I do actually know people who use Excel for design! Specifically knitters, quilters and the like. The cells are great for organizing fabric patterns by filling them in with blocks of color
Paint - R - Rotate Photoshop - R - Rotate Illustrator - R - Rotate Canvas - R - Rotate Pixlr - R - Rotate Interlude - R - Rotate CorelDRAW - R - Rotate Inkscape - R - Rotate Blender - R - Rotate Figma - R - Rotate Affinity - R - Rotate Loads of more softwares - R - Rotate GIMP - R - Rectangle
if figma is being acquired by Adobe, it's almost definitely not staying free and I doubt it's even going to continue to exist. sounds like they're just trying to get rid of the competition
A facinating comparison. Thanks for doing a dive on each program and also your kind words. - Inkscape developer (p.s. it's free because other people either volunteered their time or already paid for it to be made, and once made, it's available to everyone. I'm a Patreon funded dev these days)
I don't even do graphic design, I just think your videos are creatively inspiring in general, it's easy to forget to just muck around with different stuff for fun
The lenghts people will go with power point are amazing. I have a friend that does this crazy presentations for uni assignments where he literally animates in vector art made with the basic shapes, and it is good, like professors saying "this is the best presentation I have ever seen good"
No you were absolutely right about Inkscape. It’s pretty stable and full featured, and it is indeed free. Not just free but open source too. It is not just a free version or trial that you were using, the entirety of the program is all free, and always will be.
So happy to see inkscape here! I learned Illustrator in highschool but I couldn't be bothered to go through the processing of "legally purchasing and obtaining the illustrator license" so I looked into free alternatives and inkscape was the one I chose. It does everything I could possibly need for my game dev purposes, and its an all around fantastic program!
@@gazizabdulmenov5574 Working on it... you can make cmyk svg files, but for most people that's pretty pointless. The problem is /exporting/ to cmyk pdf files. Though at least with 1.3 you can /import/ cmyk pdf files now.
a little sad Krita wasn't included in this. I've been using it for about 4 years now and each new update through the years has only been improving the experience. It's also also open source which adds a lot of points in my book.
@@rainbowrotcod krita has some very good UX in my experience, though I'm not an artist (I'm a software dev), so take my opinion with a grain of salt and I've used it with a drawing tablet before, and I quite like its functionality. (also, I use opentabletdriver for the tablet driver, as it's open source & very customizeable)
As an Inkscape user and advocate I cannot describe how great it is to see it getting love in this video. I've been using it for over 12 years now. It's gone through some major improvements lately but even then had great potential. Highly recommend it.
As a programmer, my only concern is Inkscape advertises itself as a Vector Graphics tool...not a Raster Graphics tool. Does it support creating bitmap images from scratch? Or is it more of a tool for SVG images?
I had to use it for the semester I had Visual Identity class and I don't know if it was the way the teacher had us using it or she never actually taught us how to use it but as much as I would like to give it a second try, I think I may get a trauma response from it.
9:27 - I'm a Inkscape + GIMP user for 10 years. With these two tools, I designed good quality logos, art for social media and for billboards here in Brazil. Because of these free and open-source tools, I don't use Adobe CC anymore! 🙌🏼
Indesign is mainly meant for multi page documents. If you're designing a book or a magazine- InDesign is made for that. Although at this point illustrator allows multiple artboards per file, so I guess you could make a magazine in that.
I was a social media manager for a student led conference and canva was so useful. I’m not a graphic designer, I’m barely good at social media but I was doing the work for free because I was passionate about the conference. Canva was fast and also fun, I could do animations super simply, import for different social media sites etc. Highly recommend !
Can I just say the color on your talk-to-camera footage is amazing? That plus your designs feel straight out of a poster advertising Helvetica in the 60s and I love it.
As someone who uses Gimp, it's very powerful, just not for a lot of graphic design applications. It's more tuned for photo editing and image manipulation, and so I usually supplement it with Inkscape for those weak spots.
Remember reading online somewhere that "Gimp is just as powerful as Photoshop, you just need to navigate an extra 4 menus to get it to do anything you want" and while clearly hyperbole, I think it describes the workflow pretty well That being said, as a Linux-loving CS major that was only a course or two away from a GD minor, I love Gimp to death and couldn't imagine using anything else
Gimp is the best software IMO. And I use Gimp plus Inkscape for my design workflow. Such amazing pieces of software! And they play so nicely with each other, plus their UIs are so user intuitive. And the other great part about Gimp is the ability to add plugins made by users of the program. It’s incredible in that regard.
@@vascanj I'd argue gimp isn't particularly user intuitive. In fact, I'd say user intuitivity (or lack thereof) is its main drawback, otherwise people would know how capable it actually is, but I think the UI stops them 😄
I have zero experience in graphic design, and adobe's price always made it something I never even considered, so it's really good to know there are actually some alternatives!
I was at a careers conference once and adobe did a show, at the end they proposed a challenge for who could make the best poster in adobe apps, he specifically said “it has to be adobe, don’t go using canva or something” so naturally, I used canva, made a better poster than everyone, changed the metadata so he couldn’t tell and won the lil competition..
i saw this comment before watching the video and thought it was a bit. the jumpscare of this comment miraculously coming to life was terrifying. also hi lewis
Okay elliot, I have to say, I have been watching you for only a few short months, but what you managed to pull off in this video is nothing short of genius. The topic, editing, soundtrack, design, comedy, and charisma you showcased here made this content next level. you're doing a great job, looking forward to more!
LEGEND! too sweet 🥹🥹 thank you for mentioning the soundtrack i am v proud of the music in this one (i didn't make the music but curated it i now realise this sounds like i made the music)
This is my first time learning you exist and I'm impressed! As a longtime Inkscape user, though, I want to tell you it does have one downside: You can't have multiple pages/artboards. That was what caused me to eventually switch to Affinity. I needed to make multi page PDFs.
Inkscape had a major glow up some years ago. I remember being completely lost with it one time, decided to come back and it was almost like a completely different program
And now here we are with its biggest update a few weeks ago. I can relate here since my entire hobby is based around graphic design with Inkscape. Before then, it used to be so laggy and buggy but I’m so happy that it got a huge performance boost. I love using it cause of the simplicity of the app and how it enables me to create so much with its pallets of features, like filters and path effects.
