Black Ink is a new, non-realistic GPU based painting application that, instead of imitating traditional tools, brings new inspirations to every artist.  Forget about pen and paper or watercolor and discover a new, generative and truly computer based way to create. 

01 月 28 日

The most important new features are customizable layout, multi-monitor support and stroke smoothing. 

List of changes :

New DirectX11 renderer when available

NewHold Z shortcut: set the drawing smoothness

New The Controller Editor can now be dragged out of Black Ink’s main window.  More panels will have this behavior in future versions. 
This feature shows the new Stacking capacity for such windows in Black Ink.  However, some controls/editors are fixed to their place to keep a consistent UI. 

NewCtrl+← shortcut: Toggle Black Ink main window left panel

NewCtrl+↓ shortcut: Toggle Black Ink main window bottom panel

NewCtrl+→ shortcut: Toggle Black Ink main window right panel

NewM shortcut: Toggle Brush Manager panel ( for the moment this panel is fixed and can’t be dragged out )

NewCtrl+T shortcut: Transform current selection

Improved Framerate when drawing. 

Black Ink window can be resized by the dragging the top border

In the transform tool, after clicking a command button (like “flip horizontally”) the focus is not tied to this button anymore, so that pressing Enter validates the current transform. 

You can now click on the brush and eraser icon in the top right part of Black Ink to directly select the last brush or the eraser ( same as B and E shortcut )

An option have been added in the Zoom tool to enable/disable zooming at more than 100%. 

When using the Save command on a document which isn’t a BKD, the program automatically transforms the command into a Save As. 

Fixed Crash in trial version when saving when the trial time has expired ( issue )

Fixed Random crash after loading a BKD

Fixed Crash when importing a grayscale JPG

Fixed Several ( all ? )  random crashes when using the program

Fixed If the Selection or Transform properties are opened in the sidebar panel, clicking the "Show Brush manager" has effect ( issue )

Fixed When hovering the Selection and Transform tools, the popups can disappear under the cursor, and you can only get them back by moving the cursor out of the panel and back into it. (  issue )

Fixed With multiple monitor, the Black Ink Window is moved to another monitor when activating the application. 

This new version was a lot of work because we added some substantial internal features, which led to significant changes in the core - but it was well worth it because it will allow us to integrate powerful features more easily! 

Black Ink’s OpenGL renderer is also underway, and will eventually lead to the Mac OS X version. 

2014 年 12 月 29 日

Black Ink development is still going at a steady rate, and while it has been a few months since the last release, the next one is coming up next January. 

We have been working on some substantial internal features that changed the core of the software and needed some time.  These internal changes will allow us to add important features we have planned for the next few releases. 

In the meantime, we have started to port Black Ink to Mac OS X - follow this link to see the upcoming features. 

Last but not least, you have been quite a few to ask for Black Ink tutorials. 
We began a Getting started series.  Have a look and give us feedback! 

Steam Greenlight

Black Ink Beta

This product is still in beta.  Purchase now with a huge discount, and receive all future updates for free!  A lot of great features are in development for Black Ink and the special beta offer will evolve as they come in.  Take advantage of this offer before Black Ink is complete! 

關於此軟體

Black Ink is a new, non-realistic GPU based painting application that, instead of imitating traditional tools, brings new inspirations to every artist. 

Forget about pen and paper or watercolor and discover a new, generative and truly computer based way to create.  Black Ink’s non realistic tools makes creating original pictures fast and easy, whether you’re an experimented artist or never used a painting program before. 

Black Ink gives you the freedom to modify your brushes in any way you want and no real life constraint is going to stop your imagination.  You can create the perfect brush, or the most crazy one, and share it with other users for unlimited variations and effects. 
Black Ink’s unique and simple node-based system allows to very easily assign behaviors to your brush as well as create limitless advanced setups. 

