As with Adobe’s other drawing programs, Illustrator is part of the Creative Cloud. If you only want Illustrator, you can purchase just licensing for the tool and ignore the others. You can also gain it as part of a larger package. If you plan to work on scalable vectors, this is the software for you. Object library - The best home design software packages include libraries of free objects, like furniture and fixtures, that number in the thousands. For more flexibility, look for home design software that supports importing even more objects from SketchUp, Trimble 3D Warehouse, or both. It is the best 3D animation software which has the friendliest interface. In the background, you can enhance your images or animation while adding a lot of backgrounds. Conclusion- Best Free Animation Software For Beginners. These are few of the best animation software that we loved. The best vector editor overall is Adobe Illustrator CC If you're a professional designer or illustrator, there's no beating the industry standard vector editing software.
Where do you start with illustration as an absolute beginner? – I get asked this question very often. Here is my absolute beginner’s guide to illustration.
Being an illustrator is an attractive occupation for those who love to draw. It is creative and commercial with a prospect of having your work seen and admired by thousands of people.
However, to get to a stage of being commissioned and making a living from it takes commitment, perseverance and artistic skills. I believe that becoming an illustrator is not difficult, but you have to be smart about what you do.
From my experience, there are three main components to becoming successful at illustration:
Confidence in your style
Market awareness
Self promotion
(and a bit of luck ?)
Tips for finding your visual style.
If you are an absolute beginner, then finding a way to express yourself visually will be the most important step in your practice.
Drawing is the most obvious way that illustrators use to express their ideas, so learning to draw will definitely be high on your agenda.
Check out these easy drawing exercises for beginners in this article.
How to kick start your drawing practice:
1. Get a sketchbook and use it to draw from life regularly — in any way you can.
In the beginning, a pencil and a blank sheet of paper become two most terrifying things on earth, so you will need to take care of your mindset before you begin.
Read this article for a few psychological tips.
The aim here is not to become very good at drawing, although that might also inevitably happen, but to become comfortable with your own creative expression. For example, if your drawing is naive and loose, you might decide to embrace that as part of your style.
It doesn’t have to be realistic. Some people trained as classical painters and drawers struggle when it comes to illustration. That’s because contemporary illustration favours more expressive styles and fast turnaround.
2. Doodle, draw from reference (from photographs), or draw from your head — do anything you can to get more confident with holding a pencil and telling a story.
When I was very young I used to make stick men comic books. I wasn’t very good at drawing then but wanted to tell stories. My other friend, who used to go to a ‘proper’ art school used to laugh and tell me that comic books couldn’t be made with stick men.
That comment stuck with me and took me a while to get over. But after years of design education I learnt that in reality, visual communication can be expressed through many mediums, so there is no shame in using humble stick men to convey your story, or circles, or smudges, or lines.
3. Copy other people’s work (for educational purposes — do not try to pass off other people’s work for your own).
Right now I am not a fan of copying. BUT! When I think back on my own learning curve, I have to admit that copying was helpful in the very beginning, when I didn’t have enough confidence in my own drawing abilities. When you have absolutely zero experience and skills copying is a great start.
If you are copying, try to use the same materials as the artist, and use the process as a tool to discover which art techniques you prefer. And remember: copying someone else’s style while not working on developing your own bears a danger of becoming a one-trick pony with no personal voice. You have been warned. Also, word of warning: do not try to pass other people’s work as your own.
Do read this blog post on finding your own personal style.
3. Explore other mediums
Or you might decide to abandon drawing altogether and use other mediums like photography, collage, vector art or puppet making. Check out the work of this illustrator who uses paper collage as her main medium.
Remember that contemporary illustration does not confine in drawn images only. Draw in your style, draw any way you can. If drawing does not come easily then experiment and look for other possibilities.
4. Stay motivated
Please note that this process of discovering your style will take time, and you might find it difficult to stay motivated on your own. There will be plenty of opportunities to procrastinate and abandon this project whatsoever, so it may be helpful to enlist your family and friends to support you.
Or, you can proclaim yourself as a buddying illustrator in a new Instagram account or even start a blog. Maybe you can look for Facebook groups or challenges and drawing marathons. This accountability from others will help you keep going when times get rough.
5. Use your personality
Your own personality plays a big part in creating your artist persona too. You are a person with certain interests and stories that shaped your character. Use that knowledge to form your style as an illustrator.
It’s important to capitalise on things you are personally attracted to. It may be cute floral patterns or historical events, but start with researching what you naturally enjoy and create illustrations on that theme.
