[6ren]

Don't you have to be incredibly skilled to draw lighting from different directions? I'm thinking "yes" - but artists are incredibly skilled.

  The free version will do everything the hobbyist version can do, but without the
  ability to export assets [...] needed for game use – however, the user will be able
  to export (watermarked) animated gifs showing off their artwork.

Great pricing scheme! I hope it works because I'd like to use this scheme too.

[sillysaurus2]

Don't you have to be incredibly skilled to draw lighting from different directions?

Artists have to do that anyway. :) This way, after they draw a few angles, software can automate the rest.

[6ren]

My thought was that you'll often light from a typical angle, and use familiar (or even stylized) techniques for that specific angle. To put it in extreme terms, you might only know how to draw with that lighting.

For unusual lighting (e.g. uplit), even an excellent artist would have to give it more attention. Similar to drawing a character from an unusual perspective. At any rate, drawing several unusual lighting angles will exercise one's talents more than using the same standard one.

It's literally looking at it in a new light.

[eru]

Since you only need, say, four angles, those four angles will soon become usual for you.

[6ren]

True. I think this is what's bugging me: drawing a lit version implies information about 3D shape; in particular, the artist has to reason/see in 3D. So, in a sense, it is a new method of entering 3D information, that works especially well for traditional 2D art styles.

Why not have the artist enter height directly, instead of shading from several different angles? It seems like less work (because there's less information to input); though possibly doesn't mesh as well with how 2D artists work... whereas shading is part of the tradition.

There's something I'm not getting here (that might lead to a better way of doing it, or not).

[nurbl]

As a (somewhat rusty) pixel artist I'd say it is easier to draw lighting from, say, straight above, or from the right, than from some arbitrary angle. But it still takes practice and a good eye, certainly.