open source - What are the tool kits used for making designs like those on dribble

I saw some jaw-dropping designs at Dribble and Behance.

Can someone give the idea about tool kits required to make such beautiful things ?

Are there actually competitive free alternatives available ? I have been using GIMP, but not able to figure out if it actually possible to make such good designs with it.

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Edit:

I am really interested in the minimalistic ones. eg :

source

source

source

other examples

Answer

There's a huge variety of work on Dribbble and Behance so the only way to answer this is with a short directory of other more focussed questions....

• Most of the designs on Dribbble are UI designs, for that, see What software is best for GUI design?
  
  
  
  
  • TLDR: usually personal preference between Photoshop and Fireworks; InDesign can be good for info architecture
  
  
  
  


• If cost is an issue, see also Lower-cost alternative to Photoshop and Is photoshop elements good enough for typical website mockups?.
  
  
  
  • TLDR: Photoshop Elements is a worthy lower cost alternative; also consider GIMP, Pixelmator and if your needs are very simple, web-based stuff.
  
  
  
  


• Behance often features digital painting; for that, see Which tools for digital art & paintings.
  
  
  
  
  • TLDR: Photoshop/Elements is good for this too, but if you prefer something more like traditional painting, consider Autodesk Sketchbook or ArtRage.
  
  
  
  


• For a general overview of standard design software, see What are the different applications in Adobe Creative Suite for?
  
  
  
  • If you don't know the difference between Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator (and the other stuff in Adobe CS), start here.