Comp program to make gig posters?

[punkbassistfc]

Hey guys,

Just wondering what options i have to make gig fliers etc. I was owndering what programs are good for this. I only want to make basic ones and it will be on Pc, but i will be buying a mac in a couple of weeks so sugeestions for that will be cool as well.

Cheers heaps

 

[Jeff Martinez]

I use Paint Shop Pro.

 

[bluestarbass]

Photoshop and illustrator are pretty standard for this. I used to make them by hand using collage stuff then just photocopying an original. It is much easier on a computer.

 

[punkbassistfc]

How does it work on Photoshop? Do you have to import everything and put it together? Sorry, im a noob

 

[manicbassman]

Photoshop and Illustrator are overkill for this job... especially at the price they officially go for (yes I know a lot of people out there have got a dodgy copy from someone/somewhere, so never really have to pay for it)

You want a simple vector graphics capable program that can handle blocks of text and also flow text along a path or around frames...

just look up simple free programs...

Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/

heck, you can even use the OpenOffice office suite...

 

[bigfatbass]

+1

Any basic paint program will do what you need with a minimal learning curve. As long as it will print and you can save it as a jpg/gif of some kind, most any word processor these days will allow you to import photos, and save your doc as an image file.

 

[punkbassistfc]

I tried to use word but I could not change the colour of the backgorund? Is it possible to do that?

 

[MoD_Scotty]

I use photoshop. Additionally, I usually steal random images from the net as a background. Google image search is awesome for that. Make sure to use the biggest file possible, so when you blow it up, it doesn't get all grainy on you. Here are some examples of flyers I've made:

 

[IanStephenson]

A lot of the advice above is BOGUS.

Photoshop is NOT good for doing posters. Try producing an A2 poster as a 300dpi tiff and you'll find the problem.

Illustrator is excellent, but I would agree it's overkill.

If you get a Mac, I'd recommend looking at Omnigraffle. It's a cheap, easy to use vector graphics program - it's not designed to be the most flexable package, but it's excellent for quickly laying out text, images and logos. Save the results as pdf, and you've got a nice high res image (with a small file size) that you can print as big as you want, and it stays sharp.

Ian