And thanks to Black Ink’s GPU technology you can forget about the pixels and work on high definition documents.  Don’t worry about the resolution anymore and just create a 4, 8 or even 10k picture and draw without slowing down on real, full bitmap documents. 

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TLDR; An exciting platform capable of producing HUGE resolution paintings with highly customizable brushes.  I have never used a painting application and been inspired BY the painting application itself before Black Ink. 

The following is based on my personal experience and user feedback I've read in the discussion boards. 

Be aware that this software is:

- In development.  Updates roll out on a regular basis, and u2 (developer) is highly responsive to suggestions and issues.  Some tools you might depend on may not be included in the current version.  For example, at the time of writing this review there is no smudge tool but it is slated for inclusion. 

- Highly GPU intensive, but from what I can tell most dedicated gpus work fine.  Check for compatibility.  If you're not super familiar with computers or other painting applications, know that this is unusual.  GPU vs CPU will mean that just because other painting applications work for you, it is not guaranteed that this one will.  It did not work at all on my laptop, but works wonderfully on my desktop.  Try the demo.  Paint something HUGE. ;) 

- Has node-based programmable brush controllers.  Your typical sliders (color, size, opacity, etc.)  are still there, but you can go under the hood to customize your brush by tying the behavior of various brush parameters to the input of your choosing.  There is a lot of untapped potential here.  If you're the experimental type or mathematically inclined, you have to check this out. 

- Focuses on non-realistic painting, but CAN do realistic just fine.  For either type, visit the brush section of the forum to see what the community has created. 

In my opinion: very efficient and modern drawing software if you have a powerful gpu.  I usually work with Krita but when I need to draw on very high resolutions, well, Black Ink stays smooth and reactive while Krita can take 10s to display my stroke XD. 

Some notes though:- I already stated it but some people still seem to miss that it requires a powerful gpu, otherwise it is completely useless!- The brush system is very powerful but can also be tricky and time consuming.  Note that there are not many brushes so you'll certainly end up doing yours.- Keep in mind that this software is young => not much resources on it (tutorials, brushes, ...).- It is a completely different way of thinking so if you don't like new stuff, this may be a bad idea. 

Black Ink has become my favorite drawing/painting application and I do recommend it, but you should be aware of some of its limitations before you decide if it's right for you. 

The first limitation is that it requires a powerful graphics card to operate.  Don't expect to run this on your laptop, much less your Surface tablet.  The lag will make it unusable and some brushes won't even render.  If you're looking for something to take with you so you can paint under a tree by the lake, this isn't the program for you, unless toting a massive rig on a picnic is your thing. 

The second limitation is that the selection of brushes is very limited and not entirely satisfactory.  While the software is certainly able to handle them, it contains no traditional brush/knife/spatula effects, giving you instead a number of flashy, but not very useful "computery" ones.  Bleank's forums include a "brush exchange" where you can get another 20 or so brushes, but half of those are just experiments from people who are learning how to define brushes and most of the rest are interesting, but exaggerated effects of limited applicability.  You might find about half a dozen actually useful brushes, including an impressive flame brush, a decent graphite pencil, and a nifty comic book hash shadow brush.  The forums also contain a few tutorials on how to make your own brushes.  How effective these will be depends as much on your own skills and background as on the tutorial itself.  Making a custom brush is as much a technical endeavor as it is an artistic one. 

The third limitation is that there are no geometric tools whatsoever: no lines, circles, arcs, rectangles, spline curves, etc.  Their addition would make the program enormously more useful for certain types of illustrations, especially if they were given parametrizable "organic" effects (like random variations) in addition to being rendered with the current brush.  Given how easy it is to do this (yes, I am a software developer and yes, I have written drafting programs in the past), it's difficult to justify their absence. 

