Lifehacker: Adobe tools like Photoshop and Illustrator are household names for creative professionals on Mac and PC (though Affinity is trying hard to steal those paying customers). But now, Adobe is gunning for the tablet drawing and painting market by making its Fresco digital painting app completely free.
6 comments:
Competition for apps and products is always the best for the customer. I have known several artists who like to use procreate in their design process because it is easy to learn how to use and its quite low one-time cost. This is also great for people who don’t or don’t want to have the time to spend to learn the intricacies of a suite of products like Adobe offers and which one is best for them. The cost also enables the users to not feel taken advantage of when they want to dabble with art here and there while not worrying about the hundreds of dollars year after year they need to spend to keep up with the adobe suite. Adobe’s new free app obviously is trying to throw its weight around to acquire these users who don’t want to spend as much money on a nice drawing app and eventually put procreate out of business.
Adobe's decision to make its Fresco app free is an exciting shift, especially in a digital art space dominated by apps like Procreate. I appreciate how Adobe’s move lowers the entry barrier for creators, allowing anyone with a compatible device to experiment with high-quality tools without worrying about cost. However, I think about the challenges Fresco faces in competing with Procreate, which has become the go-to for many digital artists. Procreate's intuitive, touch-first design, its vibrant community support, and the ease of sharing and customizing brushes make it tough to beat, especially as it caters directly to artists’ needs without involving AI.From a technological standpoint, this shift reminds me of how open-source software in other fields, like coding and data science, encourages broader access to high-quality tools and sparks more innovation. As Adobe leans on the strength of its Creative Cloud ecosystem and cross-platform accessibility, it will be fascinating to see if this new strategy can cultivate a broader base of digital artists, pushing both the Fresco and Procreate communities toward new possibilities in creativity.
I think having an app like Fresco that is free available on a multitude of devices and will connect to the creative cloud is incredibly important and exciting development. However, like the article says there really is a long way for this app to go because digital media creators are used to other programs. In order for Adobe to cement it's place in this market with the Fresco app they need to do something that brings it above and beyond the apps that are already out there. As someone who's sister does use Procreate I have heard from her that she has to be very specific about saving and making sure she does it correctly or else she will lose her sometimes hours of hard work. Adobe introducing the creative cloud in exciting a big step for art like this, that can only exist in the digital space. However, like many I would be worried about the use of AI while having my work uploaded to a cloud system. While Adobe hasn't said there will be no AI function in the app, while apps like Procreate are vocal about no AI intervention, Adobe could push themselves a farther in making themselves a place by be firm and Anti AI.
It's interesting to note that even a company like Adobe can face challenges when business competition arises. Typically, renowned companies like Adobe hold a monopoly in their fields. However, as device media becomes increasingly diverse, it creates more opportunities for other companies to identify gaps and fill irreplaceable functions. For example, Procreate has capitalized on this by establishing its space in the tablet market, even as Adobe dominated the PC market. Now, even though Adobe is attempting to catch up by offering its app for free, it is difficult to reclaim what other apps have accomplished in their specific markets. This inspires me to understand how crucial it is to identify commercial opportunities when developing a business. Similar to the theater industry, I see some companies seeking untapped areas to attract a wider audience. For example, Punchdrunk has introduced a new concept called immersive theater-making, which has set them apart and earned them significant prestige.
I use Procreate a lot, and I also use illustrator and photoshop a lot. I think Procreate has its pros and cons. It's very intuitive and user friendly but it is by no means a professional standard. It lacks a lot of functions photoshop and illustrator have. It’s very hard to fine tune certain effects in Procreate, there's a limit to how many layers, and it's an IPad only app. I like Photoshop because it has a wider variety of settings, and I can use it on any computer or my IPad. But I understand not everyone is able to afford an adobe subscription, whereas Procreate is a one-time purchase. But I think this is where Fresco comes in. It’s free and it's Adobe-grade. I also like that Fresco has compatibility with computers and windows as well, making it easy to work on stuff on the go. I’ve only used Fresco a little, but I definitely plan to start using it more. It may even become my new go-to.
I think it’s interesting that Adobe, the notoriously expensive company, is now trying to battle their way onto the iPad/tablet market by making their product free. I’ve never used either of these products, but from this article it seems like Procreate is still more appealing. It looks like the only proper advantages Adobe Fresco offers is connectivity to other Adobe products and Windows compatibility. Even then, connecting to other Adobe products like Creative Cloud require you to already be paying a monthly subscription fee. I also find Procreate a lot more appealing because it doesn’t use AI – something that seems to now be integrated into all Adobe products. I find it more and more frustrating as more and more programs I use offer AI services, sometimes that can’t be turned off. At the end of the day, I suppose each one has its ups and downs, and I’m sure people who already use the Adobe suite will go for Fresco.
Post a Comment