Photoshop and Illustrator are both amazing programs that are both useful in the design world today. I know this now, but when I was younger it wasn't always the case...
I had always loved photoshop. To me, photoshop was the natural next step from MS Paint which I had been obsessed with from the moment I laid eyes on it. (If I had a nickel for every little pixelated Pikachu picture I made on there…) Then when I went to college and found out about design I dropped everything. "Wait, you can get paid to use photoshop? Where do I sign!" So for me photoshop had a bit of a running start in the competition between the two.
I've had friends in both camps too. I've known some diehard photoshopers, and some Illustrators who avoid it like the plague, but it wasn't until recently (and I'm talking months if not weeks) that I'm shedding my prejudices and using them both equally.
Do you want to change the lighting on a photo? Use photoshop. Do you want to draw a logo? Hop on illustrator. Need to change the colours on that image? Boot up photoshop. Retracing that image? Illustrator away!
Sure there's a bit of overlap where you can use your favourite, or other times where one could do the job better but you use the other since you're more comfortable, but these are the exceptions, not the norm.
In the end you should be open to using many programs, not stoically sticking to just one.
Share the love man!
Scott M
Graphic Designer
I majored in adobe products! :)
