Adobe Illustrator is 2D vector-based drawing program which has three primary functions. Firstly, it can be used to create graphics for print, such as logos, illustrations and diagrams. Secondly, it can help you build web graphics: buttons, icons; even entire web page designs. As well as drawing, Illustrator can also become a desktop publishing environment where you can create single page layouts such as posters, fliers, book jackets, DVD CD covers, etc.

Illustrator is often the final member of the Adobe Creative Suite that people will get around to learning. Delegates coming on our Adobe Illustrator training courses will often complain that the program seems less inviting and exciting than Photoshop. And, although Photoshop is a complex package, they find themselves using it for all their graphic work, even things which would much easier to create in Illustrator. Part of this difficulty in getting started with Illustrator is the fact that it often appears to new users that the program is hard work: you create a new file and you’re presented with a blank page. You have to create your drawing entirely from scratch.

As Illustrator trainers, we take on board the fact that running an Illustrator training course involves more than just tuition of the use to tools and techniques. To get delegates feeling enthusiastic about using the program, we also need to rid them of their fear of the stark blank canvas facing them every time they create a new file. We have identified four main techniques for ridding new users of “Blank Canvas Syndrome”. Firstly, it is important to clearly identify the type of artwork you want Illustrator to create for you. Secondly, use Illustrator’s Live Trace facility to create vector elements which can become a starting point for your own artwork. Thirdly, use background images as guides as you create your own drawings. And, fourthly, copy, reuse and modify elements that already exist within your own drawings.

We find that some of the most successful Adobe Illustrator courses that we run are for organisations that have a very clear idea of the type of artwork that they need to produce with Illustrator. For example, fashion companies using Illustrator to create drawings showing off their designs and products; or people like architects and cartographers who are using the program to generate some of the less technical illustrations required in their line of business.

For those users who are not using the program in a very pointed fashion, we always try to emphasise that creating Illustrator artwork doesn’t have to mean originating every single stroke from scratch. We show users how they can use imported graphics as a starting point for their own artwork. For example, keeping scanned images on a background layer and drawing over them using the pen tool or converting bitmapped images into vectors with Illustrator’s Live Trace utility.

Adobe once owned a program called Streamline which was a utility for converting bitmapped images into vectors. Though they have now discontinued it, Streamline lives on in the guise of Illustrator’s Live Trace function. This allows you to convert bitmaps imported into Illustrator into vectors, either by choosing one of the preset settings or by creating a custom set of parameters. The program is very fast, so it is easy to experiment with several different settings to see what gives the best results. Once you have got your vectorised version of the artwork, you spend a bit of time cleaning it up and it’s good to go.

As well as tracing, it is also often useful to just keep an image on a background layer and constantly refer to it as you create your artwork. It can also be useful to reduce the opacity of the background image to about 40 or 50 percent so it doesn’t become obtrusive. Sometimes you may manually trace around areas of these reference images. Other times, you may just use it for reference, so you can check the dimensions or shape of elements that you create in the foreground.

Another trick we always point out to delegates attending our Illustrator training courses is the ease with which you can create elements which are variations on existing elements within your drawing. Illustrator has powerful techniques for creating transformed copies of an object. It also allows you to place multiple strokes and fills on an object and to apply effects to each of them. Thus, for example if you need to create four concentric circles, you can just create one circle and give it four strokes, using the Offset Path command to position each of them.

The fact of the matter is that “Blank Canvas Syndrome” will just disappear once you formulate a clear idea of what you achieve learn to avoid creating all your elements from scratch. Start using the Live Trace facility to generate useable vector artwork. Use background images as guides to help you draw your own artwork and, wherever possible, reuse and modify elements that you have already created.

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