60 best Illustrator tutorials from 2016

November 21st, 2016
Illustrator

This is our annual tradition where rounding up a collection of original illustrator tutorials, which where all created throughout 2016. Where a massive advocate of design tutorials, because they are such a massive aid in terms of further developing your skill set empowering you to become a better designer. The roundup includes a mixture of tutorials aimed at novice to a master we have mixture of tutorials at a range of skill levels some great tutorials included in the roundup.

Please feel free to share a link in the comments to your favourite tutorials included in the roundup, or a tutorial that hasn’t been included in the roundup.

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1. How to Create Realistic Vector Leaves in Illustrator

In this tutorial, you’ll find out how to create a realistic vector leaves which can be always used in your future projects. This leaf is essentially universal, i.e. you can always change its color and form. It might seem to you that it’s created with the help of the Gradient Mesh. But nope, it’s not the case. I used plain gradient fills. Would you like to learn how to create such leaves? Then put all your businesses aside and let’s draw!

2. Create a Highlighter Text Effect Vector in Adobe Illustrator

3. Create Six Sacred Geometric Icon Vector Designs!

Be one with the universe and create some fun sacred geometric icon vector designs with simple shape and vector tools!

4. How To Create a Cute Dinosaur Character in Adobe Illustrator

Creating cartoon characters in Adobe Illustrator is always lots of fun! You don’t even need great drawing skills. Making illustrations out of basic shapes not only simplifies the process, it also produces a stylised appearance that adds to the cute factor.

5. How to Create Vector Floral Typography in Adobe Illustrator

Follow this inspirational tutorial and learn to create an elegant floral typography composition in Adobe Illustrator! We’ll be working with text, creating custom vectors brushes and using various drawing tools of Adobe Illustrator to create flowers, leaves, and floral elements. We’ll be comparing different tools, so you can see how they work and follow the inspiring workflow with some hand-drawing.

6. How to Create a Light Bulb Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

In the following steps you will learn how to Back to School in Style with School Banner Vectorscreate a light bulb text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

7. How to Create a Light Bulb Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

Summer is quite nearly over, and students of all ages are filling up classrooms once more. Take that inspiration and create your very own back to school banner vectors, ready for notebooks, newsletters, and more.Create a Fancy Cartoon Building in Adobe Illustrator

8. Create a Fancy Cartoon Building in illustrator

Learn how to make a cartoon-style building, using basic geometric shapes and various tools and functions of Adobe Illustrator, making our illustration look playful and fancy.

9. Turn it On! Neon Light Vector Text Treatment

Brighten up your day with this fantastic neon light vector text treatment! We’ll use custom brushes and the Appearance panel in order to turn any text into bright, neon light text!

10. Create a Semi-Realistic MacBook Pro Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

Brighten up your day with this fantastic neon light vector text treatment! We’ll use custom brushes and the Appearance panel in order to turn any text into bright, neon light text!

11. How to Create a Set of Spirit Day Icons in Adobe Illustrator

Get ready for Spirit Day! Today’s the day when millions of people go purple to show their support for LGBTQ youth against bullying. We’re proud to stand together with GLAAD and celebrate this day by wearing purple and creating this set of flat purple icons, representing strength, courage, love and support! Follow this article and learn how to use simple shapes, warp effects and various functions of the Pathfinder panel to design these icons dedicated to Spirit Day.

12. How to Create a Colorful 3D Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

In the following steps, you will learn how to create a fully editable, colorful, 3D text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

13. How to Create a Hanging Monkey Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a monkey hanging on a vine. As usual, we will use basic shapes, warp effects, and the Pathfinder panel. We will also move some anchor points and learn how to use the Line Segment Tool and the Arc Tool.

14. How to Design a Krishna Janmashtami Postcard in Adobe Illustrator

You’ll be depicting young stylized Lord Krishna in a trendy flat style, using basic geometric shapes and modifying them with the help of Live Corners, the Pathfinder panel, and other handy tools of Adobe Illustrator.

