Best Digital art program?

Well, I still haven't really treated myself for my birthday yet, and I was thinking of getting a new art program.

As it stands, I have Photoshop elements 3.0. However, I want something a little more powerful.

So, I was wondering... What would you guys suggest?
I currently have my eye on Photoshop 7.0.

Scrap that... get Open Canvas... more bang for your buck, and geared specifically for Comic Artists!

Try the Trial... and waaaaaaaay more affordable!

I would get Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. Almost every digital professional uses atleast one of them. Its well worth the money. FYI they give student and teacher discounts...

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Scrap that... get Open Canvas... more bang for your buck, and geared specifically for Comic Artists!

Try the Trial... and waaaaaaaay more affordable!

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Hey, that Open Canvas seems like a pretty nice program! (I downloaded the trial) Thanks for mentioning it!

Adobe Photoshop and Painter are the "big two" standards... but this Open Canvas looks to be pretty fully functional...

No doubt Painter and Photoshop ARE the industry standard, but if you're short on funds, Open Canvas is a nice alternative, as is Gimp... though I like OC better.

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No doubt Painter and Photoshop ARE the industry standard, but if you're short on funds, Open Canvas is a nice alternative, as is Gimp... though I like OC better.

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I would agree with this. I use both Illustrator and Photoshop. But I also need them for my work. If it wasn't for that I would be using OC my self.