Illustrator artwork, vector graphics
adobe course amsterdam, certified Adobe partner
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    Illustrator Course
  • Illustration cover
    Learn how to create fashion designs and drawings
  • Illustration cover
    Create creative designs in Illustrator
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    All Illustrator banners were created by a LearningTrain teacher, learn it all from a professional
  • Illustration cover
    You can draw this after four lessons, you will see
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    Learn how to draw in Illustrator during an English spoken course

Illustrator course: create infographics, illustrations & free artwork for posters, websites & multimedia with Illustrator

Illustrator artwork, vector graphics

Info

  • 7 lessons in total
  • Extensive lesson material
  • Puzzles to prepare you to cleverly do your work
  • Homework and homework corrections
  • Depending on your choice: single or combined lessons
  • Book your test when you feel you practised enough
  • Doing the course independently? Get 10 free video calling minutes per lesson.

This Illustrator Course for Fashion Designers and stylists is perfect if you work in design, styling and fashion and need skills to find a position in these industries.
The fashion industry has been going through a lot of changes over the last 10 years. The software that was most commonly used was Canvas, and a bit of Corel Draw. But so many fashion companies have made the change to Adobe Illustrator and we were happy to teach them how to use it. Fun clients such as Tommy Hillfiger, America Today, Cool Cat, Lady Sting, Levi's and many more made teaching a great experience with a good vibe. You will learn how to create stunning illustrations with Illustrator. We shall address recolorization methods, drawing tools, paths and splitting and combining paths. You will use masks and special fills to perfect your artwork.

Attention: fashion and styling have become a lot more demanding. To counter this we have now added everything from this course to the Illustrator Course. This means you will learn even more such as learning the tools to create great and professional moodboards.

New
Study independently at your own pace with new, extra material. With homework, homework correction, tests and help in between lessons this can't go wrong. Stuck? Use your 10 minutes video help per lesson, or save and use them together during the course.

Lesson content Cursus les inhoud

Not just create any old illustration (anyone can do that) but do this professionally

Drawing and illustrating

Using masks

Learning about colour and professional colouring

Use Illustrator layers

Typography for professional & fun presentations & moodboards

Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 1

Illustrator illustratie, vector ontwerpen, resolutie onafhankelijk artwork

The first designs
Artwork & artboard 

During your Illustrator course you learn how to use Illustrator from scratch. The first lesson teaches you the Illustrator workspace and layout and you will understand the many options for documents.

You will get to know the artboard and management of your designs. The first Illustrator designs will be created today and you will give them good colours.

Using menus and panels
The artboard
Printable areas
Organising your artwork
Understanding colour in Illustrator

Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 2

Artwork ontwerpen in Illustrator van Adobe, Illustrator cursus in Amsterdam: tekenen en ontwerpen.

Order and arrangement of artwork
Editing designs in Illustrator

During this lesson you will learn how to properly position elements on your artboard. You will also arrange and align your elements so they can be used in neat designs that require logical structures and clear layouts.

You will work with the artboard some more. You will need artboards for Fashion and Styling, it is important to properly use them to create stunning presentations of your designs.

Order and arrangement
Artboard and presentation
Aligning elements
Designing in Illustrator
Fills and strokes

Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 3

Adobe Illustrator leren transformeren, spiegelen en tekenen met Adobe Illustrator

Drawing in Illustrator
Using layers

You will use layers during this lesson. Learn handy tricks when you use layers and avoid using too many: layers can be a great help or they can seriously slow you down. Learn it all today.

During this lesson you will draw with a few of the many Illustrator drawing tools. You will use intuitive tools from scratch and apply tricks you learned during the previous lesson.

The first illustrations
Creating layers for presentations
Drawing intuitively in Illustrator
Special illustration tools
Using free drawing techniques


Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 4

Illustraties maken, vector illustraties in Adobe illustrator, omkleuren, Pantone, lagen, presentaties, graphics omkleuren.

Transformations
Using combined or split paths

During this lesson of your Illustrator course you will use the many transformation techniques that Illustrator has to offer. Reflecting, rotation and a lot more are addressed. These things are simply but the trick is to use hidden functions.

You will also learn how to create combined and split paths to create special elements that can be used to create special shapes and designs. This will help you create sharp vector artwork from scratch.

