Sometimes I find an image I want to do something with. Today it was a zebra. And I wanted to reduce it to a more simple image, so I first started in a pixel editor, I used PhotoPaint. Then I traced it in a vector program, finishing my work in a vector program insures good print qualtiy. Xara is excellent at that.

But it totally depends upon what you are going to do with it as far as your end product goes. If you are retouching people's portraits, and you aren't doing vector graphics, the tool to use is a pixel editor.

But if you need to do both, you can afford a pixel editor and Xara. Adobe Photoshop has a lot of competitors. And you can do download after download and try them all and see what you like. It is your outcome that is important. If your concept is good, your command of the tools as well, you can get a great product using a variety of different software.

People know the Photoshop name. But it costs you a lot. Other programs can output .psd and it doesn't cost nearly so much.

If you are intending on outputting large banners something like 3 to 4 feet high and 12 feet long, you need the power of Photoshop, it has good memory management.

However, if you want sharp text as well and want more than the black text being sharp, you can fix your picture in what you want and then import the picture into Illustrator, CorelDRAW or Xara and finish the job.

If the purpose of work is to earn some money, then you have to figure that you output a large chunk of it on software that is really expensive, you may not have the money for other necessities.

Just owning a computer, people get programs and think that wow, now they are a graphic artist. It looks like fun. But there is a lot of effort and work and dedication that goes behind all of it. It takes time to learn. Whether you sit in a classroom, or hit the books or do all the tutorials on the web, they all have value. If your purpose is to design by using clipart, Xara has a lot of clipart.

But in my book, having to always resort to clipart, doesn't make you a designer, it means that you found a way to make money.

For those who are serious and this is their work, they all have a lot invested in a variety of softwares. Nothing does everything, it is a continual learning process. And a continual upgrading process, your computer, your software, always having to learn. It is not a 9 to 5 job.

But if you decide to stick around this forum, there is a lot you can do with what you can learn.