Photoshop or Illustrator?
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Hello,
I attempted to search the forums and could not find an answer so I am hoping that someone could assist me with this.
I'm getting ready to make the jump and am curious to know if I should start with photoshop or illustrator? I already own Clip Studio Paint (Manga Studio).
I am looking to just do illustrations.
Thoughts or suggestions would be great. Pros vs Cons are also helpful.
Thank you in advance.
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Hi! That's two completely different software, different way of working, different process and different results. Illustrator is vector based. There are some brush-like tools and you can somehow "paint" in illustrator, but it is really born for paths, vectors and shapes. Often the art has a classic "sleek" look, with clean lines and smooth gradients or flat colors. The images are endlessly scalable (so if you need to print on a building-sized poster you can without loss of resolution. Photoshop is raster based, so the images will end up with a defined resolution and you have to think of print-size before starting. You work with brushes and you can achieve a very painterly look - fundamentally you can imitate traditional tools like oils, pastels and watercolors, or go for the sleek look as well if you prefer (PS also can work with vectors, though the process for that is a lot less optimal than in Illustrator).
So, it really depends what you want to do and what you prefer doing. The two softwares are not comparable - they do different things.
Just for fun, here is a comparison between a portrait done in Illustrator and one done in Photoshop - but you can search Google for hundreds of different examples to get a better idea.
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@smceccarelli Perfect! That is exactly what I wanted to know! Thank you very much. Photoshop seems to be the one for me.
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BTW, I do not have a lot of experience with Clip Studio Paint (I only use it for patterns), but from what I have seen, it can probably do a lot of what Photoshop does. So, if you know that one well, I am not sure there is a big reason to get Photoshop (which is quite expensive). But again, I do not know Clip Studio Paint that well so I cannot really comment on differences and similarities.
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I would also suggest, if you are on a budget, that you get one of the later versions of photoshop that you can still get in a box, so you don't have to pay for the subscription. I did that and its more affordable for me at the moment than having to pay a bunch of money every month for a subscription.I got an unopened box from eBay and its been working fine for over a year. It works with Kyle brushes and anything else I've needed to throw in there right now. but i don't do super advanced stuff either.
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Clip Studio Paint is a great program in its own right which does almost everything Photoshop does (and some things better). Krita is also fairly popular, though I don't have much experience with it. Unless you're already at a professional level, have a compelling reason to be using Photoshop and can easily afford the cost of extra software, I'd say just use what you've got.