Cutting and combining elements
Transformation options
Transforming while keeping artwork intact
Combining designs
Special transformation options

Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 5

Illustratorcursus maskers gebruiken in Illustrator, snijden, mes, in stukken verdelen, cursus in Amsterdam

Colour and colour management
Recoloring your designs

During this Illustrator lesson you will recolour your designs. This is often done in fashion to create, for instance, seasonal colours. But you will learn how to recolor art in a few very special way to make your designs truly stand out.

Create different versions of your designs and then use the skills you learned to use layers and create smashing presentations of your designs. This is incredibly useful to quickly choose between different designs, too.

Recoloring designs
Using special brand colours
Creating your own colour palettes
Using colour libraries such as Pantone
Adjusting colours professionally

Illustrator Cursus
Mode & Styling Les 6

Illustreren in Illustrator, tekenen, vrije hand, illustraties maken.

Masks in Illustrator
Cutting designs into pieces

This lesson will teach you how to use Illustrator masks. Masks are important: they can hide or indeed reveal parts of your design and they can even be used to create special fills. Mask are useful and can be used in very creative ways.

You will learn special techniques to really create what you need: you will cut artwork into pieces and keep what you need, or indeed merge elements to create stunning new shapes that each contain their own colours.

Different masking options
Using masks creatively
Creating special fill effects
Merging and cutting designs
Using special techniques


Test lesson of your course or education module

The test lesson

All tests
The last lesson of your course or education module is the test lesson.You will do a few exercises that require the knowledge and new skills you acquired during this training. These tests take 1:45 hours to complete.

InDesign and InDesign Advanced
Since this test is quite extensive it takes more time to complete: 1 month. You send in your work on the agreed date and will receive tips and input to adjust things to make your design more professional.

Evaluation

After your test
Your test will be evaluated after you send in your work.
You may receive tips and may be asked a few more questions to make sure the result is all right.

Certificate
If you sent in all required homework and the final test results are good you you can come over to pick up your certificate, or you can receive a digital certificate you can easily share and send to prospective employers.

When is the test?

With individual courses
The test should be scheduled within a month after the last lesson.

With educations
You can schedule the tests during the education but you can also do all the courses at the end of the education, allowing you to have lots of time to practise. This way you use the entire runtime of the education to let things sink in. Schedule your tests within two months after your last lesson.

Questions about this course

Illustrator artwork, vector graphics maken in Illustrator, cursus in Amsterdam en complete opleiding

English classes

Yes, this is absolutely possible. Now that all courses and educations are available via video training, you can book English spoken course from wherever you live.

English lesson material

All lesson material is available in English.

 

Full English training

During your courses and education, all the training can be done in English. This means you will receive English lesson material, and your homework assignments and other assignments, as well as your homework corrections, will be communicated in English.

Live / video course
Normal pace

6 lessons +
1 personal test lesson on appointment

We combine 2 lessons each time +
Individual test lesson is after that
Practice week after each lesson

Independent course
Your very own pace

6 lessons +
1 personal test lesson on appointment

Define your own pace: you work independently and have 10 minutes of video training per lesson, if you like this.
Test on appointment.

Illustrator artwork, vector graphics
 

Personal video course
Special dates and times

You can decide on your own pace, this also allows you to combine more lessons, or to split lessons, have class on special days and times.

Live / Video course
Normal pace

Combined lessons: 3 hours (2 lessons)

Independent course
Your very own pace

You can decide on this yourself, you can also decide how much time you need for the homework.

Personal video course
Special pace

You can book single lessons or can combine more lessons to get to where you want to be faster, this is great if you need the course to fit your schedule.

Single lessons 1.5 hours
Combined lessons 3 hours

Regular video training
Groups

Regular video training allows students to train together via video. This is similar to training in a classroom, but it's online.

This type of training is perfect if you want to attend a course from a different country, too.

This is usually the best way to train since you learn from other students' questions, but it is possible that you end up in class alone: we don't cancel classes since we don't like minimum attendance requirements. Every student is welcome if they want to train.

We set up a schedule which depends on availability and always combine two lessons. If your course contains an uneven number of lessons, one of them will be a single lesson. Simple.

Personal video training
Special paces & schedules

With a personal video course or education you can set up a special pace. You can for instance combine or split lessons and have class on days and times that work with your personal schedule. This will depend on availability: if you would like to book a day that is not available, we will find another day that will be good for you too.

