Drawing program vs. Image manipulation

[chech95]

I currently have two programs; The GIMP and DrawPlus 4, I find drawplus easier to use, but then again I just started designing. Which is better and which should i continue to use?

[PrintDriver]

Both of these are freeware.
The Gimp is for image editing. DrawPlus 4, I'm not sure what that is. The website says it is vector but only lists raster formats for saving graphics. Does it save or export as a VECTOR .eps file? If not, it is of no use.

Be advised that neither of these programs are supported for print work.

Neither of these is a layout program. You don't want to be designing brochures or such with them.

If you have just 'started designing', these are great to play with as toys to use like building blocks, but you will have to get something a little more industry standard to make a career out of it.

As for which type of program you should continue to learn, as a GD you will have to know both Image Manip and Vector art. And how to use them in a layout program. Please read our Resource stickies to learn the difference between Raster and Vector, what dpi is and all that good stuff.

There is much more to design than drawing or making pretty pictures. If you can't print it, it's not worth it (unless you are doing purely web design - but even then you need to recognize the limitations of the web-based format and know when you will have to compensate for them. ie NO RASTER LOGOS!)

Good luck and welcome to the forum. Read. Learn.

[chech95]

I have been using these to design an image for a friend's band. However i do have experiance with layout programs so I kno whow they work. What industrial type programs should i consider buying?