How to use Photoshop
I am greatly annoyed by people who for some reason feel the need to buy or pirate Adobe Photoshop, a $600 piece of software, even though they have no clue how to use it — it’s as if they feel that the hallowed Adobe trademark residing on their hard drive will somehow automagically make their images better. If you know such people, I suggest you point them to the following links.
Ars Technica recently ran a series entitled Editing your digital images without the mystery (Part I (color), II (retouching), III (compositing)). It covers how you should use Photoshop or The GIMP to make your digital photos look less ugly. I personally found it extremely useful (I am ashamed to say that before reading the series, I had no idea how to use curves and levels).
Despite its name, Photoshop is suitable for creating art as well as retouching photographs. Michael Derenge, who draws the webcomic Pointless, has posted an in-depth guide for how you can use Photoshop to create color comics. (Note that many webcomic authors post similar guides, Michael Derenge’s is simply the latest that I’ve looked at.) Like most webcomic authors, Derenge draws the outlines in ink on paper, scans them in, and uses Photoshop for color and more editing. However, if you have a large tablet and a steady hand, you can draw the outlines in Photoshop too, and skip the paper step entirely.
Please note that the above discussion applies equally to The GIMP — most people who have it installed don’t have a clue how to use it. However, since The GIMP is free and not $600, installing it and never using it properly is not nearly as offensive as in the case of Photoshop.