Clip Studio Paint Pro

For most customers, Clip Studio Paint Pro is the greatest overall comic creator program. While it isn't quite as strong as Clip Studio Paint EX (which we've highlighted below), it has nearly all of the same capabilities and covers almost everything a comic artist may need. It comes with a bewildering array of art and brush tools to assist you in creating characters, backgrounds, and comic cel kinds from the ground up. You can either choose from Clip Studio's enormous library of free and premium pre-made elements, or import art from your computer, if you don't want to spend time creating everything from scratch.

Most graphic artists are familiar with Adobe's suite of tools, and Clip Studio has a look and layout that is extremely comparable. Many of the hotkeys are also same. It will take a few hours to master the software if you're absolutely new to it (there are lots of official and unofficial tutorials online to get you started), but once you do, you'll be able to make nearly any sort of art or comic. It works nicely with drawing tablets and gloves, and it's amazingly accurate and responsive regardless of the input.

The sole drawback is that it lacks publishing features and does not have the same capability as the EX edition for organizing pages for larger comic projects. You'll need to upgrade to the EX edition, which is far more expensive, if you're serious about publishing your own comics. Clip Studio Paint Pro, on the other hand, is only $60 and will serve you well if this is your first foray into the world of comics.

Reason to buy:

+ Large, and intricate drawing tools

+ Artwork organized in easy to use layers

+ Large template library of character, special effects and locations