Adobe Illustrator CC – Essentials Training

Hey there, I'm Dan, and I'm not just a designer, but an Adobe Certified Professional and Adobe MAX Master Award winner. Join me as we embark on an incredible journey together learning Adobe Illustrator!

Download the exercise files for the course here.

This course is tailor-made for those who are new to Illustrator and the world of design, as we start from scratch on our journey to becoming Illustrator superheroes! Together, we'll unravel the secrets and techniques that enable you to create anything your creative heart desires - from icons, logos, and postcards to beautifully hand-drawn illustrations.
Get ready to dive into the mesmerizing world of Adobe Illustrator, where we'll craft stunning looking graphics. But we won't stop at just learning the tools; we're about to unleash our creative powers by creating real-world, practical, and portfolio-ready projects.

Together we will learn to:

• Master the art of drawing with simple shapes and lines.
• Unleash your creativity by combining and subtracting shapes using the Shape Builder.
• Create advanced custom logos and graphics.
• Explore the world of creative brushes, lines, and strokes to elevate your designs to the next level.
• Use the Width tool to enhance your lines and strokes adding a style.
• Conquer the pen, pencil, and curvature tools like a pro.
• Dive into the wonderful world of fonts and the art of mastering type.
• Use the intertwine feature to create interesting overlapping illustrations. 
• Learn the art of masking images and graphics.
• Discover the magic of distorting, bending, warping, and liquefying illustrations.
• Select and use color combinations like a true master of design.
• Craft your own unique repeating patterns.
• Transform real drawings into captivating stencil-style images.
• Export your creations for print, web, social media, and more.
• Acquire the techniques used by professional graphic designers.
• Work with your own mini-brief - creating a unique Farmer's Market brand and bringing it to life.
• Harness the power of Adobe's Generative AI features to push your creative boundaries.
• Working with mood boards to gather inspiration.
• Create realistic mockups to enhance your designs even further.
• Engage in a wealth of class projects to put your skills to the test.
• Stay ahead with a handy printable PDF cheat sheet.
• Access downloadable exercise files to help you practice and refine your skills.
• Benefit from forum support provided by the BYOL Teaching Assistant Team.
• Discover professional workflows and shortcuts to work more efficiently.
• Gain access to a treasure trove of additional resources and websites to supercharge your career.

But that's not all! I'll unveil Illustrator's hidden gems that will transform you into a pro at discovering and utilizing breathtaking vector based graphics. We'll dive into the latest Illustrator tools, including the mind-blowing Generative AI features that allow us to craft illustrations that were once thought impossible. 
Whether you've never even opened Illustrator or have struggled with it in the past, I'm here to show you the easy way to create breathtaking artwork and portfolio projects to be proud of. Join me as we go from Illustrator zeros, to Illustrator superheroes!

Requirements:

• All you need is a copy of Adobe Illustrator, you can get a free trial from Adobe here to get started.

Who this course is for:

• Absolutely no previous Adobe Illustrator experience is required.
• This course is designed for newcomers to Illustrator and design in general, so no prior design, drawing, or illustration experience is necessary.
• This is a relaxed, well-paced introduction, perfect for producing a wide range of drawings, illustrations, logos, and portfolio projects. Only basic computer skills are necessary - if you can send emails and surf the internet, you're more than capable of mastering this course.

What you'll learn:

• Drawing with Shapes & Lines
• Drawing with the Shape Builder
• Creating a custom logo
• Working with Brushes
• Drawing with the pen, pencil & curvature tool
• Learn how to work with type & fonts.
• How to vectorise an image in Illustrator
• How to curve text in illustrator
• How to trace an image in illustrator
• How to warp text in illustrator
• How to embed images in illustrator
• How to mask images & graphics.
• How to distort, bend, warp & liquefy illustrations.
• How to make 3D illustrations. 
• How to make your own repeating patterns.
• How to create stencil style images from real drawings.
• How to save, print & export for Print, web & social media.
• Lots of real world exercises for you to practice.
• Loads or class projects for you to complete.
• Printable Cheat sheet.
• You will get the finished files so you never fall behind.
• Downloadable exercise files.
• Techniques used by professional graphic designers.
• Professional workflows and shortcuts.
• A wealth of other resources and websites to help accelerate your career.

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Looking for more inspiration? Head here to discover more classes on Adobe Illustrator.

