Illustrator Fast-Track

Join me and create a stunning vector illustration inspired by nautical themes and various styles including impressionism, line art and ukiyo-e.

I always loved nautical illustrations and the theme of exploration and travelling by sea. A lighthouse on a cliff is such a romantic composition. For this project we will combine a variety of styles including impressionism, line art and the Japanese ukiyo-e.

By completing this project, you can learn an interesting and simple technique to simplify lighting in your illustrations. Instead of complex shading and gradients, we will use only highlights to define the direction of light and the shape of rocks in our illustration.

We will also utilise Symbols and the Symbol Tools to add some textural detail to the final composition.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open lighthouse_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open lighthouse_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create an enchanting fairy tale vector illustration inspired by linocut art!

I wanted to make an illustration for this course that could be used for the cover of a book. I decided to go with a fairy tale and I chose Little Red Riding Hood.

My aim was to utilise negative space and the figure-ground principle. These are both terms I cover in great detail in my Graphic Design Theory series if you are interested to learn more about them, but in a nutshell using these methods can help you to make your illustrations more compelling and intriguing. I ended up using the head of the wolf as a background framing device and align its nose with the hood of the little girl. This is the figure-ground detail, which can be seen as two different things, depending on how you are looking at it.

I wanted the style of illustration to be reminiscent of woodcut or linocut art and also to have a Japanese aesthetic. This is why for instance I decided to write the title in vertical format.

To establish the wintery environment I used a special texture brush, which you will learn how to use if you follow along this workflow.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open book_cover_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open book_cover_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create a fun and dynamic vector illustration featuring a cool cartoonish character!

For this project I wanted to create an illustration that focuses on the exaggerated and dynamic pose of a character. I decided to go for a skateboarding scene and feature a girl with long hair, which always helps to describe motion, speed of movement and gravity.

I wanted the character to feel off balance but still in control. This type of contradicting setup can create tension and interest in your illustration. To make things even more unusual, I tried to create a pose where it is hard to tell the direction of the movement. You can see the girl zooming past to the right riding her skateboard, but you can also see her falling off the board towards the left. I love it when there is a level of uncertainty to an illustration, it helps to make the viewer work a bit harder trying to understand what is going on.

We will use a minimal shading at the end of this workflow using a texture brush.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open skater_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open skater_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create a cute and colourful vector illustration for a kids book!

For this project I decided to draw a dinosaur made up of aboriginal patterns and decorations. I wanted the creature to be highly stylised, featuring geometric shapes and perhaps even the forms of a didgeridoo, just to further emphasise the Australian theme.

I decided not to introduce any texture to this illustration and I also kept shading to a minimal level as I wanted the patterns to describe the forms and shapes instead.

I imagined this illustration to be part of a kids book and if you like this style maybe you can create a whole series of dinosaurs based on my artwork.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open dinosaur_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open dinosaur_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create expressive, stylised vector portrait illustrations!

This time we will be creating colourful, slightly abstract portraits using a variety of simple geometric and organic, floral shapes. This style can be applied to all kinds of illustrations and it allows us to experiment with unusual, funky colour themes. I want these illustrations to be dynamic, vibrant and playful. I also want to add some interesting textures to contrast the clean and sharp vector outlines.

I am using pop art, surrealism, cubism as my initial influences, but also bringing modern illustrators work into the mix. One of my favourite contemporary artists is Totoi Semerena from Mexico. He has an incredible eye for composition and colour harmonies. I love his energetic and creative illustrations and murals and I wanted to pay homage to him with this project.

I recorded two different portrait illustration workflows for this project. Although the style similar, I ended up using a couple of different techniques for each of them. I also decided to demonstrate the actual speed of how I use Adobe Illustrator, without pausing to explain why I do everything. While the portrait of the man was recorded at the usual slower pace, pausing for every instruction, I recorded the girl's portrait without interruptions and instructions. I had my music playing and I was in the zone, just cracking on with the illustration. I added a voice over afterwards and the captions for keyboard shortcuts. I recommend starting with the man's portrait first and after watching that hopefully you won't find the girl's portrait recording difficult to follow.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open girl_start.ai or guy_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open girl_start.ai or guy_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create edgy vector illustrations inspired by socialist propaganda posters and street art!

This is a really fun project demonstrating a lot of useful and cool techniques, like halftone effects, distress textures, using the Warp Tool for sculpting objects and so much more.

My main inspiration for this artwork were the socialist propaganda posters, but I also wanted to make it slightly cartoonish and humorous. When coming up with ideas for illustrations I like to pair two or three completely unrelated things together. In this case it was the aesthetic of propaganda posters, space travel and a grizzly bear. Combining things together to create unusual results can help to make your illustration stand out and be more memorable.

From this process, amongst many other things, you will also be able learn how to design your own custom typeface and how to distort it without losing legibility.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open bearonaut_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open bearonaut_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.

Join me and create calming and inviting stylised vector travel illustrations!

One of the biggest artistic influence for this project is Levente Szabo's work. He is a talented Hungarian artist who I greatly admire. I used a similarly surrealistic colour palette to some of his artwork.

I wanted to capture a serene, inviting scenery and decided to go for a tropical beach. To make the illustration more relatable I needed a person in it and I chose a surfer studying the waves.

To add some visual interest I also introduced some textures by using the Grain effect in Illustrator and at the end of my workflow I demonstrate how to use it in various ways.

There are three ways you can complete this class project:

1. For those just starting out: Open surf_start.ai and use the same sketch as a starting point that was used in the video lessons.

2. For those with some experience: Open surf_start.ai and choose one of the alternative sketches included. Apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons to your chosen sketch.

3. For experienced illustrators: Prepare your own unique sketch, import it into Adobe Illustrator and apply the same workflow presented in the video lessons.

Whichever option you choose: feel free to alter some details, experiment with different color combinations and add your own unique touches to your version.