Autodesk SketchBook Express 2011 or Corel Painter SketchPad

[Rik]

I have not used any of these.

Autodesk SketchBook Express 2011 or Corel Painter SketchPad

So, if you have, then can you tell me which would be good to get?
I appreciate that everyone has their own preferences, but any information would be helpful.

I have a chance to choose one or the other.
So, which to choose?

[handrawn]

did you decide to get a graphics tablet Rik?

waste of time [as well as money] buying Painter Sketchpad if you didn't

if you did, you might also look at artrage as a good freehand sketching program

as far as the autodesk program goes - I don't use it, so I can't comment...

[Rik]

I had a chance to buy the Intuos 5, at a pretty reasonable price.
Part of the package includes, free software.
Not having used any of the ones I mentioned, I'm looking for advice as to what would be good.

As I said, it may be difficult, unless you have and use both. Even then it's a matter of what you personally like.
But, I'm only looking for opinions.

Thanks for you input regarding Painter SketchPad, Steve.

[Albacore]

I have used the Autodesk one, Rik, for a day. I found it a great program with many great pencils & brushes and the feature I liked best was its rendering. You could pick what sort of finish you wanted from marker pen to a normal flood fill and it was so easy to highlight your drawing using layers. Thought it too expensive for just a sophisticated art package for a tablet. The last time I looked Wacom were giving away Corel painter with a tablet for free.

[handrawn]

Hi Rik

ok I see you have the chioce

I have used a trial of sketchbook pro, briefly, and I have no idea how it compares to the 'express' version, but I'd say the pro version is preferable to the painter sketchpad, the reason I didn't persevere with it is as Peter says, way too expensive for what it is

however that's of limited use to you

there appears to be no trial for sketchbook express available, but here are it's quoted limitations [over the pro version]:

These are not in SketchBook Express, according to Autodesk via wiki:

Do-it-yourself custom brushes (including custom textures)
full layer controls
symmetric brushing
guides
customize UI ability.

SketchBook Express cannot save layers—it will flatten them before saving

sketchpad is available as a trial from corel, and sketchbook pro available as a trial from autodesk

if it were me, I'd try both these trials, bearing in mind the limitations above in respect of the autodesk program - this will at least enable you to get a feel for the interfaces, which in respect of freehand drawing is good as personal preference will likely be a factor and whilst they have similarities, they are rather different in implimentation

as a first off you might consider downloading the free version of artrage and using that to get comfortable and confident sketching because maybe you can't assess the other two from your own point of view otherwise [the point of view that really counts] - depends how long you have before you need decide...

I'm not sure to what extent these slimmed down/free versions will make use of your tablet's functions - be a good idea to see if you can get a decent upgrade path from autodesk express to the pro version which could be a consideration

EDIT: I recommend artrage because sketching in raster and sketching in vector are rather different - vector tends to 'wobble' because of the way the lines are worked out mathematically as you create the stroke - sketching to me is like tennis in that if you are going to do it well, you need to be able to do it fast as well as slow, with a minimum of wobble and preferably none