Looking for online adobe illustrator classes? Illustrator is part of the Adobe Suite of creative programmes. It is a vector drawing programme that allows for illustrations, cartoons, diagrams, charts, logos. It uses mathematical equations to draw out shapes, making vector graphics scalable without loss of definition. I learnt Illustrator a few years go, my son was taking an online course in Illustrator for High School and I thought that if I did it too, I could help him if he got stuck. He didn’t get stuck, but I achieved a new skill. This mind map is a simple illustration from Illustrator. Easy to achieve but way more interesting to use images to reinforce your articles on line, or, a new skill to offer up on websites like Fiverr or Etsy, doing vector illustrations for other people. A great new skill turned into an online thread of income.
Its allows images to be scaled without losing resolution, lines are crisp and sharp at any size, so perfect for logos and billboards alike. Prints at high resolution with smaller file sizes. The only drawback (no pun intended?) is that its not so easy to create photo realistic drawings. Illustrator is perfect for logos, posters, realistic drawings, infographics, diagrams, illustrations for almost any purpose.
This was designed for a website that I manage – a baby scan centre.
Can You Learn For Free?
Generally there is a monthly fee for using Illustrator ($20/month, first week free) and a monthly fee for any tutorials. So can potentially add up to a tidy amount.
But as a beginner you can trial the tutorials for a month and the Illustrator software for free for a week. If you have a student in the house, like I had, you can get a free version to use. Ultimately you need to pay for it, if you find that you want to use it for business, you will need a paid version.
Do You Need ‘Follow Along’ or Notes?
When I was learning Illustrator, I used a tutorial online, and followed along at the same time. I had my laptop with illustrator software loaded and the tutorial on my iPad at the side, so I could see what was going on and follow it and learn at the same time by doing it. I found for me this was the easiest way to learn. Odd things like key strikes for various effects, I noted down on a card for later use. Over time I remembered them but a crib sheet at the beginning was ideal.
This course is run by www.lynda.com and a guy called Deke Mclelland. Remember the first month is free. I followed this and quite a few other courses run by Deke and found them all to be top notch and worth every penny I paid ( I went on many months after the initial free month)
Alternatively you can use a follow along in note form…. This also is a free 30 day course that guides you through the basic intricacies of Illustrator with vectordiary.
This Illustrator 30 day free crash course is at www.vectordiary.com
Its split into 30 days – 5 days a week, 20 minutes a day. They run through the fundamental techniques, which are easy and simple. Nothing is in great detail, mainly the essential tools and ideal for beginners. I would recommend this as a start up and going onto the follow along course with Deke at Lynda.com afterwards.
Don’t forget that you will also find tutorials for free on YouTube. These can be instead of or supplemental to the courses recommended above. It might be that there is a particular tool that you want more training, some are challenging – the reflection tool I found tricky, YouTube was excellent.
Can’t Afford Adobe Illustrator?
Adobe Illustrator might be too pricy on a monthly basis however its not the only software out there that will do the job. Affinity is software that is almost identical to Illustrator, with many of the same functions, but at a fraction of the price. Rather than being by adobe, its designed by Serif and costs $40 in total for lifetime so no monthly payments.
Affinity V Illustrator
- Affinity offers most things Illustrator has.
- Learning curve getting used to the key commands moving from Illustrator to Affinity, not a problem if you don’t know either !
- Techniques are called different things.
- Some instances when one outperforms the other.
- Easy to switch from one to the other when used to both softwares.
- More settings on Illustrator – many however unnecessary for the beginner.
- Affinity has plenty of configurations, but not as many as Illustrator.
- Artboard and document presets, more on Illustrator than Affinity.
- Illustrator’s colour picker is much more straightforward than Affinity, which takes some getting used to.
- Affinity has fewer colour swatches than Illustrator.
- Illustrator has just about every tool you can imagine, Affinity has fewer.
- More shape defaults on Affinity than Illustrator
- More text options on Affinity.
Upshot of Comparison
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence… in patches ! Neither stands taller than the other, to be totally fair, except on price where Affinity wins every time. A one-off purchase for Affinity rather than a monthly payment for Illustrator.
As far as the graphics are concerned, neither one is better than the other, you can achieve high end graphics using both softwares.
Conclusion
Affinity (Serif)
- 10 Day Free Trial with Serif
- $39.99 one-off payment
- Free one month trial – Affinity Online Training – www.lynda.com
- Impressive, low budget, but powerful enough for graphic artists.
Illustrator (Adobe)
- 7 Day Free Trial with Adobe
- $20.99 a month with Adobe Creative Cloud
- Free one month trial – Illustrator Beginner Training – www.lynda.com
- Comprehensive feature tools, high end graphics.