Inkscape really makes one hell of a good first impression -- it feels like their core team has a decidedly better understanding of UI/UX (and especially on Windows) than the GIMP team does.
It does not work no matter how many tutorials I watch in it.I am using windows 11 latest update.I tried it several times.uninstall and re install it is Fooking garbage.
The assets you showed in Publisher and the fact you said it hasn't been updated in 10 years has me convinced this is what they use to make the majority of textbooks and exams.
I think 20 or even 25 years is more like it. They gave it the ribbon interface at some point after 2000 and that's about it. Microsoft has forgotten this program exists. It has bugs that it's had all that time. It can't even manage bleeds and printer's marks. They never put it on Mac, which is inconvenient, too. I suspect that one day they'll remember it - and kill it. A big shame - it could be good.
I went from Photoshop to Paint Tool SAI to FireAlpaca to Krita. While I do miss some of the comic features of FireAlpaca, Krita is overall just an amazing drawing program, and I haven't gone back.
Not a graphic designer but I love all things art/design in general and pretty much as soon as Adobe went subscription based, I switched to Gimp, then Clip Studio Paint (otiginally MangaStudio). I actually like a lot of things about Clip Studio Paint better than I liked Photoshop, although it is slightly more limited in the graphic design department in my opinion.
the KidPix segment was such a nostalgia blast omg. My dad had it on his desktop for me and when I wanted to use it he would use his work laptop instead. I remember making so many colour-vomit drawings and then printing them and the paper being so caked with ink that it was warped. Good times
Omg you didn’t mention procreate!! As an avid user of photoshop and illustrator but also being a tattoo artist, procreate is the industry standard. Has most of the functionality of photoshop but even better in some ways. Particularly for art making. So incredibly intuitive and responsive on the ipad ❤
@@funallday6033 yeah it is for ipad but he didn’t specify. He was using some crazy stuff. And I definitely use procreate for some graphic design. Particularly what he was doing. Would have been perfect in this video and its just soooo good!!
This vid was recommended to me by YT, your sense of humour and comedic timing is hilarious and the style of video makes time fly by, instant sub and am inspired to get back into graphic design!!
I really like using CSP. It's mostly used for making comics, it works a lot like photoshop, but they have vector layers. The vector layers act like raster layers which is pretty cool.
True! CSP is amazing for artists, the layers, lineart and colouring is just so smooth but I can see why it's a bit meh for designers. Manipulating photos can be tricky/ bit of a nuisance sometimes.
@@syarifahmardhiah5103 you've got to change it through some files in your computer. Look up a tutorial on how to export images with high quality from powerpoint and you'll find your solution.
Thank you for making me not feel so alone in my overwhelm with how massive some of the capabilities of these programs are. I constantly forget that I don't have to MASTER EVERY SINGLE technique before applying the ones I know professionally.
I was thinking to myself "I don't think he'll have Inkscape, it's not that well know" but to my surprise it actually made it in! And yes Inkscape is free, its the same as gimp in that they're both free and open source! Honestly I'm not that good at it and there's a lot of features I'm not aware of, but it's nice to work with every now and then. I wish more people got to know of its existence. Thank you for having it in the video!!
i would have written this comment but im more than happy you did. agree 100%. consider making a series on open source, e.g. using linux; just bear in mind the nature of free/open source software :)
I feel like Clip Studio Paint could technically also count as a design program. That has raster and vector stuff. And fun photoshop features. It's also an art program that a lot of artists use.
7:55 you mention that layers is a rare sight in browser based editors, which is so true, i just cannot wrap my head around Canva not having a clear layers tab
Some really cool features of Canva that people may not know. My favorite is you can upload custom fonts either ones you made or bought. Canva actually has a new drawing tool to make art in the app but it’s new and a bit glitchy but I feel in the coming updates they may also Intergrated vector drawing. All programs are tools and I use a mix of many different programs. My favorite are procreate and Canva. I can easily make my custom illustrations in procreate remove background, send straight to canva and my work flow is so seamless and all on my iPad. I tried a lot of the adobe suite but with my slow computer it’s honestly just a waste of time the programs just crash soo much, maybe I like too many layers.
not to be mean but every single app that features text edit allows font importation, every app in the video can do that. You can also do it in word, writer or whatever you use to make cool designs or give extra personality to your work. If you have a slow computer you may like the veteran combo inskape+gimp
I love Inkscape, I teach graphic design at high school and we use it, it’s constantly getting updates and constantly getting better and better A lot of schools use affinity but they almost force you into getting the full suite with features spread across all their programs, ink scape has a does a lot
I've been using Affinity Desinger/ Photo for over two years now (creating new free trial accounts every month) and as an individual who can't afford any of the Adobe products I'm more than satisfied with all of it's functions. It is pretty much noticable that Affinity itself is a work in progress meaning that many features aren't fully fleshed out or optimized ( the gradient tool for example is absolutely horrible since you cant make it follow a path ) but that wouldn't stop me from recommending it to other designers new or experienced.
gimp is definitely one of the best photoshop alternatives. It's very intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, you can basically do (mostly) everything that other photo editors/design programs can do
@@spectaclesocietyi use a mix of krita and gimp, krita is better for making original images and photo manipulation + drawing + logos and gimp is good for putting all the objects into a final design.
I’ve been using Affinity products for about 4 years now and honestly, they’re near to perfect. My only gripe is that if you are collaborating with people who use photoshop, then good luck properly importing pad files into affinity cause adobe hates other programs lol
Man, I feel like you would have been massively successful on RUclips a couple years back but nowadays RUclips doesn't push new content like it used to. Very underrated channel, wish you luck!
seconding the love for inkscape! I was pretty much exclusively taught illustrator in school, not photoshop, and since it was only on the school computers I needed something similar for home, and it's never let me down! it IS 100% free (or at least it was the last time I downloaded it), but it DOES crash fairly often, so you either need to be saving frequently or make sure you put autosave on - but frankly, the crashing frequently may be a /me/ problem, as in my laptop, not an inkscape problem. truly cannot recommend it enough!
So so happy to see the love for inkscape! I’ve been an inkscape user for over 3 years now and have built my design business on it. It’s amazing and I’ve not even scraped the surface on its capabilities. Actually I’ve never used a single Adobe product and I make a full time income designing. Loved the video, you’ve got a sub from me!
