How Long Do Illustrator Courses Take?

When choosing which Illustrator course to take, it’s important to consider the time commitment required. Courses require resources, and not being able to get the most out of your experience because of scheduling issues can be stressful. Classes are an overall great investment that can help you prepare for life as a professional. They can also provide you with knowledge that can make your use of Illustrator more efficient. As with many subjects, courses in Illustrator can go anywhere from a few hours to a few months long. There are even university courses that happen on an annual basis. In this article, we review the time commitment for different course types, from beginner to advanced to specialty courses. We’ll also help you get a better understanding of which ones might align with your availability as well as your overall educational goals.

Beginner Classes

Beginner Adobe courses typically cover the essential skills you need to create and edit vector graphics. This includes tools like the pen tool, paint tools, shapes, and brushes. There are also common techniques for adding colors and gradients, creating and manipulating shapes, and working with text, layers, and effects. With this information, you can enhance your designs and familiarize yourself with Illustrator for future use. 

The average duration for a beginner Illustrator course is between 10 to 15 hours of instruction. Different formats may spread these hours over multiple days or weeks. It is unlikely that a beginner course would go for longer than a few weeks. An important thing to consider is that courses taken for a degree may be considered ‘beginner’, but include both beginner and intermediate concepts. Once you have learned the basic skills, you can graduate from the fundamentals and move on to higher-level concepts that take longer to learn.

Advanced Classes

Advanced courses cover more in-depth tutorials, techniques, and topics for Illustrator. The goal is to grow the student to the point of professional-level design skills. Alongside a review of all beginner and intermediate concepts, an advanced course will cover topics like typography, creative effects, and mastery of the pen tool for drawing intricate shapes. Advanced courses will also train you to integrate Illustrator with complementary Creative Cloud applications like Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. 

An advanced course is slightly longer, with a typical range of 15 to 30 instructional hours. This is highly dependent on the institution, though you’ll notice that many advanced courses split these up over several days. Because of the complexity of the content, advanced courses may be offered as bootcamps or certification programs, which may require an additional time commitment. For those that are traditional in-person or online classes, you can expect to dedicate anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, with the best option being whichever one aligns best with your circumstances.

Bootcamps and Certificate Programs

Bootcamps and certification courses offer more instructional hours over longer periods, because they both provide a comprehensive education which takes longer to teach. It’s not uncommon for bootcamps and certification programs to cover content from all levels. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced concepts are generally covered regardless of the program type, so that they can prepare you for your professional career, or more, help you pass the exam to become an Adobe Certified Professional.

The time commitments for a bootcamp are more intensive than beginner or advanced classes in other formats, as they require full-time participation that can last several weeks. You may be dedicating anywhere from 20-30 hours to this type of class, which is often stretched over several weeks and may require additional time outside of class to complete exercises, assignments, and independent study. The bootcamps are occasionally shorter, they are still considered intensive opportunities which means that the workload is heavier than other course types.

Certification programs can range anywhere from several months to a year if they are taken as part of a degree requirement, and certain certificate programs offer a part-time or full-time schedule, which will greatly impact the length of commitment. Certification programs generally include bootcamps alongside testing preparation and accommodations for the exam, leading to programs that are weeks long. Like bootcamps, shorter certification programs are available. It’s important to double-check a program’s hours of instruction prior to signing up. 

Specialty Classes

Other class types may be a much shorter commitment and a great way to pick up fundamental skills. The most common are on-demand courses, workshops, and one-day programs. On-demand courses are online programs that are flexible in terms of course schedule and content access. With these course types, you can study content at your own pace with the help of modules, pre-recorded lectures, and other available resources. These courses are not taught by live instructors, and there is often no expectation for a student to finish their work within a specific time. Because of this, the length of these courses ranges drastically and can take anywhere from days to months. 

Workshops and one-day courses have a lot of overlap. Both are geared towards hours-long classes that can be completed within 1 to 2 days. Shorter workshops can last a few hours with a focus on a specific skill. For example, in Illustrator, learning how to manage the pen tool can be a workshop course, whereas one-day courses tend to expand that focus by a little, to give you a more well-rounded idea of a specific topic. One-day courses are more likely to be 6 to 8 hours and consist of a full day’s schedule. These course types are ideal for students who can’t commit long-term to a program, but who want to learn the basics with the help of industry professionals. These shorter courses coupled with online resources are a great way to learn the essentials so that you can confidently use Illustrator, or brush up on content you’ve already learned.

Learn Illustrator with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers several course types that span the length of days to weeks. Starting with their shorter course, Illustrator in a Day is a one-day accelerated program that can teach you how to use the pen tool, draw simple lines and curves, and use a few other fundamental techniques to get you started. Despite its short length, this course will use fun, hands-on projects that can help strengthen and improve your skills, with examples being signage and vector art. This course is a great option for those who want a straightforward way to learn foundational Illustrator skills so that those can be built on later, when time permits.

There are longer and more in-depth courses offered by Noble Desktop. Their Adobe Illustrator for Fashion Design Bootcamp is an exciting way to use your Illustrator skills for a specific industry. The fashion industry is a highly creative professional area, and you can learn how to make vector-based fashion concept art, tech packs, and more, using a combination of design strategies and Illustrator’s most prominent tools. If you’re interested in a more general Illustrator opportunity, the Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp is great for those who haven’t chosen a market. This bootcamp covers both basic and advanced concepts, from creating logos and packaging to designing digital vector drawings for a variety of graphic-based tasks. There are practical, hands-on projects including poster creation, shirt pattern designs, and informational signs that can give you experience with using Illustrator while also building your confidence as a designer. 

Finally, Noble Desktop offers an Illustrator Certification Program that can help you become an Adobe Certified Professional. This is a valuable investment because this certification can act as an endorsement on your resume, portfolio, and social media sites. This program includes the Illustrator Bootcamp, hours of private tutoring, and access to a free retake for both the course and the Adobe Certified Professional exam for Illustrator. You’ll be able to use their bonus video suite for pre-exam preparation, and a custom workbook that offers you step-by-step exercises.