It’s mostly nice, and I’ll continue to use it so I can get to know it, but I can’t unsubscribe from Adobe, yet (unfortunately).

Yeah, the Adobe AI onslaught is a huge turnoff. I avoid those features, but they're in my face all. the. time. Is it tech for tech's sake? I don't know. Some task-oriented features are great (photomerge is a life saver), but features that take away skill & craft (ie. genAI) many don't want or need.

I was surprised at how fast certain things were. For me, PS & Clip Studio (still on 1.5 LOL) really lag big brush sizes; so far the new Affinity hasn't lagged. Panorama stitching (photomerge) is slow, but thank god it seems to work well. Haven't tried the pen tool. Still lots of things to play with!

I like their genAI policies so far, and also like that they've integrated their AI tools in such a way that users who don't care about them can leave them behind while those that do only have to pay a nominal fee for them.

Exciting times, indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing the impact.

And this is *after* doing the good thing of offering a full pro suite for a one-time inexpensive fee.

I'm dismayed and turned off by a lot of tech these days. Especially genAI. So when a company like Affinity comes along, claiming to put creatives first then follows it up by putting out a free full pro suite w/ 3 different, integrated design platforms and risking a different business model? Yeah!

Keep in mind, I only spent 2 hours with it. It is not without its bugs and needs for improvement. But it did seem more nimble than any one instance of Adobe’s apps. So far, in general. I’m also running a 2018 Intel Mac Mini, so your experience will likely be different than mine.

Also true. But you can turn off the Pixel and Vector tabs and customize/use only the relevant tools you need. Everything is integrated so really you’re just loading one large app. Plus, the app is, for an initial release, quite light and fast for housing 3 main design modes.

You’re not wrong. They can change it at any time. For now, I/we can enjoy testing out the new suite. I do have a feeling they’re banking on people wanting their AI tools enough to subscribe for a relatively small fee. It’s an interesting approach, for sure. I’m curious to see how successful it is.

Some people will, and they’ll subscribe for about $700/year less than Adobe’s new Pro plan.

We’ll see what happens.

I gotta say, though. Having Photoshop-, Illustrator-, and InDesign-type apps in a single program, integrated is really nice.

I was entirely skeptical of the new Affinity because I’m not a Canva fan and I wasn’t sure what the catch was. But the subscription is essentially just access to Canva AI tools, almost all of it generative. I personally don’t care one iota about them.

🙏🙏🙏 Thank you, Travis!

Very honored to be included among the many varied guests this year. September 26-28 at the LA Convention Center. Get your tickets early, make those travel plans, and I'll see you all there!⁠
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#lacc #illustrator #comics #indiecomics #ink #paint #traditionalart #noaiart #losangeles

I very much enjoy this show every year, getting to see returning fans and meeting new ones. Plus... who doesn't want to eat in LA!