A designer's best weapons; What are they?

[AceCordellis]

Heya'll! I'm hoping to become a designer myself, except I'm a tad.. Lacking proper tools. I want to get myself a laptop that's good for art, an art program that's just godly, and all that other stuff. I want to know what I should get though. I'm thinking getting an AlienWare laptop with photoshop CS2, but a friend of mine suggested something else... I forgot what it was.
Any suggestions?  

[Koiyuki]

Photoshop and a TON of RAM.When you get into the more advanced stuff, it eats your memory in the blink of an eye.  

[.+Destiny.Eclipsed+.]

An external drive would prolly be good to help with all the space images take up. Might be better to have a desktop rather than a laptop though, laptops generally have less space and more trouble with overheating (avoid Dell laptops! gonk ). And actually, I don't full know why, but I've noticed that buisnesses that work with graphics seem to tend toward Apple computers.

For the program, Adobe stuff (including Photoshop) seems to be most commonly used, so it would prolly be easier to go from one place/jo9b to another with. I'd like to get some of that myself, but for now I work with GIMP and whatever else I can get free/really cheap (pre-intstalled trials, program leftovers, something my mum picked up at the Dollar Tree...) as I lack any money. sweatdrop  

[AceCordellis]

Hmm, I'm wondering about tablets..  

[godoftherain]

Pen and paper and some art classes.

Learning the programs is OK, but i think that learning composition and other skills like that is far more important.

The programs change every 2 years, so... sweatdrop  

[AceCordellis]

Wel, true, of course I'm also learning the other skills. Some art pieces just are better done naturally.

But other times I need to go for a more clean, proffessional look, like say for a mascot some some hospital kid's club or something.  

[Larzar]

My advice if you are starting off and are serious about it would be to Get Photoshop Elements. It has 80% of CS2 tools but is only 20% of its price. Its currently at $150 australian.  

[Goldenavatar]

RadicalAlleyCat

Heya'll! I'm hoping to become a designer myself, except I'm a tad.. Lacking proper tools. I want to get myself a laptop that's good for art, an art program that's just godly, and all that other stuff. I want to know what I should get though. I'm thinking getting an AlienWare laptop with photoshop CS2, but a friend of mine suggested something else... I forgot what it was.
Any suggestions?

To my knowledge, the greatest weapon in any designers arsenal is the brain between their ears, and what it already contains, but that pretty broad in itself. Before I make any suggestions on what you should get, we really should know a few things about you, and what you're looking to accomplish first. Have you studied any art history? Do you draw? How familiar with digital imaging software are you already? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Are you dead set on a laptop, would you mind a desktop?  

[AceCordellis]

Goldenavatar

RadicalAlleyCat

Heya'll! I'm hoping to become a designer myself, except I'm a tad.. Lacking proper tools. I want to get myself a laptop that's good for art, an art program that's just godly, and all that other stuff. I want to know what I should get though. I'm thinking getting an AlienWare laptop with photoshop CS2, but a friend of mine suggested something else... I forgot what it was.
Any suggestions?

To my knowledge, the greatest weapon in any designers arsenal is the brain between their ears, and what it already contains, but that pretty broad in itself. Before I make any suggestions on what you should get, we really should know a few things about you, and what you're looking to accomplish first. Have you studied any art history? Do you draw? How familiar with digital imaging software are you already? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Are you dead set on a laptop, would you mind a desktop?

Alrighty.
What I want to accomplish; Enough things to make a living out of it. Perhaps as an illustrator. I want to be highly versatile and be able to do more then just one thing.

Studied art history: barely

Draw: Everyday, all the time. I also paint, sculpt, pastel, sew, build, and write.

Familiar with software: Photoshop CS, Photoshop 7

Where I see myself in five years: Having an art studio, working full time on various projects at once, some of it being online and other being more physical.

And It doesn't have to be on laptop.  

[Goldenavatar]

RadicalAlleyCat

Alrighty.
What I want to accomplish; Enough things to make a living out of it. Perhaps as an illustrator. I want to be highly versatile and be able to do more then just one thing.

Studied art history: barely

Draw: Everyday, all the time. I also paint, sculpt, pastel, sew, build, and write.

Familiar with software: Photoshop CS, Photoshop 7

Where I see myself in five years: Having an art studio, working full time on various projects at once, some of it being online and other being more physical.

And It doesn't have to be on laptop.

I want to thank you for sharing what you have about yourself with us, because that helps us to better advise you. If you're certain that you want to focus your artistic development on illustration, all I can really say is more power to you and now is the best time for you to start really learning about it. Having looked at your Deviantart gallery, and you're saying that you draw every day, you're off to a good start.

Try getting in touch with college and universities that teach illustration now, if you don't have any art teachers and guidance counselors at your school who can help you make that dream of illustration a reality for yourself. Mind you, I assume that you're in high school right now, considering where you see yourself in 5 years time. Since you're up in Canada, you're physically closer to Sheridan College, and last I knew its arts department was second only to the Savannah college of art and design's. The above are Wikipedia links, and it should give you some base info about them, as well as link to the respective schools. I suggest that you check them out if you haven't already.

