I'm trying to make my art better, and I was wondering what computer programs everyone uses to make their art so much prettier than mine. What's best?
Thanks so much
~Teana

Honestly with enough practice and work, any program can make gorgeous art, even MS Paint.

It all depends on your determination to work with what you have.

Examples of MS Paint works: Miku, OC, Inuyasha/Kags/Shippo, Gambit

I personally love experimenting in MS Paint. I'm not sure what the default program for a Mac is, though.


Currently for my posted works I use Photoshop CS2. I never wanted to upgrade... so I'm staying.. oldschool? Sometimes I play around in Paint Tool Sai. My Dokugasona was completely made in Sai.

Corel Painter is also an excellent program.

Paintshop Pro is ok, though MSPaint is a good basic program to use though it lacks paint and textural brushes, and resizing and cropping images can be quite difficult to do. Photoshop is better only because it has more options and allows the use of 'layers' with which separate parts of a image can be painted on one layer, and shading on another etc. It has a variety of textural and paint brushes, and it is much easier to crop and resize images, or to flip them in terms of image orientation (e.g. horizontal, vertical etc).

Prefer it over the others purely for flexibility. Photoshop CS2 and CS3 are pretty good packages overall. Paintshop can be a pain unless you're pretty familiar with the shortcut keys (hotkeys) and the program itself. MSPaint, good for drawing from a mouse or tablet to computer images, not so easy with plain B/W scanned images that you want to 'colour' on the comp.

Best advice is to try the different programs and find out what you like, and what suits you the best.

Well either program that you use will still look pretty and awesome. All you need is practice and patience and it will come out great. Its also depending which program you feel comfortable and easier for you. My first program that I start outwith was MS Paint, then Corel and lastly Photoshop CS4.

The one that I'm still currently using is photoshop and sometimes I use MS paint.

Does anyone know where to download photoshop cs3(or cs2)? I've been searching all over the net and still can't find a place. (+ I'm not allowed to buy anything, so if there is for free...)

Oh and I have windows7. So I don't know if they're compatible.

~lily

Lily: Consider Pixia.

Wow, thank you , I read and I like. That will do, since I'm pretty much a beginner (used photoshop on my friends comp only a couple of times). Thank you so much.

~lily

SAI and Corel Painter 11 here, but I'm still VERY new at painter. There's so much to the program and I'm still getting used to it. Tutorials FTW. However, I think I'll always have a soft spot with SAI for linearts

Hmm, I'll try those too later, thank you

~lily

I had CS3 but...had some drama happened and I don't have it anymore. There are things like Gimp that you can Google & get for free. However, I don't like that program. I'd suggest joining an oekaki site, lots are free, and just use that.

The only time you will find a commercial piece of software like Photoshop for download is if you buy it online, or, if it's a trial version. I'd urge everyone not to download software from unreputable sites, be they commercial or freeware, the downloads will likely be riddled with trojans, viruses, or all manner of nasties.

Be very careful.

Trial versions of Photoshop like other commercial software will give you some functionality for a limited time period. They're mainly used to give you a sense of the product, to try it out literally before you buy. You can sometimes get watered down versions like Photoshop elements etc but you'll still have to pay for the software.

Try freeware versions of software like GIMP, PIXIA etc that others have suggested but search for a reputable site to download from. Do not use bootleg versions of commercial software, you will be in breach of copyright, and other legal issues, so it's best to steer clear of that.

You can also try to source commercial software instore, but, you'll be paying the full retail price which for things like Photoshop can be from a few hundred dollars, to a few thousand. Ask but have a good look around before you fork over any cash. Retailers will generally have similar price margins on the same product though you might save a few dollars here and there on specials, or seasonal sales during peaks like Christmas, Boxing Day etc.

Secondly as with any piece of software, no matter the type, kind, or functionality, you need to be aware of the technical specifications of your PC/Laptop/Desktop PC before you buy, download, or install. If you're using a MAC than you need the MAC version of the software as hardware platform for MACs are different to traditional PCs. Look at the software technical specifications to see what operating systems it supports (Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7 etc), you'll also need to look at the Random Access Memory or RAM minimum and recommended stats, the hard-drive install stats, and the speed of the processor chip or chips if you've got a dual-core PC that the software needs to run.

If your PC doesn't meet the tech-stats you won't be able to use the program. You should really be aware of the limitations of your PC, especially in light of the various programs that you can use. The technical specifications of your PC could limit your choices. If your PC is fairly modern you should be OK, but just be cautious is my advice. Sales people will sell you anything, so don't be afraid to have a vice-grip on your wallet. Research first, ask questions, and pick brains before you buy anything to do with PCs and tech.

~ Pyre