Hello?

Hey, simple solution for book cover type work, not free but really cheap - you're looking at a one off cost of a few dollars: http://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=dragon You don't need to be especially arty to get great results...

N.B. This will give you a perpetual license to make any 2D image you like from the 3D dragon models and all their options however if you wanted to make something '3D interactive' like a game they will charge you $500 to $2000 per title you release.

 

My other daughter has a bamboo. Both are great.

 

You have to go to File, Save....push the button. Works every time!

The reason it doesn't autosave by default is because when you do artwork, you don't want it to save over files that you are tweaking until you are ready. One uses the back space key a lot in PS.

However...http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2012/04/background-save-and-auto-save-features-in-photoshop-cs6.html

It does autosave if you make it do so.

 

Creating graphics 2D or 3D is fun. Easy to lose yourself in it for hours on end. I used to draw on paper and create graphics on computer. But it got to the point where for me I just saw it as a waste of time. Nothing getting done. And by that I mean in the context of game dev. Not knocking artists and their work. Just saying in the context of game dev all of that art has no meaning until a game is actually completed using it. In this context graphics are just one small piece of the overall scope.

And I get the OP's concern over prices when hiring artists. With one artist you can buy the full set of graphics for a Flappy Bird clone for $50 and yet other artists would charge $1,500 or more.

So what you must do is screen them. I have several artists I contract out work to. And I have talked with many more that I had to discard due to it simply not being financially sensible to hire them. I get they want to make this beautiful tree and spend 50 hours on it and to them it is worth hundreds maybe even $1,000+ for that single beautiful tree but it is not worth that to me. Now, if I wanted a painting of a tree to hang on a wall that would be different. Completely different context. But for a game, even a small platformer type of game, a single tree is just a small fraction of the content needed. One "bit" of an environment the player may not even notice other than "oh a tree" as they pass through the area.

So as a game dev you have to get the art for as low of a cost as possible. What I look for are people who are very passionate about graphics. Like for pixel art I want someone who makes pixel art just for fun and spends a lot of time doing so. They end up having a lot of experience and this means their workflows are pretty streamlined. They can produce quality art in a very short amount of time. And generally all of the folks I hire do this "on the side" around their boring job. So art for them is simply a passion. And that makes them much more affordable.

If I hire a 3D artist I'd look for the same. It would be someone who absolutely loves doing low poly 3D models and spends hours per day just doing that because they enjoy it. They'd be able to produce quality models very quickly and deliver them at a very low cost. That is the kind of person I can work with to make a game.

TLDR: Don't throw out the idea of hiring artists. It takes time to find the ones you can work with. Maybe you have to talk to 10 to find one but that one will be golden and you will both be very happy working together.

 

You are right...and that is what the art is worth to you. So you should find someone who can do the work at the prices you want. As the consumer, it is up to you to find what fits your budget.

Someone who lives on a low budget is not going to shop at Nordstroms, at least not responsibly, unless they find a super duper sale. They are more likely to try Target or JC Penny's. They are not going to rent an apartment in a posh, gated community.

But..it is possible to find good art at a low price, as I said above. Try college students, people just getting started in freelancing, and people who live in areas with a low cost of living. I live with two young artists who would probably give you a good deal just to get their work out there where people can see it.

But...those folks who think their work is worth $1000 probably get that much for their art. So...they are worth that much. It is up to you as the consumer not to overreach your budget.

 

@Teila yeah that is what I was getting at. It is easy for someone to get frustrated and have a negative view of all artists because the ones they have encountered were way too high. But just shop around and they'll find other content providers offering basically the same end result for much less.

So don't have a negative view of all artists. Or any for that matter. Just don't hire the ones you think are way too expensive. Heck I had one artist quote $10k for a single 2D character.... non-animated (actually said he has never done animation) but his work was phenomenal done in oils and does a lot of work for magazines. I told him well that is way out of what I am looking to pay.... which is like $5 to $10 for this particular piece. So we parted ways on friendly terms.

 

Hello everyone! I have found that GIMP is the best one for me, completely free and you don't need a wacom tablet to use it, I watched some videos and you can still draw without a tablet. It will take me a while to get used to it but I can take on this challenge

Thank you so much everyone, I am sorry if I caused any inconvenience.

 

It is highly recommended to have a wacom tablet if you want to draw (because of pressure sensitivity), but yeah, you can work without it. Slowly.

 

Yes.... and I am not willing to buy one, the cheapest I can find one was £80!! I don't have that much money

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wacom-CTL-...&qid=1464458236&sr=8-2&keywords=bamboo+intuos

You must not have been looking very hard if you couldn't find one under £80

If i spent more than 5s and looked around at ebay and second hand im sure i could find one even cheaper

 

Well, they are really good, really important, and they last eternity. I have bamboo tablet, and I don't know how old it is at this moment. I managed to even crack the plastic at one point (thankfully, not working area), and it still works without a hitch.

 

Check eBay. You might be able to find an older model for significantly less.

 

A pencil and paper cost hardly anything!

 

Only short term. They eventually run out of lead and space.

 

I checked Ebay and Amazon and the cheapest I could find was about £80....

Second hand ones? Yeah I can probably find one for half the price but I have had many experiences with second hand items, they don't last for long, they don't work, etc. I don't use Amazon cuz it is much worse.... I have brought things on there that NEVER ARRIVED or arrived very late and in pieces!!!! I once bought a book on there and the person not only sent me a entirely different book but it was ripped, torn and all wet!!!

I don't trust Amazon for those reasons. Ebay has the same problems but i don't get them that often... and it has an efficient rating system too, Amazon does have this but I have bought from guys who had good ratings and items never arrived or arrived late and I have found that a lot of fakes are sold on sites like Amazon. I do have to be careful, I check both the ratings and the comments below and will only buy items from the UK only, maybe America if it is worth the price and taxes (yeah, the UK has a tax for shipping things from the US...and it is quite high)

 

There isn't much to the internals of a drawing tablet. It's basically a digitizer and a chip that interfaces with USB. Simple electronic devices tend to be the most ideal for buying second hand as they're practically indestructible. Just avoid warped devices or those with cracks and you'll be fine.

Amazon and eBay are trustworthy. It's the seller you choose that can lead to problems. I have always checked reviews on the sellers prior to purchasing items and have never been burned by them. That said there is always the possibility it can happen but that exists with any store you buy from.

 

They take space, gather dust and create clutter.

I have at least a thousand short sketches. It is few hundred megabytes on my hdd, but it would've been few hundred paper pages in physical form. Meaning i t would've been a decent stack sitting somewhere gathering dust. Also, paper has limit on number fixes you can do. If you erase stuff too often, you'll either make a hole in the paper, or ruin the material, meaning you'll need to throw it away and start over. Good luck erasing ink (more than once). Digital medium does not have this problem.

However, I gotta say that real pen/paper give you better precision, better control and higher resolution. Digital alternative would be cintiq, which is, well, very expensive.

I still woudl recommend to get wacom table for anyone who's interested in making digital drawings. Pressure sensitivity and pen-like controls help a lot.

 

Sculptris is pretty awesome if he wants a free sculpting tool

 

I am having fun learning GIMP and I will try to find a good priced second tablet but it is not going to be easy.... with my tight budget and UK taxes with things coming from USA.....

By the way I am a lady!
Don't worry about the gender confusion, I get this a lot actually so I don't mind.