Adobe Creative Cloud Annual Plan

Nyrryl Cadiz

@carolinebautista i guess if you have $600 upfront then, go for it. it is easier. i don't have that much money so i'll stick with the 'annual plan paid monthly.'

@Nyrryl-Cadiz It's not easier - I put aside that amount monthly, but ahead of time. Because I've negotiated down in the past, it's always been the equivalent of $30 a month or less for all apps instead of 20 a month, which is still doable for me when I make no money from illustration at all. So my question was basically whether Adobe had noticeably changed their prices to help me negotiate to keep the price down to that.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@carolinebautista i guess we'll just wait and see when Black Friday comes around if they'll bring back the sale. Let us know. i'd love to get in on that sale too.

@Nyrryl-Cadiz They always make a big deal about the Black Friday sale, so I'm sure that will be a good deal to get new subscribers. But in order for me to keep this price I may need to cancel and renegotiate. Or threaten to cancel. Or something. I will definitely let you know.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@carolinebautista you can do that?

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I guess that's where my naive-sounding question came from. I didn't know the full price of all the apps until now so was checking with everyone here. I have had a student discount in the past, then negotiated to the equivalent even while not a student because I told them what I had budgeted and they matched it! Sometimes they would just lower the price because I asked over chat. I have the record of the amounts I have paid but not their regular subscription price.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@carolinebautista wow! i might just try that. i'll try getting hold of them and see if i can get a bargain.

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Monthly or annually maybe it's the same, but I have always contacted them a couple days before renewal.

sigross

@Nyrryl-Cadiz aka 30 quid

Nyrryl Cadiz

@sigross no, what I actually meant is that 30 pounds is not equal to 30 usd.
1 gbp = 1.3 usd
360 gbp = 480 usd

sigross

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Yes I understand. I thought I'd converted it first. But alas my calc presses failed me. We have to suffer the mad VAT tax in the UK that adds 20%. Such a ripoff.

jdubz

@carolinebautista Have you tried the Affinity apps? I've successfully completely replaced Illustrator and InDesign on a professional level with those two. So that gives me the ability to use the Photography plan, which as others have said seems to be the best value.

I'm pretty sure that once the intro price has expired, you might be SOL. They MIGHT give you a break for another year on the annual plan if you can talk to a live person and threaten to cancel. But at some point they're just going to say "sorry, the price is the price" which is what makes those kind of sub programs so lucrative to them.

I'm really considering looking at Clip Studio Paint. I'm seeing a lot of successful artists using it professionally and it makes me wonder if it could replace Photoshop. If it can, that would mean I could just use Affinity Photo for any kind of photo editing. That'd make every bit of software affordable and paid for life for under $150 for every single app I'd use. One can only dream

carriecopadraws

@jdubz I use that exact setup - Clip Studio Paint for art and the Affinity suite for layouts/web graphics. I haven't paid for a subscription in 2 years and it feels awesome. CSP is worth checking out, and there's lots of resources on setting up your tools and learning what they do. I'm happy to help if you have questions!

NessIllustration

@carriecopadraws Are the Affinirty apps available on PC, or is it just mobile?

carriecopadraws

@NessIllustration Affinity is desktop software for Mac and Windows in addition to the iPad app! It's normally $50 for each of the 3 programs (one-time fee), though they go on sale periodically. There's also a free trial.

jdubz

@NessIllustration PC, Mac and Mobile - WHOLE GAMUT BABY! Look for a bundle sale if you want to get into it. They are indeed usually $50 and sometimes they individually go on sale, and then I got Photo/Designer in a combo for $60 and then Publisher later.

Just one word of advice. It looks like you can digitally paint in it. Technically, you can, but it has a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go. So if you see them selling all these brush packs that look amazing, just pass those by. I think one day they might be a real competitor, but right now it's buggy as hell for tablets (I haven't tried the one for iPad yet, just desktop).

@jdubz

hmmmmm.

If they would say 'sorry, the price is the price' they would definitely lose me as a customer for at least a few years.

You and @carriecopadraws really are giving me an out. Maybe they will even have a bundle sale on Black Friday, and then I can switch. For now, I am going to do the free trial of Clip Studio Paint. Thank you!

jdubz

@carriecopadraws Question for you on CSP - did you previous use Photoshop and switched over? And if so, did you find it to be a frustrating switch? Or did you find the workflow to be pretty similar?

I'm in a bit of an odd situation in that I use Photoshop every day but for design work not for painting. The first serious digital painting I did was on Procreate so I'm honestly not as comfortable on PS comparatively. If I were to change to painting on CSP now might be the ideal time to do it rather than getting really ingrained in Photoshop as I'm doing more and more work in PS.

jdubz

@carolinebautista Cool hopefully it helps I think all the Affinity stuff has free 30 day trials also, so once your other trial expires give it a solid try to see if you can work in them effectively.

carriecopadraws

@jdubz It did take about a month to feel comfortable using Affinity. I used Photoshop for design for 20 years, so switching software was a pain point! But it didn't take that long to adjust to Affinity, and it wasn't frustrating, just relearning where things were. There's videos and forums to look up anything specific. I don't miss Photoshop at all, and I like the extra $600 in my pocket every year.