Hey all! I'm thinking about getting into graphic arts and graphic design but not sure where to start. I feel like I have creativity in me but suck at traditional media, so I think graphics might be fun. Can anyone recommend some software for starting graphic artists that include a stylus and tablet or anything else that might be useful? Thanks in advance!
Use the programs people have mentioned in this thread. Gimp and Inkscape are the best free tools available: Gimp is for raster (pixel) graphics and Inkscape is for vectors. Or if you want to use the industry standard tools, get Adobe Creative Suite and use Photoshop and Illustrator.
And yes you should 100% use a graphics tablet. I use a Wacom tablet for all my graphics work.