If you’re trying to learn a new application there’s nothing better than having an expert guide you through the various menus and tools. This post rounds up 30 of the most detailed Adobe Illustrator video tutorials and screencasts on the web. Each one features a mix of clear commentary and useful techniques that will help you on your way to becoming an Illustrator pro.
October is here, which means designers and illustrators get that extra excuse to include skulls, zombies and monsters in their work with the arrival of Halloween. Follow this step by step Adobe Illustrator tutorial to create a hand-drawn zombie illustration. We’ll use a photograph as a basic reference then use our Wacom tablet along with Illustrator’s vector brush tools to draw up various gruesome elements on our zombie character.
It’s been a while since I’ve published much of anything around here so today, I’ve put together a set of 10 seamless plaid patterns for Illustrator and Photoshop that you can use in your designs. The patterns are available in both Illustrator and Photoshop format and can be imported as a .PAT file in Photoshop or as an .AI file in Illustrator. When you open the Illustrator file don’t forget to check the swatches palette. Hope you guys enjoy this set! Hopefully, I’ll have some more goodies for you soon.
Follow this step by step process of creating professional print ready design files for your letterhead and compliment slips stationery designs. We’ll build the design in Adobe Illustrator with the appropriate bleed and margin settings, then use a mix of Adobe Distiller and Adobe Acrobat to export and check over the final design files.
A while back I published a short tutorial demonstrating Read the rest of this entry »
Trying to evenly distribute the space between objects is a task that most designers have to perform every day. While this task is quite easy in Illustrator, you may find that some techniques work better than others in different situations. In this tutorial, I will demonstrate 6 easy ways to evenly distribute space between objects in Illustrator that include using the align palette, the blend tool, brushes, transformation effects, and more.
As you know, I am always looking for news ways to produce graphic design resources. Sometimes my methods involve learning new skills; other times it involves the use of new materials. Recently, I have been experimenting with ink instead of paint to produce Photoshop and Illustrator brushes. Ink is better than paint in several ways. It dries faster, it’s not as sticky, and it’s not as hard on my scanner. So today I am releasing part 2 of a 2-part illustrator brush set. Today’s set includes 27 high quality paintbrush style illustrator brushes that can be used in your designs. Enjoy!
Those of you who are familiar with Photoshop know that transforming an object’s perspective in Photoshop is quite easy; just go to edit > Transform > Perspective and then you can change the perspective of just about any type of object. Doing this in Illustrator however is not quite as easy; or at least straight forward. In this quick tutorial, I will show you how to use the free transform tool in Illustrator in tandem with a few simultaneous keyboard shortcuts to adjust an objects perspective.
When you work with patterns in Illustrator you will find that you are constantly having to tweak them in one way or another. This is because sometimes color schemes or elements in the pattern change for one reason or another. Since recreating the pattern from scratch would be time-consuming, you will need to learn how to make quick edits to your patterns directly from the swatches palette. This brief tutorial will explain how to edit an existing pattern swatch in Illustrator.
Customizing your default settings for Illustrator can save you tons of time. Adobe has done a lot in recent years to make it easier for us to create new documents but even though they have managed to save us a few clicks here and there you can save even more time by making some quick adjustments to your default Illustrator profiles.
Illustrator profiles contain lots of information regarding documents including; pattern swatches, brushes, symbols, graphic styles, and much more. In this brief video tutorial, I will show you how to make a set of pattern swatches into a persistent swatch as well as how to customize your default settings for Illustrator pattern swatches.
Here is a set of 15 Seamless Animal Print Patterns for Illustrator and it was one of my favorites. There are several types of vector pattern swatches in this set including realistic looking giraffe, tiger, cougar, leopard, panther, and cheetah prints. This set of patterns is only available to Vector Plus members but it is definitely worth it. Click the link and download this set today!
the 
