Adobe Illustrator Tutorial using Wacom Tablet
This Adobe Illustrator Tutorial will be a part of our Resource and Beginner Guides to help assist you in creating a workflow for your own artwork. LEARNING TARGET (1): Select a Primary Building Tool that best matches your own artwork or is the easiest to use (Pen, Pencil, or Shape Tools). LEARNING TARGET (2): If you are new, pay attention to the order and sequence of events that I apply to my artwork. I will be adding Brushes to my Line Work before doing Expanded Editing. LEARNING TARGET (3): Use the Knife Tool to apply and Edit Values and Halftones.
STOCK PHOTOS: For your own artwork and designs, I recommend using (Unsplash / Pixabay / Pexels) for Free Stock Photos. BEGINNER: As I create my artwork, pay attention to the resources being used throughout the Workflows, Tutorials, and YouTube Playlists. ADVANCED: When you are creating your own artwork or design projects, gather and organize resources within the same project folder (Stock Photos / Sketches / Thumbnails / Color Swatches / Font Families).
DRAWING OR TRACED PHOTO: If you are new to Adobe Illustrator, it's best to avoid starting from a blank artboard, a full-color photo, or a super sketchy drawing. BEGINNER: For your own artwork, create a "Traceable Path" to align with the Building Tools in Adobe Illustrator. ADVANCED: Prepare your drawings for Specific Tools (ex. Ellipse, Pen, or Pencil) or Steps in your Workflow (ex. Building, Brushes, or Values).
BEGINNER EXERCISE PROMPT: A professional educational diagram of a [Subject], designed specifically as a beginner-friendly Adobe Illustrator practice exercise. The [Subject] is constructed strictly using simplified, clean geometric shapes and flat, basic paths. The artwork is displayed in a "Work in Progress" vector blueprint style, featuring clearly visible bright blue square anchor points and distinct Bézier handles extending from the curves to demonstrate path construction. Minimalist instructional layout, 1080x1080 square format, modern SaaS aesthetic. Strictly flat design with solid outlines, zero gradients, zero shadows, and a solid plain white background. BEGINNER: Start with the Beginner Prompts to practice using the Pen Tool and Shapes. ADVANCED: Change the prompt [Subject] to match your own artwork.
"BUILDING" ARTBOARD: I will recommend a (1080px by 1080px, 300PPI, RGB) as your Initial Artboard Size. The Initial Artboard Size can be changed at any point without ruining your own artwork. Use the Properties Panel to Scale Artwork and Artboards. LEARNING TARGET (1): Create a "Building Template" that includes Artboard Size, Resource Type, and Template Layers. LEARNING TARGET (2): Pick a "Building" Artboard Size you can use for your own Artwork and Social Media Postings.
FILE - PLACE: File -Place in your own Drawing, Sketch, or Traced Stock Photo. I recommend starting from a Clean Line Drawing or a simple Traced Stock Photo for your artwork and designs.
SCALE TO FIT: You can modify the size of the artwork using the Bounding Box or Scale Tool. Scale to Fit Artbaord. Align the your Artwork to the center of the Artbaord using the Align Panel.
TEMPLATE LAYER: In the Layers Panel, drop down in the menu for Template (50%) or double click on the layer for properties (Dim 10-30%). Lock Layer. Create a New Layer above for Building.
GENERAL PREFERENCES: All of our initial preferences are designed to gain more control over what you are clicking on. The more you can zoom in and see your anchors and handles the better. You can adjust the size of your Anchors and Handles under Selection and Anchor Display. Under your General Settings, make sure that Disable Auto Add/Delete is Selected.
SELECTION TOOLS: The Direct Selection Tool can grab and adjust the Anchors, Handles, and Paths. It is worth having your Smart Guides Path Labels Turned On so you know what the tool is selecting before dragging. The Selection Tool will move and select objects. I like using the Bounding Box for my Transform Tools, Turn On under View. I recommend this for Quick Scaling.
PRIMARY BUILDING: I will use Shapes, Pencil, and Pen Tools in Adobe Illustrator as my Primary Building Tools. Notice I have simplified my drawings and sketches to make this step feel like tracing.
VARIATION + EDITING: I will apply Brush Libraries for my Line Variation. Notice I am using Expanded Editing Tools to clean up my Paths before moving on to the Coloring Step.
ADVANCED COLORING: I will use Live Paint and the Live Paint Bucket to create my Basic Fills. Notice I have duplicated out the Flat Color Layer for Highlights, Shadows, Gradients, and Effects.
