Adobe Artist Considering Ubuntu

I suggest you check the appdb. You may be disappointed. Have you considered opensource equivalents...

Photoshop is the epitome of photo manipulation software. it's very intuitive and extemely easy to use. An equivalent to this on in the linux side of computing is Gimp. However, ease of use is similar to Adobe Illustrator. In other words, extremely high learning curve, not intuitive at all, horridly designed. I don't think the developers of either package knew the meaning of user friendly. However, it provides the same functionality as Photoshop.

There are lots of programs that provide the same functionality as Premier. Premier is overpriced, if you ask me. I haven't used any of those myself.

The linux community has developed drives to support wacom tablets, so this is not a issue.

As actionparsnip mentioned, you might want to check out the appdb on www.winehq.com to see which programs work and what people have done to make them work or not. I find that the info there is rather outdated, so new version of wine may be able to accommodate Photoshop and Premier.

 Hey guys, thanks for your answers. Unfortunately I've yet to hear or read from a single actual person using these programs professionally on Ubuntu.

  I tried Gimp but was unable to get a thin-to-thick line with my Wacom Cintiq.

 I tried 2 or 3 different video editors but they were either too simplistic or couldn't read some of my files, like MP4.

 And as you say, all those entries on appdb are very old. I would like to hear from someone today, around June of 2011, using Adobe Creative suite CS5 on Ubuntu, tell me whether or not it works seamlessly.

 I really look forward to the answer, thanks!

Try Gimp, you may like it. Just because a lot of designers use a software doesn't make it good or anything like that. Many designers use opensource graphical suites with great results.

  As I said above, Gimp doesn't have thin-to-thick line functionality, and playing around with it for a few hours it seemed pretty clear that it wasn't going to cut it.
  Besides, this is my profession so I need the industry standards to work. I can't have all my clients and colleagues switch to Ubuntu...

Ubuntu and Linux use the inductry standards. Adobe and such make their own standards which is why some of the files generated in Adobe products will not open correctly in other viewers.

Dual boot with Windows.
But certainly it's worth exploring the Linux options more. Wacom support is generally very good and Wine is always improving.
You could probably help by filing bugs and pressuring Adobe for native Linux programs :)

 @ Leighman- thanks, I've been thinking about the dual-boot with windows lately, but what I can't figure out is- if I have to get into windows anyway, what's the point of booting to back out to Ubuntu? And I'm really asking honestly- since I haven't used Linux yet I don't know.

  The reason I want to switch is because overtime windows gets bogged down by millions of little programs and apps that seem to install themselves without asking me, so that I have time to eat breakfast and run some errands before my computer is ready to run. That and all the stalls & freezes, and the OS takes up half my hard drive. But like I said, if I have to be in Windows to get my work done anyway, why would I boot out to Ubuntu?

It's always there as an alternative and doesn't really have any of those problems. I guess a use-case might be dealing with emails in the morning (quick boot, can access all your Windows files from it), browsing the web when you're not working, playing about with Wine and actually finding out what works/how, trying out some of the other free graphics/video programs.
Took me a year or two to switch properly, now use it all the time with Office etc in Wine (with a couple of gotchas :P).

Gimp does have thin-to-tick (or thick-to-thin or thin-and-black-to-thick-green-and-half-transparent, whatever you want).

You can get this both from the pressure, velocity, direction, tilt and/or wheel from your Wacom, from any key/mouse bindings you choose or based on random or fade.

I recommend reading the manual for Gimp as the interface is different from Photoshop - though in my opinion not more difficult (coming from Paint Shop Pro), in fact, I find it much more logical.

If you really want to stick with Photoshop, check out CrossOver Office - it's a commercial version of Wine that guarantees support for a number of popular programs (and games), and I do believe Photoshop is one of them, though maybe not the latest version of it.

I've been doing freelance graphics work on and off for about 10 years using Gimp, and while you may need some extra programs or plugins for getting colours ready for industry printers, for purely digital work, it can do whatever you want it to (though its warping tools are a bit harder to use than Photoshop's, but how often do you use that?).