Vector Illustration: 60+ Illustrator Tutorials, Tips and Best Practices
- By Editorial
- Posted in Illustrator, TUTORIAL
- 76 comments
Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool for illustrating various elements one can use for web pages and print design. However, it’s important to know what to do in order to powerfully use its tools and achieve certain effects. So, step-by-step tutorials can provide a lot of help, thats why we spent a lot of time searching for the best tutorials out there and the result was 60 remarkable illustrator tutorials, tips, best practices from some of the best illustrators and artists; besides you’ll also find references to brilliant illustrator portfolios out there. Let’s take a look at some of the best Adobe Illustrator tutorials we’ve found in the Web so far.
You might be interested to check other Illustrator related posts:
- 53 Killer Photoshop Illustrator Effects and Tutorials
- 30+ Outstanding Character Illustrations in Modern Web Design
- deviantART: 30+ Breathtaking Artworks
- Masters of Graphic Design and Illustration: 25+ Interviews
Tutorials
1-From Sketch to Vector Illustration- A technique of vector illustrating that takes a little bit more skill is starting with a hand drawn sketches.This tutorial will focus on that technique of vector illustrating.
2-Craft a Dramatic Vector Landscape Environment- This tutorial will show the intermediate Adobe Illustrator artist how to make a dramatic landscape environment.
3-Draw Your Self Portrait- Learn how to transform your photo into your vector self portrait. You’ll review techniques for tracing photos.
4-Complex Circular Design Techniques- This tutorial is split into 2 sections: The Rotate Tool, and a Custom Pattern Brush.
5-Creating trees in Illustrator- Green is in vogue and clients everywhere want natural imagery in their promotional material. Ben the Illustrator shows you how to create a fresh-looking tree.
6-Illustrator Tutorial: Figure Shading-
Drawing the human body is never easy, but shading it and giving it depth as well can be a real headache. A nice tutorial on figure shading by Russell Tate.
7-Texture- When working in Illustrator it’s nice to add textures that weren’t computer generated (like gradients or pattern fills). This is a step-by-step instructions on how you can create your own hand-made texture effects using a Chinagraph Pencil on simple Watercolor Paper.
8-Realistic Curtain- How to create a realistic curtain using the gradient mesh.
9-Wood Grain- Here is a quick way to create wood grain effect using the warp tools in illustrator.
10-Simple organic shapes the Illustrator way- Here is a nice way to create wood grain effect using the warp tools in illustrator.
11-Free Watercolor Brushes and Tutorial- How to create a couple watercolor brushes, and at the end of the tutorial you can download some Free Vectips Watercolor Brushes!
12-3D Logo Tutorial- In this Tutorial you will start with the making of a logo shape, going to rough 3D, and finishing it in Photoshop.
13-How To Create Your Own Vector Cartoon Character- Follow this tutorial to create your own vector character; Freddy the Fish.
14-Vector Polishing Techniques- This tutorial includes 9 Photoshop techniques that will show you how to add more depth, color, contrast, and texture into your vector art.
15-Chinese Bamboo- This tutorial will show you how to illustrate Chinese bamboo with Illustrator Symbol Sprayer and Mesh Tool.
16-ILLUSTRATE IMAGE INTO VECTOR- Basically, it is quite simple to illustrate an animate rather than a real object. Its color tone is simple and easy to apply. Yhis tutorial will teach you how to illustrate an image into vector.
17-Digital Art Tutorial - An old tutorial but worth every minute you spend on it.
19-Create a Designer Font- How to break apart a font into vector bits that we can manipulate. This is a great way to add your style to a font or to make your own!
20-Swirl Mania in Illustrator and Photoshop- There are lots of ways to create swirls in Illustrator, in this tutorial you will learn 4 ways to create swirls, and by mixing them you will learn some very powerful techniques that will allow you to easily make tons of different styles of swirls and crazy sperm vectors.
21-Leather Stylin’ in Illustrator- How to create a quasi-realistic leather patch logo complete with buttons and stitching.
22-Create a Disco Environment with Twirl Tool, Crystalize , and Envelope Tool- In this tutorial you will see how to use envelope tool to create a Disco Ball , You will also utilize Twirl and Crystallize tool to understand its options .
23-Design Float Circle Icon- This tutorial will teach you how to create a Designer float icon using adobe Illustrator that will match with the awesome fasticon set.
24-Using Illustrator’s Mesh Tool as Nature Intended- How to use the Mesh tool to simulate nature’s way of colorizing things—in this case, a fallen leaf.
26- Symmetrical Illustration: Thug Bunny!- This tutorial will go through the method of using symmetry in your artwork. Learn how to do half the work but still get the full benefit from your artwork.
27-Illustrator Shapes Tutorial - This is an Adobe Illustrator Tutorial on How to Make Shapes
Neat Tips & Tricks
28-Illustrator: The Tilde Trick-Holding down the tilde key, (the little squiggly line above the tab key, left of the number 1 on your keyboard.) while using a drawing tool will cause Illustrator to repeat the shape rapidly as you move your mouse.
