Illustrator has a plethora of tools at you disposal. Even with all these tools, there is always going to be something missing. This is where scripts and plug-ins come in to help. With scripts and plug-ins you can perform tasks that Illustrator cannot complete on it’s own. There are a great deal of resources out there and in this post you will find 10 free and useful scripts for Illustrator! Scripts? Illustrator supports scripting from ...

You can register with Adobe® to view a special web broadcast for Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 on the 23rd of September, 2008. All you have to do is follow this link and sign up for a time and Adobe® will send you information on how to view it. I’m all signed up and can’t wait to see what is in store for Illustrator CS4! Does any one have any predictions on what the new features ...

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a vector lightsaber. You will use some simple shapes, blends, and gradients in this intermediate tutorial. Also, if you want to learn more about all sorts of light weapons then check out wookieepedia, there is a page on the Lightsaber there. Final Image Preview To start off, let’s take a look at the final illustration below. Step 1 Create a new letter sized document. Use the ...

There are a number of great tutorials, freebies, and articles related to vectors coming out on the web daily. Each month, I roundup some of the best posts that I have found useful. I can’t include everything I’ve seen throughout the month, but you can follow my Twitter feed to get all the daily links. Post comments with links that I have missed so everyone can see them! Tutorials Create a Stylish Sports Car Dashboard ...

In the following tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a glowing light abstract vector graphic. The great thing about this tutorial is it doesn’t use any raster effects. The final illustration is all vector! In this tutorial, you’ll utilize blends, different blend modes, and gradient meshes. Moreover, these techniques are real easy to apply to other illustrations. Final Image Preview First, let’s take a look at the final illustration below. Also, if your interested ...

I have been using a 6×8 Wacom Intuos3 for the past 4 months, and can’t live without it. It has become a important tool in my Illustrator work. Not only is it more natural using the Wacom compared to a mouse, Illustrator has some tool features you can only use with a pen tablet. With some tools you can set how the tool responds to the Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation of the ...

In this intermediate tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a vector speaker icon. When you break down the elements you’ll find it fairly easy. We’ll be using some ellipses with gradients, the Grid Tool, and the Mesh Tool to create this icon design. Final Image Preview Let’s take a look at the final icon design below. Step 1 Create a new document that is 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall. Then use the ...

In this intermediate tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a vector speaker icon. When you break down the elements you’ll find it fairly easy. We’ll be using some ellipses with gradients, the Grid Tool, and the Mesh Tool to create this icon design. Final Image Preview Let’s take a look at the final icon design below. Step 1 Create a new document that is 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall. Then use the ...

There are a number of great tutorials, freebies, and articles related to vectors coming out on the web daily. Starting each month, I’m is going to roundup some of the best posts that I have found useful. I can’t include everything I’ve seen throughout the month, but you can follow my Twitter feed to get all the daily links. Post comments with links that I have missed so everyone can see them! Tutorials Learn Illustrator ...

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a grungy skull illustration using an image and some freebies around the web. These techniques can be easily applied to other grungy illustrations, and not only skulls. You’ll learn some useful techniques in this tutorial. Final Image Preview Let’s have a look at the final image below. Step 1 First, you are going to need to find a skull picture. I found a nice skull image ...

When creating the previous Create Sketchy-Style Vectors tutorial, I created a number of brushes. I started playing around with the brushes and was happy with the results. I ended up create more of the brushes so I can distribute them. These brushes are great for creating sketchy or grungy vectors. Just apply the brushes to any path or object! How To Use The Brushes Download the Illustrator file at the bottom of the post and ...

This post is an extension of my Watercolor Vector Flower Illustration tutorial that appears on VectorTuts.com. If you haven’t checked out the post, you should now! In the following tutorial I will explain how to create a couple watercolor brushes, adding to the VectorTuts tutorial, and at the end of the tutorial you can download some Free Vectips Watercolor Brushes! Notes This tutorial was created with Illustrator CS3. Keyboard shortcuts are displayed in orange. ⌘ ...

Illustrator has the ability to add raster effects to elements like outer glows, inner glows, and drop shadows. Vector art is great because you can scale them to any size. That is why I try not to use the raster effects in final output. One area this creates a problem, is drop shadows, but there are a couple of easy ways to add drop shadows using blends and gradients rather than raster effects. Notes This ...