audio stuff. Don't necessarily want to be glued to a screen but that is one of my tools, alas. Oh yeah, I love penwork too
sounds good. but yeah, not really OS related. :D just enjoying the processs hahahaha
Look into Huion drawing tablets. They work great on Linux now
Is your focus on FOSS apps or just using a distribution with any application (commercial, freeware, FOSS, etc). I work on the infra side in the animation industry (Pixar, Blue Sky, Skydance) and Linux (usually RHEL-compatible) can be found in studios of all sizes. Mostly it just comes down to budget and or desire to learn new tools.
Generally speaking the world of 3D is pretty solid, as is compositing and editorial (with some motion graphics). Many industry applications are available for Linux, such as Maya, Houdini, Blender, Mari, Substance, Nuke, Fusion, DaVinci Resolve, etc.
Painting, vector art, and photo editing have their crown staples that everyone has a strong opinion on (Krita, Inkscape, GIMP, Darktable, etc). Has anyone tried using the Creative Cloud SaaS offering yet?
For game-dev you've got Godot, Unity, and Unreal Engine out there for the "big ones". There are a number of new engines like Bevy cropping up. I haven't checked in a while, but maybe CryEngine finally has their Linux Editor built? Then there's O3DE for Amazon's contributed Lumberyard engine (based on CryEngine).
Audio is really the "new" (and I use that term loosely) up and coming creative segment with the number of applications in development, but Ardour, Reaper, LMMS, etc have been around for a long time. I feel it's one of the creative areas with probably the least adoption compared to the others in the Linux ecosystem.
I'm not super heavy-handed on FOSS. That being said, if someone want to make good free software, they should be allowed to, and people shouldn't be forced to pay. I just wish from the consumer/amateur perspective there was a more cohesive artist community for Linux, then again that'd what keeps Linux Linux int he first place, decentralization
I'm all linux. Here's the last portfolio website I made: http://www.digitalsignalperson.com/portfolio/index.html
I'm currently focusing on building stuff from C/C++ and right now sokol for graphics. I think this will lead to me publishing demos and content in wasm form.
That's really cool! I just started experimenting with everything, and I love seeing people successful with Linux. I'd love to build a workflow that allows me to avoid having to run windows in a vm or compromise the scope of work I can do
Which types of things are you the most stuck with in the windows VM?
For me office 365, but I've been managing without for awhile or - Word: design stuff in obsidian - Excel: curse constantly while using LibreOffice sheets. But building a spreadsheet tool is coming up on my shortlist - Powerpoint/Onenote: experimenting with rnote as an inking tool, but not perfect.
I guess slowly re-writing all the tools as I go
I've found the excel sheet to be a pain sometimes. Photo editing though that's probably my lack of experience. Some Adobe applications just have a better flow to them but I've managed so far. Would it be alright to dm you? I like the goal you have of building contributing to it all. I just have so many questions lol
Ya for sure
You may want to checkout the krita-artist forums and the krita artists interviews for people who use Linux professionally. I think there are some threads on the forum where people talked about using Linux.
I exclusively use MuseScore and FL Studio on Fedora if that counts
I've heard of FL Studio. Which distro are you using?
Fedora 40 with GNOME
Yes! I design using Inkscape and GIMP, also use it for coding and even have edited a couple videos (like trimming 'em and stuff for websites) using ShotCut. For music production I use Windows but since I use Reaper (which is available for Linux as well) I have thought about doing it on my Linux system too but I just like separating the fields and keeping stuff simple (also cuz some friends might want to collaborate or check stuff out and my Linux environment is not familiar at all to them)
That's always the concern, collaborating with other operating systems --- I mean, people. I don't have much experience yet, but I'm always afraid to really engage in any project lest I hand it off to someone on Windows or whatever, and they aren't even able to open anything
Yes that's why, love it or hate it, the fact that Linux has been the OS that needed to adapt to several file types is actually a blessing. Because for example on GIMP and Inkscape I can open Illustrator and Photoshop formats, and save 'em as well so that people can still use it.
