Programs to start out as gfx artist

Do anyone know some good programs? I'm thinking about becoming a gfx artist so that I can start helping out Animemb with their wallpapers and backgrounds since we are lacking in that development. I may be able to be a 3DS Max designer but I don't think that that skill would be able to adapt in this type of situation.

 

Photoshop is best but expensive.
GIMP is not as good but free.

take your pic, look up tutorials online, go wild

 

Going off of what GS said, Gimp does not offer as much as Photoshop, but it's free and also good for starting purposes. Photoshop can be overwhelming with it's complex features. Starting with tutorials is always ideal, at least to learn the basic functionality of the toolbar. I'd also recommend maybe trying Macromedia Fireworks. The company was bought out by Adobe, but you can find older versions online. Once you learn that, which is simple, you can walk into Photoshop with an easier time and understand it more clearly.

 

I don't think taht I'll be able to pay for anything online until I get a job, which I don't think it would be for another 2 years or if I 'm getting one during college. Are there any other free services besides Gimp? Right now, I'm not going after the expensive. I'm going after the free. Would a link to Gimp would be alright?

 

You can always be a pirate! ARGH!!

[Don't go for this unless you're a desperate, fool..]

 

nobody ever said it was bad. it's a great program that makes great stuff once you get the hang of it.

it's just that photoshop is plain better. easier to use, more features, higher quality options. GIMP is great but Photoshop is just plain better.

 

I'm looking through their tutorials and the likes and I don't find anything wrong with it at all. Maybe it's because they do their things differently.

 

Believe me, once you start using Photoshop after using GIMP for a while, you will notice the difference between the programs.

 

Start with Gimp.

 

-___- Oh my goodness.Gimp is so hard to use. I decided to switch to photobucket.com and photoshop.com to try and to begin. I might use Gimp but I am still not comfortable with it. I try to take out the original background that has Naraku but it wouldn't work. you have to do this in order to do this but when I try to do it, the colors get a little bit more brighter and if I mess up, I have to start a new one and try again.

 

I will just use the three of them to be in conjuction with each other in case there's something missing. That way, one program will back up what the other lack. Anyways, what are the minimum and the maximum size of a signature? I am doing a picture featuring T-elos and I think that it would look more like a signature than as avatar. The colors are coming along real well in my opinion.

Edit: I am so FRUSTRATED!!!! Right now, I want to show all of you different styles of the same pictures everytime I try to combine Gimp with another program. As of right now, this picture has been created from the combination of Gimp and photobucket. With Gimp, I was more comfortable as to giving T-elos' color an upgrade as well as the background. I try to bring out some darkness out of her but then I ended up messing up on the right with a little bit of nuclear coloring. -__- When I put the picture on Photobucket, I wanted to scream. The picture ended up shrinking instead of being at it's regular size so when I made it larger, the quality was lower. While I was putting my text in there, I realized that I made the background more better than ever even though I messed up but I needed something else so I went on ahead and threw in some stars. I tried to have some animated texts on there but photobucket don't do it and only photoshop can do that, WHICH MADE ME WANT TO PULL MY HEAD! Please tell me as to what I need to work on please. I really want to make myself better. Oh yea. The link that I created accidently made the picture smaller.

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Would this color would work then? I've been trying to find out which one would be the best design. Also, I think that I would like to switch between the two. I like how photshop was able to change up the details but photobucket is just terrible. Also, I'm still having trouble trying to make the picture bigger since that they can do is to make the size 255 * 155; I can only make avatars though my pictures are better suited for signatures. OH, AND THANK YOU FOR THE LINK!! -__- I wonder if Demaian would just give me his opinion on this...

 

Yes. His opinion would just make me better anyways so I don't care. Blue DO NOT WORK WITH GREEN AND NEED LESS CONTRASTING! I need to jot that down. Also, I am suing two programs at once to see which would be more appropriate. Still, I might just go on ahead and just use photoshop. Looks more useful but I might just forget about it and use gimp.

 

well only if you do it wrong. i've seen plenty of sigs that use the two together to great effect.