Which would be better for me to use, Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter?

Question

This Christmas, I plan to ask my parents for either one of these programs. After asking one of my talented designer/illustrator friends for her input, I was almost sure I'd ask for Photoshop with Illustrator, but after looking over her work using Painter, I began having second thoughts.

I know this depends heavily on what I want to actually use them for. I'm planning to get more into graphic design in the hopes of actually turning it into a career, yet I also want to start creating my own manga, so I need to know which program will be better suited for both those things.

When answering, please don't forget to consider the costs and the difficulty it takes to master both programs. I would like to know which one is more affordable, user-friendly, and worth all the hype and money. Also, please include whether or not I will need any additional things, such as tablets and whatnot, in order to enhance my experience or make mastering either program a lot easier.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Your best bet would be asking for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. As a designer, they're the basis of EVERY SINGLE job, and I've never once used Corel Painter. They are very expensive, but the best thing you could do to cut down on the price would be to buy an older version. This is especially good, since a new update was just released. Photoshop CS3 costs around $600 while CS2 costs "only" $200.

If you're very concerned about the price, and want to learn the basics before being positive, there's a version called Photoshop Elements for $50-$80 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HLV59W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) that is not as powerful, but introduces you to the tools, and you can see if you'll learn it fast enough without spending so much money. Don't worry about tablets, either, until you're sure you enjoy using the program.

Good luck! Design is a great major.

Answer 2

I agree, Photoshop easily beats out Painter. As an IT specialist I've installed and used them both. I've always had pretty good luck with all of Adobe's software. I'm not a graphic designer, but I have several friends and people who work for my company that are...and they all use Photoshop.

I don't think I would buy an old version just to learn the software though, if your going to spend the money go with the newest version you can afford. The cool thing about software is that every good company out there has a free trial version if you want to try it out. Here's a link if your interested in Adobe Photoshop CS3:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop

You'll have to create an account, but it's pretty quick and painless.(and free)You can still find trial versions of CS2 as well. This way you can decide for yourself what you may or may not want...or how much you want to pay. You can find a lot of good older software on Amazon.com, or just put it in a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Anyway, I hope this helps, and good luck in your software journey...

Answer 3

Adobe photoshop
expensive, takes a lot of experimenting but blows away Corel products hand down.