10 Quick Tips & Tricks for Learning Illustrator at Advanced Level

Learning something new becomes easy when you know how to proceed in the correct flow and with some effective tips & tricks

In the graphic design industry, Adobe Illustrator is a very effective tool for vector-based designing that gives you unlimited options to create your masterpieces. So here are some quick tips that may help you if you are to begin learning Adobe Illustrator course.

1. Remember & Use Shortcuts: It saves a lot of time.

Designers are always running short of time. Hence it really helps ls save a lot of time if you remember shortcuts of regularly used commands like transform, clipping mask, group - ungroup, locking the object and similar tools & actions. You would not have to explicitly search & select through all menu items to perform a command. If you can successfully recall the shortcuts, your workflow becomes really fast and smooth 

2. It’s just thinking 

Believe me or not some of the really good designs and effects are just a modification of regular shapes or a mix & merge of two shapes & with some effects. For eg, if you use the twirl tool or warp tool with rectangle or eclipse you can easily form an uncommon shape, which can give a highlight to your complete design. In such scenarios, “Pathfinder Tools” can also be used. You can simply experiment by combining, dividing or compounding any random shapes together and see the difference. This is also important in order to have proper smooth shapes instead of an uneven one (especially) for those who face problems using the pen tool smoothly and making a smooth swirl). Similarly, the mixing of effects like distort, lens flare can be fruitful in creating some wonderful backgrounds.

3. Symbols are of great help 

Adobe Illustrator has a nice collection of symbols (in various categories) included in their symbols library, which contain a large variety of already designed ready to use vectors like shapes, flow charts, flowers, swirls and various other elements that can be directly used in your design to grace it and the best part is you can edit them according to your requirement as well like change the colour, modify the shapes. So open your symbol library, place some complimenting elements, do a bit of placement and here you go.

4. Befriend the Pen Tool

As an artist, you definitely love to scribble down your emotions on paper or doodle them. However, when it comes to converting them into digital forms, nothing but the Pen Tool is only gonna help you out in the situation. Though it might take you a little longer to get hold over it but do not fear. Just notice the little details of how the flow f Pen tool goes, where to put an anchor/node, where to use arched corners or convert your handle to get square corners. Stay calm, practice, trace, observe carefully and fly. I’m sure you would not love any other tool more than the Pen tool.

5. An impactful design can result only with quality Brainstorming, Strong Research & visualization

Before you are about to start the layout for your design, please do brainstorm the topic (at least roughly), create a mind map of what the topic is all about, the colors, the elements etc. Do a thorough research about it and gather relevant and good references, scribble the ideas you get into your mind and then visualize how the outcome would be before you actually start to design it on the software.

6. Clipping mask to the rescue 

Illustrator being a vector-based software somehow makes an obvious choice for the designer to use the Clipping mask method for multiple uses. Using the clipping mask would save your time and you can easily specify the different groups of shapes and patterns according to the area. This is the reason why I recommend to comprehend this option to all Illustrator learners.

7. Learning the Tools is Ok.. But to where & when to use them is the key.

I agree you know the endless list of tools & effects available in the software but it’s only worth it if you know how, when and where to use those tools effectively. Say for you are creating a landscape scenery, which includes various building tree and all. You simply take the pen tool and start your vector but wait and think about what shape does your design have? Are these shapes readily available in your shapes panel? If yes, avoid tracing create the windows etc. with pre-existing regular shapes. or say you are required to create an infographic so you can directly use the graphs or polar grid tools. Instead of merging different shapes as it becomes difficult for them to handle later on.

8. Grids, Guides & Rulers.

By using some awesome Illustrator tools like grids, ruler and guides you can easily develop Logos, Symmetrical designs, Perspective views and Repetitive Patterns etc. Using these enable you to show accuracy is your design and leads to a standardization. These options let you divide your shapes into equal division and are also used to create elements with 3D effects.  Moreover, it also lets you design with correct proportions.

9. Color Schemes. Always refer the existing combinations is the swatch panel.

As they say, colors are one of the most important aspects of your design, thus using the right colors scheme & combinations is not only important to make a good design but it also lets you convey your message effectively. Keeping this in mind and in order to help the designer, like the symbol library, Adobe also privileges you with a carefully compiled Swatch library that contains color combinations according to the technology used color schemes. It has categories such as Pastels, Metals, Pantone, which give you the best color combinations suitable according to your color scheme. //Using these also makes it easy to fill colors in your objects/element thus which otherwise is a very nerve-wracking task if you really want to deliver a good design.

10. Practice .. Practice and more practice..

Last but not the least .. difficult but true.. Practice is the key. The more the better.  Practicing what has been taught in the lecture, going through tutorials available online, trying to make them as well as creating something new while using your own creativity is the only way to succeed and become a master. Practicing helps us build a command over the software as well as the concepts of designing. It is also important t as it gives you an understanding of which tool to be used in what circumstances, as per the requirement of the design. It is also important to establish a base level foundation so that you can later start thinking out of the box concepts.

Author: Hi, friends I Alisha Jain pursuing Graphic Master Plus course form ADMEC Multimedia Institute. This blog is a part of my Illustrator assessment issued by Kapil Sir. I hope my tips and tricks will help to comprehend this amazing designing application more easily.