Bortonia: All Things Vector

Helpful Articles on iStock

Vector Do’s and Don’ts: Examples of some common mistakes for vector illustrations, and tips on how to fix them

Texture: Adding a textured look to your vectors

Color: Using color to enhance your composition and create a mood

The Sketch: Taking your images from the drawing board to the final finishing touches

Vector Figure Shading: How to use gradients when shading your characters

Just 5 More Minutes: How to make your images stand out from the crowd

Let’s Tidy UP-loads: Tips and tricks on how to clean up your vectors

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space: Adding backgrounds to your images

Proportion: Making your people illustrations look ‘right’

Pimp My Vector Ride: Customizing your vector software

Are You Compatible?: AI8 EPS Compatibility

Are You Taking Snapshots?: How to avoid some common subpar issues

Grunge Construction: How to create grunge effects

Combining Vector & Raster Images: How to integrate raster and vector imagery

A Buyer’s Guide to Vectors: An excellent article detailing how to use vector files

The Mordy Golding Interview: An interview with Mordy Golding, the Guru behind Real World Adobe Illustrator, SAMS Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite All in One, and The Web Designer’s Guide to Color.

A Buyer’s Guide To Vectors: This article is a must-read for all your vector illustration clients.

 

Vector Tutorials

Layers Magazine: Tons of great tutorials and how-to’s from beginner level to advanced.

GoMedia Tutorials: Step by step tutorials (and videos) on everything from converting your pencil sketches into vectors to creating your own custom scatter brushes

Vectorkid.com: A great resource, with tutorials on how to do everything from creating maps to complex lighting effects

Vectortuts.com: Slightly more advanced techniques for mesh, type, and transparency effects

Webdesign.org: A little bit of everything from simple character design to complex 3D effects

Good-Tutorials.com: Tons of great tutorials from logo designs to blend functions

Vecpix.com: Simple, well demonstrated and easy to follow tutorials

AI Real World Illustrator: Adobe Illustrator genius Mordy Golding’s personal blog. One of the most comprehensive AI tutorial sites online!

Lynda.com: Excellent video tutorials

iStockdiary: Tons of tutorials for all things vector, great stuff!

Adobe Illustrator Techniques: A great tutorial resource. Subscribers receive both a magazine and access to their online tutorials

Marvin’s Corner: An excellent introduction to pre-press and printing files, and how to avoid common mistakes in setting up your vector files

Vectips.com: Full of handy tips, tricks, and tutorials

Sketchpad.net: An excellent ‘everything you needed to know about vectors’ tutorial

Northlite Designs: Tips and tricks (everything from brushes to text effects)

Freetransform.net: A great selection of step-by-step tutorials for Illustrator

Bittbox: A handy tutorial on creating your own custom Illustrator brushes

Character Illustration Tutorial: A great how-to for anyone interested in drawing original characters

Veerle: Taking your illustration from sketch to adding finishing touches

Digital Media Net: Assorted tutorials from building 3D charts to reconfiguring brushes

Illustrationclass.com: A comprehensive start-to-finish classroom site

Tutorial Outpost: Step-by-step instructions on how to do pretty much anything in AI

VectorDiary: A great vector blog offering tutorials and links to other vector related sites.

N.Design Studio: A wide range of Illustrator tutorials

Illustration Info: A variety of vector tips and tricks

Smashing Magazine’s Top Illustrator Tutorials 2007: A collection of the best tutorials from 2007. Everything from basic to advanced techniques.

Smashing Magazine’s Top Illustrator Tutorials 2008: A collection of the best tutorials from 2008. Everything from basic to advanced techniques.

 

Vector Tools

Keyboard shortcuts for AI CS2 (and most other AI versions)

Open Shape Selection Plugin: An absolute life saver. Use this plugin to quickly and easily find open shapes, rasterized objects, and much more in your vector files.

Point Control: A plugin chock full of path and point editing features. A bargain for only $10!

Better Handles: An Adobe Illustrator tool for creating and editing Bézier curve handles

EZConstrain: A free Adobe Illustrator plugin for changing and resetting the constrain angle

SnapMeasure: A better measuring tool for Adobe Illustrator

Color Lovers: A great site to visit if you’re having doubts about the colors you’re using. Put together your own color palettes and see what’s trendy

 

Software Downloads and Free Trials

Inkscape: Free vector software. Free, people!

Xara: 15 day free trial download

Adobe Illustrator: 30 day free trial download

Lineform: Free trial available… Also very cheap to buy!

CorelDRAW: 30 day free trial download

Silhouette: A handy vectorizing application for those who don’t have access to LiveTrace, Streamline, etc. Free trial version available, and you can get a plugin for pre-CS 2 Illustrator

Freehand: 30 day free trial download

Daz3D: 3D Modelling software, good for creating figure references

Vector Magic: A fantastic online auto tracer that will convert rasters into vectors, just upload your image and it’ll guide you through the process

20 Graphic Editors Reviewed: A list of 20 (twenty!!!) vector programs. A few you’ll have heard of, but others will be a surprise.

 

iStock Resources

Illustrator Training Manual

Technical Wiki: A list of copyrighted/trademarked items

K is for… Tags?: An excellent article on how to keyword your files so they’ll be found by buyers… Without showing up in irrelevant searches

K is for Keywords: Helpful tips on keywording your files

Who’s Who on iStock: An introduction to the people behind the scenes

The iStock Civics Companion: Guidelines and policies for iStock

 

Books, CDs, and DVDs

Illustrator CS4 Essential Training: This video tutorial teaches core concepts and techniques that can be applied to any workflow for print, the web, or assets that will find their way into other applications

Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4: Author and past Illustrator product manager Mordy Golding takes readers through all of the features of the program, explaining not only how to use the multitude of features but also why and when to use them

Illustrator CS4: Getting Started: Deke McClelland provides a concise but thorough examination of core Illustrator concepts: stroke, fill, and path; scaling and rotating; layers and guides, and he demonstrates several techniques for working with type in this video tutorial

Adobe Illustrator CS4 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques: This info-packed guide lets users get right down to work by focusing on the Illustrator CS4 features they’re most likely to use and showcasing each in a stand-alone tip

Illustrator CS3 Essential Training: Instructor Mordy Golding teaches the basics of this application to new and experienced users alike in this video tutorial

Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book: The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Illustrator CS4

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book: In this revised edition of the best-selling and award-winning Illustrator WOW! Book, youll find tips, tricks, and techniques derived from actual projects from more than 100 of these top Illustrator artists

Illustrator CS4 New Features: The long-awaited addition of multiple artboards will be sufficient reason for some Illustrator users to upgrade, but Mordy Golding also discusses many other noteworthy features and improvements

How to Wow with Illustrator: The authors guide you step-by-step through real-world techniques, with an emphasis on uncompromising quality, last-minute flexibility, and go-home-at-night speed

Real World Print Production: Print production expert Claudia McCue takes on the challenge of putting ink to paper, offering clear, authoritative guidance to print professionals and anyone else who has been frustrated by the obstacles of getting electronic documents to print perfectly

How I Learned To Love The Tablet: An online article on using a Wacom tablet for the first time