Custom graphics editing program recommendations

Hello everyone! I'm quite the newbie here and I was looking all over for a tileset that could be used as a menu of sorts. I haven't found anything like that but what I need is so simple I'm sure I can manage making it myself. I was just wondering what sort of program you all use for creating/editing graphics for your games. I have photoshop and I'm not really an expert at it, but it seems like that isn't the best way to go about drawing tiny pixelated images. Paintshop seems like the worst idea ever but it's the only other option I can think of. I remember back when I used to use RPG Maker 2000 there was some program called !draw or something like that and it was pretty good. Suggestions anyone?

I think people who have it use Photoshop. GIMP is a good, free alternative that I've used for pixel work. Paint.net is also good - not as flexible as the other two, but more simple to use and does most of what I need.

I use GIMP. Graphics Gale is nice, but it seems too cluttered for me to work right. With GIMP, I can freely adjust the size easily, make layers for all the different parts of the sprite and or tileset, and save it in a file I can always edit. It also is very easy to swap colors, erase certain colors and more. It is completely free as well.

If GIMP isn't your thing, try Graphics Gale. Even the free version will work perfectly fine. Others you can try is RealWorldPaint. This thing is pretty great, especially if you just want to resize things and keep a great quality.

Naturally you should go with photoshop,but if you cannot afford photoshop, then I would suggest you go with GIMP. If you're new to image software I reckon paint.NET is the simplest tool around and it will help you get used to photoshop if you plan on getting it later on. But yea photoshop or GIMP.

Graphics Gale is really really good for pixel work.

It's got a manageable palette interface and can preview your animation frames as well. The workspace window is customizable, so you can remove windows that you don't need.

Did I also mention that Graphics Gale is awesome?

If it's just about creating menus/hubs, then Paint.NET will offer everything you need.

+1 for Graphis Gale concerning Pixel arts. There was Pro Motion which is also a professional software for pixel artist.

As for 2d arts, no one comes close to Photoshop.

For Manga, there is Manga Studio.

If you want 3d renders for a game, there is Poser.

Thanks everyone for your help! I'll give photoshop a try but i'm totally surprised that you can still do pixel art with it. I'll see what i can do. If that doesn't work I'll try many of the other options you guys provided. Thanks! :D

Photoshop and GIMP will give you the most tools, community support and best quality. For simple stuff though (like editing icons, color levels, adding simple effects like blurs/glows) I'd recomment Paint.NET. It's free, extremely easy to use, has plugin support to extend its functionality a bit and still gets the job done for the simpler stuff. If you want to do something that might need more levels of detail, like parallax mapping, then I'd consider using a more complicated program.

I use Graphics Gale for animation and Pixel Art. Photoshop and PaintTool SAI for any others.

I use grapics gale for pixel art.

I use MyPaint and GIMP for pretty much everything. MyPaint is open-source, too, which just makes it even more awesome.

I've seen some great stuff made with PaintTool SAI, though.

Like everyone said, Photoshop is the obvious choice.

Bryce is one I haven't tried - it's now a free download from Daz3D (along with Studio and Hexagon) - that is designed for creating 3D looking backgrounds. That could really make a game stand out if you can convert the final image to a form RM can recognize and work with.

ReaConverter is a nice little program I've found that does a great job for when you just want to adjust the pixel size of a picture or change it from one format to another. It also has some basic editing tools - crop, color, etc... but it won't edit the actual image itself.