It goes without saying that Adobe Illustrator is all about using shapes to create artwork. In this tutorial I’ll cover how to use basic shapes, and tools to create a variety of logos. The more seasoned designer may pick up a fact or two, but this tutorial is perfect for the expert beginner who is working on reaching intermediate status. I’ve also included several animated gifs to help more clearly illustrate how certain steps are performed.

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After four years of creating tutorials, tips, and hunting for vector art inspiration for Vectips, I’m taking a break and putting Vectips on a hiatus. I didn’t come to this decision easily and below I outline some of the reasons that I made this decision. I also talk about the future of Vectips and other possibilities. I really have enjoyed creating and maintaining Vectips. My career path is changing but I hope Vectips will still have a bright future!

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Just because we’re working in Illustrator doesn’t mean we have to create clean geometric artwork all the time. With just a couple tips and some custom artwork you can create 100% vector artwork that is grainy, dusty, dingy, and awesome. Plus, these techniques are easy to apply to all kinds of graphics other than typography.

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In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a chalkboard type treatment with some gradients, a bristle brush, and some freebies from Vector Mill! The tutorial is relatively simple and can be applied to many other Illustrator projects. Moreover, you can use the Vector Mill freebies in other projects!

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Man-Tsun was kind enough to contribute an awesome case study of one of his amazing illustration for the Vectips Readers! It’s really great to see the process of other illustrators! Moreover, I think us readers of tutorials are sometimes too focused on individual steps rather than seeing the bigger process of creating an illustration. So read on to get some great insight!

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Creating grainy textures are great for retro illustrations, typography, and logos. Alternatively, you can incorporate these effects into compelling new styles. You can always scan in similar textures and Live Trace them in Illustrator, but you can pretty easily create this type of effect all inside Illustrator!

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In this tutorial I will show you how to create a simple retro type treatment. Even though its simple, it uses some powerful Illustrator features. If you have read my tutorials before, you know this means the Appearance panel! Along with the Appearance panel, we will be using some texture effects, Warp effects, and some simple layering.

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