Hi Gamedev, I have 4 days left of a trial edition of Microsoft Expression Design which I have been using for my 2D game art so far. I am considering buying it after the trial period ends (I am aware it cannot be bought separately and the packages are quite expensive). However, I would like your opinion on this. In relation to game art, I am a beginner and I have no previous experience with game art (I have experience in Paint though, but that hardly counts :P). I have already checked out the list of stickies on this forum, but the list is quite big, and I am not about to try them all out... For 2D game art, would you recommend Expression Design or would you refer me to another tool (possibly the one you started out with?)? I don't mind a relatively steep learning curve, and I would like to have access to "advanced" features like effects etc. Thanks in advance!

Possible freebie options for game designers on a budget:
Gimp for raster graphics.
Inkscape for vector graphics.

These are the two that I use for the most part. Note that you can also create 2D game art by creating 3D models in Blender then rendering. This is how I make most of my UI stuff.

Expression design looks like a vector too, so yes the major competing free tool is Inkscape. I use Inkscape for most of my work, the only difficulty is that the current version (.47) is unstable, so I've been saving extremely often to avoid losing stuff in a crash. But, they just completed several weeks of bug hunting and .48 alpha will come out next week or so. Inkscape does not have a full set of animation abilities yet, or gradient meshes, but it's under active development working to catch up with professional programs in these areas.

The other major commercial vector tool is Adobe Illustrator. I believe CS4 is the current version. So you should compare price and features between that and the Microsoft one before purchasing either.

Thanks for your responses!

I'll take a look at what you suggested :)

Also take a look at Paint.net

Vector or Raster? That's an important distinction.

For raster, I use GIMP. To me, it's more flexible/forgiving than vector art with Inkscape, and it's high-quality. I moved directly from pixel art to Inkscape, but I quickly abandoned that endeavor and continued using GIMP. For game art purposes, if it's a dynamic game and not made in Flash, use GIMP. If it's a browser game of sorts, use some type of Vector program. That's my two cents on the issue.