I've seen alot of people making Digital art and stuff on their computers. I'm into art, so can anyone tell me some Programs to use?

there are many to choose... First of all, are you interested in making vector art or pixel art? There is a large difference. Then would you like to do 3d, or 2d?
When you choose your path, there are programs like Photoshop - where you can draw all sort of digital art. Or you can use some 3d program, like 3dstudio, cinema, or a free Blender - you can model pretty cool stuff there, add some textures, and render your final image... There is a program also called Bryce - where you can make some pretty cool looking landscapes in just a few minutes. Also try Terragen - it's a free program, and does stuff like Bryce. Digital Art is really massive subject, a lot of things are digital art. Maybe it's the best to look around for that programs I just named you and try to find yourself inthem... Good luck.

Thanks for the help. I'll start by trying some of those. I've tried Photoshop, so I'll start with some of the others.

Well it all depends on what you are going for. I have seen amazing work done in microsoft paint. But I would say that Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator are the standard programs for digital imaging and illustration. They are pricey bu textremely versatile. Programs like Photoshop have almost endless possibilities once you learn the program well. Paint Shop Pro is a sort of a very primitive version of photoshop. It is much cheaper, but not proffessional quality in my opinion.

If you want to make all sorts of landscapes or other realistic looking scenes you should try e-on software’s Vue series. It produces extremely realistic environments, but it can also make some beautiful abstracts. And the render time is one of the shortest ever!

You can try a demo at e-onsoftware before buying the program. It’s really expensive, but if you are a student you can save up to 50%.

Also take a look at the images produced by the program there. Sometimes you can’t tell if it’s real or not!

I heard photoshop is the best........

If you are really good with Photoshop then you have a good foundation for doing a lot of Digital Art. Photoshop is great for both 3d and Putting finishing touches on 3d Art.

I think that to get a basic Foundation in 3D, I would recommend using Poser or Bryce. Both of these you can get for under $200 USD. You can most 3D art with these programs. Once you have a solid foundatio with these programs you should have a good foundation on both 2D and 3D art. I have heard comments that the only thing an artist needs is Poser, Bryce and Photoshop.

So if all that you want to do is make Digital Art then these are the minimum 3 that I would recommend.

Photoshop would give you all the photographic/coloring/Filtering that you would need, and more that most of people will ever use.

Poser gives you a good(not great, but good) foundation in creating 3D art (It is not what I would consider to be a real 3d Digital Art Application). Now when you are really ready to go into 3D Digital art, then You can intergrate various programs with poser or replace poser entirely. I think that there are quite a few programs that are good out there, but I think 3DS max is good for creating games and is one of the better 3D programs in my opinion(I don't have it though). Maya and XSI are great for just about anything as well as Renderman, and just about all of the other application are a step down from these, and remember this is my opinion and YMMV.

Landscapes, Skylines, etc are the speciality of programs such as Bryce, Terragen, Vue E'sprit, and in my opinion these types of programs have a different 3D focus than the General All Purpose programs such as 3DS max, and Maya, Cinema 4D, etc. They focus on the enviroment, or background in 3D digial Art and they are all good at what they do. So if You have bryce, then you have a good application for creating 3D Landscapes and Skylines, etc. I tend to think that Vue is the best, but Bryce or Terragen is also good enough.

One of the pints that I am trying to make is that there are quite a few 3D Digital art programs that are good for general art and quite a few that are really good for at doing specific things. Now I just mentioned some, not all of the General programs and some that specialize in certain things such as landscapes, there are others that are good at other things such as Architecture and Lighting (Lightwave) and those programs that are good at Organics(zbrush, Painter). And this is not comprehesive.

If you are in to art, Photoshop is almost religiously required. Poser gets you into the 3D paradigm and Bryce gets you in to Landscapes. Now these three programs will allow you to do almost everything you can imagine.

Now if you don't want to spend money, then Gimp, Blender and Terragen are also great programs to get into. As they will allow you to do most of what you can imagine.

After that your choices can be made on what you love to do with your art.



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