I do 95% of my work in inkscape (designing and grading sewing patterns and illustrations for the sewing instructions) I only use Illustrator, because I need to eport layered PDF, which Inkscape is not capable of yet. I hate every minute, I have to use AI and every penny I have to spend on it. I am biting my nails, until Martin Owens and other developers finaly get to implementing export layered PDF too.
Been using Affinity for a while. One of the great perks is Designer, Photo, and Punlisher all create the same default file type, which makes going from one program to another easy. Also good iPad apps.
If you get the full affinity suite, they combine into one program when using publisher which is amazing cause it means master pages for photo and designer as well!
I’m so happy you loved Inkscape. I was introduced to it by the keycap designing community and has been loving it ever since. Don’t have to pay a dime for that amazing tool.
The frustrating part of this is that you clearly have experience in photoshop, so it's hard to fairly compare the different programs given your proficiency. However, free is always better in my books.
as a digital artist and sometimes graphic designer, i LOVE Affinity. can’t recommended it enough! i’m so glad to see you give it a glowing review! ever since i graduated uni, Adobe has become way too unaffordable for me. Affinity is almost identical to Adobe and at a fraction of the cost!
Ever since I started using Blender for 3D, I’ve started to use it more and more for things I would have previously used 2D vector (and raster) programs to create. It just has so many features I want in all vector programs. Mirroring a shape across an origin, sliding vertices, easily merging verts, beveling, not to mention all the artistic freedom. I could go on for eternity. It really is just so much more enjoyable for me.
You know Blender has a 2D startup file as well, letting you design 2D things far more easily? Its main tool is Grease pencil, but 3D objects can still be used.
I'm a writer and I make my own book covers in Canva. (I can't afford $800 per cover, I currently have 12 books on Amazon with numbers 13 and 14 coming soon.) There's a rumour Amazon will soon ban covers designed with Canva due to licensing issues. This video is gold, many thanks, great timing for me.
@MuseLaBet I haven't used inDesign. Happy with the results I'm achieving in Canva at this stage, hopefully Amazon doesn't ban them. (If they do I'm now with other retailers as well.)
I use photopea at work because the tech guy keeps forgetting to install photoshop and I'm not allowed to do it myself and it works so great besides the slowness. Happy to see it included! Also, awesome designs, Elliot :)
I'm so happy to see more Inkscape love! I used it for years in my design and consulting life and used it to make hundreds of flyer and logos. Towards the end that life I even started selling "starter kits" where I just put all the elements of a brand in an svg file so anyone could mix and match things in that file to build collateral that fit their brand language perfectly. Inkscape will always be my favorite design tool!
The WYSIWYG reference is so funny to me cuz the ONLY context I have for it is that my mom remembers it from when PCs were like first being introduced to the masses and she was learning how to use them in her engineering statistics job, and she now half-jokingly uses it any time stuff prints weird. So it certainly could be American, but like. From the 90s lmao
Fellow graphic designer here, I actually made the switch to Affinity Photo & Inkscape last year. I tried a lot of programs before I found Affinity Photo, and I think is the only program that comes close to matching the tools available in Photoshop. Even then, AP doesn't have a timeline that I can use to assemble GIFs unfortunately. I've just been using an online GIF maker to replace it. I've yet to get a replacement for InDesign, but I also haven't done a lot of looking. I've also started using Davinci Resolve for video editing and it's been great.
I made the switch from Indesign to Affinity Publisher and haven’t looked back. I’m only doing simple booklets, single page graphics, slides etc. but I find even for those simple uses Affinity Publisher is lighter and quicker. I agree with you about photoshop. I like the timeline and Affinity photo also doesn’t have the 3d - but for me that’s just a want not a need. I do find the inpainting brush in Affinity photo much better then the content aware tool in photoshop but I’m not sure if that’s a tool issue or if I’m just not using the content aware tool correctly. For now I keep both but I mostly use Affinity. The other thing I love is the availability of the ipad apps for the Affinity suite. I keep my files in dropbox so I can pull them up and work on them anywhere. Learning curve on the ipad for sure.
Affinity pub is fantastic I love it. If you have designer and photo installed, they’re literally tabs in publisher. You click them and you get the set of tools from the other programs, without ever needing to export the file.
first time i ever come across your channel, and i'm barely two minutes in. thought to myself "shit wait this looks awesome everything's so pleasing" and then i realized he's a literal graphic designer
Had war flashbacks to my childhood "computers" class when you brought up KidPix... I really appreciate all the effort and research you put in for this video! I've been meaning to try out some of the cheaper / free alternatives to Adobe software for a while, so this is just inspiring me more. Thanks Elliot!!
@@hilarybareiss4646 I guess that's why Adobe wants to buy it: maintain their monopoly and take it from free to subscription-based. Like Broadcom has just done with the buy-once and free versions of VMware licenses. *Poof * gone now.
Oh my God the kid pix brought back so many memories! I used to spend hours on that program and then graduated to Gimp when I got older, because that's the software my friend showed me. I still use Gimp to make raster projects, and got inkscape for vector. Gimp is not very beginner friendly, but once you get used to it, it's a dream. Especially with it being open source, it means you can download, and make, plug-ins and it becomes almost as useful as base photoshop
I am glad at least one other person agree that GIMP is not user-friendly. It is so counter-intuitive, I don't understand why they haven't changed it. And this is not even from a Photoshop-first perspective. I started with GIMP. Once I found Krita, I couldn't help but actually feel that GIMP was just trash and garbage lol. (sorry if this hurt anyone's feelings).
I think Canva is so useful for people that are not in a design area, but still need the features. When you are I college or school and need to make a lot of presentations, power point becomes boring and repetitive, while in Canva there are ways more possibilities and you can have something unique with very little skill
Big plus with Affinity for VFX artists out there: Affinity can work with full depth 32 bit EXR's and not have any tool limitation, including the healing brush category of tools, unlike Photoshop. 6 month free trial as well.
I got kind of worried by not seeing Inkscape within the thumbnail. I used it once in the past cause i had a interest in Graffiti speed draws with it, Its something powerful and special for something free but has a bit of a learning curve. Luckily there are a bunch of tutorials on how to work with it.
