Take a Class in Adobe Illustrator and learn how to use it!
I have been teaching older kids, teens and adults how to use Adobe Illustrator since 2015.
I teach a semester long Digital Illustration course at Gavilan College in California during the school year.
I offer workshops for Adults which teach fundamental skills in Adobe Illustrator. If you are local to the Santa Cruz Area, you can take one of my workshops offered through Cabrillo Extension.
I offer short online courses for teens and usually (in years when its not a Pandemic) I offer a Teen Summer Camp for student artists, age is usually 12-15. Through Cabrillo Extension.
I have a limited amount of courses for older kids / teens currently available on Outschool.
If you just want to watch tutorials, I will have those set up soon.
Here's my short video on my Illustrator classes:
For older students who enjoy drawing and sketching, learn to take your drawings to a whole new level with Adobe Illustrator. Turn your ideas into cool graphics that can be printed on t-shirts & more. Draw your own characters for storybooks, games or trading cards. Students will learn to draw with professional illustration tool Adobe Illustrator from a professional Artist. Students learn how to edit their illustrations with colors and strokes, manipulate vector paths, draw with shapes, and apply colorful paint or gradient effects, and how to incorporate Typography into their designs for finished artwork.. Once they have mastered the digital tools in this Intro level 1A class, the advanced classes teach students to take pencil drawing roughs and turn them into finished illustrations, as well as how to take photos to incorporate into their illustration imagery.
Classes are structured so that students first download a digital practice file, then watch a demonstration using zoom video screen share, on what to do with their digital file, once the demonstration is finished, then they work on and complete the digital artist illustration file using adobe illustrator on their home computers while the instructor stays on the video call and screens shares with students as their work is in progress.
Important * STUDENTS NEED A WORKING COPY OF ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR INSTALLED ON THEIR COMPUTERS! *
The Illustrator Level1A intro class is very similar to what you will get studying Digital Illustration / Graphic Design in highschool or college & is focussed on learning the software. Level 1A is the introduction which goes over the fundamental tools. As students complete 1A, they can continue learning in Level 1B and advance to Level 2 where more in advanced lessons are taught building on what has already been learned.
Students will Learn:
1) How to open, create a new file & save their .AI (adobe illustrator files)
2) How to navigate the illustration software (move around)
3) How to select design art elements (Selection Tool), to Move, Rotate and Scale the design art elements
4) Students will gain an understanding of Fills & Strokes in Vector Artwork
5) How to change the colors of the fills & strokes of vector artwork
6) How to access the color picker and the swatch, gradient & pattern libraries
7) How to use the Illustration software to create shapes for their designs (polygons,circle, stars etc.)
8) How to modify their shapes and drawing by using the Direct Selection Tool for further control over their illustrations
9) How to use the Paintbrush tool to draw directly inside of Adobe Illustrator using a mouse or Stylus drawing tablet
10) How to export their Adobe Illustrator Artwork for web (as a jpeg) so it can be displayed on social media or printed
Projects for Level 1 (Intro to Illustrator) are focused around creating a beginning illustration using the tools & techniques.
Students will have art / design related work to do on the digital demonstration file. Students can drop their finished work into forum discussion / drop box on external website. Students will have digital art projects based around the learning lessons.