Why this idea means business : We explore the basics of Adobe Illustrator for beginners. Learn its most common windows and tools used to create vector graphics for typography, logos and illustrations. Read this if you’re totally new to Adobe Illustrator.
Adobe Illustrator is a powerful graphic design tool which suffers from Liam Hemsworth and Casey Affleck syndrome.
It’s good at what it does. But it’s often overlooked in favour of its more high-profile sibling.
For Adobe Illustrator, that’s Adobe Photoshop, which everyone knows about thanks to the fashion industry.
Adobe Illustrator, on the other hand, is mostly only known by graphic designers. Google Trends shows twice as many searches for Photoshop as for Illustrator. But just because it’s less well-known doesn’t mean it’s less valuable in marketing. This Adobe Illustrator for beginners guide covers where, when and how it’s used.
Vector vs raster
Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based graphics editor. Vector images are stored as paths, not pixels. This means the image stays sharp, no matter how much you change the size.
We’ve all seen pixel-based images created with raster editors (like Photoshop). When you enlarge them, they end up blocky and jagged, like the example here. (You may need to zoom in).
Vector graphic editors like Adobe Illustrator are therefore better for creating images which need to work at different sizes.
Logos are obvious examples. Your logo has to fit on different sizes of materials, from matchboxes to 96-sheet billboards. Vector graphics give you the ability to keep your graphics sharp at all sizes.
Adobe Illustrator is also great for technical or diagrammatic designs and those needing sharp edges (like cartoons, clip art and geometric shapes).
It’s also perfect for creating icons, as these have to work at different sizes and also have sharp edges.
Adobe Illustrator for beginners - where to start
Adobe Illustrator can be intimidating when you first open it up. That’s why we put together this Adobe Illustrator for beginners guide.
There are many options on screen. It feels like you’re looking at the dashboard of the space shuttle.
To orient yourself, focus on the Windows tab and the left-hand toolbar. Learning how these 2 areas work helps you find your bearings with Illustrator.
Commonly used windows
First, the Windows tab controls what appears on your desktop at any one time.
You can have up to 35 different windows in Adobe Illustrator as you work on a design. That’s great when you know what they all do. But it’s a lot to take in when you’re just starting.
If you’re an Adobe Illustrator beginner, choose the most commonly used windows, which are :-
Align
Alignment is a key design principle which brings balance and direction to visual design. Use this window to help you do that.
Grouping and aligning elements with this window makes your designs look more professional.
Adobe Illustrator gives a great range of options across vertical and horizontal alignment.
Our T-shirt designs tend to use central alignment for images and short text. On other designs, particularly if there’s lots of text, left alignment is the way to go. It makes the text easier to read.
Appearance
Appearance gives you quick access to see which element you’re working on. You can quickly access the stroke, fill and opacity values associated with that element.
Colour
Colour is a key part of design. Adobe Illustrator gives you many options. You can use the RGB and CMYK colour systems depending on whether your design is for screens or print. You can also use Hex and HSB if you prefer those instead.
Colour is an area where it’s easy to lose your way. So the colour panel is a great place to grab swatches (saved colours) and make adjustments for lighting and shading. Using this window makes it easier to test out different colour options.
Gradient
Gradient effects can add a professional and stylish look to any design. They can be used to create bold, texture and shading effects.
For example, the shading in our Game Player T-shirt design which makes the handles of the controller look curved was done with the gradient tool.
While you wouldn’t use gradient on every design, it’s common enough that it’s worth keeping it open as a frequently used window.
Layers
We would struggle without the layers window. When you create more complex designs, you’ll want to work on individual elements.
You’ll want to play around with how individual elements sit in front of or behind other elements.
The layer window lets you switch on and off layers as you work with them. It helps you build up individual elements into an overall design.
The Game Player design has 11 layers for example, as the design has multiple elements.
Properties
Along with ‘appearance’, the properties window tends to be the one we go to when we lose track of what we’re working on.
It pulls together key attributes like transform, appearance, character and paragraph into a single panel. So you can check on and edit the properties of the design element directly.
Stroke
Stroke refers to the outer line which goes around any element.
You adjust the weight and style of a stroke element frequently on designs. And so again, it’s another must-have window for quick access in our panel set-up.
Transparency
The final window we use most often covers transparency and the blend mode. You use this when you combine design elements. It covers how these elements look when they sit on top of each other and the opacity which is how ‘see-through’ a design element is.