- Default or Right-Click
- Undo ( Control/Command + Z )
- Brush Size Up and Down ( ] [ )
- Modifier ( Shift )
- Pop-Up Menu
- Default or Right-Click
- Undo ( Control/Command + Z )
- Brush Size Up and Down ( ] [ )
- Modifier ( Shift )
- Pop-Up Menu
PRIMARY BUILDING: As I create my artwork, notice I am aligning the Building Tools to the Shapes and Lines within my Sketch or Drawing. Many of you will be using Shape, Pencil, and Pen Tools as your Primary Building Tools. BEGINNER: Understand the Building Tools and Options in Adobe Illustrator. ADVANCED: Align the Building Tools (Ellipse, Pen, and Curvature Tools) to the Design Elements (Shapes, Lines, and Curves) in your own drawing or sketch.
PRIMARY BUILDING TOOLS: Many of you will be bouncing from the Ellipse Tool for Shapes and the Pen or Pencil Tool for your Linework. Once you know the Primary Building Tools you can start prepping your sketches and drawings directly for Adobe Illustrator. CHECKLIST: For your own artwork, use the most obvious Primary Building Tool to lay down your initial paths and objects.
DOWNLOAD BRUSHES: Many of you are jumping over from YouTube looking to download our Adobe Illustrator Brush Libraries. Once you have downloaded and extracted the folders, Brushes are ready to be used in Adobe Illustrator. BEGINNER: Start with our Resource Guides to understand how to download, save, and open Brush Libraries in Adobe Illustrator. ADVANCED: As I create my artwork, pay attention to the Building Tools, Brush Application, and Editing Options as it relates to building a "Workflow." CARTOON / COMIC STRIP / MASCOT
CARTOON BRUSHES: Cartoon Brushes are my go-to for Professional Logos, Cartoons, Mascots, and Branding. Use Cartoon Illustrator Brushes with the Pen, Pencil or Paint Brush Tools to Apply different Line Variation to your Vector Artwork. Download Cartoon, Cartoon 2, and Original Cartoon Brush Libraries.
COMIC BRUSHES: Hand Painted + Comic Strip Brushes get a lived-in feel back into your Vector Art. Comic Strips and Hand Painted are painted based on some of my favorite artists and cartoonists. These brushes are designed to look ready for the Sunday Paper. Download Comic Strip, Hand-Painted, Paintbrush, and Fine Liner Brush Libraries.
MASCOT BRUSHES: Jittery Hand, Caffeinated Cartoonist + Rough Ink Brushes to Mimic Paper Bleed and Caffeine. Designed to be a little less stiff with your vector art. Use these Brush Libraries to get more of a distressed look or ink bleed back in your own Vector Artwork. Download Caffeinated Cartoonist, Rough Ink, and Jittery Hand Brush Libraries.
HOW TO COLOR: We will be using Live Paint to create our Basic Fills or Flat Color Layer before moving on to Values and Gradients. Select what you want to color. Object - Live Paint - Make. Click to dump color just like in Adobe Photoshop with the Live Paint Bucket Tool. Remember to Expand and Ungroup when completed with the Coloring Step. BEGINNER: Understand how to apply Flat Color by using Live Paint Bucket. ADVANCED: For your own artwork, during the Building Phase prep for Gap Options by using (No Fill/No Stroke) Segments.
COLOR SWATCHES + THEMES: Download or Save Color Swatches (Adobe Color) for your own artwork and designs. I recommend gathering and organizing resources within the same project folder (Stock Photos / Sketches / Thumbnails / Color Swatches).
SAVE OR DOWNLOAD SWATCHES. You can save Color Themes for your own artwork and designs. If you have CC, click add to Library. You can also download Color Swatches as an .ASE File to open through "Other Library" in the Swatches Panel Menu.
DOWNLOAD HALFTONES: Comic Halftones will come to you as a Zipped Folder. Once you have downloaded and extracted the folder, Halftones are ready to be used in Adobe Illustrator.Download our Comic Strip Halftone and Pattern Fills. COMIC HALFTONES
BLOB BRUSH: Double Click on the Blob Brush to Open the Options. Select Keep Selected and Merge with Selection. Both ON or Both OFF will be OK. Paint in Pattern Fills just like a coloring book with the Blob Brush. Switch Halftones by clicking on a new Pattern Fill.
KNIFE TOOL: We will cut the Basic Shape created with the Knife Tool to form Values using our Halftones. Troubleshooting: 1. Select the Shape before Cutting. 2. Make sure you cut all the way through the shape (go long with cuts).
FILE PREP: An exported PNG looks blurry when the document is saved at a low resolution or when the anti-aliasing drops processing frames. To fix blurry PNG exports, verify that your export resolution is set to 300 PPI. Additionally, change the anti-aliasing option from "Type Optimized" to Art Optimized. This instructs Adobe Illustrator to prioritize smooth line work and vector curves rather than prioritizing text rendering.
EXPORTING: The best export settings for a high-quality PNG are found by navigating to File > Export > Export for Screens. Set the format to PNG, choose a scale multiplier of 2x or 300 ppi for high-resolution displays, and ensure the anti-aliasing setting is explicitly set to Art Optimized (Supersampling). This combination guarantees that crisp vector outlines remain perfectly smooth when converted into a raster image file.
