Adobe Illustrator: Tutorial for beginners
Adobe Illustrator is a powerful drawing tool that is particularly demanding for beginners. In this tutorial we will show you how to achieve quick success with Adobe Illustrator and how to learn the most important basics.
Introducing Adobe Illustrator
Use Adobe Illustrator to create vector graphics. A vector graphic does not consist of individual color points but of anchor points, which are displayed as graphic elements by complex mathematical functions. Vector graphics can be changed in shape and size without losing quality. The software is therefore ideal for creating technical drawings, logos or infographics. You can make your work with Adobe Illustrator easier by working with templates.
Adobe Illustrator: user interface at a glance
Especially in the beginning, the user interface of Illustrator seemed heavily overloaded. We briefly introduce you to the most important areas:
- Toolbar: The toolbar is the most important element in Adobe Illustrator. Here you will find all the tools you need to create or edit paths or shapes.
- Work surface: Unlike in Photoshop or GIMP, the visible background is not the drawing but the work surface. It is used for orientation and limits your drawing. However, if you do not fill in the work area, empty areas will not be saved during export. For example, if you are working on an A4 work surface, you can create your graphics in the size ratio to an A4 page.
- Menu bar: In the top menu bar you will find important functions such as effects, filters and settings.
Adobe Illustrator: tools at a glance
The Illustrator drawing software is structured similarly to all other programs from the Adobe Creative Cloud. Still, Illustrator differs from Photoshop in that it creates vector graphics instead of pixels. The most important tools for getting started are:
- Shapes tool: With the Shapes tool you can draw basic shapes such as circles, rectangles, stars or polygons. To do this, select the appropriate tool and use the mouse to draw a shape on the drawing area.
- Selection tool: The selection tool allows you to move or resize shapes or images. With the selection tool you always touch whole shapes or groups. If you want to change individual paths, switch to the direct selection tool.
- Direct selection tool: With the direct selection tool you can touch individual paths or anchor points. For example, if you click on one side of a rectangle, you can move the selected edge up or down. The rest of the form remains unaffected.
- Pen tool: Select the pen tool if you want to place anchor points freely on the drawing surface and connect them to one another. In this way, you can create your own shapes that can then be processed as closed shapes - for example, filled with color or scaled in size.
- Shape Creation Tool: You can use the Shape Creation Tool to merge shapes. For example, if you push two equal-sized squares into each other and connect them with the shape creation tool, a rectangle is created.
More tutorials on Adobe Illustrator
In special practical tips we explain individual functions of Adobe Illustrator:
- Create a wavy line in Adobe Illustrator.
- Connect paths in Adobe Illustrator.
- Enable guides in Adobe Illustrator.
- Draw triangles in Illustrator.
- Insert image into shapes with Illustrator.
- Make background transparent in Illustrator drawing.
- Create logo with Adobe Illustrator.
- Mirror object in Adobe Illustrator.