Graphic designing in spare time?

[npolly0212]

i really enjoy drawing and designing my own graphics when I have free time with photoshop.
I was just wondering if most other designers strictly use photoshop, or do you guys use other apps along side of Photoshop when designing your own images/backgrounds and whatnot for any projects. If so what other apps do you use/should I look into using to get better and more into designing?

 

[superscape]

Depends what sort of graphics you're creating - for print or web. Certainly worth getting good at Adobe Illustrator too and poooooossibly InDesign.

 

[npolly0212]

Depends what sort of graphics you're creating - for print or web. Certainly worth getting good at Adobe Illustrator too and poooooossibly InDesign.

I do stuff for my dads websites that he creates, I make all of his graphics. But also just mess around creating wallpapers in my spare time.
But I will definitely look into both of those!

 

[superscape]

Photoshop may be good enough for just web stuff, but I'd still get a grounding in Illustrator if I was you.

Things like logos, diagrams etc are best done in Illustrator so you have them in a vector format, which is much more repurposable. For example, if one day you want to use one of the graphics in a sign or on a t-shirt then a small low res graphic that worked fine on your website isn't going to be any use. If you have a vector format (e.g. Illustrator) then you can scale it however you see fit because it's resolution independent. Of course, you can export from Illustrator into web formats if you need to.

Photoshop's great for photographic type images. There will be stuff that you can't do in Illustrator but you can do in Photoshop and vice versa. A designer needs to know both, and part of the skill is looking at a task and choosing the right software.

InDesign is more for designing leaflets, publications etc. If you're just doing web stuff then you probably don't need it.

 

[npolly0212]

Photoshop may be good enough for just web stuff, but I'd still get a grounding in Illustrator if I was you.

Things like logos, diagrams etc are best done in Illustrator so you have them in a vector format, which is much more repurposable. For example, if one day you want to use one of the graphics in a sign or on a t-shirt then a small low res graphic that worked fine on your website isn't going to be any use. If you have a vector format (e.g. Illustrator) then you can scale it however you see fit because it's resolution independent. Of course, you can export from Illustrator into web formats if you need to.

Photoshop's great for photographic type images. There will be stuff that you can't do in Illustrator but you can do in Photoshop and vice versa. A designer needs to know both, and part of the skill is looking at a task and choosing the right software.

InDesign is more for designing leaflets, publications etc. If you're just doing web stuff then you probably don't need it.

I greatly appreciate responses. I am definitely going to get illustrator than and will have to look into indesign. Looking at doing this more often since I haven't had much time this semester of school

 

[bent christian]

Yup. Photoshop can work in a whole lot of different scenarios, but it is not always the best tool...just as wrench can be used as a hammer, but that it is not the purpose it was deigned for. It is always best to use the right tool for the job, wherever possible.

Photoshop does work pretty well for print. You can even get vector art out of PS under certain circumstances. I always discourage it's use in print and for most design uses, though. Most of what you will be doing on PS is much easier in Illustrator. Your file sizes will also be much smaller in Illustrator. You can outline fonts. PATHFINDER.

To work in a professional manner, it is important to have a sort of master file. For logos and the like, it will be an Illustrator file. All other formats can be exported out of Illustrator and more exact re-sizing can be done in PS if necessary. Not only does this save time it ensures consistency across all media.

 

[npolly0212]

Yup. Photoshop can work in a whole lot of different scenarios, but it is not always the best tool...just as wrench can be used as a hammer, but that it is not the purpose it was deigned for. It is always best to use the right tool for the job, wherever possible.

Photoshop does work pretty well for print. You can even get vector art out of PS under certain circumstances. I always discourage it's use in print and for most design uses, though. Most of what you will be doing on PS is much easier in Illustrator. Your file sizes will also be much smaller in Illustrator. You can outline fonts. PATHFINDER.

To work in a professional manner, it is important to have a sort of master file. For logos and the like, it will be an Illustrator file. All other formats can be exported out of Illustrator and more exact re-sizing can be done in PS if necessary. Not only does this save time it ensures consistency across all media.

Awesome thanks, I have never been introduced to illustrator nor seen it used before so gonna have to start from square 1 and teach myself everything with it than

 

[bent christian]

Awesome thanks, I have never been introduced to illustrator nor seen it used before so gonna have to start from square 1 and teach myself everything with it than

I find it far more intuitive than Photoshop. My wife is the opposite. It all depends where you start from (Print vs. Web). The biggest mental hurdle I have heard about from people is getting used to the idea that you can click on an object directly to select it, not relying on layers and antiqued forms of selection, like in PS. The Internet is a great resource for tutorials. I work professionally in Illustrator, and still have to look things up periodically!

 

[chrfr]

Awesome thanks, I have never been introduced to illustrator nor seen it used before so gonna have to start from square 1 and teach myself everything with it than

Just remember that good design is a lot more than just knowing how to work an application.

