need a graphic tool for noobs

dragon · Post by **dragon** » 2006-03-21 08:24pm

Ok I read the sticky about the graphical tools and was wondering whats really good for the complete noob when it comes to computer graphics. I used to be good with pencil drawings but has been along time since I drew on a regular basis.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-03-21 09:42pm

What are you trying to do?

EDIT: Because 'computer graphics' covers a *lot* of material... art styles, material used, etc. Do you want to do 3D? Cel-shading? Simple photo-manipulation? Removing red-eye from pics of your kids? What?

dragon · Post by **dragon** » 2006-03-21 09:44pm

Just general types of drawings maybe some 3d. however not good at programming at all.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-03-21 09:53pm

Start with Paint.

You could get Gimp maybe... though that one takes some learning I hear, haven't used it though so I don't know what it does. Irfanview is okay, but is best for basic photo-manipulation, you really can't do that much with it besides resizing and a few small edits.

For 3D you're going to want Blender. Look it up on Wikipedia; has a link there to the free tutorials as well. It takes a *lot* of practice though, so you're gonna want to get used to spending time on the comp...

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2006-03-21 09:54pm

Er, this is still a pretty wide scope, man... .

Do you have a graphics tablet? Are you attempting to mimic realmedia? These things are important.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2006-03-21 11:09pm

If you want to try out some pencilling and painting check out Artrage. It helps if you had a tablet, but a mouse will do just fine.

dragon · Post by **dragon** » 2006-03-21 11:16pm

Ok thanks it should give me a place to start and yeah I have access to a tablet.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-03-22 07:51am

Paint.net - it's Photoshop with training wheels, and freeware. Not very powerful but good enough for everyday editing.