I am new to XNA and was wondering what a good art program would be to work with. The game in mind is a 2D side sroller with cartoony graphics. Anything that has tutorials would be a great help because I'm a programmer not really an artist and I am working alone.

Paint.net is a good free art program http://www.getpaint.net

The GIMP is both powerful and free.

I also use Inkscape which is a free vector drawing program which is pretty awesome.

I might be sounding a little neebish here but what is a vector program and how does it differ from a regular program?

"normal" graphic programs use raster graphics, where pictures are rasters (or grids) of pixels. In vector graphics every visual body is a mathematically expressed form, which can be zoomed in on and does not suffer from pixelation, in short, vectors is what flash or inkscape uses.

The down side to vectors is that XBox doesn't support them natively, you'd either have to make your own engine to render the vector graphics, or you'd have to sample them to raster graphics before implementing them in your game.

I use Paint.net as well, and it is free. There are a lot of free plugins you can use with it: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=16 It's not quite photoshop, but then again you won't have to sell a kidney to afford it. http://www.getpaint.net/download.html

I use a litle bit of both Paint.net and Gimp. And it is starting to show why I am a programmer and not an artist. While I am not a master programer, im still in school so the compiler is a little out of my league. But I think I am going to go with Paint.Net because it seems alot easier to use anyway. I'm going to look for some tutorials online.

Like others have said I find The Gimp to be a good application. A lot of the filters and effects are the same as Photoshop just with different names. You can also download free brushes from around the net (deviantArt is a fairly good source). The only annoying thing is the layouts of the windows (they are all seperate) but you get use to it.

As for tutorials, in terms of using the program I believe some can be found on the Gimp forums.

CS419:

The only annoying thing is the layouts of the windows (they are all seperate) but you get use to it.

It's been a while since I've used the GIMP (I've gotten an actual copy of Photoshop CS3 for myself), but IIRC there's a plugin/extension you can get that makes the GIMP interface layout similar to that of Photoshop.

Gimp is okay for editing images, but for actually creating new stuff I prefer something like ArtRage--a "natural paint" program. (I think it's $20 or $25)

I would recommend Paint.NET just like moltione. It is very easy to get into in my opinion so anyone with no idea of how to use any graphics program should be able to get into the groove quite easily. http://www.getpaint.net :)

Brink1031:

While I am not a master programer, im still in school so the compiler is a little out of my league.

How can you write any programs at all without a compiler?...

I'm seconding Gimp. I also use Photoshop, but some things are just easier to do in Gimp. It's kind of like the Blender of 2D art programs, except without as large of an interface barrier.

If you've decided on using the gimp, might I suggest that in order to learn it you try Grokking the Gimp. You can either buy the printed version or just navigate the free HTML version on their web site: http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html

It's a pretty good place to start with the gimp and for some it may be all you need. Good luck.

Ben Andersen:

If you've decided on using the gimp, might I suggest that in order to learn it you try Grokking the Gimp. You can either buy the printed version or just navigate the free HTML version on their web site: http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html

It's a pretty good place to start with the gimp and for some it may be all you need. Good luck.

Real artists use MS Paint! :D

Nah, seriously the best you can get for free is Paint.Net and the GIMP. They are really good programs as everyone else already said, also as a reminder, the GIMP is natively on linux and that's a good way to use a linux pc if you have one around the house like me ;)

Let's not forget about InkScape. It's about the best replacement you can get for Adobe Illustrator at the price of Free.

I vote for Paint.net.

I also vote for getting someone else to do all your art for you. That's what I did :P

I also say paint.net

but I should definitely get someone else to do my art, as the only cool thing I have made is a small pirate ship

I also recommend paint.net, but I'm no artist. One of my friends is really good at using paint.net, since it has pretty much everything photoshop has, but for free. It works well for people with basic art skills, and those with more experience.

I've got GIMP but when I try to upload it as a resource it wont let me it says it's not a valid resource type.

I can't use MS paint because I don't know how to get rid of the background color and I'm left with a big white billboard hanging behind my sprites.

If you're ever away from your primary machine, try this http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

GIMP

Really nice program! Hit up your favorite search engine.