Dude, don't listen to him.

Wow.

Mr_P3rf3ct, you're hardly the authority on industry art practices, so please don't try and sound like it. It's pretty rude to knock someone's information aside like that, especially given their comparable experience to your own.

I'll grant you that, much like 3d modeling packages, you can learn and practice the underlying principles (of art, of box/organic modeling, and so on) in freeware or in multi-thousand-dollar software with little difference. That part of the message is fine. So for someone still getting their feet wet in producing artwork, use whatever is available. Just know that if you do pursue the career into more professional settings, it'll benefit you greatly to learn Photoshop's workflow and interface, some of the tools available in the PS suite are incredibly handy, and as multiple people have pointed out, it interfaces better with many standard tools much better than any other option.

This is coming from someone that works primarily in Blender and Sketchbook Pro: I would give an arm for some of Photoshop's tweaking tools alone, they blow Sketchbook's manipulate tools out of the water; and ZBrush is on my wish list for its UV and texturing pipeline, even though Blender has its own sculpting suite. The bottom line is about efficiency and speed. Often the difference between pro(industry) artists and hobbyists/amateurs isn't the quality of work (there are a LOT of great artists out there) but how fast they're producing art at that quality.

Its scary that the industry lays off artists a lot. I would like to be a games artist and move up to a designer position but I would like some job security as well, especially since I got to pay off my college tuitions.

I would major in something practical if i had the heart to do it but i dont, in fact, I have posted something reguarding if I should continue my art major:

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/637165-college-major-dilemma-should-i-continue-to-major-in-art-or-something-else-that-have-better-job-prospects/

Any ideas how to combat this "art majors don't make much money" or "art majors get no job security" thing? I am thinking of suplementing my major with marketing or something else practical (marketing is a practical major right?) but I want to hear your opinions on this or provide other suggestions.

In reguards to the other questions, this clears up things a bit with the graphic design programs

Dude, don't listen to him.

Wow.

Mr_P3rf3ct, you're hardly the authority on industry art practices, so please don't try and sound like it. It's pretty rude to knock someone's information aside like that, especially given their comparable experience to your own.

For someone to say that you have to use Photoshop to be an artist, yeah I'm knocking that aside. That complete bs. If that was the case, there wouldn't be CS Paintor, GIMP, Paint Tool SAI and all the other programs. It comes down to preference. If they want a specify file type, as long as your program allows you to export in required format you're fine.

I never said I was some artist guru. But from the artists I've have conversations with, all in the industry, you're not REQUIRED to use Photoshop. It's just the one that has pretty much everything you could want. That's why a lot of artists use it. Unless you're an artists with years of experience, please don't try and undermined me like that again. I'm asking nicely.

& B. Cullis, you were being so helpful in the other thread. Why like this now?! Lol

Why like this now?!

Because the other thread has nothing to do with this one.

Also, because this is the question that was asked:

I stumbled upon this blog on being a games artist and in the "What software I should learn" section, it says " For starters, you should learn Photoshop. It's pretty much the industry standard for 2D artwork. " Why is it this case?

And Ashaman's response was several reasons why Photoshop is the industry standard, and to be a professional games artist you'll want to be familiar with the tool, since most professional game studios use it for many reasons listed in this thread. And then you jumped in and said OP shouldn't listen to all that, due to some personally conceived idea of how the industry works. Which I decided to call you out on because, let's face it: you don't have the experience or insight to make that claim.

This has nothing to do with "having to use photoshop to be an artist", and is what I went on to say right after: you can practice and improve your art skills with a pencil and paper, much less any software suite. Hell, sculptors are artists and they don't use photoshop. But studios pay the exorbitant licensing fees for the PS suite for reasons, and they'll want their artists to use it, for reasons.

Unless you're an artists with years of experience, please don't try and undermined me like that again.

This is what we call irony.

BCullis, my bad for coming off as disrespectful. It's just I talk to artists and they say that you don't absolutely have to know photoshop. But like you stated, it's good to get familiar with it and studios do buy the license for a reason.

For someone to say that you have to use Photoshop to be an artist, yeah I'm knocking that aside.

No one said that.