How Comfortable Should You Be In The Software?

What “familiarity with creative software” really means at Islands of Brilliance

We’re not looking for software experts. We’re looking for creative people with enough experience to guide a student through the process of bringing their ideas to life, and the confidence to explore together when something unfamiliar comes up.

 

When we say mentors should be familiar with a tool like Photoshop, Procreate, Illustrator, or Blender…we mean:

  • You know how to use the software for basic creative workflows
    You can open a new file, import images, navigate layers, make edits, or create illustrations without having to Google every step.

  • You feel confident navigating the interface and finding solutions
    You’re not thrown off by menus, settings, or tools…and when you do hit a snag, you know how to troubleshoot, ask for help, or find a workaround.

  • You’ve used the software for your own creative projects
    Your experience may be personal or professional…but you’ve spent enough time in the software to understand its basic strengths, limitations, and quirks.

  • You’re comfortable learning alongside your student
    You don’t need to know every feature or technique. What matters most is your ability to support the student’s creative process, help them stay motivated, and problem-solve with them when challenges come up.

Bottom line: You don’t need to know everything…just enough to keep a student moving forward, feel comfortable exploring, and make the experience fun, supportive, and engaging.

 

Here is a baseline of skills we’d expect a mentor to be comfortable with to claim they are able to mentor in that software:

Procreate

Mentors should feel comfortable with:

  • Creating a new canvas and adjusting canvas size/resolution

  • Using basic brushes and switching between brush types

  • Drawing with Apple Pencil or finger and undo/redo actions

  • Using layers (create, delete, reorder, merge)

  • Adjusting brush size, opacity, and color

  • Using the eraser and smudge tools

  • Exporting artwork (JPG, PNG, PSD)

  • Navigating the Gallery to save and organize work

Adobe Photoshop

Mentors should feel comfortable with:

  • Opening and creating new files

  • Using basic tools: move, lasso, brush, eraser, clone stamp, paint bucket

  • Working with layers, layer masks, and blending modes

  • Cropping, resizing, and rotating images

  • Adjusting color, contrast, and brightness

  • Adding and editing text

  • Exporting files (JPG, PNG, PSD)

Adobe Illustrator

Mentors should feel comfortable with:

  • Creating a new artboard and navigating the workspace

  • Using basic shape, line, and pen tools to build vector artwork

  • Applying and editing colors, gradients, and strokes

  • Working with layers and grouping/ungrouping objects

  • Using the selection tools and alignment functions

  • Adding and editing text

  • Saving/exporting files (AI, PDF, SVG, PNG)

Blender

Mentors should feel comfortable with:

  • Navigating the 3D workspace (zoom, pan, rotate)

  • Adding and manipulating basic objects (move, scale, rotate)

  • Using Edit Mode for simple modeling (extrude, loop cut, merge)

  • Applying basic materials and colors

  • Setting up simple lighting and camera views

  • Rendering a still image

  • Saving project files and rendered outputs