How Difficult is it to Learn Illustrator?

Are you curious about learning Illustrator but worried it might be too hard? Of course, the difficulty that comes with learning a new skill is somewhat subjective. The challenges of learning Illustrator depend on whether a user plans to use Illustrator professionally, how much of a background they have in graphic design, and how much training they have or want to receive in other Adobe Creative Cloud applications.

No matter your current schedule or comfort level with Illustrator, plenty of tools are available to help make learning more manageable than you might think.

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.

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Illustrator

Some of the most challenging aspects of learning a new graphic design program are in the early phases of learning, when a student doesn’t know what to do with the program or how to use it. Students may be overwhelmed with the number of tools, or they may simply be unfamiliar with what a program like Illustrator is best suited to create. Students who want to learn Illustrator may find these tips helpful for overcoming these early obstacles.

Experiment with Free Tutorials

Once a student knows that they want to learn Illustrator, it might be helpful to look at what kinds of free tutorials they can take advantage of to learn the basics of the program. While these free resources won’t replace more in-depth training, they are good places to get a feel for the program and identify where a student feels they will need more instruction.

Adobe offers a free seven-day trial of Illustrator, and new users loading up the program will receive a guided tour of the basic functionalities of the program. In addition, Adobe’s in-app Discover tool will help users search for Adobe’s free tutorials if they encounter difficulty.

Since the trial only lasts seven days before users need to sign up for a Creative Cloud subscription, users will want to get the most out of their time. One way to do this is to take advantage of Noble Desktop's free tutorials and seminars. The Illustrator page on Noble’s resources blog directs students to interviews and articles alongside free video recorded seminars to help them learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator. Interested students can find more video tutorials on the Graphic Design playlist on Noble’s official YouTube account. These tutorials will allow students to introduce themselves to Illustrator, and students will get a sampling of what live, online training courses may look like, giving them insight into their options for further Illustrator training.

Theories of Visual Design

Since Illustrator is a creative design tool, it can be challenging for students to use if they aren’t sure what it is best suited for in the first place. While this can be a concern of what program to use, it can also simply be a matter of not being familiar with visual design. Illustrator has a number of tools to help build complex designs, but without knowledge of why things like color and composition are important, these tools might overwhelm new users.

How Does Learning Illustrator Compare to Other Applications?

One of the first things students should know going into their Illustrator training is when they should use Illustrator rather than another program. Many people don’t know the difference between Illustrator and Photoshop, leading students to think that the two programs serve the same function and can be used interchangeably. This is, however, not the case.

Illustrator is a vector graphics program meaning that users use lines, points, and shapes to build their images. Photoshop is a raster graphics program, meaning that its images are made out of pixels. The advantage of vector graphics is that the images built in Illustrator can be resized to almost any size without losing any of their clarity or definition. Resizing an image made of pixels will make it blocky or blurry. By contrast, pixel images are better for displaying textures, and the images can be more precisely edited.

Vector graphics images are ideal for building images that will be placed on a wide variety of different prints and objects. Since you can resize them quickly, clients can put the same logo on a poster, a water bottle, and a billboard without building the image three times. This makes Illustrator an ideal program for building logos and other branding iconography.

Illustrator also has built-in compatibility with Inkscape, the most popular free alternative to Illustrator. While the two programs won’t overlap perfectly, users can move between the two to share files and collaborate across platforms. As with most of the Adobe Creative Cloud applications, Illustrator's most significant advantage is its integration with other Adobe products. Users performing more complicated graphic design projects will find it easier to use Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects instead of using less compatible alternatives.

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.