Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – Best Of

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Over years Adobe Illustrator has become the standard application when it comes to illustration design. Artists, illustrators and graphic designers use Illustrator to create vector-based graphics which — contrary to raster-based editors such as Adobe Photoshop — can be easily rescaled without the loss of quality. E.g., Illustrator is often used to quickly transform hand-drawn sketches on a sheet of paper into lively and colorful digital images.

However, to master Adobe Illustrator isn’t easy; and the creating process of professional illustrations requires both time and patience. Therefore tutorials can turn out to be real life- and time-savers as they show exactly what needs to be done in order to create professional illustrations and how masters of illustration actually manage to do their magic. One year ago we’ve presented a hand-picked collection of Illustrator tutorials. Now it’s time for a fresh portion of healthy and creative Illustrator material.

In this post we present a collection of excellent Adobe Illustrator tutorials for beginners and advanced designers. The new selection isn’t enormous, but big enough to provide you with some good starting points.

Please notice that

  • we’ve selected only those tutorials which haven’t been featured last year or were released after the article was published.
  • you might also be interested in Adobe Photoshop Tutorials – Best Of we’ve presented few weeks ago.

Illustrator Tutorials

Creating a Crazy Cool Logo
In this post I will show you how we created the logo. I will skip the drawing parts, yes there were tons of drawings before going to the computer, because when they stole my computer and backups in 2006 they took all my photos of the drawings.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Spice up Pie Charts
For some charts you might only want to spice up the most important slice or the biggest one. Although most topics aren’t as fun as mutations, any sort of added graphics make boring charts look a lot better.

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Wolf Drawing Tutorial
Learn how to create an illustrated wolf from the hand-drawn paper sketch to final product with Illustrator and Photoshop.

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Skull Tutorial
An alien skull tutorial. Editorial illustration.

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How I Do Stuff Tutorial (Video-tutorial)
It’s just a speed-up video of how one can go from a sketch to a mediocre illustration using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

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Test Your Creativity
“Using a provided set of basic shapes I have to compile them to create my illustration. The theme is up to me but there are some ground rules such as you cannot edit the shapes or distort them, you however can subtract from them using any of the shapes in the provided set.”

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Vintage T-Shirts
It’s easy to create authentic collegiate T-shirt designs using Illustrator, Photoshop and a good old-fashioned iron. In this tutorial, illustrator Derek Lea reveals how combining both applications can create stunning results.

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Gigposter Design: The New Sex
Learn how to create an impressive gig poster design with Illustrator.

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Pirate cartoon tutorial
Learn how to create a vector pirate cartoon character from a hand-drawn sketch.

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Pixels and Vectors Tutorial
The gap between working with pixels and vectors in Photoshop and Illustrator is closing rapidly, thanks to Smart Objects. Derek Lea explains all while creating a highly textured yet vector-sharp masterpiece.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Comic Book Style Tutorial
Learn how to create illustrations and turn them into flyers or posters. The end product will be a flyer which was created for an art show.

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Creating Road Maps in Adobe Illustrator
Sooner or later every designer comes across the exciting job of producing a map, whether it’s on a leaflet or website the overall aim is to visually document a particular area of land to allow for people to find their way to a place of business or event.

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Cutaway Car Illustration Tutorial
In this lesson you’ll learn how to create a 3-Point Perspective-view drawing of a generic car, working from plan and elevation view reference only.

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White Tiger Tutorial
A cartoony white tiger tutorial. A poster illustration.

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From Sketch To Vector Illustration
A technique of vector illustrating that takes a little bit more skill is starting with hand-drawn sketches. This tutorial captures the whole design process — from scratch.

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Retro Car Tutorial
All you need is Illustrator, some inks and some brushes to turn a photograph of a car into a vector illustration.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Intricate Patterns In Illustrator Tutorial
This tutorial will show you how to create intricate patterns in Illustrator super quickly. Stuff that would take you hours to draw manually with the Pen Tool takes just seconds when you use this technique. Video-version is also available.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Not as easy as it looks: A beveled star
A simple and effective tutorial on how to create a beveled star — in 7 steps.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Tutorial: Transform, Style, Blend
Do you like things to have a bit of randomness, an element of surprise? Me too. Learn how to create random swirls in Illustrator with few steps.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Tutorial: Transform, Style, Blend
In this video tutorial you’ll learn how to illustrate an iPod Nano from scratch using the 3D Effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Ellipse Drawing Tutorial
Creating a Circle in Perspective with Adobe Illustrator. More excellent tutorials for beginners.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

How To Make 3D Vector Vintage Stars
I’m going to walk you through a technique to create vintage looking 3d stars in Illustrator. You guessed it, 100% vector.

