Computer Art/Graphic Design

I'm not even sure what the exact name is, hehe... I really cannot draw. I am terrible. But I have a lot of ideas and would like to express myself. I would really like to get into computer drawing as a means of self expression, but I don't know where to begin. Where should I start? What programs should I get?

 

Have you toyed around with Microsoft Paint? It's built into Windows.

I create most of my fractals with a free program called Tierazon. Including the one below in my sig.
http://home.houston.rr.com/fergusonsc/Tierazon-v29/

For 2d stuff, I prefer Painter 10, but its expensive. Around $300 retail.

Photoshop is the industry standard, but it takes a long time to really get good with it. $$$

Terragen is GREAT for creating alien landscapes and such. It free! Go get it.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

Bunch of free stuff here. Including paint programs.
http://www.freebyte.com/graphicprograms/#editors


You need to have a decent computer to run the good stuff, otherwise, its a pretty slow show.



x

 

http://www.tuxpaint.org/

Simple, but fun to play around with. EASY.


x

 

Thank you so much! all of these are new to me except photoshop and paint.

 

Wow, on found a program called "ArtRage" on this one --->http://www.freebyte.com/graphicprograms/#editors, and i fucking love it. I saw someone post about it in here earlier but i figured it was some sort of spam, so i didn't click. but jesus, this is cool.

 

Here's one I found a couple months ago.
http://www.ambientdesign.com/artragedown.html
it's free and there's classes and forums.

 

Here is a free alternative to Photoshop, sort of a MS paint meets photoshop so its pretty simple to use and there are TONS of tutorials online:

The program: http://www.gimp.org/

The tuts:
http://tutorialblog.org/gimp-tutorials/
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

these arent the only tutorial sites a google search will give you tons more