I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember, since I was a little girl. I latched on to the anime style at a very young age and I've been trying to break away from it for a while now. My progress has been small and incremental.

I began drawing on the computer in the nineties, back when there was only paint - which offered little satisfaction. I drew non-digitally with water pastels and oil paint. I made murals and painted canvas and I used textured art paper.

A few years ago - just after I graduated from high school - I discovered Photoshop. As soon as I did, I went wild, drawing and editing photos. As the years have progressed, I've upgraded photoshop and have always enjoyed the changes taking place. I learned how to vector and blend and soon was making pictures that pleased me, a lot. Then my techniques became a little more refined, I learned about weighted lines and the like - thinking before that those things were impossible for me to do.

THEN dawned the age of my tablet. Imagine my joy, for the first time, setting down the digital pen and drawing a few squiggles. NOW, I thought, NOW, I can finally bring to life my dreams and paint things that REALLY thrill and provoke the imagination. Of course, my drawing skills have improved very little since I was younger, unfortunately. The only thing I seem to do well is landscape - which I detest doing. Never-the-less, I've persisted in my journey to learn how to draw better and improve my coloring technique.

I've improved a little bit since I got my first tablet. But I've always worked with photoshop. I tried Corel briefly, but the options it provided didn't satisfy me - so I didn't use it. Arttry, also was a little too real for me and took away most of the advantage of using a computer. About a month ago, I purchased SAI at the urging of my fellow artists.

I wasn't very impressed with the interface. I didn't like the set up of the bars or the way the menus and hot-keys worked. I still don't enjoy those things very much. I never really endeavored to learn the tools properly - but I kept the program just in case I had the time or the drive to learn them.

Tonight, I was lining a picture using photoshop and I stopped and a thought entered my head, almost without permission, "There has to be some other way of doing this." Not that I dislike the pen tool in photoshop - but it doesn't feel very... free. I don't really know how else to put it.

So I opened SAI, remembering that everyone I've spoken to has said SAI's lining tool is the best out there and that photoshop ends up being better for coloring.

I looked through the tools, learned about vector layers and began my first journey into learning how to line with SAI.

I drew a few curves and scrunched up my nose. Curious, I clicked the weighted tool then... Then, my eyes grew wide... what was this feeling of power coursing through my hands? The precision was perfect... the weights were perfect... with hardly any frustration here I was - after YEARS of using photoshop and the pen tool... struggling to get the lines JUST right... stroking and restroking paths... here it was... the answer to my lining dreams.

And I have to admit... I actually wept.

SAI makes lining ridiculously easy and gives control BACK to the user. I can't thank enough, those who recommended SAI to me.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

- R.