Art programs

Adobe Photoshop is, IMO, the best program for digital art.
Adobe Illustrator is ok too, but I recommend learning PS first before this.
You can also go with GIMP, since it's free.
I havent try CorelDraw yet, but I have been reading lots of good reviews from it.

 

I've done work in the Engraving industry, and Corel is the standard there. CorelDraw is totally different than Adobe Photoshop, as it's primarily for working with vector (line) drawings, while Photoshop is more for working with bitmaps (like pictures). You'd probably want PhotoPaint if you are looking at the Corel equivalent to Adobe Photoshop.

 

You can get Adobe Photoshop/illustrator/flash/edge/dreamweaver ect....in Adobe's Creative Cloud, but it'll cost you 60 bucks a month.

I don't know how much photoshop costs on its own, but I'm betting it's pricey ^^"

Gimp worked really well a few years back when I used it, and I haven't had a chance to play around with my copy of Photoshop ( been too busy playing with Flash )

 

I suggest you learn Photoshop first and than Illustrator. Stay away from gimp it is ok but not as good as Photoshop, I attempted to learn gimp first and I prefer Photoshop it is easier. Gimp doesn't have as many tutorials as Photoshop, so if you is on gimp and do not know how to do something you may have to figure things out on your own.

 

It's more of considering what you are putting in and how you want it output. In engraving, we're looking at tool paths, pressures or power settings, things like that. It's not the right tool for retouching photos, say getting rid of someone's pimples, or making them loose a few pounds. For those things, you need something like Photoshop, Photopaint, or Gimp.

 

Vector uses geometrical formulas to represent images and Bitmap uses pixels to represent images. Vectors can be resized more easily than Bitmaps, plus Vectors tend to require less memory than Bitmaps.

 

Speaking of Tutorials for photoshop. I found a site called TrainSimple through Adboe's site and it's about 10 bucks a month, but they have tutorial upon tutorial for all of Adobe's applications and you get certificates when you finish a tutorial =P

Makes you feel like you accomplished something XD

 

It depends on what you want to do.

Photoshop is the swiss army knife of the digital creative world. It does many things well, but has some flaws that make it not as nice for certain tasks. Some of the problems can be overcome with a really powerful computer, but other programs that specialize in a particular task perform better. Such problems include using the mixer brushes on large files, the quality of dry media and lack of perspective rulers(not that these are essential, but they can save a lot of time). I use Manga studio a lot for drawing because of the ability to work larger works more efficiently in greater detail without stuttering and pauses. My computer is a beast and photoshop still slows down from time to time.

For example:

Manga Studio is absolutely amazing for sketching and drawing. I prefer to use it for my rough sketches and penciling illustrations. Corel Painter is better for digital painting in many cases.

Photoshop is great for post processing and fine tuning. You can do a lot with it. Illustrator is good for design projects.

 

surprised no one mentioned Paint Tool SAI, it's a great program that most artists use if not Photoshop probably, it's what I use and I would definitely suggest it, if you want I could send you both and link you to some blogs that post brush settings.

 

Manga Studio is extremely good for what you are talking about. It is one of the things it was specifically designed for. I recommend the new pro version, 5. It is really very good.

 

Photoshop isn't solely for photo editing, a lot of people use it for drawing, I still say Paint Tool Sai is your best bet considering you can find free versions and Mangastudio is either 50 bucks or 200.

 

This, plus Inkscape if you'd like to make those nifty .svg files. :icon_bigg Both are completely free and definitely suitable for professional usage. Enjoy!

 

Gimp and Inkscape are okay. Gimp has some build in design limitations due to the programming libraries it was written on which create a hard limit on how large of a picture you can effectively work on. The paintings that I work on are simply too large to do in GIMP as the program will freeze and crash. Inkscape is a decent vector program for simple design work but is not really designed for what you are looking to do. Also if you are looking to print your work, Photoshop is really a better choice. Gimp is primarily for web work(smaller images, rgb color profiling with limited support of CMYK).

 

Project Dogwaffle is nice little program as well, good for landscapes. The tools on it are a bit different than some art programs though.

 

I use Gimp for various photo edits and stuff. When it comes to drawing I use Paint SAI. Its tight up there with Photoshop in terms of how good it is and its nowhere near as pricey.

 

I personally recommend Paint Tool Sai!
But you may also like GIMP and Photoshop.
And maybe you could try Illustrator. It's not that easy to use (vectors), but once you get used to it...

 

I have to recommend Paint Tool SAI and GIMP

GIMP is a good alternative to photoshop if you are on a tight budget. Paint Tool SAI is pretty damn at digital painting.

of course though, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshopare quite amazing in itself as well.