Prefered tool

[lady-pamina.livejournal.com]

Hi guys, no icons to post but a question which when answered and I have enough money saved will be followed by uber awesome icons. I've been using MS paint and been mostly content up 'til recently when icon making suddenly took over my life and I was introduced to Paint Shop Pro by a friend. What kept me from running out to buy it ASAP (besides the lack of funds) was the thought of Adobe Photoshop. I wondered which one was easier and more preferred by icon makers. So replys and any advice would be much appreciated.

Comments

[bandchicka0306.livejournal.com]

I use PSP now, but have experience using both. I prefer PSP to Photoshop because when I was between them both for my volunteer service, Photoshop took longer to come up and froze a lot too. Then I got the latest version of PSP 7 and its out to 9, but I don't know about it or if Photoshop has improved any.

Now I know what else to save my money for, an upgrade.

[conuly]

Most of your post is not, in fact, breaking the rules. Oh, the irony, the part that does violate our rules is the part where you say that if it is against the rules, you're sorry.

I know the cliche. However, here, please ask for permission before forgiveness, because I really hate that line.

If you had been breaking the (other) rules, that line would've gotten your post deleted, no matter what. It's hard to explain, but... *shudders*. It's the only thing that causes me to act heavy-handed.

Your usually friendly maintainer.

[conuly]

Sorry for the heavy-handedness. That line causes my normal cheery disposition to dissipate. Hi!

[lady-pamina.livejournal.com]

That's perfectly fine and no hard feelings. I just never thought about it that way. I guess it makes more sense to ask first before posting then posting and saying you know it might be wrong but...

[conuly]

The thing is, many people who do that are posting it instead of reading the rules. And that's just not cool. In fact, I find it downright insulting when somebody posts something completely against the rules and then asks, all concerned, if it's okay. It's not like our rules here are hard to find, or especially unclear. Or even harsh - except for the one about not posting lines like "hope this is okay", they were all decided on after discussion amongst the entire community.

In this case, what you're discussing isn't covered in the rules at all, so it's a separate issue, but I still don't like the sentence.

[lady-pamina.livejournal.com]

Perfectly understandable. I'll edit that post so the offending line is no longer apart of it. Thanks for your politeness and acceptance of mistakes.

[conuly]

Thank you dearly :)

This is about the only thing that you can do (other than posting major spoilers and/or starting a huge flamewar) that will actually upset me, so I cherish it, in a perverse fashion.

[starrypop.livejournal.com]

Photoshop photoshop photoshop photoshop!
It's more expensive, but if you're serious about graphics, it's worth every cent.

Try to find someone friendly in college to get you the student edition though, it's a lot more reasonable.

[lady-pamina.livejournal.com]

I'm a college student myself though not an art major of any sort. Do you think perhaps it's sold in the bookstores there for computer graphic art majors or should I hunt down a graphics art major and ask them to procure me a copy?

[aquamarcia.livejournal.com]

If you're a college student you can buy Photoshop at an academic discount. You don't necessarily have to major in a program where Photoshop use is specifically relevant. Check with your campus bookstore. If they don't have it, they can probably order it. If that doesn't work, go to Academic Superstore (http://www.academicsuperstore.com/).

[feathered.livejournal.com]

I don't know. In my experience, photoshop is a lot more difficult to learn. I have found PSP to be much more intuitive. I had photoshop for ages before I figured out how to crop just because the tool was awkward for me to use. Photoshop is the more powerful program, I think, but I'm not sure it really makes any difference at all as long as you aren't going into graphic design. Take a look at my community, obsessiveicons. Some of us use photoshop and some of us use PSP, but I doubt anyone could tell which belongs to which program by looking at our output. I would say that the only real difference is easy access to different tools. Most things can be achieved by both programs, but if you are very knowledgable in PS, the same effect can generally be reached with less steps than it would take with PSP.

I suggest you download the free trials of both and play around with them. Buy whichever you feel most comfortable with. In the long run, it shouldn't make much of a difference unless you ever decide to use it for more than recreational and personal purposes.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

The GIMP will do most of what PSP will do, and it's absolutely free. I use version 2 just because it's more user friendly and does everything I need it to do. Help files are downloaded separately, so watch for that.

http://www.gimp.org/

[valancy-s.livejournal.com]

I've been using The Gimp since my Photoshop and Paint Shop trials ran out... and have finished about three icons in two months - I keep getting frustrated. I just don't find the program to be user-friendly. Yes, it's the only option if one doesn't have hundreds of dollars to spend, but I wouldn't call it a good alternative.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

That's why I use 2.0 instead of one of the newer versions. I wouldn't exactly call it intuitive, but I can work my way around it for what I want to do. The newer versions are crazy-making.

Making sure you download the help files is important. It doesn't come with the program download, and it's got a pretty good tutorial. And, you can't beat the price.

[silken-shadow.livejournal.com]

Well, you could try PSP Studio. It's a reduced version of PSP but has most of what the casual user needs. AND it's very inexpensive.

[ayako.livejournal.com]

I'm a photoshop girl and I make all my icons using that :D
I also have PSP but I rarely use it.