hi
i am curious, can a person work successfully as a graphic design artist with only knowledge in Photoshop cs4?

No. Most graphic design work such as logo design is done using Adobe Illustrator. Photoshop knowledge is important too but I don't think you can become a successful graphic designer if you aren't familiar with AI and vector graphics.

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thnx for the reply Nora. But are you saying that it is possible if one is good in illustrator and photoshop?

Design is just making things line up.

I think it depends on what you're doing. I read a post somewhere (thought it was on Veerle's blog, but I can't find it) that said most designers have a good understanding of one of the Creative Suite apps, but quite limited knowledge of the others.

A lot of web designers probably get by with little more than Photoshop and probably do fine. If you're doing logo design, Illustrator is pretty much a must, as Nora says. Illustrator is also useful for a lot of print work, or even InDesign if you're making something more like a magazine. And then there's the whole world of video...

Obviously knowing more programs is useful. I recently spent several hours longer on a project because I needed to remind myself how to do things in Illustrator, and I know I'll have to devote quite a bit longer to learning more about InDesign soon.

But learning how to use these programs is relatively easy. The difficult part is learning how to design nice things. So if you can already do that, I'd say you're well on the way...

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Your best tool is your imagination and your creative talent, on paper you would use a pen/pencil/brush to put onto the paper. On a pc it is a different ball game, you would start off with your initial design on paper and transfer to your pc then ideally use a vector program like illustrator although my personal preference is Xara Xtreme.
Photoshop is more suited for pixel graphics which are limited when designing graphics that are needed for print as well as the web due to scaling factors

According to me most of desinger now are learning the better techniques than these. You can design by using these but you should learn more techniques as well.

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I agree that it is the creativity that is the most important skill to have. I think that if you become certified by Adobe for Photoshop it can go a long way on your resume. And if you can master Photoshop, the other applications in CS4 should be easy to you. But if you aren't creative, or what I like to call "artsy" it might be harder for you to succeed in that field.

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It depends on the work, but generally a graphic designer should know how to use Illustrator and Photoshop at the very least.

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