Independent training
Your very own pace

If you prefer, you can do the courses and educations from home at a special pace. This means you receive the lesson books and required material when you are ready to receive them.
You decide how much time you need to read the lesson material and how much time you want to spend on doing the homework. In short: it's all up to you. We can help set you up a schedule though, if you like.

Homework with this course

Homework after each lesson
You will receive homework each week. Making this homework takes about 12 hours per week in total. If you only do the required assignments you will need about 5 hours per week to do your homework during this course.

When do I send in homework?
You have a week to make your homework: you send it in in the week following your lesson so your teacher can evaluate your work.

Homework correction & questions

Homework correction
Your teacher reserves time each week to correct and evaluate your work. You will receive corrections and tips, if necessary. There are guide lines to send in your work: you will receive them during your first lesson.

Answering questions
About 12/15 minutes are reserved for questions at the start of each lesson. This allows your fellow students to learn from your questions and the answers.

Software installation tips
About Adobe software

Needed during class

  • A notebook and pen
    Feel free to take digital notes, of course.
  • A computer
    If you don't have one you can use one of our computers if your course is live but bear in mind you need a computer to do your homework.
  • The software for your training
    Make sure the software is installed before your lessons start.
  • Practising material
    You will receive practising material for some modules such as Photoshop, or none at all for others such as the first Illustrator module because you will create your designs yourself, from scratch.

Needed to do homework

  • Software for your training
    Download the software for your module. Buy it or download a trial, see below links
  • A computer
    Preferably desktop for more processing power but a laptop with enough RAM is fine as well. Check the advice on the Adobe website: this can be different per application.
  • A good screen
    Make sure the screen is big enough to work on and doesn't display things too small. Check out Eizo or Barco monitors if you want to do some serious design work.
  • A Wacom tablet
    This is optional but allows you to design more freely. Attention: for some Wacom functions you really need the legal Adobe software.
  • Your own images
    This is handy for InDesign, Photoshop, and web design. Check out UnSplash or Pixabay for instance or use your own material.

Software installation tips
About Adobe software

Adobe software

Most courses you an attend at learningTrain will need you to use Adobe software. This can be a single application such as Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign or Dreamweaver. But if you attend an education you may need more applications. In such a case it's best to purchase the Creative Cloud software and use this to install the software you need.

It really is advised to only use legal software. Illegal software often does not allow you to install legal software. But evevn worse is that some functionality in illegal software may render Wacom tablets useless, or certain tools, such as a brush in Photoshop, difficult or impossible to use.

Adobe students save 65 percent

As a LearningTrain student, save up to 65% on Adobe software.

Don't miss discounts!

Find discounts, if available, via the following links, you can sometimes get discounts of 40%.

This course includes

  • Course fees
  • Syllabus
  • Test
  • Extra practise time to prepare for your test (one month max)
  • Digital or printed books with exercises, homework and a recap of what was addressed
  • Extra assignments and tools for which there is not enough time during class
  • Extra telephone and email support in between lessons
  • Homework
  • Homework correction
  • A week aftercare

And the software?

You take care of the software yourself, as Adobe Preferred Partner we can only sell multi licenses and seats to companies.
You either buy the software or install a trial.

If you already own Adobe software there is no need to purchase the subscription based Cloud applications. The following suites are still perfectly usable:

Creative Suite CS4 through CS6

Prior knowledge

You don't need to know anything about Adobe Illustrator yet. You will learn everything from scratch and can join this course even if you have never used any Adobe software in your life. You will learn all you need to know and will soon be able to do exercises and design great looking artwork.

Handy computer skills

It is a good idea to be handy when you use your computer. This means you can install programs (you will have to install software most times) and you can organise, monitor and manage your folders and files.

The course is for everyone who needs to work independently and creatively and is responsible for good design. We assume a professional and/or creative intent from our students but welcome amateurs and non-professionals as well. Feel free to join!

Live video course
Normal pace & schedule

€ 795,00 excluding BTW (VAT)
€ 961,95 including BTW

Study independently
Your very own pace

€ 795,00 excluding BTW (VAT)
€ 961,95 including BTW

Live classes at regular location
Normal pace & schedule

€ 825,00 excluding BTW (VAT, taxes)
€ 998,25 including 21% BTW

Special schedules: live video personal training / lessons on demand

€ 1.195,00 excluding BTW (VAT, taxes)
€ 1.445,95 including 21% BTW

Reviews

Illustreren en tekenen, ontwerpen met Illustrator van Adobe, cursus volgen in Amsterdam

Super

Ik ben heel blij met deze cursus. Het lesmateriaal is inspirerend. Soms vond ik het wat intimiderend omdat het er allemaal zo fantastisch uitziet maar eigenlijk is het alleen maar een stimulans om zelf ook creatieve dingen te gaan doen.
Carol W.

