50 Fresh And Practicable Adobe Illustrator Tutorials

Posted in Freebies • 903 days ago • Written by Jane Bernardo • 6 Comments

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor that mostly use in standard applications in creating illustrations designs. Designers often use Illustrator than Photoshop because it produces more good quality in terms of rescaling. If you are more of a drawing artist you will surely enjoy your hand-drawn sketches and put into lively digital images.

In this post, I’ll be featuring best of Adobe Illustrator tutorials that will put you creativity in actions.

1. How to Create a Medieval Paper Scroll

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a medieval paper scroll with the 3-D Extrude and Revolve tool. Using texture, you will also learn how to make an object look old and how to map artwork to a 3-D vector object.

2. How to Create a Fun Circus Tent Icon

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a simple circus tent icon. You may discover some interesting things about Warp effects. Warp effects are often overlooked in digital illustration, but as you can see, they lead to some really nice results.

3. How to Illustrate Deliciously Realistic Grapes Using Simple Techniques

Learn how to illustrate a bunch of grapes using basic Adobe Illustrator tools. You will learn how to render multiple light sources and how to model a complex object using simple shapes and techniques.

4. Design a 3-D Digital Clock Icon With Illustrator

This tutorial will explain how to create a glossy and stylized digital clock from scratch in Adobe Illustrator composed of basic shapes and nifty gradients. We will make a vector icon that will be scalable to any size by taking advantage of designing icons and graphics using a vector-based application like Illustrator.

5. Playing With Vectors in Illustrator

So in this tutorial or walking through process I will show you how I created my design, but first check out my very first sketch.

6. Creating Complex Style Illustrations: A Process

Learn the process of making a tribal-style illustration using only fundamental techniques in Adobe Illustrator. This is more of a process overview than a play-by-play tutorial, and thus some basic skill in the program is needed to follow along.

7. How to Create an Abstract Desktop Wallpaper

Looking for an abstract wallpaper but can’t find a color or shape that you like? In this tutorial, you will learn how to create desktop wallpapers using simple geometric figures, the Blending Mode and Gaussian Blur.

8. Illustrator Tutorial: Wooden Smoking Pipe

Draw a stylish smoking pipe in Illustrator. You will learn how to create the wooden texture on the pipe and the tobacco and smoke. The steps are simple and hopefully useful.

9. Design Symmetrical Character Art

In this tutorial, creative duo LouLou & Tummie show you how to use Illustrator to create a symmetrical, character-filled banner. You’all hone your skill with the Pathfinder tool to build new shapes and tweak lines to give a sense of flow.

10. Create a Briefcase Icon

Create a briefcase icon using rectangles, ellipses and gradients. This icon is great for Web designs and user interfaces, and you can easily apply the techniques to other icons, logos and illustrations.

11. Create Lush, Glossy Vector Images

In this tutorial, Thomas Burden shows how you to create vibrant work in Illustrator using a simple color palette and basic blur effects, particularly Illustrator’s Gaussian Blur effects.

12. Create CS5 Width Profile Brushes in Any Version of Adobe Illustrator CS!

Adobe Illustrator CS5 has a new option in the Stroke window known as “Width Profile.” This tutorial shows how you to create brushes and use them in any version of Adobe Illustrator CS. You will also learn how to create, save and use your new brushes!

13. How to Illustrate an Elegant Bottle of Wine in a Gift Box

Make use of the 3-D tools in Illustrator to create this attractive bottle of wine in a gift box. You will learn how to create the graphic using the Rectangle tool, pen, 3-D revolve and gradients.

14. Create a Print-Ready Business Card Design in Illustrator

Illustrator has fantastic tools for creating small print items such as business cards. Walk through how to create a fun business card design complete with illustrated character.

15. Creating a Mysterious Cheshire Cat in Adobe Illustrator

In this detailed tutorial, you will learn how to manipulate a reference image to get started and how to use custom brushes to create the fur effect.

16. Create a Distressed Vector Typographic Poster Design

Follow the walk through of the design process for this “Spectrum” poster. Starting with custom-made type in Illustrator, you’all move the vector graphics into Photoshop for some serious distressing with Photoshop brushes, blending modes and more!

17. Quick Tip: How to Draw a Stylized Motorcycle With Complex Brushes

Learn how to create complex brushes in Adobe Illustrator and how the brushes work together. You will create some interesting effects.

18. Create a Detailed, Vector-Based iPhone Illustration, Part 1

Learn how to create a photo-realistic iPhone illustration and every single icon found on the iPhone touchscreen.

19. How to Create a Rock Girl with “Beautiful Strokes” in Adobe Illustrator CS5

In this tutorial, you will work with a stock image and the new Stroke settings in CS5 to create this stylized vector portrait. Along the way, you will learn some great tips and tricks on how to strike the perfect balance between form and detail.

20. Create Your Own Calendar With Illustrator and InDesign

A calendar is an appealing and practical item to make from your study of Illustrator. In this tutorial, you will create a print-ready 12-month calendar using grunge text, the Linked Text tool, master pages and layers.

