Illustrator Video Tutorials

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics application used to build resizable designs most commonly used in logos, promotional material, and product packaging. Learning Illustrator can open up several career opportunities for aspiring creatives. Watching video tutorials online is a popular method of learning Illustrator. Video learning can be productive for students as it provides them with greater flexibility in how they receive their Illustrator training. Students can pause, rewind, switch videos, or jump between videos with ease. This article will cover a range of videos, including what they teach and where to find them.

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.

Why Are Video Tutorials Helpful When Learning Illustrator?

Video tutorials have several unique advantages that make them an ideal place to start learning the basics of Illustrator. Most notably, video tutorials are free services that let students move at their own pace. Since learning even the basics of a new program can be time-consuming, the ability to pause a video and return to it at a more convenient time makes these tutorials ideal for students who can’t dedicate large amounts of time to Illustrator training regularly. Beyond this, allowing students to pause and rewind videos allows them to repeat difficult concepts, hear instructions a second or third time, and stop the video so that they can look up a concept on another website.

Video tutorials also have the added benefit of having very low buy-in. Since even long videos rarely run more than two hours, there isn’t a lot of time cost sunk into watching a video, deciding that the style of instruction isn’t ideal, and moving on to another video. Students who enroll in a paid instruction course right away may find that Illustrator isn’t for them, or they may not click with the particular style of instruction used in the course. This can make changing one’s mind fairly costly. Video tutorials, by contrast, will let students get a feel for the program in a very low-risk, low-investment environment before they commit to more intensive, demanding training options.

Options for Illustrator Videos

Noble Desktop has made several prerecorded Illustrator tutorial seminars available on their resources blog and YouTube page. These seminars replicate the kinds of lessons that students will receive when they enroll in an online training program through Noble. These tutorials are well-suited for students who are confident that they want to learn Illustrator but want to get a feel for the program before diving into more complex training.

The free recorded seminars on Noble’s website offer an introduction to the basic features of Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Cloud more broadly. Intro to Adobe Illustrator gives students a crash course in the basics of the program in preparation for Noble’s Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp or Illustrator in a Day course.

Noble’s official Youtube channel has a Graphic Design playlist that compiles a collection of videos meant to teach students how to use programs like Illustrator for many different contexts, such as using Illustrator to create color images or to build fashion designs. This YouTube playlist also includes videos that introduce students to other elements of graphic design and the Adobe Creative Cloud, making it an excellent place to start for students interested in enrolling in Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program.

Types of Illustrator Videos

One of the advantages of using video tutorials to learn the basics of Illustrator is that there are many different kinds of video tutorials available. Some video tutorials, like those offered by Noble, are in-depth discussions of the totality of the program, and they move users through basic features and functionalities, scaffolding one skill after another to help students build proficiency in the program. These videos are ideal for students who are looking to replicate the kinds of training that they expect to receive from a professional instructor.

Some video tutorials are more narrowly skills-based, focusing on quick explanations of how to use a given tool or feature in a small, five to ten-minute video. These videos are ideal for students who know what part of the program is giving them problems and would prefer to target the skills they think they need help with. These videos have the downside of being difficult to manage if you need to work on multiple skills at once.

The final type of video tutorials are videos that aim to demonstrate how a user builds a sample project, taking viewers step-by-step through the process of creating an illustration. These videos, like the ones available through Adobe, are ideally suited both for students who prefer practical demonstrations of skills and students who are process-oriented in their learning.

Why Learn Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is one of the most popular vector graphics programs currently available. This program allows users to design vibrant and colorful illustrations by creating lines and shapes or through free-hand drawing. These images are perfect for building logos and illustrations, and the tool is frequently used for designing branded merchandise and advertisements. As a bonus, Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, making it easy to transfer work from one Adobe program to another.

Users who learn to use Adobe Illustrator are opening up many new career paths in graphic design and web design. Adobe Illustrator is used in many creative careers, and aspiring Graphic Designers, Fashion Designers, Digital Designers, and UX/UI Designers benefit from learning Illustrator. In addition, since Adobe Illustrator is a user-friendly program, it is also helpful for entrepreneurs and creatives looking to build their own brand identity. Most people can pick up the fundamental skills in the program quickly. Whether used by professional designers or amateur creatives, Illustrator lets users build complex, memorable graphics that they can utilize in various circumstances.

Read more about why you should learn Illustrator.

How Difficult is It to Learn Illustrator?

Learning a new skill, especially one like Adobe Illustrator, can be an intimidating task. Students who are wavering on whether or not they wish to learn Illustrator may be wondering what the learning curve for the program looks like. Illustrator is a program that is very inviting to beginners, offering many resources to ease new users into the program. Still, it is also a very complex tool that will require significant experience and training to master. The difficulty of learning Illustrator will depend on whether you hope to learn the program to build simple, colorful designs or use it to draw complex, professional-looking logos for a business or organization.

There aren’t any formal prerequisites to learning Adobe Illustrator. Users can download the program and experiment with vector graphic design within minutes. Users should familiarize themselves with the platform basics on which they hope to use Illustrator, whether on a desktop PC or tablet. For students considering professional uses of Illustrator, anyone without a background in graphic design may wish to brush up on current trends in the graphic design industry. Knowledge of color theory, philosophies of composition, and typography can help users demonstrate their skills to prospective clients.

As a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, Illustrator requires users to pay a subscription fee to access the program. Several unique packages are available for users wishing to license multiple programs at once, but they should be aware that there are either monthly or annual fees associated with Illustrator.

Read about how difficult it is to learn Illustrator.

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.