Digital Art Beginner

[Sathai]

I was thinking of getting into digital art. Does anyone know what software to begin with? I was browsing through the internet but got confused by all the different choices. Also I need to keep it within budget. Thanks to anyone who can give me some recommendations.

[Lenny]

What type of digital art are you looking to do?

Modelling in 3D?
Modelling in 2D?
Creating pretty patterns with fractals?
Actually drawing and/or painting on a compter, maybe using a graphics tablet?

[Sathai]

I'm not sure Lenny. Some kind of illustrative artwork. What would be the simplest route to go with your choices?

[Lenny]

EDIT: I've highlighted the most useful paragraph red.

Be warned that I'm rattling searches into Google whilst answering, to give the illusion that I know all about it.

If you want to model in 3D, then you can download, for free, Google SketchUp. Whilst it may not be the most advanced of programs (certaintly nothing as advanced as the professional programs like Maya and 3DS Max), it is quick to learn, easy to use, and the end product can be very good. It's also a very good precursor to the multi-thousand pound programs (Maya, 3DS Max) should you decide that you want to learn how to model.

Google SketchUp - Home

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Pretty patterns with fractals. Let's see.

Fractals seem to be a very mathematical and scientific form of digital art, and look rather pretty.

I haven't a clue about these, so I'll skip over them, if I may.

Fractal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Painting and/or drawing, maybe with a graphics tablet.

You can do this in anything - Microsoft Paint, Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop, whoever makes PaintShop Pro these days, Corel drawing programs, anything.

Paint, of course, comes free with every Windows PC. Fireworks, Photoshop, PaintShop Pro and any others need to be bought, but it is safe to assume that trial versions of each can be downloaded - the latest versions of Fireworks and Photoshop, for example, are available as trial downloads on the Adobe website.

As for the graphics tablet, well, you can spend thousands of pounds on a gigantic, widescreen, easel type tablet that doubles as a screen, or you can spend twenty quid on a smaller one (this, for example, which looks suspiciously like my own: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK ). If you're right-handed, then a mouse may suffice unless you really get into it and want to be able to draw more accurately, in which case you'll buy a more expensive graphics tablet. If you're left-handed, such as I, then using a mouse to draw can be a right pain in the backside, and so a graphics tablet, even a cheap one, is a great little thing to buy.

Oh, there are also some more advanced Paint programs out there, which are free, and offer a lot more than the basic Paint program that comes with the PC. One such program is Paint.NET: Paint.NET - Free Photo Editing Software for Windows . It does need the .NET 1.1 Framework installed before you can use it, though.

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Something I forgot to mention - animation.

Right now I'm actually playing around in Macromedia Flash (the latest version of which is available as a trial on the Adobe site), and drawing some characters for an animation a friend has asked me to make. You don't have to use Flash, though, or, in fact, a proper animation package to do this. You can just as easily draw each individual frame in something like Paint, and put them together in Windows Movie Maker to create an animated video.

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Anyway, the short answer to your question - for something like illustrative artwork, the programs like Fireworks and Photoshop, and even Paint.NET should be perfect.

Of course, the more you get into it, the more you might decide that you want a program that does more, in which case you'll have to start shelling out the cash.

By the way, here's the Wikipedia entry on Digital Art - Digital art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Some of the links at the bottom of the pages might take you to sites where there is more detail, and maybe even links to programs.

There are also sites like deviantART: where ART meets application! which are specialised Artsy places, that may be able to help further.

[Sathai]

Thanks for all the info Lenny. I decided to download paint.net and see how it goes.

[Joel007]

Deviant Art is a fantastic site. If you like someone's style on there they usually write which program they've used.

[darkwolf]

I'm a digital artist, so thought I'd toss in my two pennies here.

Depending on the type of art you wish to do, you have several choices.

For 3D character work, you can't beat Poser. There just isn't anything like it. However, it's expensive. There is one alternative though and that is to use a program called DAZ|Studio, which is available for free at Daz3D.com - the major downside to Daz|Studio is that it doesn't come with the standard poser model library, so you're going to have to spend some cash on models to get started with it. However, the models are cheaper than buying Poser, which comes with a collection of its own models. You can get Poser 7 for about $250, but I'd recommend searching the internet for a copy of Poser 6, which should be cheaper and in my opinion, P6 is less buggy.

For 3D Landscapes, you have two basic choices and that's to use either Bryce of Vue de Sprit. Personally, I use Vue 6 xStream, and wouldn't go back to Bryce unless they add some serious feature upgrades to it. Bryce will cost you about $100, so it's definitely the cheapest place for a beginner to get started. You can always switch over to Vue later, once you're more experienced, because Vue is going to cost you anywhere from $200 to $1000 depending on which version you use. Of course, the $1000 version is best, and that's the one I use (yes, I take my art seriously enough to spend that kind of money).

When it comes down to 2D art, I personally don't think you can beat photoshop. A lot of people will disagree with me and say that PaintShop Pro is better, but I've used both and I'm a stubborn old bugger who still believes that photoshop is still the king of 2D art software. That said, the latest version of Photoshop is going to run you about $650, but you can find it cheaper or find an earlier version for a lower price - there's not that much difference between the most current version and the past 3 or 4 releases to be honest. Paintshop Pro is a lot cheaper - in the $60 - $100 range. It does a lot of the same, but again - you get you what you pay for in my opinion and Paintshop just isn't as flexible. There is one last 2D program available though and that is the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program), which you can find by Googling "GIMP" - GIMP has a lot going for it - for one thing, it's FREE. It does pretty much the same as photoshop and paintshop, but in my opinion, it's not quite as robust.

So, there you have it - the top 3 types of software needed by a digital artist, depending on what you want to create. Of course, there's also the 3D modelling software category, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

So, what do I use? Poser 6, Vue 6 xStream, and Photoshop. I've also got 3D Studio Max, but I haven't sat down long enough to learn how to use it very much - 3DSMax get's complicated fast.

I'd post some images in the gallery so you could see my work, but for some reason, I can't see a bloody post button.

Anyways, good luck with the digital art, and sorry for such a long post. Just don't get discouraged - I've been doing this for about 10 years now and I'm still nowhere as good as I want to be and I'm still learning something new every day.

Later,
Darkwolf

[Sathai]

Thanks for the info Darkwolf. I think I'll save up for an older version of Photoshop.