I love your inclusion of Inkscape and how well you've rated it considering how unpopular it is these days. I work in both GIMP and Inkscape and to be honest GIMP is sometimes the most confusing thing ever (its pretty limited too, but thats another issue)
I used Photoshop all throughout high school, and I have to say that the best alternative I've used is Photopea. The slowness is only really a problem once you start getting into higher and higher resolution sizes or when you start using dozens and dozens of layers and unapplied effects. That or you have a low end computer. (Also combining Blender, Photopea, and Krita/IbisPaint X is just the best)
9:33 Let me point out something, back when I didn't use any other programs for design other than BLENDER, I can tell you it does the job AMAZINGLY WELL. And with all the new updates with geometry nodes, you can do insane stuff.
Good thing no one told Elliot about minecraft maps, I can imagine him obsessively merging maps, testing different resolutions, using elevation to adjust shades
thanks for watching everyone hehe hope you enjoyed!!
another big thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring the vid! go check em out 🥰nordvpn.com/elliotvpn
Get the bag king !
nice camera
Sorry, what was that?
hehe~
You forgot Krita! =(
I do actually know people who use Excel for design! Specifically knitters, quilters and the like. The cells are great for organizing fabric patterns by filling them in with blocks of color
Yes! I use it all the time to graph out patterns for knit/crochet and cross stitch.
I used it before I found better things
Oh this is such a good idea how have I never thought of this (I knit & love spreadsheets)
Ooooh, smart!
@@rivercape982 drop the better things?!
Paint - R - Rotate
Photoshop - R - Rotate
Illustrator - R - Rotate
Canvas - R - Rotate
Pixlr - R - Rotate
Interlude - R - Rotate
CorelDRAW - R - Rotate
Inkscape - R - Rotate
Blender - R - Rotate
Figma - R - Rotate
Affinity - R - Rotate
Loads of more softwares - R - Rotate
GIMP - R - Rectangle
lol
Other editor programs: R is for rotating!
GIMP: NO DUMMY ITS FOR *_RECTANGLE_*
in mac for some reason inkscape also does rectangle
Yes haha lol
inkscape also does R rectangle you gotta click the shape once to switch from scale to rotate, it's weird
if figma is being acquired by Adobe, it's almost definitely not staying free and I doubt it's even going to continue to exist. sounds like they're just trying to get rid of the competition
Good news. The deal is off.
i laughed i cried i threw up i screamed i got shot i danced i fell asleep i woke up i ascended. thank you so much for this video
lets gooooooooooooooo
This comment is the world’s greatest sin and my own greatest blessing
I’m the one who shot you
*slay*
:0
A facinating comparison. Thanks for doing a dive on each program and also your kind words.
- Inkscape developer
(p.s. it's free because other people either volunteered their time or already paid for it to be made, and once made, it's available to everyone. I'm a Patreon funded dev these days)
thank you inkscape legend
Thank you for your service
Bro you're amazing
Just an absolute legend dropping by, inspiring us all, no big deal
I feel like I just met a celebrity
You are a fucking legend! Inkscape alone makes stuff like Linux viable for a graphic design workload
When Elliot said "PiktoChart" I thought he said "Pictochat" and I legit didn't put it past him to make the graphic on a web-emulated Nintendo DS
especially when he then went and used Minecraft
I don't even do graphic design, I just think your videos are creatively inspiring in general, it's easy to forget to just muck around with different stuff for fun
shoutout to all the designer brains of the world who don't actually design 😤😤
samee
@@welliotlove ♡♡♡
You watch him as well?
yep i love this video seeing elliot explore a lot of different graphic design programs and showcasing what they have to offer
The lenghts people will go with power point are amazing. I have a friend that does this crazy presentations for uni assignments where he literally animates in vector art made with the basic shapes, and it is good, like professors saying "this is the best presentation I have ever seen good"
People have been programming operating systems in Powerpoint for years.
@@NterpriseCEO pptos reference 😱😱😱😱
@@NterpriseCEO Yeah, the community's quite cool, I have been making a very advance one, and that has an AI assistant built into it as well.
i love powerpoint so much, it has so many features and possibilities once you start exploring it properly
No you were absolutely right about Inkscape. It’s pretty stable and full featured, and it is indeed free. Not just free but open source too. It is not just a free version or trial that you were using, the entirety of the program is all free, and always will be.
I love inkscape and have used it for real and I am so happy to see a design channel recognize it.
Yes! Since Adobe started the whole subscription thing and I quit school I have used Inkscape instead. It's an amazing program.
i used to use fire alpaca for this reason ☺️ love artists that made free easy to access programs
So happy to see inkscape here! I learned Illustrator in highschool but I couldn't be bothered to go through the processing of "legally purchasing and obtaining the illustrator license" so I looked into free alternatives and inkscape was the one I chose. It does everything I could possibly need for my game dev purposes, and its an all around fantastic program!
Yah and if only it had CMYK implied, it would kill Illustrator.
@@gazizabdulmenov5574 Working on it... you can make cmyk svg files, but for most people that's pretty pointless. The problem is /exporting/ to cmyk pdf files. Though at least with 1.3 you can /import/ cmyk pdf files now.
@@doctormo You rock Martin 😘Did I ever mention, how much I hate Illustrator and having to use it? 😛
I pirated all my Adobe programs for school. Surprisingly easy.
@@tourmaline9647 oo, how do i do it? i dont wanna risk any viruses!
a little sad Krita wasn't included in this. I've been using it for about 4 years now and each new update through the years has only been improving the experience. It's also also open source which adds a lot of points in my book.
open source pog
I use krita for drawing 🤗
@@rainbowrotcod krita has some very good UX in my experience, though I'm not an artist (I'm a software dev), so take my opinion with a grain of salt
and I've used it with a drawing tablet before, and I quite like its functionality. (also, I use opentabletdriver for the tablet driver, as it's open source & very customizeable)
I was shocked to not see it, it's pretty high up on the list of free design software
Same :(
I’m an accountant and I had no
idea you could add 3D models into excel.
My spreadsheets are about to get a lot more whimsical.
As an Inkscape user and advocate I cannot describe how great it is to see it getting love in this video. I've been using it for over 12 years now. It's gone through some major improvements lately but even then had great potential. Highly recommend it.
