One of the most common questions you get asked as a digital artist is ‘what program do you use?’ (the second most common question being ‘can you draw me something free in exchange for exposure?’). I use a program called Clip Studio Paint (CSP) for my art, a software which is criminally overlooked. And while there are multitudes of interesting and varied art programs out there, the king of photo editing and graphic art software is undoubtedly Photoshop.
Still, outside of a summer Photoshop course I took and a 6-month subscription, I have never really used nor had much interest in it. CSP has been my software of choice for over a decade, supported by the good ol’ reliable GIMP, and more recently, the Affinity suite. But YamPuff, you say, Photoshop is the industry standard! Surely you should give it another go. But even with all Photoshop has to offer, I’ve never been tempted to make the move, and I don’t think I ever will.
Bringing us to: the 5 Reasons Why I Don’t Like Photoshop (And Use CSP Instead)
1. I don’t rent software
Photoshop now costs (as of 2023) a whopping $22.99 a month to ‘rent’. That’s over $260 a year. And that’s just for Photoshop – if you want the full suite of programs (Illustrator, Lightroom, etc.) it’s a whopping $59.99 a month. Now call me old-fashioned, but I do not like ‘renting’ software. I prefer the old-fashioned way of paying for something once and having it on your computer forever. With CSP, and newer programs like the Affinity suite, you pay once for the software, and then every few years or so, you can choose to pay for an upgrade, usually for a discounted price. And you don’t have to upgrade if you don’t want to – sometimes you get attached to the janky old version of a program and you want to keep it forever; I had Windows XP running way past its expiry date. It’s nice to have the option. With newer programs that you don’t really ‘own’, it’s hard to disable updates.
I believe that companies are entitled to get compensation for the products they create, but the considerable monthly fee has always put me off. I don’t like the idea of my bread and butter being tied to something that I technically ‘rent’ and not ‘own’. What if I can’t afford the subscription one month, or I don’t like the new update? After over a decade of using CSP, I’ve probably spent less on the original purchase + subsequent upgrades than it costs to rent Photoshop for one year.
Also Photoshop does weird things like making you pay to use certain colors.
2. I don’t like Photoshop’s pen tools
I’m primarily a coloring book and digital stamp artist. Having started my digital art journey on CSP, a software created especially for a black and white inked medium (it was originally called Manga Studio, created with manga artists in mind), they put a LOT of effort into their pen tools. I believe their pen tools are second to none. I have not yet been able to find a pen even on Procreate that rivals my CSP experience, which has hindered me in using Procreate as much as I’d like.
So when I took a Photoshop course a few years back, I was incredibly disappointed in the pen tools Photoshop had to offer. Its brushes are phenomenal, but I could never find a pen or line tool that gave me the fluidity, crispness and responsiveness of the CSP pen tools. Maybe there’s someone out there who has released the perfect brush set of the ultimate pen tools ever… but it isn’t a preset brush that comes with Photoshop. I feel like Photoshop’s focus is and has always digital coloring, photo touch-ups and so on, but not line-work. Artists with a focus on line-work tend to use CSP, or Illustrator. In any case, Photoshop just does not provide the lines I need to do my work.
3. This is heavy, Doc
CSP requires a minimum of 2GB of ram, but recommends 8GB. Photoshop on the other hand, requires a minimum of 8GB of ram but recommends 16GB. It’s pretty heavy on your computer, especially if you start getting into a detailed image with a lot of layers. That means, in addition to the fortune you’re already paying for the monthly subscription, you best have a powerful machine to install the software on as well, or be prepared for your system to crash when you make a big selection and the marching ants go out of hand.
I like having software that runs smoothly on my mid-level laptop, and I like being able to listen to video essays on YouTube, browse on Firefox, run GIMP on the side, and multi-task in other ways while working on my art. I can do that because CSP is so light on the system, and incredibly stable. It has almost never crashed in my memory. On a laptop with similar stats, back when I had Photoshop, it was laggy and prone to crashing.
4. Why so complex?
Not to dismiss my own work, but I am a simple artist with simple needs. The bulk of my art is black and white coloring pages. I don’t need AI to delete random items from the background of my pictures, or to generate more stairs or grass for me. I don’t need advance blending and healing brushes, or cloning tools and all that. I just need clean lines and an undo button. And considering the hefty price tag we discussed earlier, paying over $20 a month to use only a fraction of features offered is such a waste. I wonder if Photoshop would ever consider a ‘lite’ version of their software for a smaller monthly fee.
The fact is, Photoshop is the industry standard and costs what it does for a reason; it’s chock-full of incredibly powerful tools that artists around the world use to create cutting-edge advertisements, art, and to edit award-winning photographs. But if you’re not that sort of artist, like me, then Photoshop is loaded with features you don’t need and may never use. And so, the existence of those features doesn’t mean all that much to me.
5. I’m Not Like Other Girls
As a child I consciously chose purple as my favorite color because I felt pink was too mainstream. And that mentality stayed with me for life. It’s the same reason I avoid Apple products – I just feel they’re too popular (although I did eventually cave and get an iPad Pro because Procreate really is worth the hype). Now, I began my digital art journey around 2007 or so and I’m not going to deny that getting a less mainstream software appealed to me. CSP at the time was called ‘Manga Studio’ and was specially geared towards manga artists.
I had great aspirations of being a manga artist myself (I even published a couple of short manga on TOKYOPOP’s now defunct ‘create your own manga’ portal) and that pushed me towards CSP as well. Manga Studio did not even have a proper coloring took back then, and as I remember, I used to color in my art by using colored layers, and each layer could only take 2 colors. Anyways, as I became more sophisticated as a digital artist, so did CSP and we grew together. It now has advanced coloring features, brush tools and even an AI coloring assist which is pretty sophisticated. In any case, ‘Oh, no I don’t actually use Photoshop’ was and still remains a satisfying thing to say always causing a stir and some pearl-clutching.
And there you have it, my 5 reasons why I don’t like Photoshop (and use CSP instead). What are your thoughts? Do you have or use Photoshop? CSP? Something else entirely? Sound off in the comments below and share your thoughts!
