Thread: How not to be a Photoshop Pirate - Great alternative programs for making walls.

Ok, let’s admit it. All of us love great looking wallpaper for our computers. Some of us even have the talent to create such works of art. But I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us do not have the money to purchase great graphics software like Photoshop and Illustrator. But never fear. There are alternatives no matter what computer operating system you use. Each of these sites comes with a built in community and tutorials so you can learn to use the program to it’s fullest.

Well cover raster programs, like Photoshop first:

The GIMP: (Windows/Mac/Linux) Highest Recommendation
The GIMP is one of the premiere open source programs available today. Touted as a ‘Photoshop killer” it has much of the functionality of Photoshop and works perfectly for our needs. The GIMP is a full featured raster editor. It includes many advanced features such as layering, channels, paths, and even animation (separate download required for animation). GIMP is designed for photo manipulation and graphics editing. As such it is great for web design, or in our case, wall paper design. Many tutorials designed for Photoshop can also apply to GIMP. The GIMP community has also created a number of high quality tutorials available on the official GIMP website.

Note: When installing GIMP for windows, you just install the GTK package FIRST in order for GIMP to work properly.


Deep Paint 2.0 (Windows) Recommended
Deep Paint 2.0 started life as a commercial program. When the company behind Deep Paint closed its doors they turned Deep Paint into a freeware program. Deep Paint simulates the actual feel and texture of oil/watercolor painting and is a great addition to any artist who want's to simulate those mediums.

Paint.Net (Windows XP) Worth looking into
Paint.Net is a joint project form the University of Washington and Microsoft. It’s designed to be an upgrade to Windows Paint program, but don’t let that full you. Paint.Net is a versatile raster editor and can be very useful for web or wall paper design. It includes high level features such as layers, masks, and blends. While toated at a picture editor, I've seen some great artwork done in Paint.net.

Vector Graphics:
Vector Graphics, Like Adobe Illustrator, use mathatical computations instead of pixels to create the artwork. As such, vector artwork file size tends to be smaller then raster artwork and it also tends to look more ‘drawn’.

Inkscape (Windows/Mac/Linux) Recommended
Inkscape is a good quality vector graphics program that is still being coded. It’s current version is .44, but don’t let that fool you. Inkscape has great potential and you can make some fantastic works of art out of it

Xara Xtreme (Linux) Recommended
Xara is a graphics company that has decided to create a presence in the Linux community. Xara Xtreme is an open source offering of their award winning windows Xara software. Unfortunately it’s only available for Linux but if you’ve ever thought about trying linux out this program would be a great reason to.

PhotoPlus 6 (Windows) Recommended
PhotoPlus 6 is the perfect choice for editing and enhancing your digital images and photos for print, email and the web.
Main Features:* Export Optimizer* Photo Enhancement* Selection Tools* Image Slicing & Maps* Editable Text* QuickShapes

There is no reason you should have to resort to piracy for a great graphics program. Any of these programs are a welcome addtion to the budding (or professional) artists tools. Enjoy!