Illustrator tutorial: Razor-sharp workflow and design recipes

Sometimes you want to quickly reverse a path. I explain the easiest way to do this in this mini-video training.

Sometimes Illustrator files are quite large. With a few tricks you can persuade Illustrator not to take up so much memory space when saving the file.

You always need a quick rounded corner. Here I show you three ways to quickly create rounded corners with little effort.

When objects are scaled, unwanted effects sometimes occur: The contour is suddenly much too thick/thin or even applied effects look quite strange. To prevent this, it only takes one click.

I'll show you how to create a beveled star in just a few steps.

There are a few very useful keyboard shortcuts in combination with the mouse so that you can zoom faster within the document. I will also show you how to create a new file without a lot of clicking around.

Working with scripts sounds totally boring and difficult. It is ... No, just fun. With just a few clicks, you can add some interesting functions to Illustrator. In this short video training, I'll show you what you need to bear in mind.

It often happens that you have Illustrator files that contain a lot of brushes, symbols and graphic styles, even though they are not used at all and thus only artificially inflate the file. That doesn't have to be the case. With one action, you can clean up these files with just one click and save memory at the same time. This can even be automated as batch processing. However, in this video training I explain what needs to be taken into account.

Creating a sphere with a beautiful lighting effect is very easy. But of course the right shadow must not be missing. There are a few things to bear in mind. All this is explained here.

Aligning objects is not an art. But after this video training, you will certainly be able to align objects even better.

With a few loose tricks, it's no problem to create a coat of arms. It really is easier than you think.

Creating an unclosed semicircle is the simplest exercise in Illustrator. Nevertheless, we recently received a request from a user who didn't know how to do it. So here are two tricks for creating half circles that are not closed.

With a few tricks, you can easily draw hair in Adobe Illustrator without having to draw every single hair.

With just a few clicks, you can perfectly align paths, adjust lines of different lengths or calculate the average and change the length accordingly. I also give many other tips on how to work with paths that you probably don't know yet.

Thanks to the clipboard, you can also use all illustrations very practically in Photoshop or InDesign, for example. In this video training course, I show you what you need to bear in mind.

In this video training, I show you how creative contours can be created very easily.

Sometimes you only want to export a certain part of an image. I will explain how this works in different ways in this video training.

Rotating patterns in Illustrator is actually very simple. But there are a few things to bear in mind. Transforming patterns is also easy if you know how.

Working with transparencies can get on your last nerve. That doesn't have to be the case. I'm going to give you a crucial tip that really packs a punch.

You can pick up colors very quickly with the pipette. But sometimes the pipette picks up more than you would like. This is exactly where a trick comes into play that I will show you. I also give tips on how you can save yourself even more work. Take a look, it's worth it!

Thanks to a trick, you can easily copy an object many times. Both horizontally and vertically.

You can create extremely cool shapes with the blend tool. But it's even more ingenious with a killer trick that I present here. Take a look, it's worth it!

Do you need a dotted line? Nothing could be easier! This outline can then also be used wonderfully to create stamps.

This video training course makes it very easy to create a sun with lots of great effects. You will learn how to work with masks and use new contours. I also give tips on how to use the rotation tool.

Only those who shoot cleverly can quickly achieve ingenious effects. In my example, I show you how to create a sunbeam effect, which is often used in flyers.

It only takes a few clicks to create a text effect with a knitted look. In this video training, I also reveal a few tricks to add even more cool effects.

Would you like to create a shattered glass effect? After this video training, you will be able to create this effect quickly and easily.

Here we will look together at how to create such a beautifully splintered text in Illustrator. We'll also create a suitable background and at the end we'll round off the whole thing with a kind of comic bomb (included in the working files).

Here you will learn how to create a beautiful gold effect. I will also show you how to create your own color libraries so that you can use the gold colors that we will create later at any time. Finally, as a little extra, we'll take a look at how you can turn a 2D text into a 3D realization.

So, enough talk now. Let's get straight to it ...