Im really glad to see this cause i used it years back and hated it. Gonna give it another try
I downloaded a month or two ago but forgot about it. I guess I'll finally play around with it
As a programmer, my only concern is Inkscape advertises itself as a Vector Graphics tool...not a Raster Graphics tool. Does it support creating bitmap images from scratch? Or is it more of a tool for SVG images?
@@matthewdemarey4762 It's for vector files. Its default save format is SVG. You can export as PNG, but it is very much focused on vector based images.
I had to use it for the semester I had Visual Identity class and I don't know if it was the way the teacher had us using it or she never actually taught us how to use it but as much as I would like to give it a second try, I think I may get a trauma response from it.
Thanks for the shout-out Elliot - great video as usual 👌. Glad we can help you stay hydrated with those Iced Lattes for a bit longer too 😎.
affinity! in my comments!! this is cool isnt it :)
@@welliot Very cool
9:27 - I'm a Inkscape + GIMP user for 10 years. With these two tools, I designed good quality logos, art for social media and for billboards here in Brazil. Because of these free and open-source tools, I don't use Adobe CC anymore! 🙌🏼
Bros paying for his sins probably 💀
wow its really nice could you suggest me best tutorials as i am a beginner
I immediately quit gimp from the moment i had to do some complicated path thing to add a outline to text? just why?
As a GIMP user, the way you described trying to use GIMP is esactly how I felt when my college forced me to use Photoshop. Also, good video.
Don't be silly, GIMP users don't exist
@@actuallydavidei am entirely convinced my dad is the only GIMP user in the world
So this twin, is he technically competent? Your backstop. -- your mic needs a clean. Try sticky tape or suit brush. Looks like smegma or dandruff.
This. Photoshop was hell to use for Uni.
The shortkeys in gimp are so fcking stupid bro, i hate this program
As a music student I'm expected to make posters and program booklets for my concerts all the time. Canva is an absolute godsent.
The new Adobe Express Beta is awesome too.
WAIT NO I'M LITERALLY THE SAME LMAO
WE ARE THREE NOW
Why are you expected to do that lol
@@GiJoe94 I guess to prepare us for the real world :c
Indesign is mainly meant for multi page documents. If you're designing a book or a magazine- InDesign is made for that. Although at this point illustrator allows multiple artboards per file, so I guess you could make a magazine in that.
Lewis’s design is absolutely amazing
wow
its Gawx!!!
i am flattered! (i am lewis)
We are louis theroux
@@welliot we are all Lewis
16:57 My world has been shattered by the revelation that there are two of you. It's almost eerie how much you look AND sound alike.
I creamed without the s
wait what
same like that was so crazy
mind was blown lol.
same honestly
I am a graphic designer and I use the Affinity suite because paying monthly for Adobe is insane, and I absolutely love affinity ❤
You are so brave for this, I get a panic attack as soon as I open a new program
this vid took 2 months to make cos i could only film one program at a time... learning a new program is TOUGH
I wonder how many people noticed the little detail that every program's logo was in the colour of the bucket where it belonged
Nice video!
YES first person who noticed!!!
wait wdym
can someone explain?
@@sogumioNeither do I understand
4:20
:)
I was a social media manager for a student led conference and canva was so useful. I’m not a graphic designer, I’m barely good at social media but I was doing the work for free because I was passionate about the conference. Canva was fast and also fun, I could do animations super simply, import for different social media sites etc. Highly recommend !
Can I just say the color on your talk-to-camera footage is amazing? That plus your designs feel straight out of a poster advertising Helvetica in the 60s and I love it.
I love it as well, it gave me old Reader's Digest vibes,
As someone who uses Gimp, it's very powerful, just not for a lot of graphic design applications. It's more tuned for photo editing and image manipulation, and so I usually supplement it with Inkscape for those weak spots.
Remember reading online somewhere that "Gimp is just as powerful as Photoshop, you just need to navigate an extra 4 menus to get it to do anything you want" and while clearly hyperbole, I think it describes the workflow pretty well
That being said, as a Linux-loving CS major that was only a course or two away from a GD minor, I love Gimp to death and couldn't imagine using anything else
Yes!! Fully agree
Gimp is the best software IMO. And I use Gimp plus Inkscape for my design workflow. Such amazing pieces of software! And they play so nicely with each other, plus their UIs are so user intuitive.
And the other great part about Gimp is the ability to add plugins made by users of the program. It’s incredible in that regard.
Like i use G’Mic pretty regularly.
@@vascanj I'd argue gimp isn't particularly user intuitive. In fact, I'd say user intuitivity (or lack thereof) is its main drawback, otherwise people would know how capable it actually is, but I think the UI stops them 😄
I have zero experience in graphic design, and adobe's price always made it something I never even considered, so it's really good to know there are actually some alternatives!
I was at a careers conference once and adobe did a show, at the end they proposed a challenge for who could make the best poster in adobe apps, he specifically said “it has to be adobe, don’t go using canva or something” so naturally, I used canva, made a better poster than everyone, changed the metadata so he couldn’t tell and won the lil competition..
did you get a prize?
And everybody clapped
@@ella-and-her-cup-of-coffee Yeah, everyone clapped, right?
W
Cap but it's still a funny story
another excellent video Lewis!! so nice of you to invite your brother Elliot to make a poster he did a wonderful job 👍
thank you! - Lewis
i saw this comment before watching the video and thought it was a bit. the jumpscare of this comment miraculously coming to life was terrifying. also hi lewis
BRUH, I have been trying to find zoombinis for 20 years! I was convinced they were a fever dream. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Okay elliot, I have to say, I have been watching you for only a few short months, but what you managed to pull off in this video is nothing short of genius. The topic, editing, soundtrack, design, comedy, and charisma you showcased here made this content next level. you're doing a great job, looking forward to more!
LEGEND! too sweet 🥹🥹 thank you for mentioning the soundtrack i am v proud of the music in this one (i didn't make the music but curated it i now realise this sounds like i made the music)
also the grading in the commentary parts is so good
This is my first time learning you exist and I'm impressed! As a longtime Inkscape user, though, I want to tell you it does have one downside: You can't have multiple pages/artboards. That was what caused me to eventually switch to Affinity. I needed to make multi page PDFs.
They implemented it in the last update!!! I've been having a lot of fun creating multi page designs in Inkscape :D
Multi Pages feature was added year ago
i’m not on graphic design, but i have used inkscape a few times. i can’t figure out how to do a damn thing with it lol. it’s inscrutable
Upgrade my friend. Bottom icon on the tool pallete is 'pages'.
