I haven’t done another vector tutorial for quite some time now. Our last vector tutorial here was “Creating Your Own Vector iPhone” which I did almost two months ago. And I work on it for around two or three days I think. It’s really not that easy to create a graphic design tutorial and I admire those who come up with very detailed and easy to follow tutorials. There are also design tutorials that are too mind boggling or overwhelming even for graphic designers like me. Much more for newbies and non-designers who just want to learn some basic and easy design tricks. Some of these tutorials may have great results but sometimes they just don’t have the knack in doing well-written, easy to understand graphic design tutorials.

Today I thought about rounding up ten (10) of the best, well-written, easy-to-follow Adobe Illustrator vector tutorials offered by some of the best design blogs and websites around. These tutorials are featured primarily not because they produce outstanding and visually compelling results but simply because they’re straigthforward, well-defined and most of all, ideal for beginners and non-designers alike.

1. Design with Flair from Start to Finish in Illustrator CS4 – by Corey Barker of Layers Magazine

A very clear step-by-step guide in transforming a photo into a vector posterize style artwork.

2. How to Draw A Realistic Vector Light Bulb From Scratch – By Kamen of VectorTuts

This one will teach you some basic techniques in technical illustrations like creating shapes, proper shades and rendering of materials to create a more detailed and realistic illustration.

3. The Basics of Clipping Paths and Opacity Masks – by Daniel Swartz of VectorTuts

Another one from VectorTuts. This tutorial cover the benefits, some uses, and the ‘how-to’ of two powerful methods to hide or show areas of an Illustrator document without deleting objects using “Clipping Paths” and “Opacity Masks”.

4. How to Create Shiny, Vector Dice in Illustrator – by Joshua Bader of VectorTuts

More from VectorTuts. Here’s another way to create a 3D object in Adobe Illustrator effectively using the “Gradient Mesh Tool”.

5. Creating vector characters in Illustrator – from Computer Arts

This tutorial doesn’t just show you the step-by-step process on how to draw a character in Adobe Illustrator but also interestingly explained the basics of character design. The tutorial is downloadble in pdf format plus a bonus download of all supporting files.

6. Adding perspective to maps – by Mark Mayers of Computer Arts

Here’s another one from Computer Arts. This tutorial will show you how to give flat Illustrator maps a third dimension by using the “Free Transform tool” and a custom perspective grid. Tutorial and all supporting files are downloadable.

7. How to create a television icon – by Ryan Putnam of Vectips for aiVault

This easy step by step tutorial contributed by Ryan of Vectips to aiVault will show you how to create a a retro television icon just with some basic shapes and gradients. These technique are easily applicable to other icons, illustration, and logos.

8. How to Create a Smokin’ Western Type Treatment in Illustrator – By Ryan Putnam for VectorTuts

Here’s another one from Ryan Putnam and last from VectorTuts. A lengthy but easy to follow tutorial that shows you how to create a western type treatment using Adobe Illustrator’s effects.

9. Turn Any Font Into a Sketch Font – from Vectips

We know that there are available sketchy type of fonts but I never thought it could be easy to create the same kind of effect in Adobe Illustrator using the “Scribble” effect.

10. Illustrator Tutorial: Create a Gang of Vector Ninjas – by Chris Spooner of Blog.SpoonGraphics

Lastly, this one was featured in the same vector tutorial roundup made by Speckyboy (30 Amazing Vector Tutorials from 2009, so far anyway…) where two of our very own vector tutorials (Creating a Realistic 3D Beverage Can and Another Political (Obama) Poster Vector Tutorial) made the list. This tutorial will teach you how to create cool and cute vector ninja characters using just the basic shapes and a variety of simple tools. Perfect for Illustrator beginners.

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