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Poster Illustration: Go Forth and Create
Suffice it to say this tutorial is my personal switcher story from FreeHand to Illustrator and contains the good, the bad and the ugly details of both apps. Tutorial Includes Notes in both ‘English’ and ‘Español’.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Create a Vector RSS Icon with Illustrator
Probably one of the most popular and recognisable icons in the web universe; the RSS icon is displayed on many website to indicate the availability of a subscription feed. There are pre-made icons you can download and place on your website, however this tutorial cover the process of creating your own custom vector RSS icon in Illustrator.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Vehicle Vector Tutorial
Learn how to design a vector vehicle with Illustrator.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Fertile Mind Tutorial

This tutorial will walk you through an illustrative banner for the Portland Oregon AIGA chapters ‘Urban Forest Project.’

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Face, Hair, Clothing Illustrator Tutorial
Learn how to create real-looking human face, hair and cloth.

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Illustrator: Golden Selection
Have you ever wondered why a profound piece of art is so compositionally pleasing? The artist probably employed the use of the Divine Proportion, which is a phenomenon that suggests that there’s a mathematical equation that’s consistent with the aesthetics of good composition.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Complex Circular Design Techniques
Creating intricate circular designs and patterns may look difficult because the shapes can be very complicated, but you will be surprised at just how easy making these shapes can be. I will go over some neat tricks, tools, techniques, and settings that will have you pumping out perfect circular designs in no time using Illustrator.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Illustrating the Flower Pattern
This article will outline the main steps on how I made the flower pattern in Illustrator. Hopefully, this can answer your question.

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Drawing a Character’s Face in Illustrator
Creating a cartoon or human-like caricature is a fun and rewarding project to do in Illustrator. Not only that, but if you’re pretty good with the pen tool, it doesn’t take very long. In this tutorial I will be creating an elf. Be sure to look at refrences of other cartoons or caricatures to make sure your shapes are correct.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Ornate Lettering Process
I’m going to show you the process as to how I do my ornate lettering. This is a new design I did for Stone Sour that utilized this technique. Now right off the bat, this is not a step by step tutorial. It’s more of a look behind the scenes into how I work.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Transform Again
You can achieve surprisingly cool results using the Transform Again feature in Illustrator starting from a simple shape. As you all know simplicity is my motto. Today I try turn this into practice again. So sit tight for another step-by-step tutorial using this simple but oh so powerful feature.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Create A Blob Monster in Illustrator – The Scream
Over that last couple of days i’ve been playing around in Illustrator a lot make some basic shapes and images. One of my best creations is the Blob Monster called the scream. It is really simple to do and doesn’t take long to complete. This technique can be used for nearly any type of simple shape / monster.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Drawing Homer Simpson
Illustrator is a great program. It offers so much versatility in creating vector images. Hence why it is the top vector program out there. As a beginner to this program I want to share with you a tutorial that is simple to follow that you can use to draw Homer Simpson of The Simpsons.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

7 Things You Didn’t Know Adobe Illustrator Could Do
These are: The Blend Tool / Adding Lines Between Lines… The Mesh Tool / Adding Shading To A Shape… 3D / Entering The Next Dimension… Patterns / Making Fills Interesting… Symbol Sprayer / Splatter some vector… Blur / Smooth Out The Vector…. Transparency / Bringing Depth To Overlaying Shapes…

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Creating Seamless Patterns
One of the frequest questions I get from readers is how you create seamless patterns in Illustrator. Today I’ll explain how I create such patterns and how you can scale and rotate them using different settings in the Scale tool options.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Creating Pins
Pins are popular these days, so I thought why not write a tutorial on how to create these in Adobe Illustrator. If you’ve ever wondered how to simulate this realistic looking pin or button effect, here’s your chance to learn.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Complicate Orb Icon
This tutorial will teach you doing more complicate button icon or Orb effect Icon using Illustrator. This is quite a long tutorial.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Retain Spot Colors without Losing Your Marbles
Are you using Photoshop to create something with both transparency effects and spot colors? You may be better off with Illustrator instead.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Stylish Vector Flower
Learn how to create stylish vector/line flower with Illustrator Blend Tool. This Adobe Illustrator tutorial is great for creating background and large print illustration. More Illustrator tutorials from nDesign.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Illustrator Tutorial: Creating Vector Snowflakes
Just in time for the holidays… a tutorial for creating those fun, festive holiday snowflakes. These vector flakes are a must-have for turning your holiday designs into a winter wonderland. So sit back, grab a cup of eggnog, and feast your eyes on how amazingly simple it is to create a vector snowflake.

