Considering your questions, I think you would do better with traditional media right now (pen/pencil and paper)
You would need a tablet to paint on a PC, and that would take some practice.
I'm not really familiar with the limitations of the iPad - I know Robh Ruppel uses it to great effect for his concept art, but to go from there to creating assets for games?

Illustrator is a vector based program, while Photoshop and Painter and Raster.
In a raster program each pixel stores color information which is why it is better suited for photo editing.
Vector programs use math to describe shape and color. (i.e. a square is made of four points, each connected at 90 degrees) this makes for a certain "clean" look which may not always be appropriate, but offers smaller files in general, and infinite scalability. (A 4 inch square uses the same 4 points and angles as a 40 foot square.)

Most of your questions have more than one answer- there's no "best," it all depends on what you are specifically trying to do.

1- which is better: Draw on paper - Draw on ipad (using SketchBook Pro) - Draw on PC[/quote]

??Practice is the most important thing, and paper is generally the best for that. Buy a cheapo sketchbook and carry it around with you so you can draw whenever you have an idea. Most of your art should start out on paper, especially if you are relatively new. Always draw a couple different versions of something before making a choice. They don't have to be super detailed, just enough to give you and idea of what direction to go in.

iPad probably is not a good choice since I don't think the touch resolution is high enough to do very detailed work.

To get your art into a game, you will have to work on it on a PC desktop or laptop (or Mac) at some point. Either you draw a couple versions on paper, and then scan one of them in to get a digital copy (to then color), or you can redraw the sprite completely.

2- if on PC which program should i use ?
3- Which program is better for drawing ?
4- Which program is better for painting ?
5- what are the differences between PS and illustrator ?[/quote]


These questions are all related, so I stuck them together. The most basic question is whether you want to try raster or vector. Raster art uses pixels, tiny squares, put together to form an image, and probably the more common way to make game art, but not always the best way. Photoshop is a raster editor, with GIMP being a free equivalent.

A subset of raster art is pixel art, which has a sort of fuzzy definition but basically means very small raster art that looks more "old school" like NES/Super NES games. Pixel art involves editting at a very small level and it's better to use more specialized software like GraphicsGale.

Vector images basically saves objects as a series of shapes, so a circle is a circle rather than a collection of squares like in raster. Flash games or something like Angry Birds uses vector graphics. The advantages of raster art include the fact that it's easier to animate and can be easier to work with, especially when making cartoony things. Illustrator is a vector editor, with Inkscape being a free equivalent.

TL;DR: Buy a sketchbook, and download Inkscape, GIMP, and GraphicsGale. They're free. Buy a book on drawing like this: http://www.amazon.co...rawing beginner, look up tutorials on Inkscape and GIMP (and GraphicsGale), and practice practice practice.

EDIT: Formatting

The above posts have covered the topic pretty well, I'll just add a question - what do you three want your game to look like? If you can post an example image that you want to make something similar to, we can talk about how to make that type of art.

Hello,

I am a 2D and 3D artist working in the game industry.

I would recommend getting used to drawing on paper and also on a screen. When I am tackling very challenging lines, I draw on paper and transfer it to the 2D image by scanning into an image file and opening it in GIMP. Most of the time, I use my mouse to draw on the screen in GIMP. Eventually I want to get a drawing tablet to connect to my computer, but I have been getting by so far and making content for major production games and a simulation with my current methods.

Wacom drawing tablet is my goal by the end of the year so I can take it to the ultimate level and do very advanced 2D work. You might want to look at Zbrush, too, and see how you can interface a drawing tablet with the software. There are a bunch of other makes out there which might be in your price range and more comfortable for you.

Which software is best is purely a matter of preference.

Clinton

the game determines the artwork required.
the artwork required determines the tools required.
the selection of tools is limited to those whose output you can use directly in the game or convert for use in the game. (IE file formats)

concept art:
your team is small, your project is likely of appropriate size for your team. paper and pencil will suffice to communicate art concepts between team members if and when required. they may also be useful when doing the actual drawing in a paint program. scan (or tablet) and edit (as mentioned in another reply) could be a time saver. as a lone wolf developer, about the only concept art i do is sometimes i do a quick sketch based on photos when i create a model. remember, you're trying to make a game, not a sketch portfolio.

artwork sources:
artwork will come from two possible sources: hand drawn, and edited photos. photoshop is considered one of the best for photos. paint.net + free clone stamp tool is a good zero dollar alternative. for hand drawing, you'll want to solicit the recommendations of sketch artists here. apparently its all about the brushes and tools available, and personal preference. hand drawn can also be done on paper and scanned.

for a 2d game:
you'll be making sprites, tiles, textures, bitmaps, and / or backgrounds in some paint program.

for a 3d game: you'll be making meshes in a modeler, and textures, sprites. etc in a paint program.

except possibly for handdrawn work, photoshop and something like 3dsmax is all one needs - well, and maybe a nice 3d paint program. special things may require special tools, but these two (a decent paint program and a decent modeler) will be your primary tools in game graphics development. a popular suite of tools is photoshop, 3dsmax, and unity game engine. paint.net, free clone stamp tool, and blender are less expensive options.

but really you have to shop first and foremost on file format. if you cant get it into the game (convert and load it), its no good. usually this isn't much of an issue for 2d. sometimes it is for 3d.

in your case, it sounds like your project is 2d. get the best paint program you can afford, possibly augment that with a second tool for hand drawing, and you should be set. figure out what you want your objects to look like (in your head, on paper etc), get with your coder and see what he needs (8 view sprites, top down, isometric tiles, menu backgrounds, etc) get as much info as possible (size limits, color limits, etc), then get to work! <g>.

Norm Barrows
Rockland Software Productions

the artwork required determines the tools required.

This is true except in the many cases where the artist desires to achieve one of many possible styles helped by using unconventional tools for a particular appearance in a work. Example is using cartoon tool which can be used for characters while the scene is in photo real textures around them.

In other words, artist preference can over ride any preconceived ideas about how the artwork should determine the tool used.



Clinton

"the artwork determines the tools required"

perhaps "the desired look or effect of the artwork determines the methods possible and therefore the tools" might be a better way to put it. as you say, there are a wide variety of looks to artwork achieved by a number of means and tools, from pencil to silicon graphics workstation.

my generalization of modeler and paint program is for the basic 2d / 3d stuff a beginning team might take on.