I have to ask a question that I forgot to ask earlier, what type of computer do you have now? What operating system does it have? How much are you looking to spend on the new system?  

[AceCordellis]

Goldenavatar

RadicalAlleyCat

Alrighty.
What I want to accomplish; Enough things to make a living out of it. Perhaps as an illustrator. I want to be highly versatile and be able to do more then just one thing.

Studied art history: barely

Draw: Everyday, all the time. I also paint, sculpt, pastel, sew, build, and write.

Familiar with software: Photoshop CS, Photoshop 7

Where I see myself in five years: Having an art studio, working full time on various projects at once, some of it being online and other being more physical.

And It doesn't have to be on laptop.

I want to thank you for sharing what you have about yourself with us, because that helps us to better advise you. If you're certain that you want to focus your artistic development on illustration, all I can really say is more power to you and now is the best time for you to start really learning about it. Having looked at your Deviantart gallery, and you're saying that you draw every day, you're off to a good start.

Try getting in touch with college and universities that teach illustration now, if you don't have any art teachers and guidance counselors at your school who can help you make that dream of illustration a reality for yourself. Mind you, I assume that you're in high school right now, considering where you see yourself in 5 years time. Since you're up in Canada, you're physically closer to Sheridan College, and last I knew its arts department was second only to the Savannah college of art and design's. The above are Wikipedia links, and it should give you some base info about them, as well as link to the respective schools. I suggest that you check them out if you haven't already.

I have to ask a question that I forgot to ask earlier, what type of computer do you have now? What operating system does it have? How much are you looking to spend on the new system?

Due to my living situation, I switch between two computers daily, and one of the computers isn't even officially mine. (But then again there's so many bugs on it, it's not worth the trouble). The one computer that is mine is a windows XP, very powerful computer. I can download and keep two or three large games on it so far as I found out, not counting other large programs. I take away the programs and games I no longer play with though, so the computer still has plenty of space. It's a wonderful thing, really.
I am also most likely gonna receive a MacBook by the time I graduate from the school as a gift, since I use one for my math and history classes. I'm not all that familiar with macs, but I'm getting the basics really.

I'm willing to spend whatever's needed for the best program with the best price it has. Probably aiming for a wacom tablet, loads of people seem to be very happy with it. So far with my budget I can make about fourty dollars per three to five days with my current book illustration project. Once the book is done I'm going to receive 10$ royalties as well, whoo!  

[Goldenavatar]

RadicalAlleyCat

Due to my living situation, I switch between two computers daily, and one of the computers isn't even officially mine. (But then again there's so many bugs on it, it's not worth the trouble). The one computer that is mine is a windows XP, very powerful computer. I can download and keep two or three large games on it so far as I found out, not counting other large programs. I take away the programs and games I no longer play with though, so the computer still has plenty of space. It's a wonderful thing, really.
I am also most likely gonna receive a MacBook by the time I graduate from the school as a gift, since I use one for my math and history classes. I'm not all that familiar with macs, but I'm getting the basics really.

I'm willing to spend whatever's needed for the best program with the best price it has. Probably aiming for a wacom tablet, loads of people seem to be very happy with it. So far with my budget I can make about fourty dollars per three to five days with my current book illustration project. Once the book is done I'm going to receive 10$ royalties as well, whoo!

Well, since you're curious about laptops, are considering purchasing a tablet, familiar with Windows XP systems, and money doesn't seem to be a concern for you, maybe you'd be interested in a tablet PC. I can't field you any exact prices, but I do know that Toshiba, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Compaq, and I think Gateway have models on the market right now. I even think Wacom's got one of its Cintiq's as a tablet/monitor combo for near 3 grand. Anyway, the running average for tablet pc's are about $1,200 US and up. Check out what's available for certain on tigerdirect.com and Amazon.com. Ask around if any professional designers have any model tablet pc's they recommend.

That said, it's all up to you now as far as what sort of system to get yourself. Best of luck to ya. I hope that regardless of what system you end up buying, that you keep putting in the time to develop your traditional medium skills. Spiffy work in your DA gallery by the way.  

[AceCordellis]

Whoa whoa wait, a Tablet -PC-!? Is that what I think it is? I didn't even know those existed! Is it pretty much a tablet with a screen that's portable? A thing all on it's own?

I should look it up.  

[Goldenavatar]

RadicalAlleyCat

Whoa whoa wait, a Tablet -PC-!? Is that what I think it is? I didn't even know those existed! Is it pretty much a tablet with a screen that's portable? A thing all on it's own?

I should look it up.

Indeed.  

[Szandrah]

Like som many other here, I'd say that getting familiar with the Adobe suite of tools is your best bet. Photoshop is a must if you want to go pro, as is Illustrator. With those two you can go really far.

The computer should focus on RAM and when it comes to Mac vs. PC, it's more a question of preference these days. The Mac will be more stable and the PC more configurable, but as for image editing there is no big difference.

Getting a tablet is also very good. I deal with webdesign, graphic design and layout but I can't draw to save my life. Still, having a tablet is really helpful. You should get a scanner and a decent digital camera too, if you don't already have them.