I want to start freelancing as a freelance web/graphic designer, but using open source software. My problem is that, what if a client asks for a psd or will think I am less than professional for using OS software? I can open psds, and I know my way around photoshop fairly well, but I simply cannot afford a licence for adobe or autodesk products. If I save up enough throughout the year I may be able to get a photoshop license if I desperately needed it, but to be honest there's nothing that I've done in ps that I can't do with OS software (namely cinepaint, gimp 2.8, blender, inkscape etc etc)

 

Maybe if I decide to aim for working with small businesses who will not be very particular about the software I use due to not knowing much about design, I won't run into this problem? Or, if they're satisfied with the quality, they won't mind what tools I used? What if they ask for files that a future designer may use, and I cannot supply them in the right format

 

Thanks

Edited July 30, 201214 yr by minrep

It all depends. With work carried out directly for clients, they probably won't even come into contact with your design files - like your notebooks; they're part of your process, not deliverables.

 

When it comes to doing work for agencies or work where you're supplying the design and someone else is developing it, it might be handy to have a copy of Photoshop because PSD (for better or worse) has turned into something of a de facto standard. On the bright side, you don't need the absolute latest version - I'm still using CS3, and if you're really strapped for cash you could look at something like this.

As an exercise everyday, I pick a website and a design I like and redo it in inkscape/gimp. While they may not be as "efficient" as photoshop, if you know what you're doing, you can still create great designs with completely free software. Having said that, it still is a good idea to know your way around photoshop/illustrator because as Renaissance-Design said, it's sort of a standard. (The reason why I decided to buy the suite). That and the fact that gimp isn't capable of 16bit / 32bit image processing just yet.

 

When working, I only use photoshop when forced to. (Which is not often)

Edited July 30, 201214 yr by Pete Prosper

Do you do much work where you hand over the PSD equivalents to the end client?

 

The problem is these people might be 'expecting' a PSD without really knowing what it is and that your equivalent is just as good and does the same job.

Thanks for your replies

 

It all depends. With work carried out directly for clients, they probably won't even come into contact with your design files - like your notebooks; they're part of your process, not deliverables.

 

When it comes to doing work for agencies or work where you're supplying the design and someone else is developing it, it might be handy to have a copy of Photoshop because PSD (for better or worse) has turned into something of a de facto standard. On the bright side, you don't need the absolute latest version - I'm still using CS3, and if you're really strapped for cash you could look at something like this.

 

Thank you, I may go down that route later when I can afford to, even the dated versions are pricy for me

 

I can save PSDs and they can be opened in photoshop with properly positioned layers and groups, just not with photoshop specific layer styles and whatnot. Is that sufficient enough?

 

 

As an exercise everyday, I pick a website and a design I like and redo it in inkscape/gimp. While they may not be as "efficient" as photoshop, if you know what you're doing, you can still create great designs with completely free software. Having said that, it still is a good idea to know your way around photoshop/illustrator because as Renaissance-Design said, it's sort of a standard. (The reason why I decided to buy the suite). That and the fact that gimp isn't capable of 16bit / 32bit image processing just yet.

 

When working, I only use photoshop when forced to. (Which is not often)

 

I agree, both with the capabilities of OS software and the value of photoshop skills. I'm probably a little rusty, but sometime ago I did use CS2 quite regularly, maybe that knowledge may come in handy someday.

 

Ah, well on the rare occasions that I need to work with something more than 8bit, I have krita, which can deal with 16bit/32bit, both integer and floating point, as well as CMYK. It can load and save PSDs too, like gimp but in 16bit/32bit too. It also handles TIFF, RAW, PNG etc etc. I use it more for digital painting, but its tools are certainly capable of advanced image editing

 

There's also cinepaint or 'film gimp', a fork of Gimp which was/is (nowadays studios use Wine/crossover to run photoshop in linux) used mostly for professional film work, removing dust and hair from frames of film and rig and wire removal. It can of course handle 16bit and 32bit, as well as the OpenEXR, TIFF and PNG formats among others, don't think it works with PSD but you can easily reformat it somewhere else

 

There's also the UFRaw plugin for Gimp too, which handles 16bit RAW images from cameras for color management and limited editing

 

Oh yes and gimp 2.10 will have 16bit and 32bit support, among other great features. You can try it out now by compiling gimp 2.9 'goat-invasion', but it's not stable/ready for production. Hopefully 2.10 will be released soon

 

 

Do you do much work where you hand over the PSD equivalents to the end client?

 

The problem is these people might be 'expecting' a PSD without really knowing what it is and that your equivalent is just as good and does the same job.

 

You may be right

Edited July 31, 201214 yr by minrep

I design at least one website per month for a client, and never use photoshop. The website looks great*, the client never asks for psds - even if they did, I can save as psd in GIMP. Worst case scenario, I can save as psd, open in er, trial copy, of photoshop, fix font probs, resave, and send to client.

 

*the website looks okay

 

No biggy.

 

I don't use any proprietary software for work. I also write copy for a living, and it's all done in LibreOffice. Not one single client has complained about my .doc files not being native in origin.

 

Don't give it another thought.

Edited July 31, 201214 yr by notbanksy

I design at least one website per month for a client, and never use photoshop. The website looks great*, the client never asks for psds - even if they did, I can save as psd in GIMP. Worst case scenario, I can save as psd, open in er, trial copy, of photoshop, fix font probs, resave, and send to client.

 

*the website looks okay

 

No biggy.

 

I don't use any proprietary software for work. I also write copy for a living, and it's all done in LibreOffice. Not one single client has complained about my .doc files not being native in origin.

 

Don't give it another thought.

 

 

Hah, yeah I'm always worried about how such files open concerning fonts etc, as well as them wanting layer styles to edit which of course I don't have when I save as PSD. With LibreOffice I just save as .odt as recommended to avoid compatibility issues since Word can open odt anyway

 

That's very reassuring to know, thanks for your post

Edited July 31, 201214 yr by minrep

I agree, both with the capabilities of OS software and the value of photoshop skills. I'm probably a little rusty, but sometime ago I did use CS2 quite regularly, maybe that knowledge may come in handy someday.

 

If you're using GIMP, it's very hard to forget how to use Photoshop. Though they're not the same, they still are very similar.

 

Ah, well on the rare occasions that I need to work with something more than 8bit, I have krita, which can deal with 16bit/32bit, both integer and floating point, as well as CMYK. It can load and save PSDs too, like gimp but in 16bit/32bit too. It also handles TIFF, RAW, PNG etc etc. I use it more for digital painting, but its tools are certainly capable of advanced image editing

 

Thanks for typing this. I have Krita and the Calligra office suite installed on my system, but I haven't had the time to take a good look at them. I think it's time to change that...

 

 

Oh yes and gimp 2.10 will have 16bit and 32bit support, among other great features. You can try it out now by compiling gimp 2.9 'goat-invasion', but it's not stable/ready for production. Hopefully 2.10 will be released soon

 

I've heard and I'm very much looking forward to it. I just hope it doesn't take 3 years like the last update

i've never handed over a photoshop .psd or an illutrator .ai to a client, unless that was the specific thing they've commissioned me to provide. I always retain source files, clients only get the output e.g. tiff, pdf for graphics, html/css for web work, .swf for Flash etc

 

ps. Abobe's products are available on subscription now. Pretty much obligatory to use them if you want to co-op with other designers.

Edited August 7, 201214 yr by bikeman