Will the illustrator/photoshop courses help with GIMP or inkscape?

I use Sketch and Pixelmator on my Mac. So I can understand what your trying to ask. The best answer I can give you is that there are similarities in all of these softwares but they are also different. By watching the videos you can learn how to use the software but honestly the best teacher is actually using it. So if your not going to be using them soon its just going to be forgotten.

For Mac, I really think that Sketch and Pixelmator is the best software out there–as alternatives to Adobe software. But Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are still the best in the market. If you can get your hands on some copies of CS6 get them. If you can afford the cloud version do that instead.

I had the exact same question. I understand that those tools are extremely powerful, but for us just learning they can be a bit too pricy. Maybe it is enough to use the one-month trial versions to learn, but of course if we wanted to go further we would have to settle for Pixelmator and Sketch or pay the high price of CC. How could we ask team Treehouse to try and get a deal with Adobe to include us in their education pricing. That would at least half the cost and while not everyone will be able to afford it, the most enthusiastic ones might well have to and it will be extremely useful for them.

I went through some posts in the forum and there seems to be a lot of doubts with respect to this topic. A good clarification would be great when starting the design courses or something. If a deal with Adobe happened, it would be great for the new perks site launched by Treehouse.

In my opinion, I don't think it's worth it to watch if you don't have the adobe tools to play with simply because the only way to learn Photoshop or Illustrator is by using them. I would suggest use YouTube to learn about GIMP or inkscape.