Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with paintshop

Learn To Draw In Only Twenty Seconds Using The Internet

scrump — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:07:57 -0800

I'm a writer who needs to learn how to draw illustrations for my manuals. And I need to learn fast. I'm a technical writer with access to Photoshop, Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro and GIMP. My company has decided that we need to do our illustrations in-house instead of outsourcing the work.

I have no real experience drawing, and need to be able to generate good-looking, PDF-ready illustrations describing DNS software and concepts using these tools. What are the best, quickest, freely available tutorials I can use to get up to speed on how to draw things and make them not look like my four-year-old did it?

We do not have budget or time for formal classes: we have to learn to do it ourselves. The desired outcome is a step above Visio line diagrams, but the company doesn't expect us to become Picasso, either. Some good examples of our intended outcome are here, here or here.

Some of you may want to editorialize in this space about how this is insane and my company is insane for wanting this. Please don't. I'm operating under the constraints given above, and them's the breaks. I have no influence whatever over the decision, and it is not up for discussion.

What is the next best alternative to Photoshop?

Steve Hight — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:20:17 -0800

What is the next best alternative to Photoshop? I used to be a professional graphic designer, but I am now retired. I used Photoshop for many years and had Photoshop CS installed on my computer so I could continue to work for the one "client" I kept: the non-profit my wife works for.

A few months ago, my copy of Photoshop crashed. I cannot re-install it because all I have is the upgrade CD. I foolishly gave the earlier version (5.5) CD away, not realizing I might need it someday. Adobe will not help me because they say CS is too old for them to service. I cannot afford CS3.

I have been using Gimp since the crash, and it has performed most tasks well, but it doesn't work in CMYK, nor does it work well at all with text. It also doesn't seem to keep layers intact.

Does someone have a suggestion for an inexpensive semi-professional alternative? Does anyone know anything about XaraXtreme? I've read reviews for Paint Shop and PhotoImpact, but I didn't come away feeling that either would quite do the trick. Perhaps I'm wrong. Could someone please set me straight? I need to be able to make website graphics, newspaper and magazine advertisements, and labels for promotional items like water bottles and tote bags.

Thank you.

Cartoon speech balloons

rolypolyman — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:11:22 -0800

Is there a good way to do cartoon speech balloons? I sometimes toss together cheap cartoons in an old version of Paintshop Pro. What's the best way of doing this, aside from hacking up something with an ellipse tool? Are there usable clip art samples out there I can import & paste? I'm sure there's a Photoshop plugin for this kind of thing, but I don't have Photoshop.