 

[filmbufs]

I use ps a lot, probably because I'm so familiar with it. I use it for photography, web and some print work. But I try to be mindful of the purpose and try to think ahead in terms of usability. I've worked with InDesign and I need to become more familiar with illustrator, a program that is so non-intuitive for me, compared to ps. But, like others have said, it's probably because I started with ps first. I'll be making it a priority to learn illustrator really soon.

 

[npolly0212]

I find it far more intuitive than Photoshop. My wife is the opposite. It all depends where you start from (Print vs. Web). The biggest mental hurdle I have heard about from people is getting used to the idea that you can click on an object directly to select it, not relying on layers and antiqued forms of selection, like in PS. The Internet is a great resource for tutorials. I work professionally in Illustrator, and still have to look things up periodically!

Now I didn't know this, will make sure to get it and start working on it!

Just remember that good design is a lot more than just knowing how to work an application.

Yes. For sure haha

I use ps a lot, probably because I'm so familiar with it. I use it for photography, web and some print work. But I try to be mindful of the purpose and try to think ahead in terms of usability. I've worked with InDesign and I need to become more familiar with illustrator, a program that is so non-intuitive for me, compared to ps. But, like others have said, it's probably because I started with ps first. I'll be making it a priority to learn illustrator really soon.

Yup. I started with photoshop when I was about 12 and have used it ever since. I feel that it'll be hard to pick up illustrator and indesign

 

[klover]

I started some after-hours design work last year and worked exclusively with Photoshop but quickly discovered that most work required Illustrator, simply because you could quickly convert assets to different media types. Ended up doing a local political candidate's materials via Illustrator and could convert a sign to brochure to door-knocker in a few hours. Photoshop would have been full "rebuilds".

 

[Possumgal]

Basically, Photoshop is for photos, and manipulating raster, or pixel-based art. As mentioned before, Illustrator is vector-based art and can be resized without losing anything. InDesign puts it all together for print.

A running joke with most printers are the designers who use Photoshop for everything. It's good to see you asking the question.

 

[npolly0212]

I started some after-hours design work last year and worked exclusively with Photoshop but quickly discovered that most work required Illustrator, simply because you could quickly convert assets to different media types. Ended up doing a local political candidate's materials via Illustrator and could convert a sign to brochure to door-knocker in a few hours. Photoshop would have been full "rebuilds".

Awesome. Is it much different than photoshop to learn?

Basically, Photoshop is for photos, and manipulating raster, or pixel-based art. As mentioned before, Illustrator is vector-based art and can be resized without losing anything. InDesign puts it all together for print.

A running joke with most printers are the designers who use Photoshop for everything. It's good to see you asking the question.

Yeah I have only ever used photoshop but looking to get more into it

 

[chrfr]

Awesome. Is it much different than photoshop to learn?

Illustrator is very different than Photoshop. There are similarities if you've ever used the pen tool in Photoshop but the whole way that Illustrator works is an entirely different way of thinking and working.

 

[npolly0212]

Illustrator is very different than Photoshop. There are similarities if you've ever used the pen tool in Photoshop but the whole way that Illustrator works is an entirely different way of thinking and working.

Alright appreciate it. Have a lot of time coming up to learn it over break lol!

 

[Possumgal]

Vector programs such as Illustrator have a different way of looking at things. For instance, if you use Live Trace to trace a piece of raster art, what looks like a red box with a black border will actually turn out to be a red box with a larger black box behind it. It takes a bit to learn how the vector software "thinks" of things, but it's well worth it. Vector programs are much more versatile than raster programs such as Photoshop.

Basically, you've got the big three: raster, vector, and layout. Once you learn one of each of these, you can find your way through similar programs when you switch jobs. For instance, I started out with Corel Draw and moved to Illustrator. I've worked with Pagemaker, Quark, and InDesign. The basics stay the same, it's just a matter of finding out where different commands are located and what features one may have that the other doesn't.

 

[Nitesh Pundhir]

Vector programs such as Illustrator have a different way of looking at things. For instance, if you use Live Trace to trace a piece of raster art, what looks like a red box with a black border will actually turn out to be a red box with a larger black box behind it. It takes a bit to learn how the vector software "thinks" of things, but it's well worth it. Vector programs are much more versatile than raster programs such as Photoshop.

Basically, you've got the big three: raster, vector, and layout. Once you learn one of each of these, you can find your way through similar programs when you switch jobs. For instance, I started out with Corel Draw and moved to Illustrator. I've worked with Pagemaker, Quark, and InDesign. The basics stay the same, it's just a matter of finding out where different commands are located and what features one may have that the other doesn't.

I also like the designing but i like your way a little bit more!

 

[Starfia]

Design is by no means my first charge in life, but I do most of my own graphics when needed. I have to say, Pixelmator eventually replaced Photoshop for me. It's definitely the best digital painting tool for tablets with OS X, and it also added a serviceable vector graphics component. (Perhaps the main setback is that said component can't be used to export to a vector format, which people clearly want. It's a much nicer tool for people who would want to make SVGs, for example, than anything else I can find.)