Not at all. Both graphics and coding require skill and practice, and that's what most of us do. I've personally been doing graphics since 6th grade, where I started off with the free Photoshop-like program known as GIMP. I quickly was familiar with the format and style/ user interface of digital designing programs, and when I got PS, I didn't have any trouble. That's why I think at times it's better if you start off with something difficult to use interface-wise, like GIMP, and the PhotoShop layout will then seem like nothing.

Digital art does require at least some knowledge of colors and flow/how to make this and that(hair, texture, etc;). I think the best way to do this is to go back to normal medium art, such as oil painting. Majority of the artwork you see around forums usually doesn't require much skill if you're used to the PS interface in my opinion (just a bunch of brushing, filters, render blending, flow, colors matching, border, and text to be frank). Skinning, however, is also like this, but requires much more patience and skill. Well, to make them look good, that is. The reason why I was referencing to oil painting was because the probably most popular type of digital art is airbrushing, which is what I'm learning right now, and greatly improved on my understanding just from taking oil painting classes for around half a year. But, as I've said before, I do suggest you to start off with understanding the basic, or the interface in this case, and getting familiar with it and making killer sigs/tags ( ). Then, the possibilities are endless to choose, such as photo manipulation, skinning, airbrush, etc; I personally chose airbrushing, of course, but do have a great interest in vector, because many of my favorite artists do vector art.

Now, for programming. This requires much more understanding and time/effort to put into, which is why you probably barely see any coders around PB. Myself, for example, also started coding during 6th grade, and HTML and CSS are quite easy to handle, and also moved onto JS and PHP. However, after stopping around beginning of 7th grade, I stopped learning coding or practicing it, and most of the concepts of JS and PHP went right out of my head.

Your son's works and learnings are different from most of ours probably because we're self taught, which in my opinion is much better than trying to use what you learn in school in the outside world most of the time. I've seen "digital art" and "animation" classes, and none of them have impressed me, and always made me laugh (I always seemed to have greater knowledge of PhotoShop and PSP for some reason than any of the teachers). The same went for coding, where I took a summer course in robotics programming, and ended up acing the class without paying attention to anything, and the teacher repeatedly kept saying that I've done robotics programming before, but the truth it, I hadn't. It was quite simple, and I probably say that because I have a lot of interest in robotics.

To sum it up, if you have passion for graphics or coding, then go for it.

I personally really only do coding. I used to do a bit of graphics, but never became too skilled. It just didn't interest me was part of the problem. Eventually, I decided to try coding and I caught on quite quickly. My guessing behind this is, I've proved by many standards that I am exceptional in math (15th in Nebraska, win many contests, taking a class 1-2 years ahead of my classmates, etc.) This is what I believe part of my basis for programming came from.

It doesn't necessarily depend on your background knowledge though. You can figure out numerous different ways to learn, even if you aren't extremely good in math or other similar things (like sciences and such). As long as you know you're way around a Windows computer, you should be able to figure out the basics of coding. Starting with HTML, it's essentially (not completely though) similar to UBBC code used on forums like this one.

Well, I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. So, I've since moved on to digital art (though I haven't quit traditional art, mind you) and pixel art (which is what I do) is basically like drawing. I don't use Photoshop to make my gradients or do wacky effects. I do it all by hand, pixel-by-pixel. So, even though it takes longer, I often get much more experience and can sometimes do things better than others simply because I know exactly how it looks up close and how it's made.

Being 16, I'd say I have about 14 years of experience with drawing. I mean, sure, everyone drew when they were little, but I never quit and I've always been quite passionate about it. Now, my interests have changed so I'm not so passionate about it anymore, but it's still a large hobby of mine.

If you want to know how to do it, all you have to do is do it yourself. Unlike photoshop which has built-in effects, art with traditional mediums or pixel art can only be learned through practice and dedication. It's not as easy as just copying a picture like you can with photoshop effects. You just have to pay attention to detail and quit drawing the whole picture. Lots of people aren't good (no offense intended) because they try to draw a leg. Instead, you need to cut it up and draw a line. If you pay attention to individual sections rather than the whole picture you'll learn a lot more.


So I sort of went off on a tangent there, so sorry if I didn't answer your question. That's all I really have to say on the matter.

I've been doing graphics and coding for about two years now. And by that, I really mean I started learning basic code two years ago and stopped there. Graphics I do on and off when I'm bored. Out of the two, though, I'm more interested in graphic design, but it's not something I do constantly.

Then what am I doing at a design forum? I don't know, good question.

I guess stuff like that's not hard to learn as you long as you have a commitment to it and an interest to continue that commitment, which doesn't always stay.

I started with GIMP too like mukei but abt 3 years back. It was i think the sophomore year of my bachelors program. Then went onto Photoshop and am getting better all the time. I love graphics - there;s just no limit to what you can make. And its just the tip of the iceberg. In the long run I'd love to get my hands on dreamweaver, maya, 3DS, fireworks, elements -- do lots more designing do animation. The possibilities are infinite. I never really had any computer classes --- i was into biology and biotechnology but I was way way deep into computers since way back at school so I consider myself quite a tech-freak --- html i started off cos of my own interest. doing slower on that as compared to gfx but i would love to learn javascript too. My cousin works with Yahoo. He's been a lot of inspiration. He keeps pestering me to start working with Ajax and stuff real seriously -- but that'll take time. O and lest I forget to add am exceptionally good at Calculus, Trignometry and Algebra (Read: almost Math Wiz) but Biology is a lot more interesting to me.

I digress too much.