My teenage daughter is an artist, and needs something better (and free) than MS paint

I

iamfett

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Like I said, my 13 year old daughter is a GREAT artist (paper and pencil/inks), but the only computer program we have for her to use (since shes on the computer ALL the time) is MS paint.
And MS paint isn't really that good. So she asked me for a better program.
Anybody got any recommendations on a good FREE program for my daughters artwork.

-Thanks:)
 
GIMP, and PaintShop Pro is pretty cheap on eBay. They have Wacom tablets for cheap every now and then.
 
Gimp or paint.net for sure. 13 is the perfect age to begin learning the basics of graphics editing programs. I remember taking a Photoshop and Dreamweaver course my Sophomore year in high school.
 
I've never used Gimp, but have heard it's not the easiest to use interface.

And I don't know what Christmas is looking like for you, but the Wacom Bamboo Fun comes with Photoshop Elements and Painter Essentials for only $20 over the regular Bamboo with no software. Seems like those, with the tablet, would be an ideal gift. If she's really into art, she's going to absolutely love having a tablet. :)
 
If she really gets into doing this however, and starts to do a lot of stuff on the PC, I would suggest investing in Photoshop.

There is also a Photoshop online tool.
 
You can get a lot of the power of Photoshop in Photoshop elements, without the Photoshop price tag. Since she's a student, though, she'd probably be able to get the academic Photoshop license, which is $150 if I remember correctly.

Free programs though - I like Paint.net. Inkscape is nice for vector illustration, but I don't use it because it has some funky problems with tablets under Vista since the tablet APIs changed between XP and Vista.

The GIMP is powerful, but yeah, its UI is tough to get used to.
 
Paint.net and gimp are good free options. Since she is a student though you can get some of the better pay software real cheap via educational stores.

Places like journeyed.com and others are a good place to look.

The full blown corel draw is like 50 bucks for students. Same with corel painter. I know it isn't free but it is cheap.
 
Thanks for the input/recommendations.
Looking at GIMP and Paint.net now.

Unfortunately I cant find the free full version of paint shop pro 9. All I can find is 30 day trial version.

I notice that people use these programs for photo manipulation. Can they also be used to create art from a blank pallet?

Thanks again.
 
The GIMP or Paint.net (GIMP is more powerful than Paint.net - both can create graphics from a blank pallet) and Inkscape for vector graphics. I'd say those are your best bets for free tools.
 
Maybe an older version of Photoshop would work? Photoshop 6.0 should be cheap-ish by now.
 
Deleter CG 100$, there's another one like it but can't remember the name at the moment.

The best thing about it is the playback functionality and the thousands of recordings available submitted by other artists. If you see a pic, download it, and watch a pro go from stick figures, to color mixing, to background composition at high speed. Very educational and shows you the various tricks and techniques.

BTW, the demo allows you to draw and play back recordings, but doesn't let you save.
 
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