Neither software requires you to have a graphics pad at the outset. I don’t use a graphics pad even now, the mousepad on my MacBook works perfectly fine. If, once you have done all the training and you want to take it further, get certification to start designing for customers, a graphics pad will make the design process quicker, easier and more detailed. All graphics pads sync with macs and PC.
I have been meaning to try a course for adobe illustrator for sometime now. My hesitation is, the price! However, after reading your post, I see that there are alternative to adobe illustrator. As a newbie blogger, learning how to design graphics is a big help. I appreciate that you mentioned about Affinity. I might as well go for it. Cheers!
You are most welcome Arwil. Illustrator is great if you can get a free version and free tutorials, but Affinity is so much more affordable. I would plump for that if I was doing it now.
Hi! I liked your article. I didn’t realize that Adobe had an illustrator class. That sounds quite interesting. I just wish it didn’t cost so much. Thanks for including the Affinity V for comparison.
I have been using Canva. You can upgrade for extra features, but I’ve found enough with the free ones. How does Canva compare with these two? Are they similar?
I also like the idea of using two machines, side by side, when learning the program. I have a small laptop that I keep mostly for that. Sometimes it is easier to accomplish an online task when you have two machines to use. Good idea.
Canva is a drag and drop graphic website. It is excellent for the non graphic designer wanting all sorts of media. Illustrator and Affinity allow you to design from scratch, to fulfil unique graphic designs. But both softwares take time to learn, Canva is a much quicker learning experience.
Hey Quinn,
Loving your Ai review, I never knew of Affinity! I thought I was the only one feeling that Ai’s monthly payment is a tad too pricey but we can’t deny how powerful Ai is in terms of creating a new design. I totally forgot about lynda’s classes, amazing! What do you think of Udemy?
Thanks Riaz, yes, Illustrator is expensive but now Im used to it, I cant use anything else. Affinity is perfect for people just starting out and I think that even if one was to follow affinity and then switch to Illustrator for a broader graphic experience. I haven’t included Udemy in my article for a few reasons. I found them to be more expensive than Lynda.com and not as flexible. The courses they offer were more expensive and in smaller bites, whereas Lynda.com offers a month free trail. Lynda.com by the way is now part of the LinkedIn platform. A good move I feel.
I am running my own blog. Illustrations are so important to maintain my readers engaged or enhance a point stated on my post. And finding a nice and affordable creative software is crucial.
I like both your suggestions: Affinity (Serif) and Illustrator (Adobe). But right now, my best options is Affinity. I’m impressed with it’s versatility and the price seems just fine for me. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful Henry, Illustrator is expensive but ultimately I think the price will start coming down, in the meantime Affinity is very affordable for those starting out.
Hi Quinn
Just finished reading you post, Looking For Online Adobe Illustrator Classes? I must say I was impressed. I felt it was very well written and very informative.
I liked the way you gave the comparisons between the products. I liked your pictures. Were they all done on Adobe Illustrator?
I noticed that you didn’t use more links to products like at the beginning when you were talking about Fiver, Etsy, etc. and at the end with Adobe and Affinity was there a reason for that?
Overall great blog post Quinn I really enjoyed it.
Eric
Thanks Eric, I will go back and add those links in, I omitted by mistake, Im pleased you enjoyed it. The images were indeed done in Illustrator.
I have been looking for an alternative to Adobe Illustrator and I will be trying the Affinity Designer out for free to see how it performs. To go along with that, I would be interested in taking some courses on how best to use the tool. I have several design tools and have used GIMP and a couple of others, but nothing compares to Adobe Illustrator.
Just as with video editing software, I do believe in giving tools a chance to see which will work best for what I am doing. Initially, when starting online, I did not need much, but I find that the more I get into online marketing and the different market segments like e-commerce and online training, a more robust tool is generally better.
I had not heard of the Affinity set of tools, but I sure am glad that I stopped by your post today and learned about it. There is no doubt that it will allow me to do a more professional job with some of the graphics that I am creating on a more regular basis.
Can you have VAs access your Affinity account with no problems? My VAs are all located in Dubai and the Philippines, so definitely the login locations will be from a different location than I may be in. With some tools, this is not allowed, and for this to make sense I would need that ability.
In regards to the training, I see that I can get all I need using the Lynda site plus I am sure there are more on YouTube. This should be a fun adventure! Thanks for the tips! Good information and good advice.
Thanks Dave for your comments. It is very helpful to have both softwares endorsed. My assistant uses Affinity and has found it easier than Illustrator to get going. I was lucky to be able to learn Illustrator when I did, it does take time to get used to but truly worth the effort. I hope you can sort out usage in Dubai and Philippines, but I would think with the correct log in details, I doubt they will have any trouble.