Same thing with LibreOffice and that is very very important for us to be able to work. But yeah recording guitars or creating stuff with other applications or plugins is not as easy, so I do it on Windows, and when I have to share my screen or my computer or etc people don't get lost.
I use Linux but it is for self-employment. The most professional thing I do on my computer is related to my small guitar effect pedal company. I use Kicad to design PCBs, and a combination of GIMP and Inkscape for graphics.
I'm not great at drawing directly on the computer, and with the art style I use, it doesn't feel well suited to doing directly on the computer anyway. So I will draw by hand, take a photo or scan, then I remove what I want from it in GIMP and then in Inkscape, I trace the bitmap so I can convert my hand drawn graphics to SVG. Then I can use it for graphics on pedals and shirts. Converting my finished things to CMYK for printing is a little squirrely, but basically I export a PDF from Inkscape, and then in Scribus I can convert it to CMYK.
I've also written some novels in LibreOffice, and made book covers in Inkscape.
Im a hobbyist in all the following; artist, designer, illustrator, musician, video editor, writer.
I'm a professional software engineer and I've used Linux for all my aforementioned interests.
Gimp doesn't suit me. I've used some Adobe products on linux and they were good and ok in some aspects running with Wine. Also used PaintTool SAI.
For native programs, Inkscape, krita and Blender have been really good. I used Krita before it had a proper Text engine.
I tried Opentoonz but the learning curve is too high.
I like Kdenlive for video editing.
Pixelorama is ok for pixel art, ive yet to do it justice using it better.
I've self compiled Aseprite and the new fork Libresprite.
I do some digital painting with krita and 3d modeling with blender, what are your plans with this thread tho? Would you like to ultimately create a discord or matrix server?
I'm a 3D artist working in game development and have been mostly using linux for the past 3 years. Use Blender, Houdini, Unity, Unreal, Krita, DaVinci Resolve. As well as smaller software as Flameshot, F3D, PureRef.
I think it's a stretch to call me a professional artist. I am a professional programmer but I do cutout / collage / dada and animation in my games. My flow is:
My own scraped image library: pc.lowframerate.studio Gimp - for procedural patterns, effects and general photo cutouts. Natron - for video cutouts. Synfig - animation, including skeletal and mesh deformation
My own engine for rendering.
Idk how to link an image of my example work. I just have photos.
I'm happy to chat!
At the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT - https://sat.qc.ca) in Montréal we use Linux a whole damn lot.
Linux is a great platform for the artist starting out. You don't have to wain yourself off of Adobe and Clip Studio proprietary junk. I wouldn't call myself a professional, but I do make a living off doing art on Linux. I use a combo of Blender, Krita and sometimes Clip Studio Paint (In WINE). I swap between two distros, Debian and Manjaro at the moment.
I was going to use CSP until they switched to their subscription model
I use Krita, blender and Houdini pretty often, I make game art they all work great with linux
That's cool! Like concept art?
No no, game ready 3D models. I work for a small studio. Yeah it's pretty great
Oh, nice. I like modeling and world-building.
I recommend getting into Houdini if you can, it's a great tool that covers nearly everything
It works on Linux pretty well?
I am a streamer and mario kart custom track creator, and I basically use the industry standard tools except for my capture card (OBS, Blender, WSZST). Some of my tools though don't run very well on Linux in combination with Xorg fractional scaling so I use those in a Windows VM (which are Brawlbox and Lorenzi KMP editor). The few times I can't stream and have to prepare a video I use Dolphin emulator and ffmpeg (+ kdenlive)
Kdenlive is pretty decent. I can't justifying spending the money on Resolve yet
Kdenlive is nice yea, but since I only really use cutting I don't have a reason to spend any money on a video editor
Already using krita so I did try to make art on my work machine. However krita on linux doesn't play nicely with my drawing tablet (xp-pen), and I also need proprietary software for other stuffs so completely switch to Linux is not yet an option for me.
