Best Free Illustrator Resources & Tutorials

There are plenty of professionals who are eager to learn Illustrator but hesitate because of the perceived up-front costs. While a free trial of Illustrator is available to new users, accessing Illustrator will require an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription once the trial has expired. However, a surprising amount of free resources are available to help beginners get the hang of this exciting program.

Read on to learn more about the different types of free resources and tutorials available to help you learn Illustrator.

What is Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics design tool used in several industries, including graphic design and web design. The program allows users to build graphics and illustrations out of vectors, meaning they are composed of lines, shapes, and points. These illustrations are easily resizable with minimal decay in graphics quality (unlike pixel-based graphics, which do not resize without becoming blurry or blocky). Images designed in Illustrator are perfect for packaging, advertising, or branding endeavors that allow the same image to be placed on both a business card and a billboard.

Illustrator is also a key part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, a collection of creative tools that give graphic designers a wide range of tools for creating stunning visual imagery. These programs are seamlessly integrated and built to allow optimized crossover. Illustrator is frequently used alongside Adobe Photoshop (a program with a similar but distinct function) and Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, video editing programs that utilize Illustrator to create animated effects.

Read more about what Illustrator is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Illustrator?

Illustrator is a vector graphics design tool that lets users create their own illustrations. Using points, lines, shapes, and text, the program lets users build vector graphics illustrations designed to be infinitely scalable, letting users resize them at will. Therefore, Illustrator is ideal for drawing images that will be mass-produced and placed in multiple contexts, such as art prints, company logos, branded merchandise, official letterhead seals, and many other uses. Illustrator lets users build an image once and repurpose it on everything from water bottles to billboards.

Using Illustrator, creatives can build recognizable logos and iconography to help define a client’s brand identity. The most common uses of Illustrator are within the graphic design and advertising industries, though other industries, such as the fashion industry, have their uses for Illustrator. In these professional settings, users can construct illustrations that quickly and effectively convey meaning and help consumers recognize the products being sold. Almost all product packaging is made using vector graphics, meaning that almost every company selling a product to consumers will use Illustrator.

For non-professionals or aspiring entrepreneurs, learning InDesign can help users build their online identities. Small business owners, crafters looking to break into Etsy, local musicians looking to sell decals, or even activists wanting to build memorable logos and signage for their organization all benefit from learning Illustrator. Quick, efficient graphic communication is vital across many fields, and Illustrator can make building these graphic designs faster and more efficient.

Getting Access to Adobe Illustrator

The first thing a student needs to do to take advantage of free Illustrator resources is download Adobe Illustrator. While new users can learn a decent amount from videos and articles alone, there isn’t any replacement for being able to work hands-on with a new program. Normally, Adobe Illustrator is licensed through a Creative Cloud subscription, meaning users pay a monthly fee to use the program. However, for new users, Adobe offers a free seven–day trial to let users test out the program before registering.

An additional advantage of this free trial is that first-time users loading Illustrator will receive a guided walk-through of the program, intent on familiarizing themselves with the interface and its essential functions. This walkthrough concludes by giving users access to Adobe’s Discover search feature, which provides users with short tutorials and videos.

Noble Desktop’s Free Resources

For new users looking for more in-depth introductory resources, Noble provides new users with a collection of free seminars and articles intended to ease them into learning Illustrator. The Illustrator learning resource page on Noble’s resources blog directs students to interviews and articles detailing the uses and functions of Illustrator, particularly vital for users who may not yet fully understand the nature and use of vector graphics. This is paired alongside free video-recorded seminars to help users learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator. These video tutorials replicate the kinds of instruction that students will receive when they enroll in a more intensive training program through Noble Desktop. This makes them ideal places to pick up the basic skills needed for further training.

Noble also provides video tutorials on Illustrator skills and graphic design principles more broadly on the Graphic Design playlist on their official YouTube page. These tutorials will teach students how to use Illustrator to produce vibrant graphic designs and offer a specialized video for aspiring fashion designers. This playlist also includes introductions to Adobe’s other creative software, making it an ideal place to start for students considering enrolling in Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program to build a career in graphic design.

These free resources are designed to prepare students for more intensive career training through Noble. By using their time with the free trial of Illustrator to use these free services, students can be sure that they enter professional training programs equipped with the essential skills that will prevent them from falling behind.

Learn Illustrator with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers an array of Illustrator classes and bootcamps for students hoping to receive Illustrator training through a live online course. Noble’s Illustrator in a Day course offers introductory instruction in the basic functionalities of the program, such as the pen and pencil tool, the function of different layers and brushes, and the process of preparing a file for publication. This course is ideal for students who expect to work with Illustrator in the future but don’t imagine that they will do so every day or that they will need to engage with the complicated features of the program.

For students who do feel that they will need to work with the more advanced features of Illustrator, Noble’s Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp offers in-depth training in the tools that allow Illustrator to create complex and vibrant vector illustrations. Students will learn to work with masks, alter colors and gradients, and build custom patterns. They will also create practical sample designs such as T-shirts and signage to include in a design portfolio. These exercises mirror the projects that professional Graphic Designers undertake, and this course is an ideal place to learn how to use Illustrator professionally.

Aspiring career Graphic Designers can build their skills in many different design programs by enrolling in Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program. This program confers upon students a state-approved certificate in the mastery of Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Beyond learning the functionalities of these programs, students will receive lessons in theories of design and composition. They will work towards building various sample designs to be included as part of their sample portfolio as a prerequisite for completion. Students looking to expand their design skills further can enroll in Noble’s Digital Design Certificate program, which covers all of this information, plus lessons in user interface and web page design for digital publications.

These Design Certificate programs are career-focused courses that provide students with one-on-one career mentorship. As a student’s final project, they will build a sample design portfolio to showcase their skills to prospective employers. By the end of these programs, students will be prepared to enter the workforce in a new, high-paying career.

Key Insights

• One way for creatives to decide whether or not they want to invest in Adobe Illustrator training is to take advantage of free tutorials that can ease them into more in-depth training.
• While these free resources can’t replace professional training in Illustrator, they are useful to students who aren’t looking to make a career out of graphic design and career-focused graphic designers looking to familiarize themselves with the program before entering professional training.
• Adobe offers a seven-day free trial of Illustrator, which comes with an in-app tutorial guiding new users through the program. After seven days, users must pay a subscription fee to license either Illustrator on its own or the Adobe Creative Cloud as a whole.
• Noble offers free tutorials and video seminars through its blog and official YouTube page.