CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Ok. So I need some help finding some programs (hopefully on the less pricey side...but doesn't matter). I plan on buying the Cintiq 21 tablet (getting a job here shortly...hopefully...just happy it dropped by $1000) but I want some really good programs to go with it. I hope to go professional someday so I want to have a good grasp on animation and digital art programs (was looking at toon boom and was drooling the whole time. nearly fainted over the $3000 price tag though). I am looking into some art colleges however...I can't find anything relatively close (dang...) so any tips would be awesome. Nothing against paint...but I want to expand, lol.

Lol, you're not going to use paint to go professional?! Why not? j/k...well anyway...I use photoshop to do my digital art and stuff, but there are a ton of other art programs too. Umm...I know when I got my tablet it came with like 2 programs I could use so I would check into the type of tablet you want to see if it comes with anything. It could save you some money. If you're interested in 3D animation then there is a free program called Blender that you can download and it is a pretty nice program.

well, I believe that the cintiq does come with some stuff...(goes to website)

"To get you started right out of the box, the Cintiq 21UX comes bundled with full editions of creative software by several of our software partners:

* Adobe® Photoshop® Elements (5.0 WIN / 4.0 MAC) for editing, retouching, enhancing, organizing, and sharing digital photos

* Corel® Painter™ Essentials 3.0 for creating natural media art and turning photos into paintings

* Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 2.0 IE for selectively applying lighting and photo enhancements with the pen

* Wacom Brushes 3.0 for 81 customized brushes for use with Photoshop CS+ and Photoshop Elements 4+ "

http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/21UX.cfm

edit: just downloaded blender...and my head hurts. @_@

Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Aftereffects are the Adobe programs for illustration and animation, but they will prove to be expensive as well. Corel painter can be found for around $400. Maya, one of the premere 3D modeling and animation program has a free version. ZBrush, a 3D sculpture program, is about $600.

Oh my cheesenuts, you're getting a Cintiq. I AM SO JEALOUS >o<

The Adobe Family and their ripoffs are standard-- Photoshop is pretty much necessary if you ever want to be pro. However, if you're also looking for something just-for-fun, I recommend portalgraphics openCanvas; I believe it's pretty cheap, around $100 (and previous versions are free), but it has absolutely beautiful painting effects-- kind of watercolory stuff that's a hybrid between the hard Photoshop paint and the liquid Painter effect. The thing is, openCanvas is next to useless without a tablet, but when you have one, it works amazingly because that's what it's built for. It really takes advantage of high pressure sensitivity.

A lot of manga artists use oC in Japan, although it's not that popular in the US. There are English versions though.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting an amazing program, because it isn't the key to making you better.

If you buy a Cintiq, I would go with what programs they come with. Seriously, I work with Photoshop Elements 3.0; I can't say that I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have the newest version of CS. The programs that come in the bundle are similar to the more expensive version if you're worried about learning tools and functions.

[quote="Puguni (post: 1257551)"]I wouldn't worry too much about getting an amazing program, because it isn't the key to making you better.

If you buy a Cintiq, I would go with what programs they come with. Seriously, I work with Photoshop Elements 3.0]

Yeah. I understand all that. I was mainly hoping to start on something to familiarize myself with what other pro's might have out there. Ok. I used to have photoshop 7.0 but my parents didn't let me take the laptop it was on so...alas no more. It'll probably be around the end of the year that I can afford it but I guess I'll check out what programs it comes with then (but please, still more names of stuff would be great. More stuff to look into and all) thanks to everyone for the suggestions so far!