Digital Illustration - how many programs do you need to master?

[stephanie-varga]

I'm an illustrator who does watercolor, pen and digital work.

For digital, I started out using Clip Studio Paint Pro, and really like it, since it lets me make Vector AND Rastor art easily. I know logically its a wise idea to learn Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign just as the industry standard, but do I have to stop using Clip Studio all together? Will anyone consider art that's not made with Adobe? Does any illustrator even use all three?

It's discouraging and overwhelming to master 3 programs when I can do so many things faster with one. Does it really matter how I make it if I can produce good results?

[tgstudio]

It really depends on your client. Some don’t care what program you use as long as you get the project done. But there are others who insist on using Photoshop or Illustrator for their project. The reason is so they can go into the file and make further edits if needed.

In terms of illustration you really do not need to learn InDesign. That program is used more for layout.

[atreglia]

Hi Stephanie,

I've been here just over a year.  My experience so far is that if a client specifically wants photoshop or illustrator they usually say so.  I've seen other clients state they don't care what the freelancer uses as long as it achieves the desired result -- and of course it must be delivered in a file format they can open and perhaps edit (.svg vs .ai).  When in doubt ask because sometimes they don't even know themselves.

[vastianzzz]

I think you shouldn't worry about it unless a client specifically asks for somethign to be deliveres in, say .AI format. But even then, sometiems you can get around that by using file converters. And some programs even allow yo to use such industry standard formats (Like how many drawing programs allow you to save files as .PSD)

As long as you're able to get the job done with your tools, it doesn't matter. To beggin with, people without your set of skills very likely have no idea of what kind of software you can use to do what in the first place.