Also, keep in mind that you will need a drawing tablet and a pressure-sensitive stylus to get any decent results.  Mice and track pads just won't cut it.  This is true of all paint programs, but not everyone will think about it until they've tried and struggled with an inadequate input tool.  I'm using it with a medium-sized Wacom Intuos Pro and it works great.  You might consider upgrading to a stylus with tilt sensors because some brushes are tilt-sensitive and you'll get even better, richer results.  Because Black Ink works best on large drawings, I recommend a large writing surface as well, though that's largely a matter of personal taste; I prefer to have room to move my arm rather than just my wrist. 

But even with these limitations, what it does, it does very well.  I am particularly in love with its layering feature.  In addition to letting you stack backgrounds, foregrounds, and various intermediate slides, it's also great for experimenting on one layer without damaging parts that you want to keep.  Which brings up the fact that Black Ink's undo feature works very well.  This seems like a trivial observation, but I've used programs that make you want to throw the computer out the window either because they undo too much at once or they can't undo enough. 

So I certainly recommend this program to anyone who wants a pleasant sketching/drawing/painting program, but I also recommend to Bleank to add more conventional brushes (and why not some more unconventional ones, too?)  and a small panoply of geometric tools to make this a more complete and satisfying product. 

A standalone image creation and editing platform this is not. Fully supports professional graphics tablets, although none of the default brushes seem to use tilt, bearing, rotation etc. I'd like to see more experimental input options such as audio. It rather reminds me of Alchemy, or of the newer Painter X3 gravity brush engine etc. 

It could really use a brush size lock (zoom in = bigger brush-or rather, the brush stays the same size relative to the screen) The same behaviour really irks me with Mischief too.  Seriously, toggle this feature on and off.  This is the one and only thing I can say I actually hate about the app.  Sadly I really really HATE that behaviour. 

It's basically a very slick digital painting app with very limited editing capabilities and a single, very fast, robust, and customisable brush engine. 

It's fun to play with but I can't get my head around the brush editor and I hate the brush size behaviour. It's very good at what it does but it is kinda awkward, and expensive, and Windows only. It would be unfair to review it on tasks it's not designed for so that's it. 

Wow this program is insanely powerful.  Although it's an alpha drawing software, it's still really strong when used to create photograph base, abstract art work.  Currently the program has its limitation such as only having a max of 8 layers and not having filters or filling in color, etc.  On the other hand, it has an unique brush creation feature which is really handy because the unique brushes can allow you to create unique effects really quickly and effortlessly, the program also feature a picture base painting feature, which is basically making a picture the paint. 

Pros:-Great for non-realistic artwork (can still do realistic art work)-Makes abstract art an ease-Simple UI-Unique features for a drawing software

Cons:-$110 D: (but you can grab it on sale, like now for 50 :P)-Currently still unfinished (but I have great faith in it XD)-No fill tool, dam it :(

If you are not experienced in digital art and just getting started, this software is probablly easier to get you started in digital drawing. 

At first I thought this software was a piece of...junk, so I haven't touched it in a while.  However after using Clip studio paint, and other art software I then tried to compare those with this piece of junk.  After a couple weeks later I just love this junk.  I can't stop using this junk, after rubbing my tablet for a while, the junk turns my rubbing into beautiful white pictures that gives me joy and happiness.  I can no longer hate this junk and its just so easy to use.  It's so simple but it gives me so much pleasure.  I love this junk. 

Its potential is there, looks clean, works nice.  Interface could be refined for tablet use, but works well enough.  My only and biggest problems with the software is that it still lacks of some basic editing tools found in most other art programs.  you never notice how much you use a blur tool to smooth gradiants, until you don't have one. 

If your willing to play around with the brush editor, I say it is worth looking into; Not sure if it is worth 50$ yet personally, but what it got so far is a solid interface and system to build apawn in future updates.  with the promise of future more features, I would recamend it. 

However if you are looking for something that has all your standard art needs right now, I would double check everything you need is in here. 

