Tools for art

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

I am very new to art myself and still in the editing bases sort of stage and doing basic shading, drawing simple background as you can see on my profile. However doing that first piece sparked my interest, I know drawing my own character from absolute scratch is alot harder though and the current tool I use it's nigh impossible. 

 

I don't mind having to pay money for tools or programs so what sort of ones do you guys use, are there any particular gadgets or pieces of software which have alot to give? 

 

By the way this is directed at the people who do it on Comission level 

[Unikitty 1,212]

I use Photoshop CS5.1 for most of my artworks. I have the entire Adobe Creative Suite (5.5), which primarily includes Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. Unfortunately it appears that you can no longer buy the packages, and instead have to use their subscription system. I'm sure he subscription system works better than buying the pack, as it's probably more fluid with selecting programs to access, but the monthly fee can be an issue for people who may have issues paying it consistently.

If you need to save coin, Paint Tool Sai and GIMP are the other two major art programs most commonly used. The former being a single time cost, and the latter completely free.

 

As far as hardware goes, you don't need to go spending a thousand dollars on a Cintiq tablet, but a tablet is pretty much a must have for the art business. For this, Wacom is always your friend(though I'm sure there's other brands of tablet out there). Currently they are running with their Intuos series as their cheapest  available platform. These still run at guesswork of $150-$400, but if you're short of coin or just want something to get right into things while you save up for those glorious, divine Cintiq devices, then it's pretty easy to find tablets on eBay. I bought a Wacom Graphite 3(?) tablet about half a decade ago and it still runs pristine. I had to replace the pen once which put me out of pocket $40, but that was due to my own mishandling. They're pretty sturdy as is.

 

The most important thing to note is that you really don't need to have the top-of-the-line tools to get into the business, even professionally. Of course, it certainly helps; but no amount of hardware and software will be able to fill in for the personal work spent on actually creating art. So never forget that.

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

I use Photoshop CS5.1 for most of my artworks. I have the entire Adobe Creative Suite (5.5), which primarily includes Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. Unfortunately it appears that you can no longer buy the packages, and instead have to use their subscription system. I'm sure he subscription system works better than buying the pack, as it's probably more fluid with selecting programs to access, but the monthly fee can be an issue for people who may have issues paying it consistently.

If you need to save coin, Paint Tool Sai and GIMP are the other two major art programs most commonly used. The former being a single time cost, and the latter completely free.

 

As far as hardware goes, you don't need to go spending a thousand dollars on a Cintiq tablet, but a tablet is pretty much a must have for the art business. For this, Wacom is always your friend(though I'm sure there's other brands of tablet out there). Currently they are running with their Intuos series as their cheapest  available platform. These still run at guesswork of $150-$400, but if you're short of coin or just want something to get right into things while you save up for those glorious, divine Cintiq devices, then it's pretty easy to find tablets on eBay. I bought a Wacom Graphite 3(?) tablet about half a decade ago and it still runs pristine. I had to replace the pen once which put me out of pocket $40, but that was due to my own mishandling. They're pretty sturdy as is.

 

The most important thing to note is that you really don't need to have the top-of-the-line tools to get into the business, even professionally. Of course, it certainly helps; but no amount of hardware and software will be able to fill in for the personal work spent on actually creating art. So never forget that.

 

Thank you so much for the amazing advice       

 

It is kinda' annoyin' at the moment, I have all these ideas stuck in my head and no way to put them down with the current tools I use. You said GIMP is pretty good and free though right? I'll give that a go  

[Unikitty 1,212]

Thank you so much for the amazing advice       

 

It is kinda' annoyin' at the moment, I have all these ideas stuck in my head and no way to put them down with the current tools I use. You said GIMP is pretty good and free though right? I'll give that a go  

 

GIMP is definitely a great place to start. It has all the functionality of Photoshop despite a notably different layout. Unfortunately I couldn't give you an in-depth look at GIMP as I'm such an Adobe purist my brain simply rejects any other programs.

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

GIMP is definitely a great place to start. It has all the functionality of Photoshop despite a notably different layout. Unfortunately I couldn't give you an in-depth look at GIMP as I'm such an Adobe purist my brain simply rejects any other programs.

 

Okay I could not use GIMP cos I don't have admin rights or some rubbish but I found a free online program which is the same thing, just runs online like an app. 

 

Dabbling about with it my picture went from 

 

 

to

 

 

 

It is amazing what having a more powerful tool can do 

[Unikitty 1,212]

Yeah, a good program can really help iron out your image as a whole. Programs like Photoshop and GIMP are image-editing behemoths, so when you know how to use it, you can do really cool things that just amp up the quality of your work a ton. I highly suggest seeing about figuring out how to get GIMP working, as that's the kind of program you'll want to get into. The admin permissions issue is a simple fix, you just need whoever the is admin of the computer to allow it to be installed. There's certainly no issues with the program, it's absolutely safe to use.

 

Another quick note: don't get discouraged by how complex professional art programs may look. It'll take a long time to learn to use them to their fullest, and at first it can be daunting to get into. But everything will quickly fall into place. Just take it one step at a time. Video tutorials are your best friend in this scenario.

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

Yeah I will try to get it sorted I'm pretty sh** when it comes to computers x) 

 

 

Final version , those earrings were annoying me! >< 

Edited February 8, 2016 by Jestwinged