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JixiPix Artista Impresso

JixiPix Artista Impresso Review – Great digital paintings can take hours of work. It’s an art form for perfection seekers, so it’s no wonder that painting plug-ins can be so divisive, when they claim to recreate all that genius with just a few clicks.

It’s hard to believe that any piece of software can come close to the meticulousness of a hand-crafted digital painting, and this is why JixiPix’s Artista Impresso is so intriguing. It doesn’t look or feel like a powerful painting tool. It’s a simple enough program that also doubles up as an app, which explains the Instagram-like setup; the various presets are arranged along the bottom of the screen, with a preview window for each one, and from there are more advanced sliders to tweak your picture. Despite the app-like design, it’s a very impressive plug-in. In just a single click, it’s possible to turn a picture into a decent impressionist painting, and there are settings depending on whether you’re painting a subject, a landscape or even still life. Each preset has a different stroke shape and length, and it’s extremely useful having them grouped as they are, separating those that show detail in a subject’s face, from those that create Monet-like backdrops.

On from there, the sliders take care of everything else you could possibly want. You can vary your stroke size and volume, tweak the colour tone and even add an ‘artistic finish’ texture. It’s an extremely classy plug-in with fantastic results that can be used either as a basis for a smudge portrait, or as a finished piece.

There are a few criticisms that you can level at the software; the masking tool could be a little more straightforward, but it’s just an extra to smooth over certain areas of your picture. It’s best not to expect toomuch from this kind of plug-in, but Artista Impresso excels at the basics of painting, and provides cool effects for the more experienced to build upon. It’s a no-brainer for anyone looking to digitally paint with ease.

A simple plug-in with advanced features, Artista Impresso is packed with effects. Use it as a quick fix, or a first step in building digital masterpieces.