2d with depth

Unless you are starting from scratch, you can grab and discard many 3d applications looking for the one. I like many artist have a load of background. Me, I've been an electrical CAD drafter for years. I haven't done much in the way of 2d part drawings and very little if any 3d work. I don't draw people or creatures or spaceships. Then I am not a pencil sketcher. I use ball point pens and love those rolling writer gel pens. I draw ideas of interior design art and furniture, sculptural pieces, rooms and houses.

So when I look at a software I want my ways of doing things and thinking to come out. I want precision like a drafting program but also to be able to wrinkle and fuzz things. Nobody like things too cold and rigid, the natural line, the calculated flaw and the accident is what makes art interesting. Then there must be a way to manipulate color. In 2d this is easy, paint it and you're done. Most 3d applications of note require a system of light placement and camera placement. Color itself is mapped on a surface or is integral to a material assignment of the part, like marble or glass.  With the many variables and setting to be fiddled with, you can virtually do anything, virtually. Every operation requires a new found knowledge to get the results you are looking for.

The main caveat is finding all the stuff you want under a user interface you can understand and control. That's the rub, you got to live with it long enough to get a grip on it. Take the red pill, go down the rabbit hole. To be a Jedi takes the most serious commitment. You may have to push all other similar applications aside. The glitz and glamor of finished work posted in galleries can be a distraction if another artist produced something wonderful in an application you are not using. Ooooh, I want to do that too! Can I do that in this? Another argument is this application is used in the industry, yours is not or is new and untested in professional use. Sometimes some dude gives a biased review, or a bad review to a version from 5 years ago. You read it today and think, maybe I should be using something else. Hey, pick up your weapon, swing it around, face Vader (yourself), decide, slay, your done. You are now on your way.