15. How to Create a Game Boy Illustration Using Adobe Illustrator

This is probably going to be one of my favorite tutorials yet, since not only do I get to recreate this awesome device, but I also get the chance to share the process with you and show you how easy it is to build it. We’ll be using basic shapes such as rectangles, rounded rectangles and circles to gradually create our little illustration.

16. How to Create an Ice Cream Cone in Adobe Illustrator

Follow this tutorial and learn how to create a vector ice cream cone in Adobe Illustrator.

17. How to Create a Cherry Pie Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

Love a good cherry pie? I do! So let’s have fun and turn it into a cherry pie text effect.

18. How to Create a Sunny Bee Illustration in 10 Easy Steps!

n this tutorial we’ll be creating a fancy thin-lined bee illustration. We’ll learn using simple geometric shapes, applying strokes and modifying our objects with the help of the Live Corners feature and the Direct Selection Tool. Then we’ll finish up by adding a simple sunny background with combs.

19. How To Create a Flat Style Vector Map in Adobe Illustrator

There’s some fantastic examples of flat style map designs out there on the web that depict a city or country with ultra simplified illustrations with basic shapes and flat colours. I really fancied giving the style a try myself, so I thought ‘why not make a tutorial to share my process with others?!’. Follow along with today’s guide to learn how to build a creative vector illustration of a landscape with trees, roads, mountains and towns using a range of tools in Adobe Illustrator. Working in the flat design style involves simplifying an object to its most basic form, so Illustrator’s various vector shape building tools are ideal for crafting your illustrations.

20. How to Create a DJ Themed Icon Pack in Adobe Illustrator

In today’s tutorial we’re going to get our groove on by creating a small DJ icon set, which I thought would be a nice change of pace from the themes that we’ve covered lately.

21. Create a Water Gun in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed water gun illustration in Adobe Illustrator.

22. How to Create a Wood Block Print Text Vector

Let’s go old school with recreating a time honored printing technique in Adobe Illustrator. With a modified photo texture, we’ll quickly edit any text to look like a wood block print text vector design, ready for whatever your digital needs may be!

23. How to Create Vintage Cocktail Icons in Adobe Illustrator CC

Using basic shapes and a fun grainy texture we’ll create vintage-styled cocktail icons in no time flat. Cheers!

24. Illustrator Tutorial: Create an Ice Cream Cart

Using basic shapes and a fun grainy texture we’ll create vintage-styled cocktail icons in no time flat. Cheers!

25. How To Create a Decorative Drop Cap in Adobe Illustrator

A fun personal project designers and illustrators often take part in is ’36 Days of Type’, or equivalent challenges like ‘Daily Drop Cap’ where artists express their style on a new letter or number every day. Initials have received decorative treatment throughout history, with examples dating as far back as early biblical texts. In today’s tutorial I’ll take you through the process of decorating a letter in Adobe Illustrator with a range of vector embellishments. We’ll make use of some really useful techniques that you’ll be able to make use of in all kinds of illustration projects in the future.

26. How to Design a Vintage Book Cover

To celebrate the start of our Fairy Tale Week here at Envato Tuts+, I’ll show you how to create a cover design for a book of fairy tales with a vintage-inspired look.

27. Create a Halloween Set with Pumpkins in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a Halloween set with pumpkins in Adobe Illustrator.

28. Create a brand new style of vector portrait

Use Adobe Illustrator – and a bit of Photoshop – to develop a new look when creating vector portraits from photos, using this simple step-by-step process.

29. How to Draw a Pack of Six Sport Icons in Illustrator

In this Illustrator tutorial you will learn how to draw a pack of six sport icons.

30. 3D Text Effect in Illustrator

In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a vibrant, 3D text effect in Adobe Illustrator. For starters you will learn how to setup a simple grid and how to create your own, pixel-perfect letter shapes using basic tools and effects along with the Live Corners feature. Moving on, you will learn how to create the isometric 3D effect and how to add vibrant coloring using several gradients and colors.