• Introduction to Adobe Illustrator Essentials
• Getting Started
• What is Illustrator used for & when to use Photoshop vs InDesign
• A quick tour around Illustrator
• How to draw rounded rectangles triangles & tracing images in Illustrator
• How to draw lines arcs & stars in Illustrator
• Scaling Stroke & Effects & Corners
• Saving to the Creative Cloud versus locally on my desktop
• Exporting your images 101
• Class Project 01 - Your First Creature
• How to draw using the Shape Builder tool in Adobe Illustrator CC
• Class Project 02 - Icons Using the Shape Builder
• Completed - Class Project 02 - Icons Using the Shape Builder
• How to use layers in Illustrator
• Align distribute rotation & math in fields - Impossible Triangle
• Class project 03 - Impossible Triangle
• How to use Text to Vector in Illustrator
• Class Project 03 - Ai Creature
• How to draw anything using the Curvature Tool in Adobe Illustrator
• Mixture of curves and straight lines using the Curvature tool
• Class project 04 - Curvature Tool
• Combining shapes curvature & shape builder tools into Fox shadows
• How to draw using the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator CC
• Class project 05 - The Dreaded Pen Tool
• Dan tidying up students work
• Class project 06 - Pen Tool Redemption
• Awake Fox Combining Tools & Skill Stacking
• Class Project 07 - Skill Stacking Practice
• AI Generative Recolor
• How to make a Mood Board in Illustrator
• Class Project 08 - Make your mood board
• Class Project 09 - Your New Creature
• T-Shirt Making
• Drawing with the Pencil Tool in Adobe Illustrator CC
• Class project 10 - Pencil Tool Drawing
• Adjust your stroke corners profile and mitres
• How to make an arrow in Illustrator
• How to Make a Dotted or Dashed in Illustrator
• How to use Brushes in Adobe Illustrator CC
• Class project 11 - Brush Doodles
• How to Simplify paths in Illustrato
• How to draw lines with the Width Tool in Adobe Illustrator
• Class Project 12 - Width Tool
• How to Join two lines together in Illustrator
• How to use Intertwine in Illustrator
• Class project 13 - Intertwine
• How to Expand Appearance in Illustrator
• How to create a postcard document in Illustrator
• How to add type in Illustrator us Area vs Point text
• How to pick fonts in Illustrator
• How to use Adobe Fonts in Illustrator
• How to make Adobe Font Pairing
• Class Project 14 - Postcard Fonts
• How to find & use Glyphs in Illustrator
• Class Project 15 - Logo Type
• How to curve text in Illustrator
• How to put type around a circle badge using Illustrator
• Class Project 16 - Type on a Path
• How to break apart & outline text in Illustrator
• Adjusting an existing drawing using the pencil tool
• Class Project 17 - Heavy Metal Band Logo
• How to Intertwine text monogram in Illustrator
• Class Project 18 - Monogram
• What is RGB & CMYK & HSB & HEX colors in Illustrator
• How to steal colors from an image using Eyedropper in Illustrator
• Creating a reusable color swatch in Illustrator
• Transparency & Opacity and darkening images in Illustrator
• How to use CC Libraries in Adobe Illustrator CC
• How to find amazing colors in Illustrator using Adobe Color
• Class Project 19 - Color Variants
• How to use AI Generative Recolor in Illustrator
• Class Project 20 - Generative Recolor
• How to make Gradients in Illustrator
• Missing images and relinking and embedding
• How to crop an image in Adobe Illustrator
• Class Project 21 - Postcard Finish
• How to cut holes in shapes using Compound Shapes in Illustrator
• How to separate Compound & Masked shapes in Illustrator
• How to make a Paper cut effect in Illustrator
• Class Project 22 - Papercut Effect
• Using artboards in Illustrator to make double sized business cards
• Class Project 23 - Business Card
• How to use Liquify distort wrinkle bloat & pucker in Illustrator
• Class Project 24 - Liquify Type
• Sliced text effect in Illustrator
• Class Project 25 - Sliced Text
• How to bend & warp shapes in Adobe Illustrator
• How to Warp & Bend type in Illustrator
• Class Project 26 - Established Flag Warp
• Completed - Class Project 26 - Established Flag Warp
• How to convert a sketch into vector and color it in illustrator
• How to vectorize an image in illustrator
• How to convert photo into a stencil Silhouette in Illustrator
• How to make a Anaglyph effect in Illustrator
• Class Project 27 - Live Trace
• Drawing amazing flower with repeating shapes in Illustrator
• Class Project 28 - Repeating Pattern
• How to make repeating patterns with Geometric Marquetry in Illustrator
• Class Project 29 - Pattern Making
• How to make 3D Type extruded type in Illustrator
• Class Project 30 - Black Friday Sale
• How use Inflate to make cool 3D in Illustrator
• Class Project 31 - Inflate
• How to realistically Mockup your design in Illustrator
• Class Project 32 - Mockup
• How Share for Review your Illustrator designs
• How to embed images in illustrator
• Understanding all the ways to export files from Illustrator
• WebP vs SVG vs PNG vs JPG vs PDF AI vs EPS vs Tiff in Illustrator
• Class Project 33 - Spoonflower
• The best shortcuts in Adobe Illustrator
• What Next