Ditch Adobe, If You Need

Read more on inclusive design on here: Creating Inclusive Art Experiences Through Color and Texture

Show Notes/Transcript

(music intro)
Speaker: Tas
Welcome to Tas Talks. This is your host, Tas, the artist. My goal with this podcast is to share. Accessibility information when it comes to design, whether it’s digital accessibility.

Art pieces, graphic design that we’re going to talk about all of that here. On top of that I’ll be sharing occasionally. Some tips and tricks with Canva. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Express.

Well, let’s get into the first episode. And don’t forget if you like what you hear. Drop a follow. Drop a like drop a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Let’s get into the episode.

Today’s topic. Alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite. I don’t know about you, but the prices are hitting hard. So what can you do as an artist?

As a designer, if you just can’t afford Adobe products? Well, I am about to say something that could be controversial in the design space, but I don’t believe you have to have Adobe products. Now, do I have them? Yes. Right now. But they’re not always practical. And there’s a lot you can do with open source software.

Let’s be honest. So first up let’s talk about alternatives to Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape. You may not have heard of it. You may have heard of it. It is a beginner friendly software that I personally have used when I just cannot pay for Adobe Creative Cloud.

You can do vector images, designs, magazines, infographics really whatever you need. One of my favorite things to do with Inkscape is to create different font styles and logos.

It’s something that can definitely make your life easier. And it is updated regularly. Now of course, the cons to this. If you are a freelancer and the company that you have your contract with requires Adobe products.

Well tough work. It sucks. However. I would encourage you to test out if they can tell the difference between Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator because although Adobe products are considered the standard, it doesn’t mean you can’t make the same thing happen for less money.

Well, no money. So let’s talk about Premiere Pro. So the things that I personally don’t like about it are the interface. There’s not a good amount of accessibility features on Premiere Pro. As an autistic, disabled professional, I find Premiere Pro extremely frustrating. Can I work in it? Yes. Do I like to know? So an alternative to that is DaVinci resolve.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I will openly acknowledge that DaVinci resolves incredibly large learning curve exists. It is not a beginner software add on.

If you have the time to dedicate to playing around with it and learning the features, perfect, go for it. It’s good. And if you already know how to use Premiere Pro, you can have a similar interface layout in DaVinci resolve.

It has a free version and a paid version where you can buy the license and have the software. It can be easier than buying a monthly subscription, and it’s definitely an option for applying visual effects, audio mixing and editing. Now let’s move on to some art. Some digital artist. Best friends. Now Krita. If you do any type of 2D work with your art, Krita can be a must have. It is open source so it’s free, but you can also get it on steam where you will automatically get updates without having to manually install them.

At the time that I purchased Krita, it was 1499, so definitely a lot cheaper than some programs. I personally do not use Apple products at all. So I do not know the compatibility. As far as if you chose to use credit on this. However, it does say it is. You can do paintings, comics, animations. If you do VTuber models. PNG YouTube models perfect for that as well.

It is a good alternative to Photoshop for those types of scenarios. There isn’t a mobile friendly version of Krita, but if you work in Photoshop there isn’t a mobile friendly of that either. So you’re not really missing anything. If you are creating something from scratch as I do, the most aggravating thing can be exporting your work.

So sketchbook is something that I like to use. It has a great mobile version and I am not a fan of the desktop version, but the mobile version is great on tablets, phones, those types of things and you can export. Tiff PDFs, PNG, Jpeg, PDF and it’s great for all skill levels. Whether you’re sketching, painting, illustrating ten out of ten, it has a purchased version that you can buy super affordable. It’s 20 bucks for the desktop version, and it’s around.

It’s been a while since I bought mine. I’ve had it a while, but it is definitely a lot more affordable than Adobe products. And of course, if you’re in graphic design, if you have not yet used Canva, I am secretly judging you. That is a joke. Canva can do so much.

It is so versatile. I have spent since oh gosh, four years now with Canva and the amount of things with a little creativity that you can pull off. And I have had people that I’ve created things for that had no clue that I did it in Canva. Thought I did it in Photoshop. Nope. People cannot tell the difference. A lot of the time.

That is not to say that the quality of Photoshop and Canvas are equal, but I think a lot of times as artists and graphic designers, our expectations exceed that of which the clients actually want or expect. You can make something professional, something beautiful. You can import your artwork, do so much with it. Icons, logos, document designs.

The free version does have limits. I would say it is worth it to have the premium version, which is now Canva Pro is 15 a month at this point for individuals. It’s worth it. Or pay for the year, save 20% or whatever that adds up to. But if you’re not designing in Canva already, get on it. Get on the Canva train and please.

They have added a lot of new AI tools. Some are better than others. I definitely think be cautious if you’re generating things with AI, as that is not necessarily ethical, nor is it always quality. And you can tell the difference between human made and AI gen. So, you know, make your own work.

It’s not that complicated. You know, just do it. Color correcting. You can do audio short videos, do trailers for your work. There’s a lot of things you can do with Canva that you might not expect. So get the free one. Try it. Do it. So those are definitely my top recommendations. If you’re looking for an alternative to Adobe Creative because it’s so expensive. Okay, so that’s been episode one where we’ve delved into some software.

If you liked it, let me know. If you didn’t let me know. Just please be kind and respectful in the comments and I will catch you with another episode in another week. So yeah, I will talk to ya later as I leave this voicemail. You have been listening to Tas Talks.

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