Start networking and exchanging professional insights

Register now or log in to join your professional community.

Follow

What is the difference between Photoshop and Illustrator?

user-image
Question added by Lina Samer , Digital Media Graphic Designer , iDirection
Date Posted: 2015/11/08
Tamer Kholy
by Tamer Kholy , Graphic Designer , Freelancer

Adobe Photoshop

Everything in Photoshop is just a series of pixels, so if you’re scaling something up or down, it can lose its quality very quickly. Photoshop is a popular choice for web graphics, photo editing and designs since those projects will stay at a fixed size. 

Editing photos is awesome in Photoshop, because it includes a lot of unique filters, special effects and tools.

Another great benefit of Photoshop is that you can have complete control of your projects, since you can edit your graphic pixel-by-pixel. 

 

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator uses mathematical constructs to create vector graphic. In Illustrator, a line is composed of two dots connected by a computer algorithm, instead of just a line of pixels. 

Because of this, Illustrator is used often to create logos or anything that may need to be printed or displayed at different sizes. A vector graphic will never lose its quality if it’s scaled up or down.

Illustrator will also give you a better print output since it’s not resolution dependent.

A drawback of Illustrator is that it can’t be used easily to modify images that are already created, since there are limited filters and image editing tools available to you.

The major difference between Photoshop and Illustrator. Raster vs Vector

 

                 comparison Photoshop and Illustrator 

 

 

    Photoshop

1. Pixel based graphics

2. zooming out of% = blurry and messy

3. Single canvas.

4. Area Selection.

5. Layers contain single objects.

6. can work within workspace .

 

  Illustrator 

 

1. vector based graphics.

2.% sharp and clear 

3. multiple artboards

4. Object Selection

5. Layers contain multi objects

6. can work outside workspace    

Salman Ahmed
by Salman Ahmed , Sr. System Engineer , Alpha Data

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is raster based image editing tool, raster image is made of up pixels, each a different color, arranged to display an image. 

 

Raster image pixels do not retain their appearance as size increases 

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is vector based image editing & designing tool, vector image is made up of paths, each with a vector that tells the path how it is shaped and what color of border or filled by.

 

Vector images do retain appearance regardless of size.

Yaqoub Alomar
by Yaqoub Alomar , Civil Engineer , Al-Zubeir municipality

Photoshop uses raster graphics.. illustrator uses vector images primarily. vector images can be scaled up to any size without any loss in resolution, whereas a raster image will pixelate. it depends on what you intend using it for really and what your needs as a comic book artist are.

Michelle Abid
by Michelle Abid , photographer , Lamasat studio&salon com.

illustrator deals with vector and photoshop deals with raster images....

Vector have no pixel and raster it contains pixels...

Krishna Kavin Rao
by Krishna Kavin Rao , Team Leaders /Supervisors , Crystal Arc Factory

Photoshop is a raster Graphic and Illustrator is vector Graphic software... i hope this is an answer.

Umair Siddiqui
by Umair Siddiqui , Supervision

 Photoshop

Pixel based graphics, mean for images and photos

 

  Illustrator 

1. vector based graphics for illustrations

Miriam Hull
by Miriam Hull , Head Product Designer , Burj Khalifa - Emaar

Illustrator is a vector based program, whereby images (vector, not photographs) can be enlarged to any size without affecting the sharpness/clarity of the image.

Whereas Photoshop is pixel based, so images can only be increased to a certain size depending on the DPI of the image.

Michael Salindong
by Michael Salindong , Brand Manager , Al Bassami International Business Group

Photoshop's primary use is for the correction, manipulation and composition of photographic images while Illustrator's primary use is for creating, manipulating and composition of vector illustrations. In short Photoshop is a raster image editor while Illustrator is a vector illustration editor. Both are extremely useful and serve their own purposes well. Which you need depends on the type of work you intend on doing. Here's a very short list that might help you. Photoshop is best for
  • Photo retouching
  • Photo color correction
  • Compositing photos
  • Compositing3D renders
  • Key art (book covers, posters, game covers—designs that revolve around a single piece of art)
  • Matte painting
  • Digital painting
Illustrator is best for
  • Logo design
  • Icon design
  • Web design
  • Page layout
  • Typographic art
  • Vector illustrations

Syed Mohiuddin Khatib
by Syed Mohiuddin Khatib , Business Development Manager , Almana Digital Solutions

 

Photoshop is without doubt the most popular commercial Adobe Software. It's well renowned for incredible photo editing capabilities. Photoshop, being a raster graphics 

 

 

Illustrator may look similar to Photoshop at a first glance, but it is very different. Illustrator is a vector graphics program. This means that the image is not composed of pixels, but rather of mathematical constructs. Per example, in a raster graphic program like Photoshop, when you draw a line, it is simply a series of coloured pixels, whilst, in a vector program, a line is composed of two dots which are connected together by a computer algorithm. You can modify and move these dots as you wish. 

Difference between Photoshop and Illustrator is that, Photoshop is raster based application and Illustrator is a vector based program.

Photoshop handles files based on pixels and resolution unlike Illustrator which is completely vector based.

Photoshop is focused on digital image manipulation while Illustrator focuses on branding, logo designs etc.

More Questions Like This

Do you need help in adding the right keywords to your CV? Let our CV writing experts help you.