Having an actual art studio in your home is going to be…well…expensive. The good news is you can buy programs that let you have a virtual art studio in your home. One such program is TwistedBrush Pro Studio. This is a program that pretty much lets you paint whatever your mind can create.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO

Main Functionality

TwistedBrush Pro Studio is a shareware virtual art studio program that gives you access to over 5,000 different brushes. It also comes with a number of other features that artists are sure to love, like filters, patterns, drawing guides, dynamic palettes, and much more.

Take note there is a free version of this program, TwistedBrush Open Studio. However, the free version doesn’t provide as many brushes and tools as the paid version. For this article we are reviewing TwistedBrush Pro Studio, the paid version.

Pros

• Gives you access to a complete virtual art studio
• Offers layers, templates, masks, tracing paper and access to over 5,000 different brushes
• Also offers the ability to clone brush strokes
• Offers support for drawing templates
• Supports the following image types: JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA, PCX, PSD, BMP, PCD, WMF and EMF.
• Comes with over 40 drawing guides to teach you how to make the most out of the program
• Compatible with Adobe Photoshop plug-ins
• Has a paid and a free version

Cons

• So many options it can feel overwhelming
• It will take time to learn where everything is because there are so many menus
• Free version is limited in functionality

Discussion

There are a lot of things to love about TwistedBrush Pro Studio, and a few things to not. Pretty much everything you could ever need in a paint program is here. However, that convenience comes at a price. So first, let’s cover the good things and then we will jump into the bad.

Right away you can tell that this program has a lot to offer. There are over 5,000 different brushes to use, it supports all popular image formats, and even comes with over 40 drawing guides to help you make the most out of this program. Heck, the program even supports drawing tablets for all of you real artists out there.

The good news doesn’t stop there. The program is completely compatible with Adobe Photoshop plug-ins, and although it is a paid program, you get to test it out for 15 days before you buy. That should be enough time for anyone to see if this program is worth the money.

That being said, there are a few draw backs. The biggest one is the huge $100 price tag. I love paint programs for the computer, but I have never once spent that much on a paint program, so it’s hard for me to want to start now. On top of that, it has so much to offer, it is almost overwhelming when you start up the program. You see what looks to be 100 different buttons, and they just throw you in and say, “Have at it.” This may not be a drawback for all of you, but for me it felt like the learning curve was going to be a little on the steep side.

CONCLUSION AND DOWNLOAD LINK

The program works, and it is great. However, all this great functionality comes at a steep price — $99. To make matters worse, once you buy it, you still have to pay for the next upgraded version. That’s right, once the next version comes out, you still have to pay $30 to upgrade. If you can use this program in your profession or career, then $99 may well be a small price to pay — that is for you to decide. For the average Joe, however, $99 is way too much to dump on this program.

Keep in mind there is a free version, TwistedBrush Open Studio, that you can grab if you don’t want to spend $99 on TwistedBrush Pro Studio. It doesn’t have as many features, but it is free.

Price: $99 for newest version ($30 to upgrade from old version)

Version reviewed: 19.17

Supported OS: Windows NT / XP / Vista / 7

Download size: 27.9MB

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/45

Is it portable? No

TwistedBrush Pro Studio homepage