I found this list of alternatives to photoshop on CGTalk, haven't tried them, but worth looking into if you absolutely don't want to use CC:

•Open Canvas
(Windows)
http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/

$50.00
** • TVPaint**
(Windows, Linux and Mac)
http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/
**495€ - 1180€

• ArtRage
(Windows and Mac)
http://www.artrage.com/
$50.00 DEMO

• ArtWeaver
(Windows)
http://www.artweaver.de/
29 €

• Autodesk SketchBook Pro 6
(Windows, Mac)
Link
USD $59**

• Gimp
photoPlus
http://www.gimp.org/

**
•Photoline
http://www.pl32.com/**

**
• Paintshop Pro (I still use PSP 7...Great little program)
http://www.corel.com/corel/product/...languageCode=en**

• Corel Draw
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/in...languageCode=en

**
• Krita
http://www.calligra.org/news/calligra-2-6-2-released/**

**
• DogWaffle
http://www.thebest3d.com/pda/index8.html**

**
• Acorn 4 -
http://www.flyingmeat.com/acorn/**

**
• Pixelmator 2.1-
http://www.pixelmator.com/**

**
•Seashore-
http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The...ject/About.html**

**
•Manga Studio 5
http://manga.smithmicro.com/index.html**

 

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Lucie
finfond.net
finfond.net (store)