Unconventional Art Software

[NinAcTi0N]

i might have a good substitute for you! i just discovered cosmic blobs a few days ago, and it's like a mix between paint 3d and kidpix. it's a lot of fun to use and has a pretty impressive amount of depth in what you can make with it. i haven't done much 3d modeling before, but i picked this up super quickly and made this cool little computer guy!



(also, here's an alternative download link that might have more features? this one says it's the deluxe version, but only comes as a cdr file so it'd be a bit more annoying to install on windows/linux)

I'm ABSOLUTELY in LOVE with this aesthetic... I received a ping in this post, and the first thing I saw was your comment, and I'm in awe that a software like this exists <33 I'll be looking forward to trying it out for sure!! 

[Limette]

Ellpisus seems to be EXACTLY what I need :0

I've been writing with my friend on Toyhouse since it was a bit more structured than google docs and let us collaborate, but Ellipsus seems way better for that. I just need to convince her to use it as well.


Also, I have something for the music list! Another friend introduced me to Strudel REPL in which you can write code to make music. I haven't done much with it, since I'm no musician, but it looks like there's a lot you can do in it. It's all in the browser, too.

[hikatamika]

Does Databending as an entire concept count? IE: Audacity as a "visual art"/"illustration" software?

I used to do this a lot in college, and want to reintroduce it back into my art process for some works.

[Rol]

Speaking of animation, I wonder if anyone would be able to bring GoAnimate back from the dead...? I find it extremely limiting, but sometimes that's where creativity shines thru.

The people who were passionate about GoAnimate enough, in fact, ARE keeping it going! “Wrapper: Offline,” I think it was called.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

I'm back with some more unconventional art software, which might include a side of games:


• Tupitube: Free animation software oriented towards introducing children and teens to the art of animation. Looks more like professional software instead of an animation-flavoured Kidpix, but you can customize it (I have mine in an ugly shade of green just for kicks  ) and its Youtube channel has plenty of tutorials explaining how it works (and I really appreciate documentation given software like this)
• Art Sqool:
A 3D platformer game that comes with an art program! You play as an art student exploring a colorful geometric 3D world, looking for inspiration, swatches and brushes! Your "professor" gives you prompts and everything, but it can get a bit eyestrainy tho, be mindful of that.

• Bombing: A Graffiti Sandbox: A game that lets you explore urban 3D environments and tag them to your heart's content. Has a sequel too!

[kringle]

my FAV FAV FAV unconventional art software is heavy paint , it's made by an artist who does a lot of plein-air painting and wanted a drawing program with a non-traditional workflow to encourage shape based thinking. like, EVERY brush has color jitter. it's super fun to use and while it can be a challenge to create more finished pieces in it its a fun journey, and its also hella fun just to mess w/the brushes.

you have to buy it to export your work but you can use it for free online to try it out, and then like just take screenshots when your done.

If I Recall Correctly theres an annual community event w/the people that use the program called heavypaint january (its one of those draw every day a la inktober situations) but i wasnt able to participate this year :(

[virtualpet2001]

for years i would occasionally bump into, forget about, and then rediscover the magic of BOMOMO:
https://bomomo.com/
which is just a website where you make abstract art using dynamically-moving shapes. its not much of a true art program considering how uncontrollable the shapes are and that you can't choose what color to draw with. but it can make some very pretty things

there's also BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS in which you can make art by mashing on your keyboard. its fun

EDIT!!!: omg i forgot about Magical Sketch where you can turn 2d shapes to 3d. the engine used for this was used in games like Graffiti Kingdom and Amazing Island! though unfortunately the only free edition that can be found is the jankiest and most lackluster version. Id like to check out the paid version someday...

[oldmurray34]

While not using it myself, but some of you, visual art people, might get a kick out of this one


This is Durdraw! MS-DOS-like ANSI editing software, that is working out of your terminal (so probably for UNIX systems only, but I haven't checked). It even can create animations 

[Rubbereon]

This is a great thread for what I'm working on.

I'm making a blog post for alternative software that doesn't rely on ai.

Some examples I hand-picked:

• https://supermosh.github.io/
• https://effect.app/
• https://www.ultrafractal.com/
• https://jfxr.frozenfractal.com/

And I'll probably add some apps from this thread.

Since the thread also includes links to games, I'd like to say that I made a thread for something called Knytt Stories. You can check it here: http://egomassive.com/ 

Also GoAnimate is really not what it used to be, so if you want the authentic experience for some "caillou gets grounded" animation there is flashthemes 

I know I'm not adding much to the discussion, but there ain't a bookmark thread feature, so I comment to bookmark the threads indirectly.

[RedBird]

I love making art with Kid Pix, Cosmic Blobs, Electric Zine Maker, KolourPaint, GIMP, 3D Movie Maker, and similar tools, so it's great to learn about more stuff like those!

There's a cool software called Imagynasium where you collect various objects and sounds, and use them to make collages, simple animations, and fun pictures!   It only runs in a Windows 9x virtual machine or Wine on Linux though. There's an article for it on Obscuritory with more info.

Another favorite of mine is Doodle-mation, which allows you to create simple animations with shapes, paths, and color effects (including color cycling). It runs in Windows 3.1 in DOSBox. Compute Magazine reviewed it here.

Also, I found an unofficial online port of Simpsons Cartoon Studio, right here!

[rnottelovesowls]

my favorite unconventional art app is Looom, by iorama studio. it’s a 2D flipbook animation app that takes the normally laborious task of animation, and turns it into something more akin to a DJ turntable: fluid, fun, and with lots of spinning things. it’s the app i use for all my animation work, and if you have an iPad and want to get into 2D animation, i highly recommend it

[Knotnu]

A suggestion for the list which I'm not sure if anyone use or suggested in the list. Inkscape to make interactive maps with svgs. And is great with custom maps in general but didn't use it in that purpose yet since pixiart already cover that part in my bargin.

Overall, I should check what's within the list so that I can make more improvements!

[lakes]

i mean, Aseprite looks good, but i have no moneyyy!!    plus i make pixel art in KP as well lol
eh, i'd rather just wing it with KolourPaint. MS Paint was good but i can't tolerate Windows anymore at all unfortunately.
also my laptop has GIMP but it's entirely just for removing backgrounds on things.

Have you tried Pixelorama? It's a pixel art program. It's available as a flatpak, a windows executable, a steam "game" and an itch.io "game." So you can pretty much use it on any platform. I tried it and it was alright. It can also do gifs and animation too.

[Noah_S]

I use paint.NET (software). They have a lot of custom extensions.