31. How to Create Flat Profession Avatars in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we’ll be making a set of flat-style portraits, depicting people of different professions and occupations. Such images can be used as avatars for social networks or as design elements for your website, depicting various categories. Or you can even draw yourself, using such flat-style portraits for your business card.

32. Create a Toothpaste Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator!

In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a neat toothpaste text effect in Adobe Illustrator using a pattern brush. For starters you will learn how to setup a simple grid and how to build pixel perfect vector shapes using basic tools and the Pathfinder panel. Moving on you will learn how to use a simple script and how to ease your work using the Shape Builder Tool. Next, you’ll learn how to easily and rename two simple patterns and how to create your own pattern brush. Finally, using your pattern brush along with some subtle Drop Shadow effects you will create your text effect.

33. Create vector type with an animal theme

He used geometric shapes and symmetry for the illustrations, a muted palette and use of space to help give a stylised approach to the concept.

34. How to Create Delicious Toast Icons in Adobe Illustrator

First, you will learn how to draw a simple slice of toast followed by the vector bread texture and the toasted look. You will continue with the toppings: the melted butter, the fried egg, the chocolate spread and banana slices. Sounds great? Let’s begin!

35. Round Flat Pub Icon

In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed pub icon in Adobe Illustrator. For starters you will learn how to setup a simple grid and how ease your work using the Snap to Grid feature. Moving on you will learn how to organize and group your shapes and how to create a neat wooden effect using a set of rectangles, the Roughen effect and a simple mask.

36. How to Create a Greyscale Monochrome Vector Portrait in Adobe Illustrator

In today’s tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create a monochrome portrait from a photograph. Today’s subject is the inspiring Aydian Dowling, who has given us permission to use one of his photos for this tutorial.

37. Create a Set of Simple Line Icons in 20 Minutes or Less!

Create colorful simple line icons from basic shapes for a cool, cartoony vibe to your content!

38. How to Create a Chalkboard in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a Chalkboard in Adobe Illustrator. We will use the basic tools, some vector shape building techniques along with some gradients and effects to achieve the final. The tutorial is relatively simple and can be applied to many other Illustrator projects.

39. Illustrator Special Effects: Cloud and Grass Background

After studying this cloud and grass tutorial, you will learn many useful and necessary techniques that will help you to create an eye-appealing wallpaper quickly and effectively. We’ll cover on how to use shapes and gradients to achieve a simple landscape environment.

40. How to Create a Cute Spring Rabbit in Adobe Illustrator

Believe it or not, spring is almost upon us! In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an adorable rabbit delivering a bouquet of tulips just using basic shapes. You’ll also learn to recolor the flowers in one easy step. Once you finish, you will have a lovely spring illustration on your art board.

41. Create a Bright and Fun Plastic Text Effect with Graphic Styles

Keep things candy-like and bright with this plastic text effect treatment tutorial! We’ll create a fantastic graphic style and easily transform it into a completed text design.

42. How to Create a 3D Pie Chart Design in Adobe Illustrator

In the following steps you will learn how to create a detailed 3D pie chart design in Adobe Illustrator.

43. Create A Four Leaf Clover Vector for St. Patrick’s Day

In celebration of St. Patricks Day, I wanted to do a four leaf clover vector tutorial. Some of you might not celebrate St. Patricks Day or have no use for a four-leaf clover, but still take a look at this tutorial. This tutorial combines some good techniques. You will Divide, Transform, and add Warping Effects. These techniques will help you quickly and easily create with Illustrator!

44. How to Create a Bird’s-Eye View of Retro Cars in Adobe Illustrator

Everyone feels a certain passion for retro style! Those extraordinary clothes, those fancy hairdos, the music and, of course, the cars! In this tutorial we’ll combine our love for the 50s, cinematography and games, creating a crazy mix. We’ll make an aerial view of a stylized Greased Lightning retro car, using basic shapes, various types of gradients and blending modes, working with the Pathfinder panel and other functions of Adobe Illustrator.

