Art Tips For Programmers?

An anonymous reader writes "Recently I've found myself in a bit of a bind with artwork. My programming contracts have been rather small, barely enough to pay myself let alone an artist. The art needs aren't intensive, mostly icons or sprites depending on the project. Despite owning a few key apps (Photoshop, LightWave, Maya) my art production output is rather poor. Are there any other developers who have learned to be self-sufficient? Are there any resources available to educate me on the finer points of making graphics that look professional?" One resource for the less-artistic among us is the collection of free SVG clip art at freedesktop.org, though it won't give advice for creating new art. What are some others?

Should I say it?

[Tablizer]

Outsource it to India *duck*

(Seriously, their time is cheaper than yours, unless you get sub-min. wage.)

Free Art Test!

[carambola5]

Free Art Test [artinstruc...chools.com]. Are you an artist? Find out Free. Premiere Home Study Program. aff.

--that's all i got from google's sponsored link.

Ha

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, programers suck at art and artist suck at programing.
Ever wonder why OSS interfaces are so ugly and hard to use? Because there's no such thing as an open source artist. Best off you hire someone to do a good job instead of trying to half-ass it yourself.

Re:What not to do

[EEBaum]

The lens flare... helping amateurs feel like professionals and professionals identify amateurs since 1996.

Just Give The Job To Someone

[Nehi the Ganchark]

I've done a few (as in as I can count the total jobs I've done on my left hand) projects for programmers who couldn't design their way out of a wet paper bag. Problem is that not too many programmers have approached me with work, so it remains a hobby for me. It's been my experience that programmers simply don't want to deal with giving even small parts of their projects to others, quite likely out of fear that someone will shanghai their hard work. It's a legitimate concern, sure, but most graphic designers/artists aren't looking to burgle your code...

If you're having trouble with with your graphics, then by all means give the job to someone else. Please. There are plenty of folks who speak the same language you do who will do the work you need on the cheap.

Re:Leave it to the artists?

[Anonymous Coward]

You could give my grandma a copy of Eclipse, VS.NET, EditPlus and vi and she'd still suck as a coder.

My grandmother is Grace Hopper, she invented compilers.

You have two choices

[wombatmobile]

Get a camera and shoot stuff like what you see here [mcdonalds.com].

Or give up with the art and get a job here [mcdonalds.com].

Re:one place to look

[MP3Chuck]

That's like saying slashdot is a place only for Linux trolling and arguing about whether Perl is the best thing since sliced bread. Sure, there's a lot of it but it's hardly exclusive.

Re:Amateurs create amateurish art.

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot is a horrible place to come for art tips. Or even coding tips. Or Choice Of OS tips. Mainly because Everyone Is Right, which gets pretty annoying.

Nope. It's just me.

But I agree, those who think they know everything are an annoyance to those of us who do.

Re:one place to look

[danielrose]

no, it was a lie

Looks like ass?

[Wouter Van Hemel]

#1- avoid too much 'clip art'. Anyone with an eye for art usually thinks it looks like ass.

I'd say that largely depends on who's ass we're talking about.

Clip-art porn. Kinky.

Re:Leave it to the artists?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well sure, what's it cost? A few hours' download time and a blank CD-R or DVD-R and we're there!

Re:Leave it to the artists?

[Anonymous Coward]

Art can be taught. It's just really difficult and takes a long time.

You'll know you're becoming an artist once you start becoming eccentric. ;)

wtf, talk about surreal

[drinkypoo]

Only on slashdot will you find a comment titled "have you no decency" that includes the phrase "jacking off into the gimp".

James Lipton?

[chocolatetrumpet]

James Lipton [geometricvisions.com]?

Who knew we had greatness in our midst?