29-illustrator Pucker and Bloat Effect- How to use the Pucker & Bloat Effect.
30-Live Trace- This article will show you how to use Illustrator’s Live Trace tool. Live Trace will allow you to completely convert photographs and other raster graphics into Vector graphics!
31-Save Time With Save Selection- Selecting multiple objects in Illustrator is essential to productivity. One of the best selection features in Illustrator is Save Selection.
32-Vector Effects- How to mix a photo with vector elements using Photoshop and Illustrator.
33-Blending Gradients in Illustrator- How do you make a gradient bend to the shape you are creating? The answer is in Illustrator’s under-used Blend tool. This tutorial will show you how.
34-Smart Scale object or Pattern- Do you know that you can scale patterns swatches by using smart scale?
35-Drawing with the pen tool- People often find it hard to get used to the pen tool in illustrator. Remember these three things and you will be rollin’ in no time.
36-A Gradient Brush?- Making a “gradient brushstroke,” that is, a gradient that will follow a path, rather than fill a shape.
Freebies
37-Vector Freebie: Illustrator Icons- Here are some free vector Illustrator icons! There are eight of the most-used Adobe Illustrator tools inside: both arrows, pencil, magnifying glass, hand, pen, brush, and eyedropper.
38-Sandwich Board Whitey & Wheaty
39-Colorful Illustration- Very beautiful dream like illustration in vector .eps format
40-The Butterfly Patch- A Sample Patch from one of the Tool Boxes available at aivault.
41-Free Vector Art – Spring Flowers
Best Practices
42-Midnight Terror by Matheus Castro
44-Bulgarian Jazz Festival 2008
46-Bently Stamp
48-Communion by Cristiano Siqueira
49-Dior Vector
50-The Swallowers of Pretty Things
51-Naketano
52-Fruit Tree
53-Overgrown
Illustrators Portfolios
56-James White
57-Eendar
58-Cris Vector
59-Maciej Mizer
60-Kacper Spala
Further Illustrator Portfolios
- Behance Network
- Cpluv
- 30 Insane Freelance Illustrator Portfolios Part 1 and 30 Insane Freelance Illustrator Portfolios Part 2.
Qvectors, 14 July 2008
Thanks for featuring vectors from Qvectors.com.
James Abney-Hastings, 14 July 2008
Thanks for a great collection of resources here, will be checking out some of the as soon as I can! Bookmarked.
Felicity, 14 July 2008
Some great resources, time for me to crack open illustrator and get experimenting!
Htoo Tay Zar, 14 July 2008
Thanks for great collection!! I’ll share about this in friendfeed.
Stefan, 14 July 2008
Another awesome roundup. You might want to check #24 and #25, they have the same description.
Mohsen, 14 July 2008
Very Great Resoureces
thanks
rexxgriffin, 14 July 2008
yes, thats awesome tut! thanx 4 share
Kudos, 14 July 2008
What an excellent set of resources. This will be incredibly handy for learning, reference and inspiration. Thankyou!
liam, 14 July 2008
Wow, what an epic post! Very good work!
Pablo, 14 July 2008
OMG! What a post, guys!
Noupe, 14 July 2008
Thank you all for the wonderful feedback.
This is the first part and the second part will be coming soon with more interesting tutorials.
A couple of years ago it was really hard to find good Illustrator tutorials as Photoshop tutorials was all over the web but today many illustrators are so kind by sharing their experience and giving us those step by step tutorials.
Steven Silverwood, 14 July 2008
Thanks alot for featuring my ‘Lolly Zombification’!!!
Kiten, 14 July 2008
Wow great collection people :)
JSHAW, 14 July 2008
breath taking!
Jeff Finley, 14 July 2008
Great list! Thanks for featuring our tut!
bangbouh, 14 July 2008
Great illustrator tutorials!
John Rioberts, 14 July 2008
Excellent tips. Thank you for sharing them!
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
James Kurtz III, 14 July 2008
Thanks for the nice collection!
mikko, 14 July 2008
just wanna tip about a guy called Boete…
check out his site @ http://www.boete.nu
Chris Mills, 14 July 2008
I always thought of “best practices” as the industry accepted process and procedure for any given task. Are the examples under the “best practices” heading meant to illustrate the result when using best practices?
feroz, 14 July 2008
Very informative
United Voices, 14 July 2008
These are great resources. I’ve had this bookmarked for my future reference as well. Thanks.
ali, 14 July 2008
Very good list
alwazer, 14 July 2008
Thank you
The article is quite remarkable
Asmaa, 14 July 2008
Hey ! thanks for the mention much appriciate it .
Patrick Sweeney, 15 July 2008
Fantastic roundup! I almost don’t have to scour the web myself anymore.