Goed en duidelijk

Er wordt goed en duidelijk les gegeven, veel lesmateriaal wat je moet leren ,dus ook veel studie uren, dat valt soms niet mee.
Ellen Kroon

Effectief

Ik kan nu al mijn ontwerpen snel overtrekken. Niet alleen de kleding maar ook de dessins. Fijn!
Annette B.

Lekker tekenen

Hoewel ik voor mijn werk de strikte opdracht kreeg modetekenen te gaan leren maken ben ik stiekem erg blij dat ik veel meer geleerd heb. Ik kan op het werk nu veel meer aanpassen. Moet wel uitkijken dat ik niet te veel ga doen!
Sandra M.

Powerful training

I attended this course to be able to digitize my sketches and to grow in my position as visual project manager in a fashion chain. The goals have been achieved thanks to this truly powerful training. Never attended a course like this. Love the material. Love it all!
Grace V.

A guy

I seem to be the only guy on this page but let me tell you the course rocks. Never too tired for answers, enthusiasm all the way, personal homework corrections by hand (!) and great lesson material. Keep it up people!
Ken B. (Kennyz)

Questions about Illustrator

Tekenen in Illustrator, ontwerpen maken, illustratorcursus in Amsterdam, Nederlandse cursus

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is Adobe application, just like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and InDesign. Illustrator has been around since the nineties of the previous century. As time progressed Illustrator has developed into a wonderful environment in which great graphics can be created. You are going to explore most options in Illustrator during our Illustrator Course and Illustrator Course Advanced.

Illustrator for all designs

In Illustrator you use vectors. Vectors are at the heart of resolution independant artwork. It is a great application to create flyers, posters and business cards and also, as the name suggests, to create illustrations. it is the standard in the world of design to create and edit digital illustrative material.
During your Illustrator Course you will learn how to add and edit text, to create illustrations, how to add graphics to combine all this artwork into a perfect design.

Back to questions

Illustrator: draw it all yourself

Illustrator can be intimidating because in Illustrator, you create everything from scratch. You have to know different tools to create exactly what you want. But difficult? Not when you learn it at LearningTrain. We are here every step of the way. With our special lesson material with step by step exercises even the most complex and technical things are fun to learn, you will learn it all.

But is Illustrator difficult?

No, I can't say it is. You will need time to practise, of course. And by doing your homework and looking at your personal homework corrections you will learn al there is to know to create everything you need. The courses are well balanced, you will absolutely be successful.

Back to questions

No, no worries

U hoeft echt niet goed te kunnen tekenen. Affiniteit met tekenen of in ieder geval plezier hebben in zelf dingen maken is wel fijn. U hoeft heus geen ster te zijn in tekenen: u hoeft bijvoorbeeld niet uit het hoofd dingen te kunnen tekenen.

Learn how to observe

What's more you will learn to really observe things from the first lesson on. This means you will soon wonder how to recreate certain objects from your daily life with Illustrator. If you want to create nice designs and be creative Illustrator really is for you!

 

Comforting anecdote

One of the best things happened when a student finished her Photoshop Education and wanted to become a professional designer. She realized she would need to learn Illustrator too. She told me (LearningTrain founder) she didn't feel like it at all and gave me an somewhat angry look, clearly unhappy.
To my (and her!) surprise, she sent me something after the second class, filled with joy. Her first illustration and she loved it. As a matter of fact... She loved it so much she also attended the Advanced course. Well done Mariska!

Back to questions

Free illustrations, logos, infographics

Illustrator is also used to create free illustrations. The program after all is not called Illustrator for nothing. With Illustrator, you create special illustrations and designs you can use in images and of course in InDesign: in InDesign, you add them to the design of books and magazines.

Business card, poster, layouts & moodboards

Adobe Illustrator is used to create digital artwork. You can for instance use it to create business cards and posters. Even smaller brochures can be created in Illustrator. Illustrator is also used to design websites, logos and technical drawings.

Combining it all? Illustrator!