That makes sense. I have a Wacom and it works pretty decently but definitely I've had drawbacks in the past.
I work only with FLOSS apps, having collaborated in the past with many FLOSS organizations.
Not exclusively using Linux, but I have had a long period of using Linux for digital artwork. Occasionally doing commissioned work whenever there's willing clients and so far Krita has never failed me.
Granted I also use a screen-based drawing tablet as well, which I acquired back when I was working in anime production (studio uses Clip Studio Paint though, of which I've obtained a copy for myself as well for convenience before the pandemic hit).
My journey to doing digital art on Linux started way back in 2009 when I was first introduced to Linux via my Unix class. Was also figuring out how to use my Wacom Graphire 4 with it. Over time there was MyPaint, then Krita was in continuous development at that time. I've also had my tablet changed from Graphire 4 (broke down) -> 3rd Generation Bamboo Pen (on loan by a friend for an indefinite amount of time it seems, I still have it with its box intact and it still works! Cable might be getting on its age though) -> a whole jump to an XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro.
Using the tablet on Wayland is a bit quirky, though fixable, but honestly might be a turn-off for artists not wanting to touch the terminal for workarounds.
Multimedia artist here. While I use Windows machines for heavy graphics loads, including real-time rendering using software like TouchDesigner, I do work a lot in Linux. My day to day laptop has been a Linux machine for the last 10 years, and a lot of the projects I work on use Linux machines for all sorts of functionality. Thus includes things like AI/ML, audio analysis (both real-time and not), image processing and opencv needs, data manipulation, interfacing with sensors, and interactive hardware components.
Have you found any major issues with your workflow? What, in your opinion, is a major blindspot for Linux in general?
Honestly linux works so much better than windows or Mac for what our needs are. We run a lot of code in docker containers, and develop a lot of projects in Python. We have a number of projects written in c++, which really shines for things like real tike audio analysis, but learning all the ins and outs of the audio servers available on Linux is rough and poorly documented.
Lack of documentation for random linux-relatrd issues is a killer
It is but there are communities of people doing amazing things with Linux audio, so it's really just a matter of finding the correct places to look for information.
That's fair. It just sucks you have to dig around lol
When it comes to visual arts of any sort, it's pretty limited - but some fraction of people who consider Krita or Blender as their primary tool might use Linux. So looking in that communities might make sense.
You might have better luck with sound technicians, as Linux setups can be pretty amazing, especially with Jack. And this skill is likely enough to intersect with being a musician.
Many kinds of art have nothing to do with operating systems, anyways. Correlation between having time to discover Linux and being an artist might be somewhat negative, but certainly that's not exclusive.
When I was transitioning away from Windows I definitely started with anything FOSS so I do get how it's not so much about Linux but I am intrigued by the idea of finding a way to make a living without having to ever touch or dual boot one of the big private OSs. More work, yes, and I'm not avoidant of proprietary software on Linux I just would like to have a streamlined workflow like everyone else
Streamlined workflow is better when you have a wide choice of tools and good quality software available for minor tasks. Which, in the case if art creation, has never been focus of wider Linux community. Krita and Blender are excellent, but using them on macOS or Windows makes it easier to switch between tools.
The only bright counterexample is related to low-latency audio with effects and very complete software stack that covers everything related. It is simply that good.
Yet I don't think that many artists would care about FOSS. I know more artists who are either proud of having legal, proprietary stuff only, as they pay for others work - or who pirate everything on principle, because they believe that's the best way to present their middle finger to the world of business. Unless you are planning to contribute to the projects, FOSS doesn't have that much of an appeal - it can only defend itself with quality. Requirement of extra work and accepting constraints to ones creativity is totally not worth it, when you get nothing in return really.
I made a reddit avatar and some NFTs and stuff, not like a professional but have done stuff.
David Revoy is an artist who uses linux, I mostly know him from his web series Pepper and Carrot (recently ended). He uses krita for his work and he has some really good tutorials on his site and youtube channel: https://www.davidrevoy.com/ . Worth checking out!