David, 15 July 2008
Great list
Chris Leavens, 15 July 2008
Thanks for featuring not one, but two of my pieces (Fruit Tree and Overgrown) in your excellent round-up. Some SERIOUSLY valuable info here.
Craig Farrall, 18 July 2008
Wow, an absolutely fantastic roundup of some great vector and illustration tutorials, you have really excelled yourself this time. Well Done, keep up the good work.
Jon S, 18 July 2008
Thank you so much! This is an amazing list of Illustrator resources. This is the end of my free-time for awhile…
Internet and Design, 19 July 2008
60 thats a lot!
I like the freebies
Ethelbert Pygott, 24 July 2008
60 remarkable illustrator tutorials, tips, best practices from some of the best illustrators and artists; besides you ll also find references to brilliant illustrator portfolios out there. Let s take a look at some of the best Adobe Illustrator tutorials we ve found in the Web so far.
onecss.com, 30 July 2008
great! I was looking for something like that. Thank you.
Max | Design Shard, 01 August 2008
this is a very good resource, great
Max | Design Shard
shamim, 17 May 2010
this is really helpful for learning.
than you every one who made this.
Freelance Web Design, 11 August 2008
Very slick selection here folks! Nothing like Timbaland to set the mood.
Amanda, 22 September 2008
I love these – its seldom that you bump into relevant tutorials that looks this good. Thanks!
Daniel, 28 September 2008
Thank’s, I will start playing with illustrator soon, as I see there are lot’s of posibilities.
vijay, 08 October 2008
I LIKE THIS COLLECTION.I HAVE SOME WORK LIKE THIS.
Ryan G, 09 October 2008
Cool list. Thanks for sharing.
Alan, 10 November 2008
Great Tutorial for newbie like me
Thanks
Roger, 14 October 2009
Very nice materials. I prefer the clip tutorials as what is available in aiblog.it or in you tube, but here I found a lot of good tips.
Devanshee, 24 October 2009
hey thanks,i m searching something like this!!!!
designium, 27 October 2009
Very nice collection :D
Umar, 04 December 2009
Hi,
Nice work. This is an amazing list of Illustrator resources.
Thanks
David Jonsson, 15 December 2009
Awesome list of tutorials, I wrote my first tutorial the other day on how I turn my sketches into vectors. I’d love some feedback http://davidjonsson.com.au/my-design-blog/index.php/tutorial-from-sketch-to-vector
nadia, 16 December 2009
this is one perfect and clean tutorials, thanks for sharing
Zoltán, 28 January 2010
Szuper Grafika :)
Pooja Madhu, 25 February 2010
Thanks for a great collection of resources here.. Thanks a Lot
Narender, 29 August 2011
awesome nice work….
Richard, 09 March 2010
What can I say for, wow wow and wow. Great list buddy I love all of it. Keep it up and share more great list and probably some interesting tutorials about web 2.0 styles.
Billy, 28 March 2010
Thanks for sharing, this really cool stuff. Love it. Keep it up.
Master, 26 April 2010
Very good list but This is a bit old list.
My personal choice is tutorials99.com
where all tutorials have a Higher page rank and professional.Very helpful for beginners…
ali, 07 May 2010
very good…
Sarah, 05 August 2010
wow! fantastic mxaaaaaaaaa! i love it. well done.
jinson rajakumary, 15 September 2010
very nice tutorial . learn with simple…………
……………thanks…………………
andreitasoto, 02 October 2010
me encanta todo lus tutoriales, las aplicaciones las imagenes y los recursos que nos empapan de imagen visual.
Shelton Igwe, 10 October 2010
Do you have twitter account sir ? So i can follow your blog
Garmahis, 19 October 2010
My list of Illustrator text effect tutorials
Abdur Razzak, 06 November 2010
It’s really effective!
Al Bayangos, 12 November 2010
Great list! I am truly inspired! :)
raghu, 09 December 2010
thanks! its really informative
Cgbaran, 02 January 2011
Great tutorials thanks
mastoore, 05 January 2011
thanks!clear & useful
dustin, 08 February 2011
Thanks for taking the time to make a valuable post.
barbara, 01 April 2011
Thanks a lot! this article is very good, cant find one also on internet! Be sure!
Zia, 30 April 2011
Great!! I was looking for something like that..Thanks for posting such a unique post.
Ranji, 21 June 2011
This article is very gud…
Creative Alys, 22 July 2011
These are great :)
JOHN, 11 August 2011
these are awesome, good job on posting, this would help a lot, thanks
Rebeen, 21 October 2011
Wow! Nice colection! I was looking for something like that. Thank so much! :)
melanie, 31 October 2011
so many things to learn, thank you for all inspiration. Great list! :)
murtaza, 01 November 2011
Wow sooooooo nice.
Santhosh, 30 November 2011
Extremely useful tutorials for amateur vector artists like me! Need so much time to finish all these, but I will..
image2vector, 04 January 2012
Thank you for sharing, these amazing tutorials!
eibici, 11 January 2012
i like this soo muchh :))