In Illustrator you can combine illustrations (based on vectors) with text and digital images (based on pixels). Think of a big poster with huge text and self-made illustrations with a big image in it. Illustrator is at the heart of everything you need to create free and fabulous designs and is the program of choice of every creative.

Illustrator for fashion & styling

In Illustrator you can trace your sketches and patterns to create crisp vector artwork. This makes adjusting colours and using special fills a fun and exciting thing todo.

Designers in the world of fashion and styling love Illustrator and it helps them saving a lot of time. More and more fashion designers are switching to Illustrator and make the move from Canvas to the world of Illustrator.

Looking for a job in this industry you can hardly miss any Illustrator skills: LearningTrain has by now trained students from many fashion companies. Think of Tommy Hillfiger, McGregor and Levi's for instance, or Mexx, America Today, CoolCat, Sissiyboy and Hunkemolller.

Graphs

Creating graphs in Illustator is very simple and you can learn different ways to create and edit them. You can change the colours on the fly and you will learn what to pay attention to when you are creating them, such as the right colours for the colour blind.

Back to questions

Mode & styling

The fashion industry is an important user: it is easy to design and present models in Illustrator and the drawings are crisp and perfect. Adding stitches, patterns, creating technical drawings: everything can be done in Illustrator.

Illustrators & artists

As an illustrator you will probably love Illustrator. You can be asked to produce digital material and want to trace your own scans and drawings. This can all be done in Illustrator, then allowing you to change colours, create colour schemes and much, much more.

Pattern designers

Pattern designers love Illustrator. It is often used to trace patterns and to create perfectly repeating patterns. Playing with colour and using seasonal colour schemes and Pantone, for instance, can all be done in Illustrator.

Architects, gardeners, contractors

Another big user group is formed by architects, city planners and garden designers, for instance. They often use CAD and frankly, what comes out of CAD needs some revamping if it has to be presented to clients. With some Illustrator extras the design is made much more attractive for your clients which will make it much easier to sell.

 

And many more

Many different types of students have so far attended the Illustrator courses. They all put Illustrator to good use. They create models, for instance, for the shoes industry. Others create medical illustrations. Some students create infographics for use in company flow charts, others design interfaces for apps and websites. They design flyers and designs that can be used in InDesign and Photoshop. Illustrator will surprise you with its flexibility and versatility. .

Back to questions

Start at the beginning!

You will most often enjoy starting at the beginning, even if you have been using Illustrator for a while you will learn lots of handy tricks and things that save you a lot of time.

You will learn how to use lots of tools and functions and you will use, among other things, pencil and brush, masking techniques and special transformation functions. You will use type in many different ways to help you create layouts for business cards for instance, and for posters and flyers. You can do a lot with text in Illustrator, it is fantastic to discover this.

At the end of the course you can work independently.

Start with Fashion & Styling?

Alternatively, you can start with the Illustrator Course Fashion & Styling if you work in fashion but this course is less extensive. If you need to attend the Illustrator Advanced Course later, you are much better off if you start with the regular Illustrator Course.

You can also start with the Illustrator Course For Architects. The basis is the same for all Illustrator courses since tools need to be addressed but the Architect course does not contain the extensive typography class that is included in the regular Illustrator course.

 

Contact us

Do you need personal advice? Send an so someone can help you out.

Ask what you need to know and tell us what you want to learn for your specific situation so someone can help you out as best they can to find you the right course.

Back to questions

Complete Educations

Learn it all during an Illustrator Education. We have two! You learn everything from the individual Illustrator courses. And of course, since it's an education, you learn lots of great combinations.
You will learn how to draw, how to use colours professionally and how to use Pantone for example. You use combined and split paths, different drawing techniques and pathfinder functions. You will prepare artwork for both print and digital media and how to use different profiles for different jobs. All is addressed during this solid education, you will have very few questions left.

Illustrator education runtime

These educations contain 3 or 4 modules and take 21 or 28 lessons to complete.

The modules can be attended in a row but it is usually very much appreciated to schedule a break in between some modules..
The most popular schedule is the one that contains a longer break between the second and remaining modules: this is also what the educations are based on. You start in september and practise during the end of year break, then continue in January.

After practising enough you can book the tests for the different modules.
The exam is done after that, you can do this within 2 months after your last lesson.

Back to questions

Fashion, a wide playing field

Fashion and styling form an important Illustrator user group. Many stylists use Illustrator. But since fashion is such a wide playing field in which many different tasks should be performed it can be a search to find out what's best for your situation. Stylists can be divided in two big groups.

