Pictures speak a thousand words, and here's how you can make a million of them talk about the message of your brand! If you are a designer, agency, or individual planning to explore a career in the design space, you might be wondering about the tools you must invest in.

With a wide range of options available and every tool claiming to be the best, it might be challenging to decide which one is ideal for you. So, as part of our #KnowYourDesignSoftware series, we decided to list out to 6 Best Software for Illustrations, their uses, and the cost involved in each of these to help you decide.

Read on to know more:

1. Adobe Illustrator

Usage: This vector graphics editor tool is the go-to software for all designers across the globe. Ideal for creating logos, fonts, cartoons, and graphics, Adobe Illustrator is ideal for creating photo-realistic layouts to be used on Adobe Photoshop.

Cost: Illustrator is available at $19.99 per month if you opt for an annual plan and $29.99 if you choose to pay on a month-to-month basis.

2. Adobe Photoshop

Usage: A crucial tool for graphic designers, developers, and photographers alike, Adobe Photoshop is an image editing, creation, retouching, and website mockup creation tool. The ability to add, create, and edit the layers in an image with multiple filters makes this the most sought after software by designers across the globe.

Cost: You can get Photoshop for $10 per month, which is $120 a year.

3. Mudbox

Usage: This 3D sculpting and modeling tool is widely popular among designers who wish to explore their digital sculpting skills. Limited by your imagination, this tool lets you paint, model, or sculpt your environment most engagingly. Creating surreal illustrations is the current trend, and if you wish to catch up with the fad too, this is one tool you should invest, learn, and master!

Cost: You can get a perpetual license of Mudbox for a cost of $495.

4. Autodesk SketchBook

Usage: An easy-to-use and a very expressive tool for doodlers, designers, and sketchbook artists, Autodesk Sketchbook is gaining immense popularity. This is the closest you could get to put your ideas on paper while going digital. If you wish to get a little more creative and make animations out of your illustrations, you can either use Sketchbook for Desktop or Sketchbook Motion. Alternatively, you could also import your illustrations to this software and create animation from them.

Cost: Sketchbook pro is available for $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year.

5. Corel Painter X3

Usage: Known to be one of the best tools for creating illustrations for magazines, comics, or storyboards. Popular for its photo-painting and cloning features, designers across the world vouch for the ease with which the cloning feature can be used. You can either do it manually or by using the Auto-Painting palette, where you can pick a brush of your choice to clone. This tool is ideal for creating fine designs, doodles, concept art, etc.

Cost: $97.99

6. Procreate

Usage: A digital painting tool, this one is for designers who love to work on the move using their iPads. It gives you the freedom to create, edit, share, and review your work on the go. Designed to give the user a feel of working using pens and pencils on paper, in a traditional style, this app for hand-held devices is gaining wide popularity, given the fact that you can seamlessly import designs from other applications too.

Cost: $9.99 to download. There are no additional renewal or buying costs involved.

These are just a few tools we found useful from the many available in the market. We hope the list was comprehensive and useful. Don’t forget to share this with a designer friend who might find it interesting.

Do check out our other blogs in the series of #KnowYourDesignSoftware here.

Happy Reading!