80 of the Best Vector and Illustrator Free Resources

SPECKY BOY SAYS "

I have taken all Vector articles and all User Submitted/Recommended Resources and compiled this list of the Best Illustrator/Vector Resources.
I took into consideration popularity (both from outgoing links and Technoratii ranking), the quality of resources, number of resources and, to be honest, how well there site was designed.

I have split the resources into categories: Free Resources (downloads); Tutorials; Free Illustrator Brushs; Illustrator Symbols; Illustrator Plugin; Free Vector Logos; Free Vector Editors.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this list. "

80 RESOURCES

LEARN ILLUSTRATOR CS3 IN 30 DAYS!!!

This is an awesome group of posts from Vectordiary that will teach ya Adobe Illustrator in 30 days or less!

TOP 6 ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR TUTORIAL BOOKS

Online tutorials are not always enough. Sometimes, you need something physical, something to hold in your grubby little hands, or set down on that messy desk where your computer lives. Here are 6 of the best Adobe Illustrator tutorial books to help you out.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book

The Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Revealed

Real World Adobe Illustrator CS3

Adobe Illustrator CS3: The Professional Portfolio (Portfolio Series, CS3)

Adobe Illustrator CS Hands-On Training

Do you know of any awesome tutorial books to ad to this list? Let us know by posting in the comments section. Don't forget to ad a link.. Thanks!!!

Stroke and Fill

This is a very basic tutorial about Stroke and Fill.

Pen Tool Basics

Here is a quick tutorial about the Pen Tool.



Please post any comments or questions.

Create a Brand Spankin' New Document with Adobe Illustrator

This Adobe Illustrator tutorial is gonna teach you how to make a brand new document, super quick and super easy!
I am running Adobe Illustrator CS3 on a PC, so if you have a different version of Illustrator, or, you are using a Mac, things are gonna look a wee bit different, but its gonna work pretty much the same way.

Here's what your gonna see when you first fire up Illustrator.

The main thing that you notice is that big square in the middle of the screen. I like to call that the "getting started menu." There are tons of neat things that you can do with it, but your gonna learn that stuff a little later on. Check back for posts on that subject in the future!!

For now...

To start out, we are gonna go right to the bar that's at the top of the screen. You know, this bar with all the words on it.


This is called the Menu Bar and this thingy organizes all of your awesome Illustrator commands. What we are gonna focus on right now is the "File" menu. Click on "File" and your gonna see this menu.

Note to self...

There sure are a lot of words there, huh? But do you notice how most of them are kinda faded looking? That's because they are inactive, and you can't click on them yet.








The very top word under the"File" menu, the one that says "New," click on that and you'll bring up the "New Document" window.


This menu has all kinds of stuff. Do you see the little blue arrows that are pointing down that live inside the little boxes on the right? These are called drop down menus, and if you click on one, it will give you different options. Click on the arrow to the right of the word "Size," and you'll see this happen.



These are standard predetermined sizes. Personally, I like to select the "Letter" size, just cuz' it's the size of a standard piece of paper. You know, paper that you would use in a printer. Click on "Letter" and then go up to the top right side of the new document window and click on the box with "OK" in it. You should now see this.

A blank open document all ready to be used!

Now I know your excited, and you wanna get to some designing, but this tutorial is just about opening a file. Your just gonna have to wait for the next tutorial, or you can just mess around and click on stuff. Have FUN!!

What the heck is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for vector graphics.

I know, I know... your thinking, "What the heck are vector graphics?"

Well check this out. Vector graphics are digital images that use mathematical calculations and computer algorithms to define shapes and lines.

Isn't that awesome?
Do you realize what this means?

Um, no?

That's totally OK, because that's what I'm here for. To help you get past that pain in the neck, Adobe Illustrator learning curve.

Why are vectors so dang cool?

Vectors are awesome because all those calculations and algorithms give you a really crisp and clearly defined graphic that doesn't get all pixelated or fuzzy when you zoom in on it or blow it up really big. That means that you can use the same graphic that you made for a business card, blow it up really super huge, even up to the size of a billboard, and you will still have the exact same quality graphic

You would think that if you had a graphic that was little, and you blew it up really big, that the file size would get bigger. That is just not true with Illustrator, simply because no matter what size your graphic is, it still uses the same mathematical equations.

What kind of stuff can I do with Illustrator?

You can design ANYTHING you want.

You can design, logos, text documents or even cartoons, (have you ever seen South Park, or The Simpsons?)

You can design stuff for video games, and any kind of graphic used on the internet. It's totally ideal for the web because the files are so small compared to other kinds of graphics like jpegs or bitmaps.

When you get really good with Illustrator, you can even make photo realistic art that is so real looking that you literally cannot tell the difference between it and an actual photo.

So quit yer yappin' and post some tutorials already!

OK, I'm on it. You should see your first tutorial within a day or two.




If you have already used Adobe Photoshop, then you've already got one foot in the door. If you never have used Photoshop, no problem. I'll make sure that everyone at every skill level will be able to follow the tutorials in this here blog. If you don't understand something, have any questions or comments, or you would like me to write about something, I would love to hear from you. Just click on my link, or on the comment button below.