* Since stylists are required to do more and more this specific course will soon be merged with the regular Illustrator Course. All topics from Fashion & Styling will be integrated: the course is very complete.

Group 1

These stylists create impressions for moods, moodboars and free illustrations. They sometimes have to create small designs for cards, posters and flyers and work intuitively and freehand for lively designs.

Group 2

These stylists are more technical: they need to work very precisely and create designs for production plants in, for instance, China, Turkey and other countries. They need to work proportionally correct and specify where cuts and stitches should be applied so the garments can be properly produced.

Ideal for group 1

Since styists are required to do more and more the Illustrator Course is the best choice. It also contains an extensive typography clas and one for handy transformations that will be very handy for moodboards.

Ideal for group 2

You're best off starting with the Illustrator Course. Then proceed with the Illustrator Advanced Course. This will teach you how to trace technical designs and will prep you to create technical drawings and very precise designs. You will know everything about colour to allow for super fast variations.

Back to questions

Illustrator Course Advanced

During this Illustator course you build on your existing skills. So by now you know all about colour, transformation and paths. During this course you learn how to trace using the 'Pen' tool and you create professional paths.

You get to know the active functions in Illustrator and use special effects to add lots of extras to your designs. The emphasis is on creating professional and technically correct artwork but of course, this course is also very creative.

Illustrator Course Professional

If you want to use Illustrator professionally you can't afford to miss this course. You will learn all there is to know about special functions to create artwork that is perfect for print, too: you learn all about prepress and preparing work for print, too, and all about Pantone and how to use this correctly.

More transformation is included, as well as exciting new techniques to create 'motion' and 'movement' in your designs.

 

Illustrator Course Expert

This course is really the cherry on the cake. You will learn how to transform dynamically, use colours professionally and you will create complex layouts for different media. You will learn how to create repeating patterns you can use in fashion, wallpaper and packaging and backgrounds. You will even learn how to create professional brushes to make your designs stand out.
You will combine all techniques you learned during earlier courses. After this course Illustrator will have very few secrets left.

Back to questions

Illustrator Course For Architects

This Illustrator course is for architects, landscape and city planners and garden designers.

You learn Illustrator from scratch. The last lesson is on demand to adjust your CAD designs in Illustrator. CAD usually creates 'boring' artwork, Illustrator helps you sell a good looking design.

Illustrator Course For Tracing

During this course you wll learn how to use the most daunting tool: the 'Pen' tool. This is the most powerful tool and it's the most difficult tool to master. In two days though, you will learn how to create vector paths from scratch and how to trace designs. With the Pen.

Tracing is important for different reasons. If you work in fashion it is a great tool to create sharp designs and to present them.
But it is an absolutely essential tool to create logos since you will often have to trace your sketches or sharpen paths.
Tracing is also done to work from photo.

 

Illustrator Course Pattern Design

You can attend this course to learn how to design patterns. Patterns are used as special fills in different objects but the technique is incredibly useful if you want to learn how to design patterns for fashion for instance, or for wall papers and wrapping papers. Eijffinger, one of the renowned wall paper and interior design companies in the Netherlands, attended an Illustrator course here: they create patterns with, among other software, Illustrator.

Patterns, sometimes referred to as 'artworks' which is not a professional name, can be used to print silk, cotton and artificial fibers. Each fabric is different and will react according to their nature. During your course you will learn tips and tricks on inks and colours too.

You need prior knowledge to attend this Illustrator course.

Illustrator Course Brushes Design

Designing brushes is very useful to create artwork with special borders and edges but brushes are also used to create special decorative elements. They are used for special finishing, too.

Brushes are often at the heart of a design, they are not just a nice thing to use. Creating brushes requires an understanding of technique and clever tricks you can use while you design them. Because your artwork may need some better finishing, it's best to understand how to tweak your brush to get the most out of it.

Back to questions

Cursus Illustrator vragen.

Do you know who this is?

Indirectly, he is connected to Illustrator.
Learn it all during the first Illustrator course, all will be revealed during the third lesson.

Back to questions

What is resolution independent artwork?

Resolution independent artwork is artwork that can be scaled (resized) without quality loss. In Illustrator you use vectors to draw and create artwork. Vectors are at the heart of resolution independent designs: you can upscale and they will not get blurry, in contrast to what happens when you scale something in Photoshop. This is, of course, a terrific quality.

