(01-31-2015, 08:07 PM)Kamome Wrote: It's very important (in my opinion) to learn on Photoshop so that you become comfortable on the program. If you ever want to work in a professional capacity with digital art, PS has become the industry standard.
If you are a hobbyist, and want to stay that way, SAI is awesome. It's surprisingly powerful, it has a huge user base and is constantly getting kick-ass updates.
For tablets, wacom remains the best. I use an old Intuos 3 at home that I got when I was a kid, still, and it works perfectly and is still industry-grade good. For a starter wacom tablet, I love the pen & touch small series that they recently came out with. I use one for my mobile art station—it's light, tiny and looks good with most laptops:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...&A=details
http://www.wacom.com/en-es/products/pen-...ouch-small
$99 for the tablet and $9.99/mo for Photoshop will get you off to an amazing start. Or you could go for SAI and get away with just buying a tablet. Welcome to the world of digital painting! It's so much better for your long-term health than oils! xD
This. If you really wish to use photoshop, which I agree you'll need if you ever want to do things in a more professional capacity simply due to it's over saturation, then go down the subscription route. At this moment Photoshop has ceased all production of it's stand alone products, and while it might be tempting to want to find an old copy of CS simply for the security of always owning it rather than renting the license it is far FAR more economical to use their Cloud service at the moment. Even old, outdated versions of CS will break your bank due to scarcity, and Adobe's offer of giving out CS2 for free only applies to those with accounts and/or existing keys.
On top of everything else that Kamome said, I also highly recommend that once you choose a tablet make sure to buy at least two packets of it's relevant pen nibs and keep them stored in a secure place. If you're anything like me you'll go through them like yesterday's cake and/or lose them due to poor placement, and most stores don't carry them on top of it all. Best to order some in the beginning so you can replenish at the drop of a hat - rather than get stuck and have to wait awhile for shipping.
