So, my husband Ethan's birthday is coming up and I want to purchase him a brand new computer system. Problem is, I really am ignorant when it comes to what he needs. So, I need your advice. He's planning on going full-time "freelance" in January. He's mentioned an Apple...But, I've never owned one.

I know he wants a photoshop program, internet, (is there such thing as a wireless scanner? Do they work? ) I guess some type of animation studio or something...Honestly, I have no idea. SO, help me out.

What does he need? Where should I go? What do I ask for? (I'm not sure if I want a desk top or a laptop, I might even get both. His birthday is really close to Christmas and he's been a very good boy. ) I really want him to not have to want for any particulars, but I don't want a bunch of unnecessary junk he'll never use.

Anyother little artist gifts that would make nice add-on's feel free to throw out.

Thanks,

Lynn.

To be honest the only way to do this properly would be to ruin the surprise and just ask him.

It's the only way to get exactly what he wants.

As for the programs you're either gonna have to go ahead and pay $300+ dollars on top of the computers for them if you want to "own" them.

Or keep the surprise by giving him a card that is good for "one computer customized to his artistic needs and desires."

My parents do stuff like that with big gifts that either they can't find in time or want me to be able to pick out. I think it's really a good idea for things like computers.

I think there's always arguments for both sides, PC or Mac. This day and age it boils down to expense. Macs are expensive, they start at $1200 and go up up up. Keep in mind baseline Macs are comparable to middle range and up PCs, so you'd have to get a fairly expensive PC to be equal. Plus Photoshop alone costs $650 and that's just Photoshop all by itself. To truly create with no boundaries an artist needs the entire CS suite or some sort of piecemeal configuration.

I own a Mac and work on Macs all day long. I love it, but I can't do all the things most PC owners enjoy, like games and easy web browsing - stuff like that. Yes I can surf the web, but no, not everything works - it just doesn't and sometimes that stinks. I can most certainly do art on my Macs (home and work) flawlessly, all day and all night. But if it was time for a second computer at my house I'd get a PC laptop and have all the bases covered.

Cost vs. preference, that what I think.

That's the thing, he doesn't really know. He expects me to just make it happen and it'll magically be just what he wants. I know there are some actual people out there that make a living off of comics, commissions, and freelance work. I want to know what you can't live without and what I should get. I'm not asking him. It would be more annoying trouble than it's worth and as you pointed out, defeat the purpose.

scanners, if hes working with pretty descent art, and isnt going to print to much himself, most scanner combos sold today work fine. the only issue there is to get teh larget possible scanning surface you can, depending on what size paper he draws on, assuming he uses paper, that can make life easier by so much. however, they can be hard to find and expensive.

software, i would go with photoshop if either of you are ni college you can get the student teacher edition much cheaper. as far as animation i have no idea on that one.

pc or mac. well you did mention gettting both, if you get both get a pc notebook and a mac desktop. get whatever you can aggord with a great processor, intell duo core. the most memory and biggest hard drive you can afford. also the biggest highest quality screen too. i would also get a spare external harddrive and a portable pocket hard drive.

he will need a tablet also. standard for pros is a cintiq, i may have spelled it wrong, but got to wacom.com and you see it.

oh, by the way you'll alos need on helluva budget. lol, good luck, and this is all quite nice of you!!

maritalbliss
So, my husband Ethan's birthday is coming up and I want to purchase him a brand new computer system. Problem is, I really am ignorant when it comes to what he needs. So, I need your advice. He's planning on going full-time "freelance" in January. He's mentioned an Apple...But, I've never owned one.

I know he wants a photoshop program, internet, (is there such thing as a wireless scanner? Do they work? ) I guess some type of animation studio or something...Honestly, I have no idea. SO, help me out.

What does he need? Where should I go? What do I ask for? (I'm not sure if I want a desk top or a laptop, I might even get both. His birthday is really close to Christmas and he's been a very good boy. ) I really want him to not have to want for any particulars, but I don't want a bunch of unnecessary junk he'll never use.

