I've heard of loads...but would like to find the right one could anyone help me by recommending a program? Thankyou for reading please reply =0P

I've heard that PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro are really awesome. I think that's what most people use to make their graphics. I've also heard though, that Paint Shop Pro costs hundreds less than Photoshop. As for me, I use a free program that works with Photoshop plug-ins. I'll be getting Photoshop soon, but if I were you I'd stick with one of those 2 because there are tons of tutorials available online and all. Maybe this will help :)

Please search the forum next time ;)

I recomend PSP 8 for the beginner in graphics design. You learn very basic but important skills for more advanced programs. Since I have started using PSP I learned a lot about graphics design, and you can do a lot of cool stuff with it!

I also recomend:

Adobe Photoshop

the simple answer is that none of us here could possibly know. the "best" is dependent on you- some might thing that PhotoShop, which is pretty much the industry standard, is better. but you may be better suited to a simpler program like Paint Shop Pro. or some might say PSP is better because it's easier, but maybe you need the additional features of PS.

also, try looking into Serif PhotoPlus- it's free and although it's a basic program, you can use it for most simple graphics that you need- or The GIMP- it's also free and very powerful. it's designed to be a free alternative to PhotoShop, but the Windows version (opposed to the Linux version, the original one) is still somewhat buggy, though usable.

It depends a lot on what you're designing graphics for.

If you're designing purely for the web then I recommend Fireworks - especially if you're doing your web pages in Dreamweaver!

The DW / FW combination blows the socks of anything else for web design / web graphics integration IMHO :D

whats a link for fireworks?

if you search around shockwave.com, i think they're the company that manufactures fireworks, but be aware, it's really expensive.

as for me, i use photoshop 6. it's quite complicated at first, but experimenting by yourself is the best way to learn, i find. tutorials don't really help much because you just follow the steps, and you don't really understand why...

this is a matter of opinion. since i mostly deal with dollz and pixel art, i like ms paint for outlining and filling in. but i use PSP 7 if i want any good effects that are impossible on ms paint.

it really has to do with what your doing. if your just making basic graphics, MS paint is really all you need, and can do pretty amazing things if you know how to use it well. plus its free and its already on your computor. if your doing art work, (such as dolling or anime or something) or making complex layout images you may want something a little more advanced, like paint shop pro. while photo shop can also be used it's much more expensive and not needed. if you're doing advanced work with photography or really complex stuff, photo shop is what you really want, but it's pretty expensive so its not really something i'd recomend going out to buy unless you really need/want it.

again it also depends on what your using it for because u may not want any of those programs at all... if your looking for something more "art" inspired or 3d u might want to look into bryce for landscaping and sceneary and space scenes or 3d studio make or poser for working with people and animals... and then theres maya but its in a whole different ball field and i think one of the most expensive (last time i priced maya it was around 3 grand i think)

i myself have taught myself and i use bryce and psp i do just about everything in psp but if i want something more artsy or scenic i will use bryce for it and then do post work on it in psp.

slowly traveling the road to being a professional i'll soon be learning photoshop which at this point after 7 years of graphic design i still find hidious and complicated, but depending on what u want to do might be the better choice.

also tho if your thinking of going with photo shop just because of the plug ins.... most photoshop plug ins can be used in psp also (sum of them like filter factory have to be converted but i think either filter factory or psp comes with the converter to do it)

Fireworks MX by macromedia, its by far the easiest to use for a begginer and also creates brilliant and life-like graphics.

Originally posted by sapphire_swirlz
Fireworks MX by macromedia, its by far the easiest to use for a begginer and also creates brilliant and life-like graphics.


It's not too shabby for a pro either :D

http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/

I have Fireworks, PSP 7 and an old Photoshop (5.0 LE). If you want to make those amazing abstract 3D 'digi-art' graphics, the best program for that is 3D Studio Max. They're coming out with a new version in the near future, so you might want to wait. The drawback? It's about $3,000. For other graphics, Fireworks has a few almost effortless effects, but they're not as advanced as Photoshop's or PSP's. It may have more complicated/advanced ones too, but I've worked mostly with text effects only in Fireworks. PSP is great for beginners because everything is extremely easy to understand. It has lots of effects, but I've found that while it produces great graphics, Photoshop's are more along the lines of amazing. Photoshop is a good deal more expensive though. You can probably download a free trial of PSP at the Jasc site, I'm not sure if any other free trials are available.

A very simple program for making graphics is MS Paint, if you are a beginer i recomend using that. I think all computers have that instaled in them. The best programs out there are PSP, Animation shop, Photoshop and 3Ds Max, you can download a 60 day trial of PSP8 and Animation shop by going to www.jasc.com, but beware if you wish to buy these programs they can be pricey

PAINT SHOP PRO 7/8 RRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXX

PSP and Adobe are awesome, but be aware, they're outrageously expensive.

I have both Adobe and Paint Shop Pro but Adobe is much better I think

Eh, it depends what you want to do with it - both have some different uses.

i know that adobe and psp are really good paint programs for makin graphics, but what do they have that makes em so different?

Lots of things. For one, PSP costs about 100$ and Photoshop costs about 600$.

Photoshop can be very flexible. You can do virtually anything you want with it, however, it's a bit complex for someone whos been using MS Paint for years.

PSP, in my opinion, is by far much easier to use. However, it doesn't have a lot of features that Photoshop has. The users that bought Photoshop and PSP, look for yourself, theres tons more features in Photoshop than in PSP.

If you're just trying to make simple web graphics, like embossed text, etc - get PSP - its easier and it will serve your purpose just fine.