Switching from Photoshop to Illustrator

Hi All,

Just went to an interesting disucussion as to which graphics program is best. Personally, I use Photoshop for nearly everything. But now I'm a little bit vary of it since I have had the odd experience of having to vectorize my own work

So in short, how do I painlessly transition from Photoshop to Illustrator? I have both, but so far have only used Illustrator for one print job, which was never printed.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

Start in Photoshop and play with a Pen tool, drawing vector shapes and editing them. Then try the same in Illustrator - this should be a good start for learning the basic techniques.

 

Illustrator explains itself. It's for illustrating. It produces great vectors especially for doing logos. I use a bit of both and too be honest I prefer photoshop over illustrator for my web design needs. I use Illustrator to illustrate my characters for classes or smooth out an old logo.

 

You just need to practice.
Illustrator is a vector program and Photoshop is a bitmap or pixel based program. They do different things.
I use a different vector program but it is probably about the same and you just need to practice using the drawing tools.

 

Personally I like inkscape for a vector program more than adobe illustrator. I felt it was easier to use. So if you're looking to purchase illustrator drop that idea and download a free vector program

 

I Would Suggest "coreldraw", To Me Its Much Better Than "illustrator". Combination Of The Three "illustrator", "photoshop" And "coreldraw" Is Gr8, But Not Viable Economically. For Web Design Most Probably You Don't Need "illustrator" These Days, "photoshop" Can Do Some Good Job With Its Pen Tool For Logo And Banner Design.

 

Yes ..... I suggest coreldraw too

 

If your looking to be a proficient graphic designer it is imperative that you learn illustrator. I use it on a daily basis. Granted, I use photoshop a lot more. The only advantage that corel draw has over illustrator is the max size. corel draw is able to make a larger image. I think illustrators max size is 125 inches horizontal x vertical. If your not working in large format then its of not worth the time to learn it. I have worked with corel draw and other corel programs and they are O.K. at best. The best corel program in my eyes is Painter X. Aside from that I use all adobe products. They are the industry standard and if you want to keep afloat in this market the adobe design suite is a must know.

 

lol I already have Illustrator, but i'll check out the program you're talking about too...

 

I use mostly photoshop I have illustrator also I still need a lot of practice in it. I just don’t use it that much.

Illustrator has a big learning curve.

If you want to get into print graphics or logos illustrator is very powerful for that. For web graphics Photoshop is a much better tool.

Just different mediums pixels or vectors.

 

I'm also familiar with Illustrator, but compare it to CorelDraw....it is more difficult to do things in Illustrator than CorelDraw.
I'm honest but I may be wrong....Why not try both....trial versions are available for free. See what seems easy for you.
Go to lynda.com and find some tutorial on ILLUSTRATOR and CORELDRAW, you will get your answer watching the video tutorials.

 

They go hand and hand there is no switching, learn both

 

I used to teach Illustrator on the college level, and I've been using Photoshop about 10 hours every day for the past 13 years... I think at some point every designer struggles with the transition from one of the applications into the other. Here are a few quick tips:

- First of all, CorelDraw is the devil.

- Photoshop is a raster program (pixel-based - ideal for photographic images, designs with a lot of dynamic gradients, digital sketching, web based advertisements and layouts).

- Illustrator is a vector program (based on points and lines that create hard objects - obviously ideal for logo creation, but also the platform of choice for single page print pieces like print advertisements and package design).

To give you an idea of how the two integrate, here are what I would consider design industry standard processes for different projects:

Web layouts - I use Photoshop EXCLUSIVELY for anything web-related, like banners and website mock-ups. Illustrator is time consuming and tedious, and should only be used when necessary.

Package design - I will mock-up a digital sketch of the package in Photoshop using RGB color profile (because this pushes the outer limits of the color spectrum). Photshop also has the perspective abilities to get a 3-dimensional mockup before moving to production. When the design is ready to ove to production, I will move all of the raster layers into Illustrator (like photographics images and complex gradients) and build the vector elements (like the logo, geometric shapes, and text layers) in Illustrator. This is necessary to achieve crisp text and shapes. Text built for print in photoshop (unless at an abnormally high resolution) will be blurry, and many printers won't even accept Photoshop PDFs.

- Print ads - The same process as for package design.

- Large format (posters, billboards, trade show booths) - Usually, the resolution requirements are low for large format - 100 dpi and below - so you can use Photoshop exclusively. I tend to work in RGB because CMYK is becoming relatively obsolete with the advent of digital presses. The only time you should USE CMYK is for a magazine ad or brochure that will be printed offset on a traditional press.

- Photoshop is fairly easy to use, but most novice users think that using the Filters menu is the equivalent of design. Don't over-filter...let the design be carried by a clean layout with geometric alignment. The best way to make a design look professional is by using a grid system and 2 type families that complement each other.

- Illustrator basically boils down to 3 things:

1.) Learn the pen tool (including the anchor point conversion tools). Visit www.lynda.com for some intros.
2.) Learn the Pathfinder pallette. It's the easiest way to divide and combine shapes into more exciting shapes.
3.) Learn the Align pallette. It helps you line things up and evenly space things out so you can make patterns that are very clean.

Everything else in the app is an accessory to these fundamental tools.

Hope this helps.

 

illustrations for illustrator
photoshop is for photo manip or matte paints/

 

You can learn Illustrator quite easily with the many free online tutorials.

 

I use Inkscape too. It is great. I use it even for web design, let alone logo and banner designs. I recommend that.

 

That is not true. I have been using CorelDraw for a long time before I switched to Inkscape and it did great work, at least for me.

 

With all due respect, I dont think corelDRAW is a devil.
I use illustrator and photoshop but I like using corelDraw too....it is soo and things can be done with CD rather easily then to Illustrator.

I like three of them but like CD and Photoshop rocks....

nb: I'm using CD, Illustrator and photoshop since 1999

 

@ corenaturals: wow... thanks for putting the time into that. it helped in alot of ways and i'll keep what you said in mind for the future

actually, i have all three of the programs mentioned: CR, PS + Illustrator. I wanted to try and branch out more and see what I could do with the programs that I have. Its fine owning a lot of programs, but I find that if one does not know how to use them interchangeably, its pretty pointless getting them.

thanks to all who replied