45. On the Hunt for an Easter Egg Vector? Learn to Make Your Own!

In the following Easter egg vector tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed Easter egg illustration in Adobe Illustrator. In the first steps you will learn how to set up a simple grid and how to save a simple symbol. Taking full advantage of the Snap to Grid feature and using basic vector shape building techniques you will learn how to create your main shapes. Next, you’ll learn how to add a complex 3D Revolve effect. Moving on you’ll add shading and highlights using basic blending techniques and a bunch of simple effects. Finally, you will learn how to add a simple background.

46. Geometric Collage using Illustrator & Photoshop

In today’s video tutorial you’re going to combine the powers of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to produce a trendy geometric photo collage. This style of artwork has a somewhat retro vibe and it’s the kind of art you would see on album covers or as a series of abstract poster prints. We’ll be using Illustrator for its powerful shape building tools to construct a geometric vector pattern, then we’ll transfer the artwork over to Photoshop to use the image editing tools to digitally cut and paste snippings of a photograph into a cool looking collage.

47. Cute character art techniques

For this masterclass, Meni reveals how she created the character above from initial sketch through to working in Adobe Illustrator. The initial sketch is included as a download for you to work along with. The masterclass draws on vector art skills, exploring the power of various stroke techniques.

48. How to Create Wrapped Candy in Adobe Illustrator

In this new tutorial you will learn how to create colorful wrapped candy in Adobe Illustrator.

49. How to Create Cartoon Style Vector Burger

Watching the trends on the market, I have noticed that cartoon style vector images are becoming more and more popular. This is a slight modification on a classic, with a moderate use of gradient fills. In this tutorial, which was created in collaboration with a professional illustrator, Alexander Onica, we will share the secrets of creating modern cartoon style vectors. Many effective techniques described here will allow you to achieve excellent results.

50. How to create a Realistic Cell Phone

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a realistic cell phone by using simple shapes and gradients. I will show you working with the Align, the Pathfinder and the Stroke palettes along with the blending objects to reach our last result.

51. Skills Radar Chart

In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a sleek radar chart in Adobe Photoshop. For starters you will learn how to setup a simple grid and how to create a set of concentric hexagons using basic tool and vector shape building techniques. Moving on, you will learn how to create smart objects, how to take full advantage of layer styles and how to use blending modes. Finally, you will find out how to save and use a simple pattern and how to create a blurry background.

52. How to Create a Set of Fitness Icons in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we’ll be creating fitness icons, depicting the items which are well-known by both beginners and advanced level athletes. These are a fitball, a dumbbell and weight scales. Let’s make them one by one, starting with the fitball icon.

53. How to Create a Pearl Brush from Gradient Meshes in Adobe Illustrator

In You will learn how to control transparency of gradient meshes with the help of blending modes, and by adjusting color transition between mesh points and changing its opacity, create a pearl brush. Moreover after reading this tutorial, you’ll be able to create Illustrator brushes from gradient meshes of any difficulty with the help of free Mesh Tormentor plug-in.

54. How to Create Watercolor Brushes in AI

You’ll show you how to transform that art – specifically our watercolors – into AI brushes. Follow along to create your own and make sure to pick up our brand new Watercolor Illustrator Brush Pack while you’re at it!

55. How to create a Paper Knife

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a paper knife in Adobe Illustrator. We’ll be using basic shapes and playing around with the Pathfinder palette, blend objects, the Offset Path along with some basic effects.

56. How to Create a Character Kit in Adobe Illustrator

This new tutorial is quite unique—unlike the other tutorials we’ve done in the past, this one is more like a game. First we will create many different elements of character design from scratch, and then we will use these elements to create different characters. I promise you that you will have lots of fun combining different parts together and experiencing the excitement of creating various characters.

57. How to create a Light Bulb

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how I create a light bulb in Adobe Illustrator. Most of the time, we’ll be using the Pen tool, so this is great practice for those struggling with drawing freehand. We’ll also use numerous techniques and effects to create this illustration. Follow the steps below and you will easily see the steps in getting the light bulb that you need.