My honest thoughts on photoshop

[qwerty]

My two cents: when looking for new software several months ago I tried the free trial of CSP and Photoshop. I ended up buying CSP for these reasons:

• CSP is way cheaper in the long run. I hate Adobe's subscription model.
• Photoshop was super laggy on my laptop when I tried to draw / paint with it. CSP works fine for me at reasonable image sizes.
• CSP seemed a little easier to learn / get used to at first (although this wasn't a big deal since I knew I could eventually adapt to either software).
• The difference in features didn't matter that much to me. Both were insanely better than the free software I had been using and had all the basic features I would need.

Edit: Also, Krita is really good, although it's a bit too slow to be usable on my laptop. It has some features like liquefy tool that CSP doesn't have, and it's brush engine (or rather, brush engines - plural) are more complex than even Photoshop's.

[kappapeachie]

I'm seeing a few "screw clip studio paint" post on here.

Ah.

[Shanny8]

CSP was made for comics (which amazes me even more that the type tool is such a pos)

This I can kind of agree on. I havent used CSP's type/lettering tool yet, but from a look at a few video tutorials, I wasnt wowed by it. Plus a few pro letterers griped about some thing such as kerning sucks and doesnt work well with fonts that have auto ligatures...I stick with this version of Illustrator that I have for lettering.

I personally think it's best to use the two together

I do this- I use CSP to pencil & ink, then PS for coloring, toggling back & forth to use FX stuff that CSP has that Photoshop doesnt.

Clip Studio Paint will often have sales where you can grab it pretty cheap. I bought my license for it for like 15 bucks.

Same. I started out, getting the Pro version for $15 bucks; after 3 yrs I upgraded to EX, buying a physical download for $90.

[kappapeachie]

I vowed not to waste money, especially anything with subscriptions or that could break bank. combined with my parents insisting not to buy too many things online, I wanted to make sure of that.

maybe until i move out or get into a college.

[indagold]

I mean if you're only an illustrator, do not work in an industry that requires it and don't even know how to use it seems not worth getting it especially knowing adobe lost their soul (if they even had one to begin with) and made their services subscription based.

I've used photoshop since I was 6 and in an industry that demands so i'm kinda stuck with it. I mean don't fret you can't use it.

I can give some pros and cons to using it:

pros: Photoshop is great for editing and has a whole complex system built for everything where a lot of freeware or other art programs lack because they don't care about editing just drawing. So if you want to add cool effects or fix massive changes, Photoshop is great for you.

cons: Photoshops sucks in the drawing/painting department ( Idk if the newest CC improved this if it did, ignore what I said lol) but painting is always one shade (you can change it in color dynamics but its limited), no options for turning images into brushes that saves all ranges of colors, line quality is shit (I have used CC smooth option and frankly its still shit compared to other art programs) and probably lacks a lot of other painting options more art related programs have compared to photo editing.

That said photoshop has a ton of options for how to edit brushes and infinite options to how you can tweak your brushes but if you don't need it than don't get it.

[gparsons]

I use Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint, and they all have their advantages. But you should be able to do what you want with CSP, and maybe purchase an older copy of Photoshop CS6, it should be fairly cheap and won't require a subscription.
Some projects I do solely in CSP because to me, it has the best inking tools.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I'd just stick with CSP. Photoshop is not fun to draw in, especially line art(at least not for me).
If I need to draw I use CSP, but if I'm doing a digital painting or photo manipulation I'd use Photoshop. Paint Tool Sai is also good for drawing. It has the best stabilizer hands down.
For graphic design idk about using Photoshop, I normally use inDesign or Illustrator.
One thing that's annoying about Photoshop is that you'll need at least 8GB of RAM to run it.

But it's not the programs and tools that make the artist, it's how you use them to get what you want to achieve. I wish I'd realized this sooner. I used to think that I needed expensive Copic markers and high end programs to make good art, when there were people making masterpieces with crayola crayons and printer paper.

[Cavechan]

So for the gripes regarding PS's cost... So PS itself has always been a very expensive program. I believe when I was in college, it cost $500? for the creative suite (CS2). I don't remember exactly and I do remember getting a student discount for it.

The subscription model with Photoshop is actually better in a way. In the past, you would have to pay that full amount to upgrade your Creative Suite to the newest version. Now Creative Cloud does a massive update every year AND smaller updates throughout the year that you automatically get with the subscription. So your program will always be up to date. Another huge perk is the TypeKit. Now as comic artists there really isn't much of a use for it, but at my day job I do use it occasionally and it has definitely saved money from having to buy fonts which can get very expensive.

