Create Icons in Adobe Illustrator for Beginners

Are you a beginner to Adobe Illustrator? In this intro to Illustrator, you'll learn the basic AI tools and palettes.

What you'll learn

Adobe Illustrator for beginners
Icon design for beginners
Adobe Illustrator basics
Fundamentals of Adobe Illustrator
Design a coffee icon set in Adobe Illustrator
How to design an icon set in Illustrator

Requirements

No experience with Adobe Illustrator is required for this class.
You will need to have a laptop or computer with Adobe Illustrator CS6 or higher already downloaded and installed at the beginning of class. In this class, I use Adobe Illustrator CC 2019. If you're using an older version than Adobe Illustrator CC 2019, the interface may look a little different.
A free 30-day trial of Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 can be found on the Adobe website.
Familiarity with Apple or Windows operating systems.

Description

Are you a complete beginner to Illustrator?

If you want to learn about Adobe Illustrator and icon design in an easy and clear way, this course is for you. I have years of teaching and training experience under my belt, and I understand what beginners to Illustrator want and need to know.

We’ll start from the beginning steps of setting up your workspace in Illustrator all the way through to exporting your design as a JPG or PNG file.

Files for this class are available for download in each section.

You’ll learn:

The basics of illustrator, including Illustrator’s most important tools and palettes

The tools necessary to draw icons – and then immediately put those new skills to use creating a coffee icon set

Keyboard shortcuts to build designs quickly and easily

Tips and tricks to improve your speed

Course content and Overview

We’ll create a cute coffee icon set from start to finish, learning the basics of Adobe Illustrator along the way.

1. Intro

2. Creating a New Document in Adobe Illustrator

3. Setting Up Your Workspace in Illustrator

4. Layers and Appearance Palettes

5. Colors, Pathfinder, and Other Palettes

6. Illustrator Tools Used in Icon 1 - Coffee Packaging

7. Icon 1 - Coffee Packaging

8. Illustrator Tools Used in Icon 2 - Tall Coffee Cup

9. Icon 2 - Tall Coffee Cup

10. Illustrator Tools Used in Icon 3 - Coffee Pot

11. Icon 3 - Coffee Pot

12. Collecting graphics and exporting.

13. Wrap up

Don’t worry if you’re a complete beginner, even if you’ve never opened Illustrator before!

As one of my students, Yesenia Castillo, put it:

“If you are looking for a good start to learning Illustrator, this is the class to begin getting your feet wet. Anne speaks with clarity and balanced speed. The projects she has chosen are not too advanced, and she responds quickly. I would not hesitate to take another of her courses should the need arise.”

Who this course is for:

Complete beginners to Adobe Illustrator
College graphic design students who are beginning to learn Illustrator
Entrepreneurs & founders who want to create designs for marketing
Graphic designers who are comfortable with other programs, but haven't used Illustrator yet