Folks Of Interest PhotoShop or Corel??

You can always get an ancient FULL version at a garage sale, then purchase the UPGRADE to the current version at the student discount price...

~Jason

 

InDesign rules too, can I get a hell yeah from everyone who suffered through Quark.
So I agree, get the CS3 or CS4 design standard with your student discount.

 

Yeah, when you meet a few Adobe engineers in-person, and you see photos of their kids... and you see how many people it takes to put something like Photoshop or InDesign together... it takes at least some of the sting out of the price.

 

No doubt!

I've actually been "in the industry" now for several years, having done Mac repair for over 20. Who knew I'd go from "Shiver me timbers" to "Hey, let me fix your Mac, and here's where to buy software for it".

Since then I've actually consulted for everybody from Lucasfilm to NASA, and have gotten to know everybody in the back of all the Mac magazines on a personal level (and have many funny stories about them), either buying or selling from/to them for several years. I've gotten to know several people at several companies in the Bay area especially.

So yeah, when it comes to feeding your family - especially these days, I'm not going to be the one that helps 'em to the soup line.

And maybe on some level, migrating into a profession where I tell people what to buy and from whom is my way of doing penance. One thing's for sure - I certainly have an interesting perspective, having not only been on both sides of the fence, but also having ridden it! I'm always honest about it, too. Hell, I figure maybe I can scare a few people straight. LOL!

~Jason

 

HELL YEAH!

And I'll add that the good people at Quark are ***HOLES, too. Have you ever called corporate and tried to BUY 50 copies? That's MUCHO dinero, and they still treat you like absolute ****.

I do have to admit though, Quark did get me some impressive marks on some papers I wrote in college - marks I knew full well I got because it was professional and pretty.

~Jason

 

hellz yeah!

 

I'd get into the school you plan on starting your degree at. See what they are teaching. Purchase what they're teaching with your student discounts. 99% of the time its adobe based as its the design standard and their student discounts are substantial.

I have been a designer in print since 97'. The industry is super saturated right now and everyone that gets their hands on CS thinks they are a designer and can do it themselves. So clients are that much harder to get and that much harder to keep, not to mention impress. We work mostly in the food/beverage industry and even that is super saturated.

I'd suggest going in to your education with the goal to learn every program well enough that you can get around in it. Then no matter where you go you can learn on the run. And I'd focus in on one thing and learn it really really well. The work force expects you to know everything now a days. My boss looks at me weird when I can't tell her how to program a website. It's kind of like.... well go learn then. So you'll need to know it all or be the best at one thing.

I wish I had done a 4 year degree and specialized in illustration.



and yeah... quark was a pain but once you learned how to work around it it wasn't too bad. I still like it. Don't do much page layout anymore. Usually one pager or double sided so it's all illustrator. InDesign is amazing but you really have to sink your teeth in to it and use it regularly.

 

I did a search on Corel Painter...came up with this old thread.
This 3 day weekend had me thinking about digital art programs. I went to the Corel site and downloaded a 30 day trail of Painter 12. I really like it. I did this image with basically with the marker tool and fooled around for about an hour (kinda sloppy, but wth).
What I love is that you can rotate the canvas around with your wacom tablet pen to any angle, not preset increments like PS, so you can draw curves and lines naturally with your hand.
I'll probably purchase this program tomorrow. I think it's better than PS.

 

Cool !
Might have to check it out.
Thanks B.

 

You're welcome V.
I couldn't p*** up the deal, so I bought it.
It's great for sketching too! Now I can develop some ideas floating around in my head a lot faster than paper and a pencil.

 

Photoshop on PC is way more traditional! lol

 

Nice.

 

One might not term Painter a hot rod industry standard, but when you have Jeff Norwell, Ed Newton and Charlie Smith all using it, something's up!

PC?? Macs may or may not be "traditional", but they are used much more than PC's for illustration .......because they're just better.

 

I think I just heard a pin drop Tom.

Macs are definitely choice, but you better have some extra sheckles handy when making the transition from PC. Im not talking just for the new hot rod computer, you will have to replace your software as well. Ooo that hurts !

 

But once you do, man..........