@@stephanief5794 hmm I would be interested see what exact did you struggled with. (I contirnute to inkscape ux design sometimes)
No Paint 3D?
Inkscape had a major glow up some years ago. I remember being completely lost with it one time, decided to come back and it was almost like a completely different program
And now here we are with its biggest update a few weeks ago. I can relate here since my entire hobby is based around graphic design with Inkscape. Before then, it used to be so laggy and buggy but I’m so happy that it got a huge performance boost. I love using it cause of the simplicity of the app and how it enables me to create so much with its pallets of features, like filters and path effects.
logos by nick😭
Inkscape really makes one hell of a good first impression -- it feels like their core team has a decidedly better understanding of UI/UX (and especially on Windows) than the GIMP team does.
It does not work no matter how many tutorials I watch in it.I am using windows 11 latest update.I tried it several times.uninstall and re install it is Fooking garbage.
The assets you showed in Publisher and the fact you said it hasn't been updated in 10 years has me convinced this is what they use to make the majority of textbooks and exams.
I think 20 or even 25 years is more like it. They gave it the ribbon interface at some point after 2000 and that's about it. Microsoft has forgotten this program exists. It has bugs that it's had all that time. It can't even manage bleeds and printer's marks. They never put it on Mac, which is inconvenient, too. I suspect that one day they'll remember it - and kill it. A big shame - it could be good.
9:41 the bleep being slightly off so it censored nothing was bloody hilarious, love the content
Srsly
My favorite one is Krita, it's a wonderful FOSS app made by the KDE community, and as much as I love Gimp too, Krita is just so much better nowdays
I went from Photoshop to Paint Tool SAI to FireAlpaca to Krita. While I do miss some of the comic features of FireAlpaca, Krita is overall just an amazing drawing program, and I haven't gone back.
It’s basically a free Adobe Photoshop with a different UI but just as capable if not more.
Not a graphic designer but I love all things art/design in general and pretty much as soon as Adobe went subscription based, I switched to Gimp, then Clip Studio Paint (otiginally MangaStudio). I actually like a lot of things about Clip Studio Paint better than I liked Photoshop, although it is slightly more limited in the graphic design department in my opinion.
Even better, it has full desktop version ported to mobile.
+1 for Krita, I use it a lot
Elliot. Fucking. Killed it. KILLED IT. Loved this concept and the script & editing genuinely made me laugh so many times while watching. GG boss.
THANK YOU MIRNDER 🫡🫡🫡
Legit I died from the humor. Epic video.
LOVE Affinity. I’m so used to Affinity now that I’ve forgotten so much of Adobe
I think what this shows more than anything is that the really hard part of design is to actually come up with a good design.
True 😢😢
I love the censor that didn’t cover the word. It’s like you edited it in Blender! 9:41
the KidPix segment was such a nostalgia blast omg. My dad had it on his desktop for me and when I wanted to use it he would use his work laptop instead. I remember making so many colour-vomit drawings and then printing them and the paper being so caked with ink that it was warped. Good times
Omg you didn’t mention procreate!! As an avid user of photoshop and illustrator but also being a tattoo artist, procreate is the industry standard. Has most of the functionality of photoshop but even better in some ways. Particularly for art making. So incredibly intuitive and responsive on the ipad ❤
Love Procreate
can you use it to make copies...
of yourself
Yeah, but procreate is more of a digital art app then an app for graphic design, and I believe it’s only on mobile :)
but I do love procreate it’s very useful 👍
@@funallday6033 yeah it is for ipad but he didn’t specify. He was using some crazy stuff. And I definitely use procreate for some graphic design. Particularly what he was doing. Would have been perfect in this video and its just soooo good!!
This vid was recommended to me by YT, your sense of humour and comedic timing is hilarious and the style of video makes time fly by, instant sub and am inspired to get back into graphic design!!
thank you jordy 🥹🥹
I just discovered your channel via the dune designs video and this feels like old school RUclips, a warm hug. Subscribed. 🫂
Can’t remember the last time I was as impressed with a video than this lmao, was fully expecting it to have 1m+ views
we are only a day and a half into the life of this video WHO KNOWS WHAT CAN HAPPEN
not yet!! theres still time
I remember using GIMP to design forum banners about 15 years ago and that pepper stamp hit me with a frankly embarrassing amount of nostalgia
I really like using CSP. It's mostly used for making comics, it works a lot like photoshop, but they have vector layers. The vector layers act like raster layers which is pretty cool.
True! CSP is amazing for artists, the layers, lineart and colouring is just so smooth but I can see why it's a bit meh for designers. Manipulating photos can be tricky/ bit of a nuisance sometimes.
I have been unironically using powerpoint as my main design tool for the last 6 years. It is criminally underrated.
But when I downloaded it, the quality is not as good as Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Canva - as far as I experienced
@@syarifahmardhiah5103 you've got to change it through some files in your computer. Look up a tutorial on how to export images with high quality from powerpoint and you'll find your solution.
Open source alternative would be LibreOffice Impress.
Thank you for making me not feel so alone in my overwhelm with how massive some of the capabilities of these programs are. I constantly forget that I don't have to MASTER EVERY SINGLE technique before applying the ones I know professionally.
I was thinking to myself "I don't think he'll have Inkscape, it's not that well know" but to my surprise it actually made it in!
And yes Inkscape is free, its the same as gimp in that they're both free and open source!
Honestly I'm not that good at it and there's a lot of features I'm not aware of, but it's nice to work with every now and then. I wish more people got to know of its existence. Thank you for having it in the video!!
how is it not well known ? it literally the only free desktop based vector designer.
i would have written this comment but im more than happy you did. agree 100%. consider making a series on open source, e.g. using linux; just bear in mind the nature of free/open source software :)
I feel like Clip Studio Paint could technically also count as a design program. That has raster and vector stuff. And fun photoshop features. It's also an art program that a lot of artists use.
yeah i was waiting for clip studio!!
Clip studio Gang checking in!
same with krita!
