Design Help

[ruby_soho]

Hello all,

I've been making a few iron-on shirts with words using paint and MS word. I'm looking to start making shirts with homemade graphics - does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for programs to use for creating graphic designs?

Thanks in advance!

[lhhgbh]

photoshop and illustrator.. is there anything else? i say these two because they are two of the most popular and you will find loads of FREE tutorials online for them and there are some good books to help with them as well.. The classroom in a book series for each are what colleges use and you can get them pretty cheap on Amazon...

[ruby_soho]

thanks!

this may be a stupid question, but those are both programs one must pay for, correct?

do you know of any free trials or anything like that?

[lhhgbh]

no, but you could find an older version of photoshop like ver. 6 or 7 on Ebay.. they usually have it for around $20 which isnt bad considering its around $300 new.. When it comes to photo manipulating the programs arent cheap, because they are very professional.. Learning photoshop or illustrator can also be put on your resume and can lead to further things in life... Photoshop is up to version 9 now I believe, but version 7 is a good place to start.. Many of the tutorials from as far back as version 5 still work on the newest versions... The layout is also pretty much the same so later if you were to go to a later version you would still be able to get around, and you would only have to learn some of the new features which doesnt take long in many cases... Just check out Ebay and see what you find if you dont mind around $20..

[ruby_soho]

okay, another dumb question:  i looked at photoshop software at both ebay and amazon, and i found something called "photoshop elements 4.0". 

is photoshop elements something different than regular photoshop?

sorry to be so dense but i have no clue what i'm looking for. 

[lil_ballet_girl]

I like Paint Shop Pro too since it has alot of free creative files you can add-on and stuff. I've never tried the photoshop element thingy tho. 

[sweets4ever]

Hey there! 

I use Adobe Photoshop CS 2 http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/.  It sounds like it would be out of budget for what you are looking to accomplish.  They have a link on there for Try now...but I'm not sure any of the commitment agreements or anything.  You could check it out though.

I've never used Elements 4.0, but you can read about it on Adobe's site & they have a link for Try now, on that one as well.  It's not the same as Photoshop.  From the brief description I read, it seems like it's more for photo editing, rather than any graphic creation..."Everything you need to edit, organize, and show your photos"  Photoshop is digital imaging. ...I hope that all makes sense!

I think your best (and free!) bet is Gimp   http://www.gimp.org/  It's somewhat comparable to Photoshop 7.  And although people have written millions and millions of Photoshop tutorials, Gimp users are starting to create & post more online as well.

If you don't find Gimp useful, try searching Google or Yahoo for "freeware alternative to photoshop" or "free equivalent to photoshop" and you'll get many other links to explore.

Gooood luck!! 

[lhhgbh]

Designing on a budget WREAKS!!!

[sweets4ever]

Designing on a budget WREAKS!!!

Seriously!

What Photoshop do ya use for your graphics?

[lhhgbh]

I use Adobe CS.. However I dont use all of the advanced features.. Most of the features I use are found in photoshop 6.. I dont know what you want to do with photoshop, but 6 or even 5.5 are both cheap and a good place to start.. Also if you were to buy 5 or 6 now, later you can buy CS2 and pay less because you can buy it as an upgrade which is cheaper.. Many of the Ebayers are selling CS2 combined with 5.5 because they are doing it like I stated.. 5.5 being the FULL version and CS2 being the upgrade... I plan on buying CS2 later this year because they have a few cool features such as wrapping an image around something, say a mug or can for instance whuch could come in handy if you design labels or something.. They also have a perspective changer where you can add to an existing building or create the illusion that something is longer or taller than it is... Another key thing about photoshop that I happen to really enjoy are the plug-ins.. I have three plug-ins.. One is a must for anyone using images that are sometimes low resolution.. It actually enlarges images and can increase the resolution... Another turns any photo into puzzle pieces.. And another is a little more advanced and pricey, but it allows you to crop or mask certain things in an image and take it from ita background.. Like say you had a green frog sitting on a green leaf.. This would be a very long and daunting process if you were to try and remove the frog from the leaf, but with this plug-in its alot easier and only takes a few minutes... Also if you are wanting to do some cool things with letters like giving them nice outlines, bevels, glows, 3D, photoshop is a champ.. Check out good-tutorials to see some of what you can do... Hope this helps...