Hi people,

 I bought the magazine yesterday and had alook through it. I'm a traditional artist and have never used any kind of photoshop or PC art oriented stuff.

 I've found a few packages on amazon but they all go on about photos rather than art and i dont know what to go for.

 I need advice on how/what to get to start digital art and also how it works. I have a reasonbly good laptop i recently bought for gaming so its got good memory ect as it needs it for W.o.W

 I've looked at a few packages on amazon along with a pc tablet and pen. SHould i get both? I really dont know anything so if you could help i'd very much appreciate it.

Thank you

Glen

Hi Glen,

I replied to your other post in the "Introduce yourself" thread but I'll copy it here, as it is more appropriate.

Ciderman:

I'm new to digital art and i need advice on what programs to buy for doing it. I know its photoshop but the ones that are availible on amazon.co.uk look like there for photography rather than artwork but i may be wrong. If anyone can offer any advice i'd really lke to try digital art out

Photoshop is mainly for photography but it is so powerful that it can be used for all sorts of activities especially digital painting - the Photoshops (CS4, etc) on Amazon are the correct versions.

Here is a list of most digital painting applications, including free software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_raster_graphics_editors#List

Some of the most popular are: Photoshop, Painter, Artrage, Gimp, Sketchbook Pro, SAI, Dogwaffle and Twisted Brush. Many, if not all, have trial versions and some have free "lite" versions.

 

Thanks for that Joe. I just didn't know if i was looking at the right ones. Now i know

I'll take a look at that thread and thank you for taking time out to explain. I just havent known where to start so cheers mate

...another question.

Does the photoshop elements7 work ok as an artists program? Its just the cs4 package is a tad of my price range at over £500. Whereas the elements package is £50.

Personally, I've never used Elements. I don't see it mentioned much as an artist's tool which leads me to think that it is too limited for serious artwork - I may be wrong. If I had a limited budget I think I'd go for Artrage, which is a superb drawing/painting program for a ridiculous £25 and also has a large support community.

I haven't used the latest versions of Elements, but I have a very early version (possibly 1 or 2) somewhere, and that was fine for painting. I think the latest versions may be leaning more toward photo editing and organising images these days though. I agree with Joe that Artrage is an excellent package and worth a look (there's even a cut down free version). Possibly check out Artweaver and Gimp too, which are both free.

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I just bought a wacom intuos 4 tablet bout a month ago and it came free with PS elements 7.................. But I have cs4 already so I have never tried it.

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PS CS4 and WACOM INTUOS 4, FIGHTCLUB

I can recomend SAI to you.Its a great Painting tool for beginners and Pro.I try it ,very powerful and lighter than "Open canvas" both are popular Tools at Comic/manga drawing artists. SAI is very cheap arround 40-50 US $ or 38-44 € (bassed on Yen).You can buy SAI per Paypal only. I prefer PS CS for painting and editing.I got a student version and its ok for me.Painter is great too but i dont have experiance in it.

I have also used this little wonder to sketch up some thumbnails, http://opencanvas.informe.com/get-oc-1b72-here-dt16.html  It's very light and doesn't get bogged down at all...but it's also not very powerful....it has layers but not much else. Biggest plus is of course that it's free....well that and if you can find someone you want to draw with online....it can also do that. For some reason they eliminated that feature in the later versions.

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Wizard's First Rule

Like XP, Photoshop 7 was the best version ever. lean mean and got the job done and still does!

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I use photoshop cs2, before that I used cs1. havnt had the need to upgrade so far, so doubt I will anytime soon.  I use it for most of my painting stuff,  but for sketch and preliminary I often use artrage, its just superb.

steve

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"what do you mean...I stopped thinking, therefore I disapeared?"

Hi I use elements 6, I started off using gimp so I find this great. It has many applications the full version has (I have used the demos of the full version) I find there are only a few bits it doesn't have. It draws well and is cheap!. there is alot i do not know as I am new to this medium too but i have had hours of fun with it. Also as I spent a small amount on it then got it free with my new computer I do not panic I wasted a shed load of money and not using it to its full extent or that I need to use it everyday to justifiy the cost.

My only issue is when following tutorials they do use things I haven't got or can't find but that could just be me. . here's one I did in elements not great but it shows it can be done.

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I am so sweet bite me

picking the Student Editions of Creative Suite 4 is definitely the best way to pick up Photoshop - i do some work with Adobe, and you can get the Student Editions for up to 80% off the full price.  so if you're trying to learn Photoshop, that's your best bet.  you can learn more about the Student Editions at http://studenteditions.adobe.com.

 

any questions, please, shoot them my way! 

If its any help I can recommend Gimp. (I started off with a very old version of photoshop elements) I also like painter essentials 3 that came bundled free with my wacom intuos 3. It behaves more like paint if you know what I mean lol. The huge upside to buying cs3 or cs4 is the ability to try out the brushes that IFX kindly put on the cover discs to help with the tutorials. My PS elements couldn't open them. Also cs3 has the ability to change the size and dynamics of brushes mid picture- very useful, whereas ps elements you had to use the brush at whatever size you were given. I got a new photoshop cs3 boxed and wrapped with serial number cheaper from amazon  as it is old stock.

Heya,

I've just tried the opencanvas and so far its the best i've found apart from i cant find any way at all to copy and paste. Any ideas cos the programs perfect apart from that point...i cant copy and paste, which really i need to do.

Cheers for that and thanks for everyones advice too :)