Cleverly use all tricks

There are of course lots of things to be aware of if you want to create truly resolution independent artwork.

Learn all about that during the advanced courses. This will help you creating files that are perfect for print and different media.

Back to questions

It depends on the design

If you create designs that contain many pages as is the case when you design magazines, brochures and books for instance, you're better off with InDesign. In InDesign you can design books, too. If you need to combine lots of images with text, including headers, footers and pagination, you really will need InDesign. InDesign will give you all the options for typography and to combine images with text and decorative elements.

But...

Illustrator is much handier if you want to design small folders, business cards, stationery and much more. Illustrator is so easy when you need to move objects around and recolour them. You can combine your art with images, photos, and you can use lots of typographic solutions. Illustrator has even a few more options for text. But it's less handy if you need to create designs that consist of many different pages.

Back to questions

InDesign

InDesign is used to combine photos, images, with illustrations and text. You place all the images in the perfect location and add text, using InDesign's typographic wonderfulness to create perfect layouts for books, magazines and much much more.

Illustrator

Illustrator is used to create graphics, illustrations and logo's. It is also used to create designs for folders, flyers and more.

You can not edit the images and Illustrations in InDesign. You need Photoshop to edit the photos you place in InDesign.
And you need Illustrator to edit (and of course create) the illustrations and decorative elements.

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What's the difference with Photoshop?

The biggest difference is that Photoshop uses raster-based files containing pixels and Illustrator uses vectors. Vectors are used to create artwork that can be blown up without losing quality whatsoever. If you make something bigger in Photoshop the result will be very poor and can even become smudgy.

This means that you can design something small in Illustrator but still print it in a very big size.

Combining raster and vector

Another difference is that you can combine vectors, rasters and text to create beautiful and powerful designs. Think about posters with a huge image, combined with text and decorative elements. You can do such things in Photoshop but it's usually much, much better to do this in Illustrator.
Photoshop is used to edit images, photos. You can not do this in Illustrator. If you want to edit photos you will have to learn how to use Photoshop, too.

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Illustrator & Photoshop

You will most often use Photoshop to make your Illustrator artwork (your designs) 'softer', to use Photoshop patterns in Illustrator (or the other way round) or to combine illustrations and infographics with photographic material.

You can't edit photos in Illustrator, you can only do this in Photoshop. If you want to remove a pimple or background from an image you will really need Photoshop.
Create beautiful backgrounds in Photoshop and use them in Illustrator. For instance, isolate a few elements (aka remove their backgrounds) and use them in Illustrator to create smashing moodboads and other presentation files or promotional materials that require photos.

Illustrator and Photoshop really most often go hand in hand. As a designer Illustrator and Photoshop will often be running at the same time to allow you to exchange elements.

TIP it is advisable to know how to use both Illustrator and Photoshop, have a look on the Photoshop course page.

Illustrator & InDesign

InDesign is the application of choice to design books, brochures and magazines: graphic design is done in InDesign. In InDesign, you combine images, illustrations and text in a very professional way.

InDesign is often promoted as a creative application. And although you of course can do creative graphic design, you can not use it to create illustrations. You create illustrations in Illustrator. And then, you add these illustrations to your InDesign designs. Use Illustrator to create text dividers, logo's and text balloons for example. The combination of Illustrator and InDesign skills is a highly recommended on in the world of graphic design.

You will enjoy your Illustrator skills a lot using InDesign. It goes both ways: your InDesign skills are terribly useful when you use Illustrator. You usually need both.

TIP InDesign and Illustrator are a very strong combo: you can adjust and create anything and create exactly what you need.

Illustrator & apps

Apps & interfaces design is ideally done in Illustrator. App updates for iPad for instance can require a higher resolution for apps. Not a problem in Illustrator: simply save your designs bigger without losing quality.

TIPIllustrator by default contains standard elements to get started. But the most professional choice is of course to make them yourself. Learn this here!

Illustrator & CAD designs

Architects use Autodesk programma's such as AutoCAD and Revit for their designs. They too enjoy Illustrator on a daily basis to present their designs to their clients in the most attractive way.

Illustrator & webdesign

Websites are often designed in Illustrator. Buttons, elemtents and core content is often created in Illustrator. And although Photoshop is also often used for this this is mostly due to the fact many designers don't know how to use Illustrator yet.

 

 

 

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