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A relative of mine owns a alternative clothing store and if I can develop some t shirt designs I can sell them in his shop. I am looking to purchase basic design software. I am looking at adobe creative suite, but it seems a little advanced for my needs. Does anybody have any ideas on basic design programs?
Don't take shortcuts with your design software. If you like Adobe products, get Illustrator or PhotoShop. Otherwise, get Corel Draw. You may think that the software is too advanced for your needs but you'll quickly learn how your needs will change once you're challenged with making better designs.
A bargain graphics program won't do color separations either, which will be a necessity if you're screen printing your designs.
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Using my 6C Manual press, my 64" Mimaki CG-130EX vinyl cutter/plotter and my trusty shirt and hat presses to keep my bills mostly paid.
Most people know only a fraction of what photoshop has... me included. I have been designing for the past 4 years and there's nothing else I would use.
[quote=gjevil;447026]but it seems a little advanced for my needs.quote]
Think about this: if you buy software that is not too advanced, you could end up "outgrowing" it. On the other hand, you don't want to spend a fortune on software if you're just going to be printing straight line text. Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator seem to be the most popular vector based programs.
However you don't have to buy the whole suite for adobe.
Just illustrator or photoshop will be fine.
Correl is a good alternative.
You might have to oider that these programs will have a learning curve though.
greetings from Holland
Thank you all for your quick replies. I am starting out small, and I understand that if I outgrow the software- I could limit business, but hopefully by then I will have a little more capital to purchase more advanced software. That is something I will have to think about. But I appreciate the great input. I will keep posting.
In addition, I do have Paint Shop Pro, but I don't know how this compares to other software? I have not found this useful at all so far. My wife had it from years back, so I thought I would try it. Anybody used this?
I personally have never used Corel Draw so I guess i cant comment that software but you cant really go wrong with the Creative Suite pack. Everything you need is there and although its a little pricey its worth every penny. I've used Illustrator and Photoshop for the last 12 years and I still dont know all of it and probably never will. But theres something in both of them for every skill level. Its really just about getting use to the tools and menu layouts.
stick with adobe. go to their site and play around with their software for free for 30 days and if you like it then you can go ahead and buy the student editions...
I would have to agree that maybe you should try the trial software for Illustrator, Photshop, CorelDraw, and others like Inkscape and Gimp. I happen to use CorelDraw, I have tried all of them before but it just so happen I was able to work better with Corel. Some happen to work well with the others but unitl you try them out for yourself you will not no which one suits YOU best. There is a learning curve with all of them but just keep in mind that you get out of them what you put into them. Work hard and it will come.
Going with the trial versions of the 'big' drawing programs is a great suggestion. At the very least it gives you an idea of what features they have, how well you get along with the interface and how you think you'll best incorporate the software to your environment. I've been using Corel Draw since I started screen printing and I really like it. Like veedub said, you get out of it what you put into it; meaning if you strive to learn the features and put that knowledge to work on your designs, your artwork will likely be impressive to your clients.
Having said that, I'll share something else. I do some contract work for a specialty advertising company whose artist is a hardcore Illustrator artist. All of his artwork would come to me in .ai format and occasionally would not import into Corel very well. So, I also keep Illustrator on my computer for times when I need to print separations but can't open them in Corel. Sometimes I'll open a trouble file in Illustrator and export myself into a different format, like .eps or .pdf. So, even tho I consider myself a 'Corel guy', it doesn't hurt to have more than one program I can use to get the job done.
After all, most of my clients don't even care what software I use, as long as I can make their design look fantastic on a shirt.
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Using my 6C Manual press, my 64" Mimaki CG-130EX vinyl cutter/plotter and my trusty shirt and hat presses to keep my bills mostly paid.
There are free opensource alternatives for just about every Design program out there. I prefer Adobe, but the opensource ones are an option, and a free on at that.
Basic Design 
