Another is Paint Shop Pro which is pretty good as well, I've heard it's easier to use than Photoshop, but I rarely CG stuff so I wouldn't know.

It's probably pretty simple to downlaod some of these on Kazaa, Grokster, etc.

Well probably didn't help at all, but somebody else will know something more about them.

[ 26-09-2002: Message edited by: Jackel ]

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but I think Jackel's right about this, it's gonna be much much cheaper and easier to download these programs from Kazaa or some similar site, that way you're not forking out truck-loads of cash for them. I got my copy of Photoshop 6 completely free this way - and also Dreamweaver, Acid Pro, etc etc... Unless you have the world's slowest or most unreliable internet connection, that's gotta be the best way to go about this....

erm. no. of course I'm not recommending stealing things. Of course not. I'm FAAAAR too responsible... <------- disclaimer...!

I mean you dont like it when people steal your stuff (drawings for example) either, right.

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Wer nicht vom Meister lernt, lernt nie etwas.

Adobe Photoshop is the industrie standart and is propably the most polished graphicsuite.
It is the best program when it comes to printing, but the prize resamples that it is a profesional tool.

Jasc Paintshop Pro(personaly I use this) is like a consumer version of Photoshop, it has most feat.
That PS has but they arent as polished.
So it can take some time to archive the same quality as PS, 'couse sometime you have to do 2-3 steps, where PS needs only one.

RL Vision's Artgem I only gave it a brief testing, but it has all the basic tools to color a picture.
The airbrush tool seems to be inbetween the quality of PS and PSP.
The Interface of Artgem however, is pretty unique and can take some time to get used too (atleast if you come from another graphic suite).

The Gimp is a opensource project for linux, but there is a windows port.
Cant say much about it, seems to be a good program but the windows port was pretty buggy last time I checked it (a year ago)

All the programs above are geared(or have their roots) toward photomanipulation.

Procreate Painter this piece of software is different compared to the others above.
It does'nt come with much tools to manipulate existing pictures/photos, it simulates real drawing tools instead(and is pretty good at it).
Quite alot of people love this program and I have seen astouning art made with this.

Opencanvas is a japanese program and it also simulates paint(mainly watercolor). It is'nt as feature rich as Painter but it is easy to use.

Like SongSiuHua said, you should consider buying a digital tablet too.
All the programs listed above fully support them and shading is alot easier with it.
Painter and Opencanvas are allmost useless without one.

The best company, when it comes to tablets, is Wacom.
The Graphire is a good starter deal(I'm using one) and comes with a watered down version of Painter and Photoshop.

I would say that your best bet is tho, to check the programs yourself.
All companys have a trial version for download availble

Adobe Photoshop

RL Vision Artgem

Jasc Software Paintshop Pro

Gimp windows port

Procreate Painter

Portalgraphics Opencanvas

Wacom

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Wer nicht vom Meister lernt, lernt nie etwas.

Ok, I checked out that Wacom site, and saw the Graphire tablet for $99, and it comes with 'Adobe Photoshop LE & Corel Painter Classic ' Are these any good? ^__^

The tablet's worth its weight in gold and the 2 progs are enough to be getting on with.