Which program?

[Arya]

My dad is finally willing to buy me a digital coloring/drawing/sketching program! Problem is I have no clue what to get o.0

I could go to google and to random forums to ask what I should get but I thought I'd ask Amy first.

So, what program would you reccommend me to get Amelius?
I would like something easy for me to get used to, somewhat of a good quality (As in being able to do lotsa stuff with it), and something under $800. Yep ^_^

Oh, and I also ask this to every forum goer who thinks they know their programs too, so suggestions from all are welcome!

[Dundee]

Well, I use two programs myself: MS Paint, which is very handy for text, and Ultimate Paint, which is what I use for coloring, cropping, etc. And the finished product usually takes about a week, and doesn't look all that good in the long run, so I wouldn't suggest that combination.

[Zolah]

Painsthop is atleast what I think a very nice program, and Paintshop CS is very intresting *nods*

[T_K]

I belive Amy uses Photoshop atleast she used to I use photoshop aswell.. its the best there is.

[Amelius]

Hmm, while I'd say Photoshop is a pretty good program, I am aware there are others that are good too but cheaper ^_^ Cs2 will probably run right into the $800 budget or possibly over, unless you get it half price through a school program (usually this is reserved for colleges or businesses working with graphic design) since the likelyhood of that is still low (even at my college they kinda balked at the idea of getting it for the classes let alone for students, they had to sign a petition to even get the new version! Sad, sad...) There may be the possibility that photoshop.07 has lowered in price, which is still a very similar program save for the way it displays filters and a few options it lacks that were added to cs2 (so far the only big difference I've seen is the "warp" tool that lets you bend objects any direction, and the "fibers" filter that adds a two-color wood grain to an area. That and I don't recall how to set the brush-option tab so it stays out of the way when I'm done with it >_<)
There is a watered-down version of photoshop called "elements" which I think is under $100, but I'm just going by what I think a friend told me. I'm not sure of what all is missing from that, but I did color one comic using that at a friend's house here It had nice speech balloons though, and some interesting brushes. It was a Mac version though, I'm sure pc is similar though.


There are also free options (which offer upgrades at fair prices, one for $30 even)
Here is a link to a site that has the top 8 of those: linky!
In fact, there is a list along the side of the page in that link that describes other graphics programs you can buy too and gives a description and price tag on each.

Also, you may notice on that list is the program
Gimp, which I've heard is actually pretty good (and free, can't go wrong there!) and often mentioned as being "free photoshop". This was suggested to me a few times back when people thought I was using MS paint to color my comic >_< I know that Milky uses this program to color as well ( I asked ^_^)


I just thought I'd suggest the free options to save you some money just in case, I've heard these programs are pretty good and I'd hate to see you dissapointed by an expensive program. Should you get a version of photoshop though I'm quite willing to help you out with that too ^_^

[Arya]

I dunno, I think I'll go research paintshop a bit, I remember trying gimp and it was alright but it didn't have any color options, it was a more editing program tahn a creating one. It got erased when the virus erased my computer though, and it won't let me download it again so...

Pixia sounded perfect but my bloody comp won't download it it, perhaps my other one will...

[X Daggers]

I used the Gimp and it's okay if you're absolutely poor but it doesn't compare to Elements, which I use now. I borrowed it (^_^; ) Elements 2, specifically. I learned Photoshop 7 in a class a few years ago, and it had a lot more options. I would choose 7 if I had a choice. I've heard Paintshop Pro is good, too. That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge :\