Info
Illustrator is a fantastic program to trace all sorts of designs. You can trace your own sketches for instance, or work after an image. This creates vector illustrations from pixel-based images which allows you to scale them without losing quality: your designs stay crisp no matter how big you make them. This course teches you how to use the Illustrator Pen tool to trace designs and create clear, crisp vector artwork for illustrations, logos and much more.
The 'Pen' tool is usually the most daunting tool in Illustrator. Intimidating with its bezier points and unpredictable curves, throwing out handles and flipping the path in all sorts of directions. But once you understand how it works, you'll love this tool.
During this course you will learn how the 'Pen' tool works. You will get personal help and coaching and learn it step by step. Then you will trace using the creative techniques Illustrator has in store for you.
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.
What you will learn
Learn how to use the 'Pen' tool
Create professional vector paths
Combine technique with creativity in your designs
Tracing with the Illustrator 'Pen' tool
The pen for logo & infographic
The 'Pen' tool and wonderful transformations
During the first lesson you will learn how to use the 'Pen' tool. You create paths (vector paths with bezier curves, control points and handles) from scratch and learn how to adjust them. But of course LearningTrain wouldn't be LearningTrain if there wouldn't be a creative twist to the use of the Pen tool. Clever solutions and combinations make this lesson an absolute must for designers.
Some tools are incredibly useful when you start using the 'Pen' tool. These will be addressed as well to help you work professionally.
The 'Pen' tool
Tracing in Illustrator
Connection paths
Splitting and cutting paths
During the second lesson you will trace an image with the 'Pen' tool. You learn tips and tricks to do optimize your workflow and to help you achieve tracing you will use a specially prepared file.
You learn how to digitize your own sketches and designs and what to pay attention to while you trace. All is explained step by step to really help you get the hang of it. The teacher works with you every step of the way and there is time to ask questions. You will get homework, too, things can hardly go wrong!
Digitizing your own designs
Where do you start tracing
Tweaking results
Special options
After these lessons you will be able to trace images from scratch with the 'Pen' tool in Illustrator.
You can use your skills to trace for fashion, in design, in architectural files and even if you want to create elements that will be used in animations.
And of course the 'Pen' tool is crucial if you are going to develop and design logos and infographics. This course makes you a flexible illustrator user.
I need an English spoken course.
Is this possible?
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.
All lesson material is available in English.
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.
What is the runtime
of this course?
2 combined lessons
Runtime 1 week
You will receive homework assignements you can send in for correction.
You decide how much time you need, and when you do the course and its homework.
You can have your training on special days and times, and have special schedules that allow you to fit the training into your personal schedule.
What is the lesson duration
during this course?
We combine 2 1.5 lessons into 3 hours of training, a short break may be added to your course.
You decide on the pace, and on how much you need to do the homework.
Lessons can be booked individually.
Single lessons take 1:30 hours to complete.
If you combine 2 lessons, you need 3 hours.
What's the homework like during this Illustrator course?
Homework after each lesson
You will receive homework after these combined lessons. Making this homework takes about 12 hours in total. If you only do the required assignments you will need about 5 hours 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
Your teacher reserves time 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
You can ask more questions via email or phone in the week following your lesson.
What is the difference between the training types?
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.
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.
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.
What do you need
for this course?
Adobe software
for your course or education
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.
As a LearningTrain student, save up to 65% on Adobe software.
Find discounts, if available, via the following links, you can sometimes get discounts of 40%.
What do you receive
with this course?
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
Do you need prior knowledge for this Illustrator course?
You will need all the skills that are adressed during the Illustrator course. Have a look on the course page to find out if you know enough to attend this course.
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!
Pricing for your course
€ 380,00 excluding BTW (VAT)
€ 459,80 including BTW
€ 380,00 excluding BTW (VAT)
€ 459,80 including BTW
€ 395,00 excluding BTW (VAT, taxes)
€ 477,95 including 21% BTW
€ 495,00 excluding BTW (VAT, taxes)
€ 598,95 including 21% BTW
Na mijn opleiding aan een mode academie kon ik nog niet veel met Illustrator. Dat nekte me tijdens sollicitaties. Ik probeerde het lang zelf en deed elders een cursus. Ik wou dat ik direct bij jullie was gekomen. Heel erg bedankt voor alle uitstekende hulp. Heel duidelijk, vakkundig en van mensen 'in het vak'.
Jolanda C.
@Trisha gefeliciteerd! Je maakte ook wel heel leuke dingen tijdens de cursus. Ik heb ook een baan. Niet zo creatief maar ik gebruik Illu elke dag.
Gerda T-de J
Heb een baan! Eindelijk!
Trisha van Dijk
Wat een ontzettend leuke cursus! Ik zit al mijn recente ontwerpen nu over te trekken. Ook doe ik tegenwoordig de modelkaarten. Leuk!
Marije Knevel
Ik beheerste de techniek om rapports te maken niet helemaal en volgde jullie cursus. Daar ben ik heel blij om. Heel duidelijk materiaal en goede begeleiding. Ik gebruik alle technieken voor het maken van de rapports en voor de presentaties van mijn dessins. En daar komt nu de pen bij voor maken van strakke elementen. Bedankt.
Nejma B.
Deze cursus is kort en krachtig en to the point, als je wilt leren werken met de pen kan ik hem aanraden. Het moet wel even vallen allemaal maar na oefenen komt het goed zoals de docent zei. Kwestie van oefenen. Aanrader!
Joel K.
Ik kan nu veel beter mijn eigen ontwerpen presenteren. Wat een waardevolle aanvulling op de kennis die ik al had.
Goedele d'Hondt
I attended this course for fun, to be honest. I have no intenstions whatsoever to ever become a fashion designer or such. But I wanted to know how thing work and to create backgrounds for my own and my family website. I have a lot of fun in the process, sweet course!
Catherine H.
Ik had het op een andere school heel anders geleerd maar het moest hier over. Ik heb bijna gehuild zo moeilijk vond ik het. Maar het is gelukt en deze nieuwe manier is zoveel makkelijker dan dom klik klik klik!
Tina T.
Questions on Illustrator and Illustrator course
What is Adobe Illustrator?
Is Illustrator difficult to learn?
Do I have to know how to draw?
What can I create with Illustrator?
Do I need an Illustrator course?
Which course should I choose?
I work in fashion and absolutely need the Advanced course. Which course should I attend before that?
What is the difference between InDesign and Illustrator?
What is the difference with Photoshop?
Resolution independent artwork
Posters & moodboards
They say it's much better to design in InDesign, is that true?
What kind of application is 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.
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.
Is Illustrator difficult to learn?
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.
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.
Do I need drawing skills to use Illustrator?
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.
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!
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!
What can I design with Illustrator?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When do I need an Illustrator course?
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.
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 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.
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.
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. .
Which Illustrator should I choose to start with?
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.
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.
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.
The complete
Illustrator Education
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.
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.
Illustrator and
Fashion & Styling
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Illustrator courses for
Advanced students
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.
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.
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.
Illustrator
specialisation courses
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.
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.
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.
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.
Can you guess who this is and what he has to do with Illustrator?
.
Indirectly, he is connected to Illustrator.
Learn it all during the first Illustrator course, all will be revealed during the third lesson.
Wgat 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.
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.
They say you're much better off designing in InDesign, is that true?
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.
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.
But then, what's the difference between InDesign and Illustrator?
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 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.
What's the difference between InDesign and 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.