Of course there is also the bonus that Photoshop works well with Illustrator and inDesign and these three programs combined are pretty unstoppable for print designers.

All that said, at home I use CS6 because I'm cheap and already have way too many things I pay monthly for. But it is definitely worth the price for those who need it. I just don't think most comic artists need it since CSP does everything you can dream of for creating a comic.

Except type. I really, really hope they fix the type tool someday!

I don't know if I could give up PS completely though. I've been using it since high school before the creative suite even existed. .-.

Also, I have heard that you can talk to Adobe support to get a discount on the price. I don't know if that's still true, but worth a shot for those who would like to try it.

[Shanny8]

@Cavechan they have a Photoshop subscription for $10/month- that's the one I'm using.

[Raven_C]

Since we're talking about Adobe stuff...

I don't have an Adobe subscription, but my sister told me that if you want to use two apps but paying for the whole CC bundle is too much (so for example you only want to use Illustrator + Photoshop but it's too expensive to buy the entire bundle)... you can buy the Photography plan (which has Lightroom + Photoshop) and then add a single plan (illustrator or indesign, or one of the other apps). So that means you'll have 3 apps total. It's apparently cheaper to buy it that way.

[Rosso]

It's hard to make balloon tail tips look decent without a few tweaks.

i just draw it using the 1.shape tool 2.draw the tail the way i like it 3.add border with a single click

things can be way more simple that they seem : >
my only gripe with CSP is the brushes and text tools aren't as dynamic as the ones in PS. but i can make-do...

[Shanny8]

@Raven_C I have the Lightroom/Photoshop deal. I thought about picking up Illustrator CC, but A) $50 bucks/month is too much and B) I have 2 pro letterers on my Twitter who gripe about all the wonderful "updates" that Adobe does to Illustrator CC that screws with their settings. I'm like "I'll stick with my old version of Illustrator(CS5) that works decent enough.

[kappapeachie]

with a few bits of tweaking, i managed to make my balloons look decent.

[yozhikisblue]

I'm seeing mention of inking in Photoshop on this thread, and I'm curious to hear more people's thoughts on it.

Personally I use a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator for everything (I do illustration and graphic design). For the longest time I would ink traditionally. I've used fineliners, brushpens and dip pens- and after years of fiddling with settings and brushes on a pressure-sensitive tablet, I still get very frustrated with how it feels to ink drawings in Photoshop. I was starting to get used to the idea that this is a problem with digital art in general, but maybe I've just had limited experience?

I agree with what many others have said about the Adobe subscription model- their updates mostly just mess with my settings, and I would rather pay upfront to own the software outright. Even if it costs more to update down the line. Why continually fix something that isn't broken? Of course I understand that if Adobe catered to people who thought this way, they would make a great deal less money...

But also in response to the OP: This may be a grass is greener thing as well? I often see comics made in CSP or Manga Studio and feel as though I'm missing out. They just seem better at imitating traditional media to me, and I tend to aim for a more "traditional look" with digital art in general. Photoshop can pull through with the right brushes, but sometimes it feels as though it's actively working against me in this regard.

[Shanny8]

I picked up a Manga brush set from Kyle Webster for Photoshop- I didnt pick up PS CC until like Sept/Oct last year. The Webster brushes worked pretty good- the ends of my brush strokes had a point on them, and I could use them to draw with ease. The only bad part is that Webster doesnt sell his brushes publicly anymore- you can only get them if you get Photoshop CC.

But as for CSP- I mainly mostly use Frenden's brushes(his ink brushes/nibs)- they are awesome!

[ashersz]

I have photoshop. I prefer Clip Studio for my art and comic work. Photoshop more so for graphic design work

[Luminosophy]

I have CSP but only because I needed it for text and line tools which my current program, SAI, doesn't have. I've used Krita and GIMP in the past as well as tested CSP for drawing but in my personal opinion, SAI beats them all hands down in terms of quality. Maybe it just suits my particular style but I am very line heavy and every other program looks jagged to me. One day I'd love to try PS though to test it out.

[ble]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[ramiek]

Is anyone tried this program?

Affinity Photo for desktop - Professional image editing software

I use the ipad version for finishes, when I thought I'd have to use photoshop,
and I really like it. I'm not sure if it has everything PS has but I believe it gives it
a good fight.

[surenlicious]

I learned everything about digital art by painting in Photoshop for 15 years. (I started in 2006 with digital art) I've hopped into Paintool SAI (gosh I miss her), did FireAlpaca, GIMP and Medibang Paint and since September 2020 I'm a Clip Studio Paint junkie.

I can't hate on Photoshop. I'm so happy I learned how to do digital art through it no matter how much hate it may get.