Graphics Software (I need some)

I need to add some graphics to my site, and I would like to make my own. Problem is I know that I wont use the software enough to get my money's worth out of the software. Is there a paint program or any such tool that can help me make graphics/logos etc... on my site for free or cheap? If so, it better be better than microsofts paint program. That thing is aweful.

Thanks,

-Vapor

I say Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 - very powerful. However if you don't want to pay god-knows-how-much for a PS licence, then you can get Jasc Paint Shop Pro which is a lot cheaper and has less features which would cover the needs of a user which doesn't require all the advanced features of something like Photoshop.

The is also the Gimp - www.gimp.org which is free.

Jamie.

I kind of expected free or near free paint/graphic programs to be slim to none. I just can't get myself to pay for paintshop pro (even though it's a sweet program).

Well, I'll get what I take.
Thanks

Fireworks and Photoshop CS would be my suggestions they are the most used and documented graphics software.

I heard the GIMP was very good and a free alternative to Photoshop but I haven't tried it myself.

Apparently the GIMP's interface is awful, but I've never used it either.

as much as I pimp it (as you can see in my sig) the GIMPs GUI is appauling. its not a standard win32 gui, because it runs off a program galled GTK+ which allows easy GUI creation. aside from that, the console erors which pop up from tiem to time and some bugs with selections and filters anit-aliasing. its a freat product. and free. it's my main graphics tool for the minute, but i'm saving up for PSCS2

otherwise for around 100$ you can get Photoshop elements which is a reduced version of photoshop but if you're not working with grpahics professionally then its got all you need

Yeah I've seen the screenshots of it :eek:

I've heard it is good, but as I say, never used it so I can't vouch for it's usefulness

Gimp looks horrible user interface wise but it could be ok.

well after all, it's free :eek:

Thats what you get then for free software a rubbish user interface.
With photoshop cs and fireworks atleast you get a nice user interface

A lot of free software I know of have nice user friendly UI's, however as the old saying goes "you get what you pay for" :)

Exactly I prefer to "pay" for software.

if your just getting into graphics Photoshop CS is a 60 day trial.

and macromedia fireworks mx is about the same free trial period.

thats the 2 top packages , which both work very similiarly.

so u have free web graphic/photo software for afew month!

p.s im not condoning this but u can get a crack for both of these!<fireworks easier to crack)

p.s im not condoning this but u can get a crack for both of these!<fireworks easier to crack)

Yes you can, however I'm not going to say any more on this idea of cracking graphics software as its against teh posting guidelines :)

p.s im not condoning this but u can get a crack for both of these!<fireworks easier to crack)

Well, I'm not trying to obtain an illegal version of software. I just wondered what was out there.

I do, however, agree that you get what you pay for, so any free software is probably very basic.

You could look on eBay for graphics software for sale. I got Photoshop 6 (the real deal, not a copy) for about $50 - great deal! Just be careful about the possibility of getting copied or cracked software. But if you're careful about it, you could get some good deals.