Starting with Photoshop

[ChristianJewWeeks]

I am a high school student who is planning on focusing my future career around art. I've only done basic, non digital work for school and several competitions, and I feel like I am being held back. I want to start with some digital art.

I have spent some time looking and asking people of what types of programs to get, but have gotten different opinions and ideas. The main consensus is photoshop; however, there are so many different versions, I don't know what to get.

I just need a more basic and cheaper version to get my feet off the ground... nothing too advanced, or expensive, like the the heavily advertised CS3

A quick response would be very much appreciated :)
Thank you for your time and help. Hopefully, you all will see me more often on these forums.

[Riala]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47859

[ChristianJewWeeks]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47859

I quickly skimmed over this thread earlier and this time i looked through it thoroughly.. until i realized how many pages there were. The only thing I read related to what I need is bumskee said something about photoshop 7 and up.
Is there a particular page that is more specific?

I want to be very definite on what type would be best for me and my current abilities...
Any more help would be appreciated :)

[Stryyf]

I am just getting started too, but if you wind up geting an Intous 3 Wacom tablet it come with Adobe photo Shop Elements. I know it is not a full blown version, but it is enough to get your feet wet and learn some of the basics i would think. you might be able to better determin where ya want to go from there. Just a thought.

[ChristianJewWeeks]

alright cool
I'm not planning on getting a wacom tablet (soon atleast) but that definitely helps.
thanks :)

edit: other opinions are still welcome, i need as many as i can get

[Orunitier]

You should really get a tablet. It will make things a lot easier. I bought a small one (Wacom Graphire 4x5) for, like, $78 on Amazon.com. But I think these ones are discontinued? But they have the new ones (small Wacom Bamboo) for around the same price.
And since you're a student, you can get a discount on Adobe products like Photoshop Elements, etc.

[FlipMcgee]

I just need a more basic and cheaper version to get my feet off the ground... nothing too advanced, or expensive, like the the heavily advertised CS3

For beginners I recommend the latest openCanvas. Behaves and run very similarly to Photoshop and Painter. It has a color wheel like Painter and you can rotate the canvas. The initial versions are free (hunt them down if you wish) but the interface of the latest version is better. There's a trial demo if you want to check it out (go to portalgraphic's English page). It's only like $25 or something.

People might tell you Artrage. It's also good and cheap but I'd recommend it more if you're comfortable painting with "natural media" style most of the time.

But...if you want to do lots of photo manipulations, matte paintings and some basic vector art you might as well get a version of Photoshop you can afford.


.

[ChristianWeeks]

Hmm.

I was looking at wacom tablets but i reasoned they were too expensive for me, as of now. I didnt look at them for long though... I just saw a 4 x 6 version for $220 dollars on the wacom site and told myself it'd be a while before I got one. I'll do some more surfing on them. And as for getting the student discount..... How? My sister is in college and I know that she gets discounts on books and software and such, but I didn't know that high school students could as well. Could you elaborate? :)

Also, I downloaded a 30 day trial version of adobe elements 6 and it seems to be working out pretty smoothly. It'll take a while to adapt to digital art on a computer, but there isnt anything I have been disappointed with in this version so far. I'm pretty sure it's on the market for $100 right now, which is affordable for me. Unless there is anything wrong with the version that someone on these forums points out, I will probably get elements 6.

As for the wacom tablet, I'll do some extra researching on that.
Thanks for the feedback guys.

Edit: this is still ChristianJewWeeks...... I just had some problems with the email registration and stuff so i had to make 2 accounts. I'll be posting on this name from now on though.

[Stryyf]

I think I spent about 100 bucks on my Intous 3 4x6 or so and it comes with Free version of PS elements.

[S!R]

In my opinion dont even consider doing digital without a tablet. Period.

I have the bottom of the barrel 4x5 graphire and it still makes a WORLD of a difference. Got mine with s&h for like $65 new.

A worthy investment, hands down.

[bumskee]

agreed... doing things with mouse is just not smart.. it can slow you down, frustrate you beyond imagination but also cause ur wrist and fingers to go haywire.. invest in a tablet.. otherwise there's plenty to do without having to resort to digital.. good old sketchbook and a pencil!

[ChristianWeeks]

Alright. Ill probably get a new bamboo tablet pretty soon. However, i cant help but notice how the 4 x 5 bamboo is only 80 and the 4 x 6 intuos is 220. What is the huge difference? The only significant difference I found was that the intuous has twice as many pressure levels.

It sounds like getting the cheapest possible as soon as possible is the best plan though, and waiting / saving up to get a better one is a bad idea.

[bumskee]

intuos has tilt? i think and more pressure and sensitivity.. I've never used bamboo but... intuos is like the top of range that's all.. not saying bamboo won't do the job.. grapphire might be a cheaper option tho? no? 6x8 is a good size, if u can give 4x5 a try.. it may be a little too small...

[Elwell]

not saying bamboo won't do the job.. grapphire might be a cheaper option tho?
Bamboo is Wacom's replacement for the Graphire line.

[ChristianWeeks]

intuos has tilt? i think and more pressure and sensitivity.. I've never used bamboo but... intuos is like the top of range that's all.. not saying bamboo won't do the job.. grapphire might be a cheaper option tho? no? 6x8 is a good size, if u can give 4x5 a try.. it may be a little too small...

Yeah i was thinking i would want to get one larger than 4 x 5... That's why i was looking at a couple on Ebay. But Ebay is always a gamble even when the people have really good feedback, so I'm not sure if I will get one from there.

[Pedes]

If you ever have money to spend then start with a tablet and some freeware programs (unless you'll use PhS illegally until you're able to afford the real thing ;P) I was learning on a tablet with broken pressure sensitivity and I've had new one for 5 days now; I can't believe the difference! I can't imagine painting with mouse >.< I know there are people that do, but it's horrible (tried it, takes few times more the time and effects are few times worse...)
Bamboo (what I have now) is really nice and if you're used to traditional tools you'd love the paper-like surface :)
I personally tried Photoshop Elements, newest version, and hated it deeply. If you are starting and have no money you should try GIMP - I know some people will kill me for writing this ;P But I've seen pro's use it and the newest version comes with color wheel and all the fancy things the old one didn't have and Photoshop Elements never will :) It is a bit annoying when you're used to Photoshop, because everything seems to be in wrong place, bu if you've never use PS then you have to learn from scratch anyway ;P

[ChristianWeeks]

Alright. I just decided to get a bamboo so I got one yesterday. Its definitely a huge help, but it'll still take me some time to get used to it. I got the bamboo fun because it came with photoshop elements 5 and corel painter 3. I'm still using the free trial of photoshop elements 6 though....... hopefully there isnt much of a difference between 5 and 6. You all will probably start seeing more art and questions from me in the forums now :)

Thanks for all the help guys, i appreciate it