Hello, and welcome to the community. Most members of Fotki are interested in graphic art, photography, modeling, art appreciation, chatting (with pics), and professional networking. We have more photographers here than models, and good ones at that. There are many art appreciators here too. Also numerous graphic artists that aren't known to the community at large, because they only use Fotki to store tags for pickup (usually siggy tags) and are members of Yahoo Groups.
On tags, the easiest and least costly way to start, and even continue, is use a program by Jasc Software or Corel (formerly Jasc Software) called Paint Shop Pro. Till Corel bought Jasc, all of their software would make both animated and non-animated graphics, or designs that included invisible areas that weren't animated (GIF files w/o moving frames). With Jasc Software, their version 7 is considered the best program to remove backgrounds and for general use, without spending a great deal. "Tubers" use versions 7, 8, 9, and sometimes 10, and a late edition version 11. If you're familiar with eBay you can buy a used version 7 - 9 for typically $15 - $20 ($70 - $120 new price). With those versions there's a companion animation program called Animation Shop to make animated graphics.
Paint Shop Pro with Animation Shop are much easier to design animations with than Adobe's Photoshop with Image Ready, and tho not as professional looking, PSP has tutorials that make their tags look almost as good as the average Photoshop tag. There are MANY Paint Shop Pro groups in Yahoo Groups, from beginners to advanced,
Currently, Photoshop CS3 costs about $600 wholesale, $1,100 retail. Most photographers and professional graphic artists use Photoshop. I took 2 Adobe courses and they're quite sophisticated programs.
I use all of the programs above, but concentrate on Photoshop because I'm studying graphic art.
I'll explain more on how to make attractive tags the next time I visit. I'm going to be off the site most of the next few weeks, but will check in periodically. If there's anything you need help with, let me know. Thank you for the visit, kind words and well wishes.
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On tags, the easiest and least costly way to start, and even continue, is use a program by Jasc Software or Corel (formerly Jasc Software) called Paint Shop Pro. Till Corel bought Jasc, all of their software would make both animated and non-animated graphics, or designs that included invisible areas that weren't animated (GIF files w/o moving frames). With Jasc Software, their version 7 is considered the best program to remove backgrounds and for general use, without spending a great deal. "Tubers" use versions 7, 8, 9, and sometimes 10, and a late edition version 11. If you're familiar with eBay you can buy a used version 7 - 9 for typically $15 - $20 ($70 - $120 new price). With those versions there's a companion animation program called Animation Shop to make animated graphics.
Paint Shop Pro with Animation Shop are much easier to design animations with than Adobe's Photoshop with Image Ready, and tho not as professional looking, PSP has tutorials that make their tags look almost as good as the average Photoshop tag. There are MANY Paint Shop Pro groups in Yahoo Groups, from beginners to advanced,
Currently, Photoshop CS3 costs about $600 wholesale, $1,100 retail. Most photographers and professional graphic artists use Photoshop. I took 2 Adobe courses and they're quite sophisticated programs.
I use all of the programs above, but concentrate on Photoshop because I'm studying graphic art.
I'll explain more on how to make attractive tags the next time I visit. I'm going to be off the site most of the next few weeks, but will check in periodically. If there's anything you need help with, let me know. Thank you for the visit, kind words and well wishes.
Best wishes and blessings,
Kristy
Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a message and know that my house is your home!
God bless!