Black Ink is an amazing program. ( Probably one of the best art programs on Steam) The goal of Black Ink to focus on user friendliness and tool/brush creation and allow for infinite creative freedom, rather than imitate programs such as Illustator and Photoshop.  It is however still in development and has a number a flaws.  That being said, I have a few recommendations. 

-Cloud Support

This is likely my biggest concern.  It's kind of a pain that I can't access my work/brushes from multiple computers. 

-Workshop Support

I can live without this one but it would be a neat addition.  Workshop support would allow artists to share the brushes they've created. ( Although it would in some cases be counter-productive, as people could easily abuse the workshop.) 

-More Tutorials/Digital Manual

The lack of tutorials is a bit of a problem.  I still haven't fully grasped all of the controls which has made my work a bit limited. 

-Photoshop/Illustrator based tools. 

This suggestion is a bit d!ckley on my part seeing as it would sort of defeat the program's purpose but in my opinion some of the tools seen as Photoshop and Illustrator could have uses such as modifying a scene in a way just brushes can't.  It'd also help people who are getting into Graphic Arts (Such as a student like myself) slowly ease into the program. 

-Simpler Editor

When I say this I'm talking more about presentation rather than changing the actual editor.  It seems to be based around mathematics. ( Which is fine) I just wish it were a little easier to understand. ( I don't get math.) 

In conclusion, Black Ink is a program with near limitless potential and it's just 45 bucks. ( That is until the final product is released.)  If you REALLY want to see what it's capable of, check out the portfolio on tumblr: http://blackink-drawing.tumblr.com/ Some REAL gems in there! ;) 

Make, download, or use the provided brushes to make amazing speed-sensitive designs.  People with no talent can make interesting paintings in seconds, while those with skill can produce amazing picasso-esq poitraits in minutes.  You might want to conisder picking up a small graphics tablet for an input device, also. 

Or you can be like me and just get high and drunk and doodle, and then when people ask what you do all day, instead of having to respond that you're always sitting on steam, you can proudly say "I, sir, am an artiste" as you laugh and twirl your mustache. 

I got this from a friend as main drawing software, since I can't afford the really shiny stuff like Photoshop and don't like getting out the old bottle of rum.  Though it's really powerful, there are also some annoying drawbacks, mostly regarding the beta stage of the product. 

First, the biggest and most annoying drawback: Bugs.  There are times when you boot it up and try to draw with your tablet, it's completely out of calibration - something that isn't supposed to happen.  The computer certainly detects the tip to be where it should be, but the program just paints a few mm to a few cm off to the left (or to the right, depending on its mood on that particular day).  Besides that, Black Ink has the nasty habit of crashing from time to time, but as long as you save often that shouldn't be too much of an issue. 

But, unfortunately, the topic of saving brings me to the most annoying beta-related downside: Corrupt savefiles.  It happens, is really frustrating and I hope it gets solved soon.  For now the way around it is simply to keep a lot of backups, but really, this needs fixing. 

The last drawback isn't all that bad, but just a bit annoying: You can't zoom further than 100%.  They're working on this, though, and I'm sure it'll get resolved soon. 

Now, enough with the negatives!  Positives! 

Let me start this section off with what I am sure is the biggest selling point: The brush editor.  You can create or download countless brushes, taking parameters as speed, pressure and direction and using those definitions to change your brush or add something or whatnot.  I don't know much about it, but it's still pretty damn cool and, if you're looking for this, it's a selling point. 

And besides that this is just a really solid tool.  It's responsive, there are nice tools to add saturation to colour instead of having to change the hue up constantly to shade, pretty brushes... Fun! 

All in all, though the beta stage certainly brings its drawbacks, this is a solid tool.  If you're interested so far, buy it! 

A really cool painting tool!  Easy to learn its features and you can create awesome art work pretty fast.  It might take a while to master them though... since this software gives a different kind of freedom compared to other painting software. 

Experiment alot when you try to make your own brushes.  You might end up making a super cool brush on accident.  Also, don't forget to download other people's brushes on Bleank's forums!