What tools to choose for graphics? What tools to choose in the general concept for creating simple games?

Question

Android

Dear friends!
My name is Maxim, 26 years old. I work as a consultant in support of the system for the operation of oil pipelines. Terribly boring and nothing to do. I have been dreaming about game development for a long time. Purely on the first for yourself, gain experience.
Because I have two small children, it was decided to start with simple, easy, educational, beautiful games for children from 3 years old and older.
I started to master the Unity3D engine, I like it, convenient, suitable for many purposes, I decided on it both at the initial stage and in the future.
To create 3d models definitely Blender.
The question now is the choice of tools for graphics2D, animation - criteria: the ability to import into unity, free, usability, good functionality. I don't really want to use broken programs. I want to save time searching for tools, maybe someone already uses similar things. I ask you to prompt, point out possible pitfalls, advice in the general concept. I want to note that in this direction, money interests me the least, first of all, the creation of really sensible educational games and the prospect of development in game development.
Thank you for your attention.
PS: I forgot to ask about the use of raster or vector graphics? Areas of use. I don't even know how to phrase the question. What to use and where to start?

Answer 1

Of the free ones, the most sophisticated is GIMP. Purely theoretically, in terms of the power of features, it is almost as good as Photoshop, but in practice it is far from being so convenient, although much is a matter of habit. The unit does not read its format directly (although it may have already been done), but there is no problem exporting to PNG or something.
There is also Krita, but it is more for artists. For pixel art, Paint.NET is good.
EMNIP, Photoshop has a month of trial, you can try, do all sorts of tutorials for a start, and then decide whether this software costs 10 (seemingly) bucks a month or not.
Vector/Raster: Game engines require a raster anyway, but some things are obviously easier to do in a vector first.

Answer 2

If it's free, then Paint.NET
However, I would venture to advise you to spend a couple of bucks and still buy a subscription to Photoshop, because most of the lessons are about it. Master Photoshop - you can switch to any other editor by analogy.
PS I saw demos of fast game development (a couple of hours for a platformer for PC+gamepad), where a person used Construct2 and a Flash vector editor for graphics.
However, I still prefer Unity - if there are already developments, then doing new things is faster + porting to mobile platforms is easier.

Answer 3

Well, if you can’t draw and you don’t have a tablet, then vector is the only option. inkscape is good for vector. I also liked xara designer.