Check out our comprehensive guide to the Pathfinder panel by regular Tuts+ Instructor Cheryl Graham. It's especially useful given trends of flat design and illustrations made from basic shapes. When it comes to creating shapes made out of other shapes, the Pathfinder panel has a selection of options to help you create the perfect shape. This is a perfect tutorial which shows you the benefits of both in an easy-to-follow format. I highly recommend our beginners tutorial on Clipping and Opacity Masks. I found them an incredible time saver and for this reason, I think every beginner should learn to use them. Masks limit a pattern, group of shapes, paths or whatever you wish to a specific area, and have a multitude of uses.

So much so that I wish I had discovered them a lot sooner in my Adobe Illustrator journey. It's not as bad as you think! 2. Master Clipping MasksĬlipping Masks were a game changer for me. He is solid proof you can create without the Pen Tool. This being said, my advice is to push yourself and go for it. If you check out the tutorials by regular Tuts+ Instructor Andrei Marius, the majority of his tutorials are done without the Pen Tool. It is true that you can create some pretty awesome vector graphics without needing the Pen Tool. It even has a downloadable exercise at the end of the tutorial. I'd highly recommend you check out this fantastic tutorial by Web Design Editor Ian Yates on how to use the Pen Tool. Once you've mastered this tool, you can take on anything in Adobe Illustrator. It took me a while to be able to 'tame' it, but don't let this put you off.

The Pen Tool can be a scary tool for beginners.

So enough, let's get stuck into this list. It's the same thing, really-let's be honest. These items were all tools and tips which have become part of my regular vector process and without them, I think I'd wither and die. I'm here to share with you my 10 essential tips and tools all Adobe Illustrator beginners should learn, and link you to a tutorial or two which will help you learn how to use them. I've been using Adobe Illustrator for well over 10 years now and I'm obsessed with vector. These days, however, given how many tools, tips and tricks there are to learn, you can often feel overwhelmed and not know where to start. In the past, programs with limited functions made it easier to pinpoint which tools you should be learning as a beginner.

Illustrator for beginners