This has probably been asked before... but does anyone know of a cheap computer art software? I need to make a logo for my techno garage band, and I have a few ideas for it. If anyone knows of one, tell me please. 
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Graphic Design software
- Thread starter bromleyboy2829
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For a logo your going to want Inkscape as it's vector just like Illustrator which is also used for logo's. However I'm not sure it that's windows only or not.
Painter
For a bitmap programme:
I just got Painter 9.5 from Amazon UK for only £49. Good if you want an illustrative style as it has a natural media focus. At that price I gave up looking for an upgrade - this used to be a really expensive application when I first bought it and it belonged to Letraset (in 1993). It has since belonged to half a dozen other companies and the version I am talking about is Corel (but I think it may have changed hands again since!). I think the current version is something like 11.
For a vector programme:
I'd also recommend what used to be Painter's vector counterpart application Expression which is a natural media draw programme. It is now Microsoft and PC only (shame!) but I managed to download the final Mac upgrade for nothing (legally!). It is quite a learning curve because the programmers were quite creative with their user interface - not very standard - but it doesn't take long to get used to it and it will do stuff you'd never see in any other application (afaik). The original owners were Creature House if it will help you at all in searching for it.
For a bitmap programme:
I just got Painter 9.5 from Amazon UK for only £49. Good if you want an illustrative style as it has a natural media focus. At that price I gave up looking for an upgrade - this used to be a really expensive application when I first bought it and it belonged to Letraset (in 1993). It has since belonged to half a dozen other companies and the version I am talking about is Corel (but I think it may have changed hands again since!). I think the current version is something like 11.
For a vector programme:
I'd also recommend what used to be Painter's vector counterpart application Expression which is a natural media draw programme. It is now Microsoft and PC only (shame!) but I managed to download the final Mac upgrade for nothing (legally!). It is quite a learning curve because the programmers were quite creative with their user interface - not very standard - but it doesn't take long to get used to it and it will do stuff you'd never see in any other application (afaik). The original owners were Creature House if it will help you at all in searching for it.
No, the original owner of Expression were Fractal Design, than after that Creature House brought that product, after them the last company, who buyed the name and license was Microsoft.
Fractal Design was the company, who made originally Painter (specifically the two man who are the founder of Fractal Design: Mark Zimmer and Tom Hedges).
Now, the Painter name is a Corel corp. trademark.
Fractal Design was the company, who made originally Painter (specifically the two man who are the founder of Fractal Design: Mark Zimmer and Tom Hedges).
Now, the Painter name is a Corel corp. trademark.
You're right!
Yes, I remember now - there was good reason to think of Painter and Expression as siblings because they were both Fractal Design for a while before they were split up; along with Dabbler and Sketcher.
Your statement that Painter was originally a Fractal Design application confused me as I am quite certain that when I bought it it was Letraset. It was only by about version 3 that it was Fractal Design. Yet you could even name the authors. This sent me scurrying off into Google for some evidence (without tearing my computer room apart to unearth my first manual!).
I found that you were right about Mark Zimmer and Tom Hedges; they worked on other material for Letraset (ColorStudio, for example), before working on Painter. They set up the Fractal Design company also. But few web pages mention the fact that Painter was originally marketed as a Letraset app. Eventually I found this one, from a UK newspaper which mentions Letraset Painter in paragraph 9. Relieved to find I didn't just imagine it!
Painter and Expression are such rewarding programmes to use. I find it quite sad that they've been shifted about so often - Letraset, Fractal Design, MetaCreations, Procreate, Corel, Creature House and Microsoft - as though nobody could quite make them pay (although I realise some of this was one company morphing into another). I'm especially sad that Expression went its separate way and has now become a Windows only Microsoft programme. What a dreadful fate!
Yes, I remember now - there was good reason to think of Painter and Expression as siblings because they were both Fractal Design for a while before they were split up; along with Dabbler and Sketcher.
Your statement that Painter was originally a Fractal Design application confused me as I am quite certain that when I bought it it was Letraset. It was only by about version 3 that it was Fractal Design. Yet you could even name the authors. This sent me scurrying off into Google for some evidence (without tearing my computer room apart to unearth my first manual!).
I found that you were right about Mark Zimmer and Tom Hedges; they worked on other material for Letraset (ColorStudio, for example), before working on Painter. They set up the Fractal Design company also. But few web pages mention the fact that Painter was originally marketed as a Letraset app. Eventually I found this one, from a UK newspaper which mentions Letraset Painter in paragraph 9. Relieved to find I didn't just imagine it!
Painter and Expression are such rewarding programmes to use. I find it quite sad that they've been shifted about so often - Letraset, Fractal Design, MetaCreations, Procreate, Corel, Creature House and Microsoft - as though nobody could quite make them pay (although I realise some of this was one company morphing into another). I'm especially sad that Expression went its separate way and has now become a Windows only Microsoft programme. What a dreadful fate!