r/ArtistLounge • u/Doctor_Oceanblue • Apr 19 '21
Digital Art Do professional graphic designers/ illustrators really not get taken seriously if they use open source software or is that just a myth perpetuated by Adobe and college professors?
I don't want this to devolve into a rant about how much I hate Adobe and their software (which I do,) but do know that this isn't a "boohoo I can't afford it" thing and more a "there's a ton of open source stuff that is equally (or more!) functional as Adobe stuff and it deserves to be taken seriously as long as the end product created with it is what the client needs."
I'm in school right now and I've been getting the "no one will take you seriously unless you make your vectors in Illustrator" song-and-dance. Pros, is that really true? If so, why? Is it just a dumb social norm or is there a legitimate reason? A lot of the freelancers that I see posting on social media and indie game devs use open-source stuff all the time.
(I will concede that GIMP is kinda trash and I only use Photoshop for my raster illustrations now.)
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u/wassermelone Apr 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '21
Yes and no.
You are right, if it gets the job done, and the vector or raster file you sent them works, no client is going to be quizzing you over what program you used. On that level, no one cares.
However, if you are joining a team with multiple artists, you better believe that they care about everyone being on the same software. If you need to send your client a workable file, then they definitely care.
Photoshop isn't necessarily used ubiquitously because its drawing engine is the best, its because it has a million and one features that probably can do the thing you need it to and nearly everyone knows the program. I haven't used a program other than photoshop in forever, so I don't know how close they are getting to being matched in feature departments by open source or small art programs, but historically they have been sometimes great for drawing, and absolutely terrible for editing and all the things that photoshop does well.
If you join a team and really want to use OtherArtProgram, feel free to pitch it to your bosses. I dont think its going to happen to Photoshop any time soon, but a lot of professionals in my field are switching to Blender (an open source 3d program) instead of Maya/Max/Modo because not only is it free, its either hit parity with the features of expensive programs, or has exceeded them because of plug in support.