Hi guys,

 

 

I want to start making banners and other stuff on my computer. I've never done it before and don't have any idea where to start.

 

I don't even know what programs I need or how much they cost.

 

 

Any tips and advice would be appreciated.

 

I've seen the talent some of you guys have every time I hit refresh in this forum so I figure you'd be the guys to ask.

photoshop

 

free

Is there some sort of freeware version of it?

no. it's what everyone uses to make any sort of images though

 

unless you use gimp, which i was never fond of.

MS PAINT!

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs657.snc3/32471_467127394744_612219744_6004230_256760_n.jpg

What sort of banners are you making ?

 

Photoshop is your best all-round tool.

Illustrator for more generally vector-oriented tasks.

I find Flash to be a fantastic tool for manipulating and animating with

vectors and to some extent raster images.

 

Whatever program you use, get used to using layers.

 

There are plenty of other graphics tools out there.

I began using Paint Shop Pro years ago. The Adobe

tools are generally the best though - there are plenty

of websites and tutorials available online to help learn the programs.

 

-------

 

Blah. (edit) I actually come from an academic background

in the study of the History of Art. Expose yourself to as many

different images and image-making techniques as possible -

this forms the basis of your visual vocabulary and is

where you learn to cook up your own ideas and designs. Blah.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

For specific activities there are specific tools:

Poser can be fun - I made this girl's image ages ago:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w288/GordonBennet_bucket/yowza3.jpg

 

I usually polish up with Photoshop, though...

This guy is a 3D mascot for a local non-profit I made

some time ago with Lightwave, a 3D tool I am fond of:

 

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w288/GordonBennet_bucket/skater_001-1.jpg

Edited June 20, 201014 yr by mandatory05

Photoshop isn't 'really' free Smokey, however if you want legit and you meet the requirements, here is your answer

 

http://www.educationsoftware.com.au/

 

Photoshop is one of the best, because as mentioned above, it is so versatile and can be used for heaps of different things. But one of the main reasons I like it is because there are millions of tutorials that are easily found all over the internet.

You can pretty much find a tutorial for whatever you want to do.

Edited June 20, 201014 yr by BaseJump

I can hook you up with Creative Suite 5 if you want smokey

I can hook you up with Creative Suite 5 if you want smokey

 

 

Is that photoshop or something like it?

 

What sort of banners are you making ?

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure yet, I just want to mess around and make banners for my BFBC2 server.

Creative Suite 5 is a package of Adobe programs including Photoshop, Illustrator and others.

 

the 5 refers to CS5.

 

Photoshop is the best option smokey, it does have a learning curve but once you get the hang of it you can produce some amazing stuff.

I can hook you up with Creative Suite 5 if you want smokey

 

Given what gunner said, yes please!

MS paint...the only one ive ever used, though i have only ever made one banner-ish sig, that turned out alright...just takes a looooong time, where photoshop does the same but with shortcuts.

 

I use it, ms paint, more for designing house, apartment and farm floor plans as well as furniture and a few other things.

 

Was just designing a bed, desk, couch, wardrobe combo with windows 7 ms paint...much better than the xp one, though im not a fan of 7 generally.

Given what gunner said, yes please!

You're still in Perth, right?

East Perth to be exact.

i use

 

good paid stuff

3DS (3d)

Maya (3d)

Bryce (3d)

Lightwave

Poser

Photoshop (editing images)

Paintshop Pro (editing images)

C4D (3d)

Animation Studio (making toons etc)

DAZ 3D

Effect 3dstudio (videos)

Flash

FXhome EffectsLab Pro (video)

illustrator (video)

adobe premier (video)

 

 

good free stuff

Blender (3d stuff)

Ink scape (editing images)

Gimp (3d + 2D)

3d Impact Pro (3d words)

Milkshake (3d)

LuxRender (3d)

Swift 3d (flash)

Swish or swish max (flash)

 

if you are going to play with flash get a SWF decompiler - so you can pull down a flash file from a site you like to see how it works

 

but is comes down to

 

* the type of work you will be doing

* your skill level with graphics software

* specific feature requirements

 

a good start would be gimp + ink scape (both free) or photo shop + flash ($$) there's a adobe student bundle out there somewhere you can buy cheap that comes with the other adobe bits n pieces or you can phone a friend

I want to start making banners and other stuff on my computer. I've never done it before and don't have any idea where to start.

 

I don't even know what programs I need or how much they cost.

 

Smoke,

 

Check this out http://www.getpaint.net/

 

Its a free image editing software. Obviously not teched up like paintshop pro or photoshop, but for intuitive free software its pretty good.

 

I use it alot cos i dont really need a designer suite for basic use...