The left-hand toolbar
The left-hand toolbar has all the main tools you use to create and manipulate design elements.
There are 36 elements on this toolbar as standard.
You may end up using all of these at some point, but it’s unlikely you’ll use them all at the start.
To keep it easy in our Adobe Illustrator for beginners guide, we recommend you start by prioritising these 9 tools :-
Selection tool
This selects an object. As you use Adobe Illustrator, you find yourself coming back again and again to this tool, as when you select another tool from the menu, it stays “live” until you choose another tool.
For example, let’s say you click on the “text” tool to add some text. And then you want to move another image to sit nearer the text.
You have to click the select tool to grab the image. If you try to grab it while ‘text’ is still the live tool, it assumes you’re trying to write more text.
This can be frustrating at first. There was a lot of swearing when we started with this tool. But once you get in the habit of using the selection tool, it makes sense to use it that way.
Direct selection tool
While select grabs an element, you’ll find yourself also using direct selection frequently. You use this most often when you have a line that contains multiple anchor points and handles.
Direct selection lets you grab and manipulate these to change the shape of the line and adjust the curve of the line, for example.
Pen tool
Used to draw lines. The start point of most designs, and frequently used. You can add straight and curved lines with the pen tool. But there’s a learning curve on how to create these based on when you click and drag.
It works slightly differently from what you’d be used to if you “draw” in PowerPoint or Keynote, for example. Like the selection tool, it’ll make you swear at first until you get used to it.
Anchor point add / delete
Most designs start with a basic pen outline. But as you finesse a design and add detail, sometimes the original pen anchor points don’t work.
The add / delete anchor points can help pull or push a line in the direction you want it to go.
Curvature tool
Drawing curves with the pen tool alone is entirely possible, but can be fiddly. The curvature tool takes away a lot of the pain by automatically adding curves based on Illustrator’s clever creative algorithm.
It doesn’t get it right every time. But more often than not, it can save a huge amount of time when you want to ‘curve up’ a design.
Type tool
Type is how you add text to your design. You create a lot of text in Adobe Illustrator for logos and other graphic design projects.
The Type tool has several sub-headings including Area type (type within a shape or area), Type on a path (useful for creating curved text for example) and Vertical Type.
You can do these manually. However, automating the process with these tools saves a lot of time.
Shape tool
(Rectangle / Rounded rectangle / Elipse / Polygon / Star / Flare).
Along with “type”, shapes are the basic elements where most designs in Adobe Illustrator start. You’ll find you pull these shapes out often at the start of a design. Flare is probably the one we use least (it creates a photography flash effect) as it can be fiddly to set up.
But all of them, we’ve used in our designs at one point or another.
Shape builder tool
Geometric shapes on their own look basic. But combine them and you make interesting shapes which look more like design elements.
The Shape Builder tool is one of the easiest yet most impactful tools with Adobe Illustrator for beginners. You combine shapes and add or remove elements to create something completely new.
Fill / stroke
These speak for themselves really, and outside the above tools are the ones we use most frequently.
A number of the other tools come in handy for specific design tasks you need to do. For example, we like the Eyedropper tool which copies all style elements from one object to another.
But as our ‘go to’ set of tools when we work with Adobe Illustrator, these would be the ones we recommend. We hope this mini Adobe Illustrator for beginners guide helps take away some of the initial feeling of being overwhelmed when you start.
And if you don’t want to pay for Adobe Illustrator?
Adobe Illustrator’s utility and creativity come at a cost with its high monthly subscription fee.
There are alternatives like Inkscape and Affinity Designer, which can potentially give the same results at less cost. See our Adobe alternatives article for more on this.
However, Adobe Illustrator sets the standard. And in our case, we get enough out of the tool to justify its place on our expenses list.
There are also many online graphic design resources. Use sites like Behance and Dribbble for inspiration. Educate yourself on how to use tools like Illustrator on sites like Adobe Education Exchange. And search out quick and cheap solutions on sites like Envato and Canva.
Conclusion - Adobe Illustrator for beginners
Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool to help you create ‘sharp’ images and graphics. However, it has a steep learning curve and takes time to master.
Our Adobe Illustrator for beginners guide was written to help you get started. But it’s by no means a comprehensive guide. Check out YouTube and online learning graphic design courses on sites like Udemy for more specific training on the different elements.
See our graphic design guides for more on this. Or get in touch if you need advice on using Adobe Illustrator for beginners.
Photo credit
Macbook : Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