21. Make Watercolor and Marker Style Portraits With Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will work through ways to create digital portraits that have the unique and somewhat tactile feel of marker and watercolor. This tutorial requires a drawing tablet and Adobe Illustrator. The focus is on technique and technical settings, but the result will rely on your personal style.

22. Create an Artistic Scene with 3-D Lightbulbs and Type

Combine Illustrator, Photoshop and Cinema 4D to produce a composition that includes 3-D text, 3-D lightbulbs (created from scratch using only a reference photo) and floral ornaments.

23. A Guide to Creating 3-D Text in Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is more than adequate for creating 3-D objects with some basic shading for the text. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create 3-D text using Adobe Illustrator and learn techniques for shading the text to give it a clean, consistent, stylized look.

24. Quick Tip: A Simple Way to Create Vector Fog

Learn how to make a simple yet effective smoke-like illustration. Using this technique, you can make smoke, fog and clouds in just a few easy steps.

25. Make a Grungy Hand-Drawn Festival Poster in Illustrator

Create a grungy, hand-drawn-looking poster with a cassette tape as the focus. You’all use the Pencil tool to make organic vector objects and patterns in Illustrator.

26. Creating a Stylized Vector Environment

This is an advanced tutorial and assumes familiarity with the basic workings of the Pathfinder palette. You’ll learn how to create environments occupied by many objects.

27. Create a Remarkable Poster with Decorative Elements

In this tutorial, Sebastiano shows you how to create various decorative elements (including geometric shapes, half-tones, ribbons, 3-D stars and 3-D text) in Illustrator and then merge, compose, enhance and texturize them in Photoshop.

28. Create a Trendy Seamless Type Pattern

Create a trendy seamless pattern in Illustrator using some text and icons. Although you won’t go in-depth into creating the icons, you will look closely at creating a seamless pattern swatch. You can easily apply these techniques to other seamless pattern swatches.

29. Create a Cute Creature Character From a Sketch

In this tutorial, you’all learn how to create this cute creature from a sketch. This tutorial uses custom brushes, the Paintbrush tool, Pen tool and Live Paint Bucket tool. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the cuteness, you can still use these techniques for other illustrations, logos and vector elements.

30. Illustrator Tutorial: Contemporary Wallpaper Art

Create contemporary wallpaper graffiti, with splashes and motifs. This quick tutorial shows you how to draw florals and create ink-splatter effects. Combine them all to create a stunning contemporary masterpiece.

31. 3-D Golden Text Effect

Create the golden 3-D text effect below. Create text using 3-D Extrude, and clean up the broken shapes. The final step goes over the glow and highlights of the text. This is a great tutorial for beginners to create professional 3-D text effects in Illustrator.

32. Discover Tattoo Illustration Techniques

Want to produce clean detailed line work with a hand-drawn edge? Not sure whether to use the Pen tool in Illustrator or a tablet in Photoshop? With his stunning tattoo-style designs, digital illustrator and “part-time thrasher” Chris Parks has all the answers in this tutorial.

33. Master Dynamic Gradient Techniques

Build up many elements to create a vector image with real depth and richness. The designer explains, “I spend most of the time picking out colors that match each other to form harmonic color composition. It takes a lot of time, but it’s worth the effort.”

34. Create a Tiger-Striped Cat With Illustrator

A step-by-step tutorial on creating a tiger-striped cat in Illustrator.

35. How to Illustrate Dynamic Hair Using Adobe Illustrator’s Paintbrush Tool

This tutorial shows you how to create a dynamic hair style from a reference image. You will use the Paintbrush tool, basic skin shading and transparent gradients.

36. An Illustrator’s Project: From Start to Finish

In this tutorial, Zena walks you through the creation of an art illustration so that you can see what goes on behind a digital illustrator’s work and gain new insight for your own work flow. You’all go tall conceptualizing and gathering ideas, creating the illustration in Illustrator and then finishing the piece in Photoshop.

37. Adobe Illustrator Eye Tutorial

A detailed tutorial on making a beautiful eye.

38. Create an Ominous Jar of Purple Ooze

Beef up your Illustrator skills while creating an ominous jar of purple ooze. You’all find handy tips and techniques for illustrating glass, chrome and toxic ooze.

39. How to Draw a Glossy Yo-Yo Icon Using Adobe Illustrator

Entertain yourself by creating a glossy yo-yo icon. You will combine different gradient and object effects to make a hyper-realistic and shiny plastic surface. The result is a perfectly rendered and appealing icon that can be made in just one hour.

40. Wolf Drawing Tutorial

How to create an illustrated wolf from the hand-drawn paper sketch to final product with Illustrator and Photoshop.

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. Cutaway Car Illustration Tutorial

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

44. Retro Car Tutorial

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

45.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.

46. Face, Hair, Clothing Illustrator Tutorial

Learn how to create real-looking human face, hair and cloth.

47. 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 references of other cartoons or caricatures to make sure your shapes are correct.

48. 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.

49. 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.

50. 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.