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Adobe Illustrator is drawing software mainly used for creating vector graphics. Adobe Illustrator was co-developed with Adobe Photoshop as a complementary product, and is used to create logos, drawings, cartoons, and fonts for Adobe Photoshop's photo-realistic layouts. The new version of this software, from Adobe Illustrator CS to CS5, has a number of new features, such as adding three-dimensional applications and realistic brushes. If you are interested in the basic functions and applications of Adobe Illustrator, here is a short tutorial about the possibilities.

To step

1. A good place to start is to design a poster in Adobe Illustrator. This will teach you how to create a blank document, some basic text and color edits, and how to create a product.
2. After creating a poster, try creating a brochure in Adobe Illustrator, which requires more knowledge of height, width, size, and formatting.
3. However, if your plan is to create images that can be used in Photoshop, you can start by learning how to use the most basic drawing tool in the software first, which is the Pen tool. Use the pen tool to first draw a simple shape to create a complex logo. In order not to get confused about how to use the utility, use a white fill and make the lines black. Leave the effects, gradients, and colors for a moment and focus on drawing your image first.
4. Once you are adept at using the pen tool, you can try drawing something from start to finish.
5. The next step is to learn how to use the Shape and Pathfinder tool. If you are using the Pen tool to draw shapes and find that the shapes are not perfect enough, you can also use the shape tool. Use the shape tool to draw ellipses, rectangles, rounded rectangles, triangles and stars.
6. You can also test your proficiency in using the Pathfinder tool through this tutorial on creating shapes. This tool helps create complex shapes and objects.
7. After learning how to draw in Illustrator, move on to using swatches and colors. Start playing around with the colors and changing the colors of the fills and lines of the drawing, using your color swatches.
8. You can also apply a gradient using the Net tool. The basic idea is that you use color swatches for flat or 2D illustrations, gradients to make your images more three-dimensional, and then the Net tool to make your images more realistic.
9. Test your proficiency in using the coloring tools in this tutorial by drawing a hamburger from start to finish: Draw a hamburger in Adobe Illustrator.
10. To summarize everything you have learned, you can go ahead and create your own personal logo and business card. Essentially, after going through the tutorials step-by-step, you can now start drawing a logo and preparing a simple layout. However, if you are still having trouble understanding the software, you can follow the tutorial below on how to create a logo.
11. If you want an even bigger challenge, try tracing an image. This is a great introduction to some of the more advanced tools in Adobe Illustrator.