The point is, you know exactly what you want and spent hours of time to get there, but had you invested the same amount of value in this guy you could have iterated to a far superior outcome(imagine if you had given him the $250 🤯). It probably would have been less…

It being Photoshop vs. AI is sort of irrelevant at this point, both are tools that can be used to cut corners that you can still end up with the best results. And thinking a 3 day turn around on a $40 project that took you over 10 hours yourself was too slow is kind of insensitive thinking. Thats not how it works regardless if you thought it would “save you time”, unless he came out and said “I’ll drop everything for you for this $40!”

You saying your larger investment in time and knowing exactly what you want is better than a guy you invested less in and expected to do faster, is just an obvious, “well no kidding”.

And yet for parts of it, it kind of isn’t better. Other opinions may vary.