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The Complete Digital Comic, Part 2: Inking in Illustrator
This is part two in my series of tutorials about how to make comic book art on the computer.

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Instant Op Art
Use Illustrator’s transform functions to create a stunning op art piece with a real sense of movement. Mark Mayers shows you how… This is a PDF-Document.

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Creating Reflecting Web Icons in Illustrator
One of the looks of "Web 2.0" is the aqua icons that Matt Kloskowski shows us how to make in the first issue of Adobe Illustrator Techniques print issue. Another look is the reflecting icon. The clean, crisp look of these attractive images makes clicking through a website’s navigation fun. Here’s how to make one of those neat icons.

Illustrator Tutiorials Screenshot

Draw Ballon in Illustrator Tutorial
Simple, yet effective. In few steps to a nice illustrated baloon.

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Illustrator 3D Effect Tutorial
3D Effect slide show tutorial on Flickr.

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Sources and Resources

Co-Founder of Smashing Magazine. Former writer, web designer, freelancer and webworker. Author of several books.

  1. 101

    creativebrain

    November 2nd, 2009 1:31 am

    great vector designs.. I like the VW car one..

    0
  2. 102

    nikolllaaa

    November 3rd, 2009 7:28 am

    can you help with finding the actuall font for People megazine for this program “Macromedia FreeHand MX” ???
    pls pls ….

    0
  3. 103

    Vivek Parashar

    November 3rd, 2009 9:45 am

    wow, can i say that again? yes, WOW!
    thanks for putting that together.

    0
  4. 104

    alx21creations

    November 15th, 2009 4:55 pm

    best of the best WOW

    0
  5. 105

    Amy K

    November 21st, 2009 1:19 pm

    Thank you for a great collection!

    0
  6. 106

    Upanita

    December 24th, 2009 2:49 am

    Its a nice feeling to learn something interesting, really! I am a learner of adobe illustrator but i found lots of brilliant techniques here. Now illustrator seems easy for me…. thnx a lot …

    0
  7. 107

    kamrul

    December 28th, 2009 10:49 pm

    Thanks a lot. all expert work great job

    0
  8. 108

    meme

    January 29th, 2010 6:50 am

    smashing!!!
    where can i get tutorials or communities where I can learn to design toilet tissue packaging. or at least find a blank template

    0
  9. 109

    Michael Sagikwa

    February 9th, 2010 8:43 am

    Very good tutorial! You are mad.Thanks.

    0
  10. 110

    plath

    April 14th, 2010 10:03 am

    hello people..im plath and… i speak portuguese im fron angola Launda ,this is…africa…thanks and sorry for my bad english … i like the smash magazine so im here becouse im design and i havent dificult to creat a my tutorial in the web page…and i need your help…thanks.

    0
    • 111

      plath

      April 14th, 2010 10:08 am

      sorry wild like say i have a big problem to creat a my tutorial in to web pag…and i need your help…thanks

      0
  11. 112

    Mang Wi

    April 17th, 2010 4:03 am

    Nice job!
    I like it so much.
    Do it always! That is my inspirations forever and ever.
    I hope I can use all of the tools of Illustrator like you.
    Thank you!

    0
  12. 113

    SamHowe

    April 20th, 2010 8:24 pm

    THX!
    AWESOME TUTORIALS!

    0
  13. 114

    anbu

    April 22nd, 2010 4:11 am

    its very nice creating thanks

    0
  14. 115

    Adnan

    June 6th, 2010 11:14 pm

    i want to learn it.its so easy.butt if some of the information about the basic tools of illustrator are available.then its so great.plz

    0
  15. 116

    George

    June 26th, 2010 11:42 am

    Great ideas and suggestions. Take a look at the awesome design of this website, peakyourinterest.com/ It also has great articles about finance, world issues, and everything cool.

    -1
  16. 117

    leandro

    August 9th, 2010 8:08 am

    Great Info!, my website is very grateful!!!

    -2
    • 118

      fahad

      July 14th, 2011 3:55 am

      post ur website URL

      0
  17. 119

    charles johnson

    August 26th, 2010 4:38 pm

    Is adobe illustrator cs3 free?