Vector graphics become interesting when you want to do something that runs counter to their nature, such as chaos. This type of graphic can be constructed from virtually any source material that you can create or embed in Illustrator.

To create the page-turning effect correctly, you should first take a close look. With the free SubScribe plug-in from Astute Graphics, construction is then child's play and you can continue working efficiently with Illustrator's tools. I will show you all this in this tutorial.

How to fill all those things with color in Illustrator that you can't actually fill. The procedure is particularly useful for maps, CAD data, low-poly illustrations or recoloring illustrations.

In this tutorial, you will get to know the Appearance palette in Illustrator from a whole new perspective. Together we will create a button step by step using only the Appearance palette. Have fun with the tutorial.

Did you know that Illustrator also offers 3D functions? If not, this tutorial is just right for you. Together we will dive step by step into the 3D functions of Adobe Illustrator and construct three different 3D objects. These include a game figure (as we know it from "Mensch ärgere dich nicht"), a fully textured game cube and, as a small highlight, we will also build "the one ring" from "The Lord of the Rings".

I'm honored that you're back at the start of one of my tutorials. Here we will create such a badge together step by step. You will get in touch with the Pathfinder, the rotate function and some other little tips and tricks around Adobe Illustrator.

In this tutorial, we will be looking at the topic of "optical illusions". I have prepared four optical illusions for you and we will now create them step by step together in Adobe Illustrator.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a beautiful app icon in Illustrator. We will implement an iOS 5-style app icon step by step. If you are now thinking that iOS 5 is now outdated, you are of course absolutely right. However, the icon design back then was somewhat more complex than the current design. Therefore, after this tutorial, it will probably be easy for you to create icons in the current design.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to design warning signs or danger signs in Illustrator. First, we will look together at how to create the basic structure for such a warning sign, and so that you can then fill your basic structure with the appropriate content, we will build a "radioactive symbol" and a "biohazard sign" in Illustrator. Among other things, you will learn how to use the shape creation tool.

In this video training, I'll show you how to create a beautiful journey sketch with Illustrator. We will look at the path tool, the drop brush tool, various effects and how to create graphic styles from them. And last but not least, you will learn how to create and use symbols.

With this video training you will be able to draw your own maps for print media.

In the first part, we will look for a suitable template, create all the necessary layers and start drawing the side streets.

In the second part of the approach map training, I will show you how to create the main roads and the highway. I will also explain how the respective contours can be saved as a graphic style. I will also show you two ways to create a railroad track.

In the third part of the approach map training, I'll show you how to draw the residential area. We will add some structure and a drop shadow.

In the fourth part of the route map video training, I will show you how to create the green space with the right structure and what other options there are for giving green spaces the right style with just one click.

In the fifth part of the journey map video training, I'll show you how we can color the water beautifully with just one click. I'll also show you how to create trees for the green area and how to apply and distribute them using the spray-on symbol tool. I'll also give you a tip on how to change the size of trees that have already been placed.

Finally, we will create the street names and place them along the street contour.

In the sixth and final part of the directions map training, I'll show you how to create the appropriate S-Bahn and U-Bahn icons, a highway label, and how to display the location placement. Finally, you can take a look at some examples of implemented map illustrations for inspiration.

In this video training, Marco Kolditz from www.meer-der-ideen.de shows you how you, as a Spreadshirt store partner, can go from a design idea to a sketch and the subsequent vectorization to the finished printed shirt. Make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the packed video training about Spreadshirt and motif design.

Round 2 on the topic of T-shirts: In this video training, Marco Kolditz shows you how you as a Spreadshirt store partner can get from a design idea to a sketch and the subsequent vectorization to the finished printed shirt.

Do you want to stand out in your class with an individual timetable? Then this video training is just right for you! I'll explain how you can create a Schick timetable in Illustrator.

Are you organizing a Halloween party soon? And you need to quickly design a spooky invitation card for the party? But you're having trouble realizing your ideas on paper - let alone in Illustrator? No need to worry! This video training is especially for anyone who wants to create something individual with little or no drawing talent. I'll show you how you can create a spooky Halloween invitation card with little effort and simple shapes.