Clip Studio is just Photoshop but better
I was looking for this comment! Clip Studio Paint is goated even if I haven't used it in 3 years and use photoshop every day
7:55 you mention that layers is a rare sight in browser based editors, which is so true, i just cannot wrap my head around Canva not having a clear layers tab
Some really cool features of Canva that people may not know. My favorite is you can upload custom fonts either ones you made or bought. Canva actually has a new drawing tool to make art in the app but it’s new and a bit glitchy but I feel in the coming updates they may also Intergrated vector drawing. All programs are tools and I use a mix of many different programs. My favorite are procreate and Canva. I can easily make my custom illustrations in procreate remove background, send straight to canva and my work flow is so seamless and all on my iPad. I tried a lot of the adobe suite but with my slow computer it’s honestly just a waste of time the programs just crash soo much, maybe I like too many layers.
not to be mean but every single app that features text edit allows font importation, every app in the video can do that. You can also do it in word, writer or whatever you use to make cool designs or give extra personality to your work.
If you have a slow computer you may like the veteran combo inskape+gimp
@@unanec thanks I guess but I really love the combo of Procreate and Canva. As I said stated I mainly use my iPad for designing.
For a design communication course I need to consume 22 hours of graphic design content, thanks for helping me pass a class!
I love Inkscape, I teach graphic design at high school and we use it, it’s constantly getting updates and constantly getting better and better
A lot of schools use affinity but they almost force you into getting the full suite with features spread across all their programs, ink scape has a does a lot
I've been using Affinity Desinger/ Photo for over two years now (creating new free trial accounts every month) and as an individual who can't afford any of the Adobe products I'm more than satisfied with all of it's functions.
It is pretty much noticable that Affinity itself is a work in progress meaning that many features aren't fully fleshed out or optimized ( the gradient tool for example is absolutely horrible since you cant make it follow a path ) but that wouldn't stop me from recommending it to other designers new or experienced.
Just pirate the programs lol
Pirate Adobe, support Affinity - they're the underdog man, c'mon. Their one-time payment is a steal anyways.
I can I pirate adobe I’ve been searching and can’t find anything worth it’s salt.
gimp is definitely one of the best photoshop alternatives. It's very intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, you can basically do (mostly) everything that other photo editors/design programs can do
The real problem is the software is pretty dormant on development instead of Inkscape.
did you tried Krita?
Paint net is better
@@spectaclesocietyi use a mix of krita and gimp, krita is better for making original images and photo manipulation + drawing + logos and gimp is good for putting all the objects into a final design.
@@CyberCommercialBroadcasting there's tons of community-made plugins tho, which should cover basically any need you have
Thank you for including Excel in this video Elliot, I was very curious.
No, seriously.
I’ve been using Affinity products for about 4 years now and honestly, they’re near to perfect. My only gripe is that if you are collaborating with people who use photoshop, then good luck properly importing pad files into affinity cause adobe hates other programs lol
I just save everything in pdf and let them be.
@@SuckItDown that… sounds like a good idea. Thanks for letting me know!
I love the Affinity suite so much, it’s the best
Man, I feel like you would have been massively successful on RUclips a couple years back but nowadays RUclips doesn't push new content like it used to. Very underrated channel, wish you luck!
seconding the love for inkscape! I was pretty much exclusively taught illustrator in school, not photoshop, and since it was only on the school computers I needed something similar for home, and it's never let me down! it IS 100% free (or at least it was the last time I downloaded it), but it DOES crash fairly often, so you either need to be saving frequently or make sure you put autosave on - but frankly, the crashing frequently may be a /me/ problem, as in my laptop, not an inkscape problem. truly cannot recommend it enough!
Inkscape really is almost flawless, it's amazing and is always evolving
So so happy to see the love for inkscape! I’ve been an inkscape user for over 3 years now and have built my design business on it. It’s amazing and I’ve not even scraped the surface on its capabilities.
Actually I’ve never used a single Adobe product and I make a full time income designing. Loved the video, you’ve got a sub from me!
I do 95% of my work in inkscape (designing and grading sewing patterns and illustrations for the sewing instructions) I only use Illustrator, because I need to eport layered PDF, which Inkscape is not capable of yet. I hate every minute, I have to use AI and every penny I have to spend on it. I am biting my nails, until Martin Owens and other developers finaly get to implementing export layered PDF too.
Been using Affinity for a while. One of the great perks is Designer, Photo, and Punlisher all create the same default file type, which makes going from one program to another easy. Also good iPad apps.
It's so nice to use the iPad apps with the Apple Pencil. It's so fun to draw everything on
If you get the full affinity suite, they combine into one program when using publisher which is amazing cause it means master pages for photo and designer as well!
im defs looking for into it
I’m so happy you loved Inkscape. I was introduced to it by the keycap designing community and has been loving it ever since. Don’t have to pay a dime for that amazing tool.
1:01 it was just a flash but that title page was so nice I had to go back and pause it
The frustrating part of this is that you clearly have experience in photoshop, so it's hard to fairly compare the different programs given your proficiency. However, free is always better in my books.
as a digital artist and sometimes graphic designer, i LOVE Affinity. can’t recommended it enough! i’m so glad to see you give it a glowing review! ever since i graduated uni, Adobe has become way too unaffordable for me. Affinity is almost identical to Adobe and at a fraction of the cost!
As someone that once taught college students how to create physics lab graphs in Excel, the Excel design is perfect.
Ever since I started using Blender for 3D, I’ve started to use it more and more for things I would have previously used 2D vector (and raster) programs to create.
It just has so many features I want in all vector programs. Mirroring a shape across an origin, sliding vertices, easily merging verts, beveling, not to mention all the artistic freedom. I could go on for eternity. It really is just so much more enjoyable for me.
You know Blender has a 2D startup file as well, letting you design 2D things far more easily? Its main tool is Grease pencil, but 3D objects can still be used.
yes but then i'd have to put it in the adobe bucket and not the silly bucket
Yes, but not a good one.
10:06 well to answer your question assuming each iced latte is 2.50$ you can Approximately 8 billion iced lattes
you are so brave, elliot. seriously. i was so scared of inkscape, i couldnt do it. you gave me courage. thank you. thank you elliot
18:24 "You killed yourself :(" dropping in like that is maybe the funniest shit I've ever seen
I'm a writer and I make my own book covers in Canva. (I can't afford $800 per cover, I currently have 12 books on Amazon with numbers 13 and 14 coming soon.)
There's a rumour Amazon will soon ban covers designed with Canva due to licensing issues.