    -2
  18. 120

    Jacques Santoriella

    September 18th, 2010 3:58 am

    hey adminstrator , i like w/ ur blog. LOL Please come to my blog

    -3
  19. 121

    Remedios Luhnow

    October 10th, 2010 3:27 am

    @above me .lol Do you have another idea about my comment

    -1
  20. 122

    Syed Hasimul Kabir Rana

    October 11th, 2010 9:17 pm

    Thanking you for nice & exclusive collection.

    -1
  21. 123

    shiv pratap singh

    March 23rd, 2011 6:09 am

    Thanks for this

    +1
  22. 124

    DesainStudio

    April 24th, 2011 10:09 am

    really awesome collection here :)

    +1
  23. 126

    birdnranath

    May 30th, 2011 4:46 pm

    Thanking you for nice & exclusive collection.
    Graphic Design

    +1
  24. 127

    toaha

    July 2nd, 2011 2:06 am

    i want vidio tutorial instantly adope illustrator 11.0.

    -2
  25. 128

    sonusmac

    July 20th, 2011 11:45 pm

    Awesome tutorials, I like all of them thanks for sharing!!

    0
  26. 129

    Richie

    August 11th, 2011 7:30 pm

    Hey guys. Found these super realistic pencil brushes for CS5. Great for illustrators. They are the best I’ve seen out there. The price is pretty reasonable too.

    http://vfxworkshops.com/shop/digital-realistic-pencil-brush-pack/

    0
  27. 130

    Jan Moursund

    August 17th, 2011 12:47 pm

    I’d sure like to use these tutorials, but when I click to get one, all I see is the written introduction — can’t make the video run. Maybe I need some sort of player? I’m running OS 10.6.6, and accessing your page thru FireFox.

    0
  28. 131

    vikram

    August 30th, 2011 4:28 am

    I loved it posts ……………………….Really i am very exited to join this tutorials

    0
  29. 132

    Linda

    August 31st, 2011 9:50 am

    Sorry for the beginners question! Looking for easy way to take an existing .jpg containing an illustration pull into Illustrator and make changes to the drawing. Something like trace the design where I can add more or move existing lines. Can anyone recommend a tutorial that will help in this direction

    0
  30. 133

    Hedy

    August 31st, 2011 9:46 pm

    Greatest collection of easy to follow resources! Thank you so very much for your time.

    +1

  1. 1

    Jeremy (fine art of fathering)

    February 5th, 2008 8:07 am

    man this is the best resource on the net…thanks for all the great posts!

    +11
  2. 2

    mikemike

    February 5th, 2008 8:32 am

    quit spamming your own site with all the compliments.

    +7
  3. 3

    Fabio Sasso

    February 6th, 2008 10:00 am

    First thank you very much for listing my tutorial (creating a crazy cool logo) among these amazing tutorials.

    keep up the excellent work.

    +6
  4. 4

    Jan

    February 7th, 2008 6:56 am

    Nice Collection of Tutorials. Thanks again Guys!

    +4
  5. 5

    Praveen Vijayan

    February 5th, 2008 9:42 pm

    Thanks…. Nice collection..

    +3
  6. 6

    Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz

    February 5th, 2008 3:42 pm

    @oldSkull: thank you, fixed.

    +3
  7. 7

    Quakeulf

    February 5th, 2008 2:46 pm

    Thank you so much for this article!!! I love Illustrator but I know I have a lot to learn, and this will REALLY help me learn it for my job!

    +3
  8. 8

    Muhammad Ahmad

    November 4th, 2008 10:50 pm

    some of tutorials seems HARD, but nice try, n good paves. thank u

    +3
  9. 9

    Jeba

    February 5th, 2008 10:31 am

    Nice smashing list as usual ;)

    +2
  10. 10

    pinky

    August 5th, 2008 5:11 pm

    I cant wait to get started on Illustrator!!!!!!!! Great great great!!!

    +1
  11. 11

    DesainStudio

    April 24th, 2011 10:09 am

    really awesome collection here :)

    +1
  12. 12

    birdnranath

    May 30th, 2011 4:46 pm

    Thanking you for nice & exclusive collection.
    Graphic Design

    +1
  13. 13

    shiv pratap singh

    March 23rd, 2011 6:09 am

    Thanks for this

    +1
  14. 14

    Hedy

    August 31st, 2011 9:46 pm

    Greatest collection of easy to follow resources! Thank you so very much for your time.

    +1

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