release the artist, let go

No, not let loose the wildness. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. Unless a school arts program took that away. Well get it back, then put it away for later. Wildness is a fundamental part of play and discovery. Ask any kid. Come on who turns out to be the better kid. The one whom mom tells "stop that!" or the one whom mom yells "You be careful!". Yeah, yeah, a little of both. But you get my drift, think about what you got and where you are. And I am talking about doing art.

Mom and dad see you scribbling and think 'ooh we got a bidding artist!'. They do back-flips buying you the best tools money can buy. Or you discover it yourself and you hound them for months, 'can I please have some software to do this, I'm getting good?' Hey there might be all kinds of compliance here I don't know, but think about it. You just are working up a lather and you want the top shelf product to make you like the "professionals". UH UH! Art software is like the football jersey of your favorite team. You can rah rah all you want, but until you play yourself, you'll never fill that jersey in reality.

Enough with mind bending, snap out of it!! Open source art apps are the way to go. You can get your feet wet or drink the ocean, your choice and if you find it's not your cup of tea, you delete it off your PC. No cash to buy, no reselling to recoup, no embarrassing odor from whining. I got to get what the pros use because, because, because. "Professional" is a tag line to sell a product. If enough of you buy the product, it becomes true. Suppose you look at the tools in the product. Does the pay to play draw lines, yes. Does the Open Source app draw lines, yes. Can you distinguish which program drew the line after the line is drawn, no! Yeah it's a bit much but I've gone from bending to warping your mind. It's the tools not the pedigree.

On "My Computer" is this stuff, and I remind you I'm running Mint 13 (Maya) Linux. (zero cost!)

 This is the new GIMP 2.8 in single window mode. Does photo editing, drawing and painting. (zero cost!)

 This is the new GIMP 2.8 in multi window mode. (did I say zero.........?)

 This is Inkscape, does vector drawing very well. It is my favorite app. (zero cost)

 This is MyPaint and it handles painting. You can paint if you have the real media skills. I play and I learn. I do like abstract art. (Zero cost)

   This one is Libre Draw of the Libre Office suite. Don't use it much but it is there. (zero cost)
All these softwares come in MS Windows, Mac and Linux versions, there is no excuse, download them, install them, start using them today.

Well, using a mouse works good with Inkscape and Libre Draw. For GIMP and MyPaint, lose the mouse, get a drawing tablet. Go cheap to start, I have an old Wacom, it works just fine. As my skills improve I will consider an upgrade. OK, go buy all the top shelf stuff. But if you wind up a too busy to draw Insurance Salesman with 4 kids, a trophy wife and a lap dog, I warned you. All the above software is zero cost, but if you want to support it, you can donate. Remember to check the tools and set aside the "professional" tag till later. Also get a drawing tablet. Then play like crazy, use online tutorials and/or find a tutor. I like a four door but a two door is OK! Hey would I steer you wrong? Bear with me, one more pun. Be sure to FLOSS every day, Free Linux and Open Source Software is here and is guaranteed by me your Linuxville Guide or you'll return to your regular software kicking and screaming.