Hi, my name is Nathan,

Don't know where to really start this but, I am a big fan of Tattoo's and the culture around the art of Tattooing and in the process of designing my own Tattoo's. My love for drawing and creating artwork blossomed, and I have been taking my drawing more seriously. I received a drawing tablet for Xmas, and am trying to work my way around the software that came with it (Corel Draw essential X5 and Corel Photo Paint essential X5) now the first question I have is this, basically I find this software too complex to navigate and just about getting the hand of it, could anyone recommend a simple and reasonably priced piece of software that would be suitable for someone whom is starting to take his art work to the digital format, I would love to invest in Photo shop or Painter but I can't really justify the cost especially when I am just really starting of in the hobby. 

 

As I mentioned above my general interest in this hobby started with the design of Tattoo's however they are pretty simple compared to the nature of digital art. Where would be the best place to start and invest time in? as some of the art work I have seen is simply put AMAZING the time and imagination that people put into there work is outstanding.

 

lol so yeah I waffled a bit but basically I'm Nathan I love art and draw want to take it to the next level, where should I start? and could anyone recommend some software to start of in, that is easily accessible?

 

 Thank you for your time 

Nathan 

First off, welcome Nathan. ... As far as software, I would say try Corel Paintshop Pro X4, which can be found here Paintshop Pro X4 It's their latest version and priced at $69, so you can't beat it for the price. I also used this program for a while, before switching to Photoshop, and can say I found them to be quite familiar in the way of functionality. They both have a few things the other don't, but for the most part it's just that Photoshop is a lot stronger program overall. ... The other one you can try is Artrage Pro 3, which can be found here. Artrage Pro3 (Good thing is, they have it marked down right now, for $59.90, from regularly $80) You definitely want the pro, or if not, you will be going back to upgrade it soon after. But they do have a studio version, but I've never heard anyone suggest using it over the Pro. ... You will also find a lot of people on here that use it, and make some great pictures with it. **? I think I've heard someone mention that Artrage can sorta be compared to Painter, but I can't personally say, since I haven't used Painter before.

As far as where to start, I would say to just start with whatever you enjoy. Hang out here, post some work, get ideas from others. Just keep it fun and I think you will be creating all kinds of work in no time. And anything can be made into a Tattoo. :)

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My Sketchbook My Gallery

Welcome Nathan, sooo...you wanna design tattoos eh? I can understand you having difficulty getting a hold on all of the controls and what not in a serious art program....it takes time to really get what does what and how...that's why I would recommend that you give http://wistinga.online.fr/opencanvas/ a shot. It's a very streamlined program that was designed from the ground up to work with digitizer tablets, and best of all...it's FREE!

I personally find it to work very well for sketches and it takes a lot to get it to lag at all...a LOT!

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Wizard's First Rule

Hiya Nathan all of the above are priced because they are good at what they are supposed to do, but there are some free alternatives that are easy to use. Gimp is very similar to photoshop you can use layers and a range of different brushes and effects. And Inkscape is another free program That I would recommend if you were wanting to design any vectored tattoos like tibal designs or something similar. I hope any of the suggestions made by all can help in some way. good luck!

Ps, gimp is pretty straight forward to use but if you end up choosing to design vectors in inkscape and have any problems using it, give me a shout and i'll help out where i can.

id definitely reccommend you check out Artrage, lovely program and very intuitive to learn. You just need play with it, to find the settings on painting tools that suit your own workflow. And its pretty reasonable price wise.