This video is gold, many thanks, great timing for me.
What about inDesign for books ?
@MuseLaBet I haven't used inDesign. Happy with the results I'm achieving in Canva at this stage, hopefully Amazon doesn't ban them. (If they do I'm now with other retailers as well.)
I use photopea at work because the tech guy keeps forgetting to install photoshop and I'm not allowed to do it myself and it works so great besides the slowness. Happy to see it included! Also, awesome designs, Elliot :)
I'm so happy to see more Inkscape love! I used it for years in my design and consulting life and used it to make hundreds of flyer and logos. Towards the end that life I even started selling "starter kits" where I just put all the elements of a brand in an svg file so anyone could mix and match things in that file to build collateral that fit their brand language perfectly.
Inkscape will always be my favorite design tool!
The WYSIWYG reference is so funny to me cuz the ONLY context I have for it is that my mom remembers it from when PCs were like first being introduced to the masses and she was learning how to use them in her engineering statistics job, and she now half-jokingly uses it any time stuff prints weird. So it certainly could be American, but like. From the 90s lmao
I remember when word processing programs were NOT WYSIWYG. It was a big thing when WordPerfect introduced a WYSIWYG view of your document.
Fellow graphic designer here, I actually made the switch to Affinity Photo & Inkscape last year. I tried a lot of programs before I found Affinity Photo, and I think is the only program that comes close to matching the tools available in Photoshop. Even then, AP doesn't have a timeline that I can use to assemble GIFs unfortunately. I've just been using an online GIF maker to replace it.
I've yet to get a replacement for InDesign, but I also haven't done a lot of looking.
I've also started using Davinci Resolve for video editing and it's been great.
I made the switch from Indesign to Affinity Publisher and haven’t looked back. I’m only doing simple booklets, single page graphics, slides etc. but I find even for those simple uses Affinity Publisher is lighter and quicker.
I agree with you about photoshop. I like the timeline and Affinity photo also doesn’t have the 3d - but for me that’s just a want not a need. I do find the inpainting brush in Affinity photo much better then the content aware tool in photoshop but I’m not sure if that’s a tool issue or if I’m just not using the content aware tool correctly. For now I keep both but I mostly use Affinity.
The other thing I love is the availability of the ipad apps for the Affinity suite. I keep my files in dropbox so I can pull them up and work on them anywhere. Learning curve on the ipad for sure.
Affinity pub is fantastic I love it. If you have designer and photo installed, they’re literally tabs in publisher. You click them and you get the set of tools from the other programs, without ever needing to export the file.
first time i ever come across your channel, and i'm barely two minutes in. thought to myself "shit wait this looks awesome everything's so pleasing" and then i realized he's a literal graphic designer
Had war flashbacks to my childhood "computers" class when you brought up KidPix...
I really appreciate all the effort and research you put in for this video! I've been meaning to try out some of the cheaper / free alternatives to Adobe software for a while, so this is just inspiring me more.
Thanks Elliot!!
i will defend inkscape with my life. it is my mother my father my child my husband my wife my everything. could not recommend it more
Same here. Inkscape gave me a future and enabled me. I owe so much to this program 😍
I didn’t expect Krita not included. I know it’s mainly for illustration, but still. 😢
Note to myself:
Blender is still just mindblowing
And Inkscape and Figma are appearantly a need
Now Figma also has its open source alternative called penpot
I'm a design student currently and my professors consider Figma to be the industry standard for web-based design!
@@hilarybareiss4646 I guess that's why Adobe wants to buy it: maintain their monopoly and take it from free to subscription-based. Like Broadcom has just done with the buy-once and free versions of VMware licenses. *Poof * gone now.
bro really did a crime skipping KRITA 😂
With 20 billion dollars, you can buy aproximately 3 603 603 603,6036 iced lattes
Oh my God the kid pix brought back so many memories! I used to spend hours on that program and then graduated to Gimp when I got older, because that's the software my friend showed me. I still use Gimp to make raster projects, and got inkscape for vector. Gimp is not very beginner friendly, but once you get used to it, it's a dream. Especially with it being open source, it means you can download, and make, plug-ins and it becomes almost as useful as base photoshop
I am glad at least one other person agree that GIMP is not user-friendly. It is so counter-intuitive, I don't understand why they haven't changed it. And this is not even from a Photoshop-first perspective. I started with GIMP. Once I found Krita, I couldn't help but actually feel that GIMP was just trash and garbage lol. (sorry if this hurt anyone's feelings).
Omg same. Seeing Kid pix brought back memories I did not know I had lol
I think Canva is so useful for people that are not in a design area, but still need the features. When you are I college or school and need to make a lot of presentations, power point becomes boring and repetitive, while in Canva there are ways more possibilities and you can have something unique with very little skill
Big plus with Affinity for VFX artists out there: Affinity can work with full depth 32 bit EXR's and not have any tool limitation, including the healing brush category of tools, unlike Photoshop. 6 month free trial as well.
I got kind of worried by not seeing Inkscape within the thumbnail. I used it once in the past cause i had a interest in Graffiti speed draws with it, Its something powerful and special for something free but has a bit of a learning curve. Luckily there are a bunch of tutorials on how to work with it.
only reason inkscape didn't make the thumbnail is cos the logo isn't that memorable lmaooo but FANTASTIC program
I love your inclusion of Inkscape and how well you've rated it considering how unpopular it is these days. I work in both GIMP and Inkscape and to be honest GIMP is sometimes the most confusing thing ever (its pretty limited too, but thats another issue)
14:31 no undo tool? let me introduce you the revolutionary pencil and eraser duo!
I used Photoshop all throughout high school, and I have to say that the best alternative I've used is Photopea. The slowness is only really a problem once you start getting into higher and higher resolution sizes or when you start using dozens and dozens of layers and unapplied effects. That or you have a low end computer. (Also combining Blender, Photopea, and Krita/IbisPaint X is just the best)
9:33 Let me point out something, back when I didn't use any other programs for design other than BLENDER, I can tell you it does the job AMAZINGLY WELL. And with all the new updates with geometry nodes, you can do insane stuff.
Good thing no one told Elliot about minecraft maps, I can imagine him obsessively merging maps, testing different resolutions, using elevation to adjust shades
Fully agree on Inkscape. I started using in as a temporal measure, but now I am using only Inkscape for 3 years