Subject: Harry Potter Roundtable Discussion II: Fan-artist’s Forum

[aah_mod]

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Roundtable Discussion. Please refer here for the Roundtable Discussion guidelines.

Topic: A Place for Fan-Artists to Discuss the Experience of Being an Artist in Fandom - proposed by raitalaHere are some potential discussion points, but really this is just a friendly space for fanartists to get together and

Comments

[cassie_black12]

Ooh, I have an art question, kind of!

I'm not particularly brilliant at drawing, but I enjoy do trying. At the minute, I'm a paper and pen/pencil girl, and I have to scan to get my work on the computer.

So what I want to know is if anyone can recommend a decent software programme for using to draw directly onto my computer - I really want one of those tablet thingies! I'd like the best, but realistically it would need to be reasonably priced.

I'd love to discuss concepts and techniques with you, but that's a bit out of my league at the moment. Maybe next year...

[alienor77310]

I believe Photoshop Elements, or whatever it's called now, is not particularly expensive. And then, there's Gimp, which is open source and free and has pretty much all the features you need until you reach and advanced level.

[raitala]

[freckles42]

I do not condone or support illegally downloading hacked versions of Photoshop. *cough*

However, that being said, I find Photoshop (I use CS3) to be the best. There are lots of tutorials out there to teach you how to draw in it. I know people who use their mouse, but I highly recommend a tablet. And get a GOOD tablet - any Wacom will do. They are well worth the price, trust me. It's best to save up for quality tools than use shoddy, inferior ones.

If you're a student, see if your school has a student price for photoshop or a deal with Wacom. I got PS7 for $25 when I was in college many moons ago. It's much better to have a legit version. 0:)

[reira_21]

Corel Painter. Easy to use, much lighter than Photoshop and with hundreds of brushes. It's the only software I know that can make digital brushstrokes look real.

I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Not the best one, but quite good and reasonably priced.

[sugareey]

Photoshop, Corel Painter or Art Rage. I usually use Photoshop (since I do graphic design too) but Art Rage is fun when you want to mess around. It's almost like working with traditional media, but just digitally.

[yumekutteikt]

I use SAI for my drawing software, as it is fairly simple and easy to use, and for me it works excellently when sketching/making line art with my 10-year old Wacom FAVO tablet.(oh yes, I hope I'm getting Bamboo Comic tablet in near future!^^;)

Anyway, many of those graphic software provide the trial edition so you should choose the one which you feel most comfortable with.(like, SAI works fine for me but I won't recommend it for those who do exquisite art with elaborate visual effects.)