Anyother little artist gifts that would make nice add-on's feel free to throw out.

Thanks,

Lynn.

PC vs Apple: it used to be that for good artwork, you *had* to use Apple, so that has traditionally been the artist's computer. Now that PCs have caught up to Apple in terms of art programs and ability, it doesn't matter one way or another. However, if he is freelancing and sending files to clients, he needs to have enough computer know-how to transfer files from a PC environment to Apple and back again (for example, zipping files).

Laptop or Desktop: this question really comes down to convenience. To do nice graphics, you need a nice big monitor, bigger is better. You can hook up a laptop or desktop to a monitor, but then either way you're working from one place. Desktops tend to be cheaper and allow you more flexibility in terms of upgrading, adding memory, etc. Laptops do allow you the luxury of moving around, working on the road, etc., but you need to think realistically about how important that convenience is to you and whether it's worth paying extra for. If you're thinking about both, then you might want a laptop with a docking station. The docking station allows you to have peripherals (monitor, drives, etc.) pre-hooked up in one location, but then you can disengage the laptop and carry it away. But again, think about how it would realistically be used and whether this is worth the extra cost.

Programs: This really depends on what programs he knows and what kind of work he wants to do. There's no reason to get an animation program if he's not actually going to do animations, for example. And if he wants to learn, know that things change constantly. I remember when Authorware was the big thing, but now it seems like Flash. But here are some suggestions:
- Photoshop - hands down, the most widely used art program
- Illustrator - allows you to work with vector graphics
- Flash - if you really want animations, this would be the one I'd get (but it's also the one I happen to know)

You can get other programs, like font-building programs or sound-editing programs for adding sound to animation, but these three will cover a *lot* of bases for a budding freelancer.

Other things: DVD-RW drives are fairly standard now on most computers, but be sure whatever you get has this, or else get an external DVD-RW drive. If you do a series of artwork for a client, you'll need some method to get those files to them and the burnable DVD is a good sure-thing method.

Definitely need a scanner; I've been told that putting final graphics in print requires at least 300dpi (dots per inch) and some magazines need 600dpi. So I don't think you'd need a scanner that goes higher than that, but professionals may disagree for all I know.

When it comes to buying computers, concentrate on two numbers: RAM and drive size. For graphics in particular, you need a lot of RAM (that's the "thinking speed" of the computer and graphic programs need a LOT), I'm guessing around 2G of RAM memory if not more, and at least 500G of hard drive space. But I'm not a professional graphics person, so I don't really know.

Also, think about getting a graphics tablet (Wacom is popular). Yes, you can use a mouse to do graphics, but it's much much easier getting natural looking graphics using a tablet. At least, that's what I've been told by the graphics people I work with.


Ok, that's my two cents worth, good luck!

Well, Dr. Bob...Thanks to you...That helped quite a bit. Thanks to everyone else too. I think I have an idea.

Personally, I only use Macs.
Apart from ease of use, the main reason being NO VIRUSes and the inherent STABILITY of the OS.
Crashes are very rare on Macs. New Macs have Intel chips and can run any microsoft programs so the old argument against Macs no longer applies.

If you can afford it definitely go a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet/screen.
I could not live without mine, it's so convenient to be able to draw directly on the screen and not bother with scanning, tidying up, etc.
Of course you also have the benefit of the multitude of pen tools, paint buckets, etc (in photoshop) and very importantly, the 'history' ability.
Never worry again about making an 'inking' mistake!!!!

My setup is a Mac G5 Quad and Cintiq 21UX screen.

If he wants to get into animation and 3D there is a multitude of programs out there to chose from, both expensive, free and everything in between. I use Carrara, from memory about $400. I think there is a special on right now for the latest, Carrara 6 for only $160 or thereabouts.
But like I said, there are many, best to research exactly what he wants the program to achieve first.

Good luck.