Should I learn how to draw or master digital software first?
As to learning the software, I would recommend learning the basics of drawing first. Once you are comfortable with your drawing, it is pretty straightforward to then learn how to make it digital.
You might save yourself time by exploring more accessible tools for image making first. Also, many contemporary illustrators work with minimal or no computer use, so lack of software knowledge shouldn’t be something to deter you.
Best Programming Software For Beginners
However, if you are a digital native and reading this makes you feel like you would be better off starting straight on the computer, then, by all means, go for it. Drawing on an iPad is an excellent way to start drawing, much easier than learning Photoshop in the desktop.
Where to find inspiration.
Now that you proclaimed yourself a creative person, you should start to think like one. One of the best takeaways from my design degree was learning to think like an artist.
1. Begin collecting colours, textures and references into some sort of scrapbook or a digital collection.
2. Start a digital Pinterest board and collect images that you like.
3. Get obsessed with weird things that other people rarely think about, such as certain species of beetles or 1960s holiday resorts.
4. Go to libraries and art exhibitions and keep your eyes peeled.
5. Look at works of illustrators and artists from other creative fields, such as films, books, music, ballet, etc.
6. Notice new things in stuff you see on a daily basis, as it can also become your inspiration.
You are going to need some content to feed your mind to be able to produce exciting imagery.
Graphic Design Software For Beginners
Creating structure with briefs and self initiated projects
Illustrators are so called because they illustrate something: a mood, a piece of text, a concept, a theme, a person, etc.
So to develop your illustration practice, you will need to have a theme or a project to give you structure.
In the industry creative projects are called briefs. It’s important to learn to work to a brief if you want to become a commercial illustrator.
Find yourself something to illustrate for. Maybe it will be a story that you made up yourself, or just a general topic like “cats” or “magic”, or a book that you have always loved, a song, or a poem.
Maybe you will draw all your colleagues as succulents. Whatever it is, start by giving yourself a challenge.
Download a free list of illustration prompts here.
“Should I learn drawing properly or should I start by practising illustration every day?”
This depends on the style of illustration that you want to do. If you are interested in doing very detailed photorealistic drawings, then you would benefit from traditional academic drawing skills. Think life drawings and old fashioned fine art lessons about perspective and tone.
However, if you are interested in contemporary illustration, you will notice a variety of styles, most being sketchy and expressive. If that’s the style you like, then it’s not necessary to learn to draw “properly”. Instead, you need to learn to draw with personality. Your clients will come to you because they look for a “human touch”, an emotional way of expressing a subject. Otherwise, they could just use a photograph.
Your job is to discover what style of illustration you want to do. Is it sleek digital vectors? Is it expressive line drawings? Or is it colourful and friendly picture book art?
I believe that the main thing you should aim for is being comfortable with your own drawings. You should be at a stage when you know you can easily draw anything in your own style to take commissions. You need to develop your own way of drawing that you can happily sustain. And to do that you need to practice regularly. There are definitely some tricks that will help you improve your drawings. I wrote about some contemporary drawing exercises in this blog post.
You can also improve drawing skills relatively easily by:
Going to local life drawing classes
Some life drawing classes just put the model in the front and let you get on with it. Ideally you want a class where the teacher will introduce you to a new art material or give you some tips. Life drawing is not essential to become an illustrator but it’s a good practice if you want to draw people.
Joining a local sketch crawl
There is a big community of artists who get together and sketch around the city. You can find a local group in most places around the globe. Going out drawing in a group is great because you can learn tips from each other and it’s easier to draw outside with other people (you don’t get too many weird looks from the public)
Check out local museums and galleries for free drawing classes
If you live in a big city then you are very fortunate to be near museums that might offer drawing activities and guided walks. Drawing in museums is very convenient, because it’s quiet and you will not get disturbed. Also, you can find inspiration that is unique.
“Should I go to college or should I just do short courses?”
I am a firm believer that you don’t need a degree in illustration to work as an illustrator. It seems strange coming from a person who did a BA in illustration, but looking back the main benefits of going to uni were:
social aspect of being around other creatives
broadening general knowledge and awareness about design history
Both of these are beneficial but not essential. So if you have the budget and time to spare, then go for it! I particularly recommend Falmouth University, who even offer an online illustration MA and also Anglia Ruskin Children’s Book illustration MA course which is a springboard for many successful illustrators in the U.K.
Saying that, I think that you can become a successful illustrator by doing specialised short courses. Most of them you can simply do online. Here is a list of courses that I recommend:
1. “Make art that sells”
Lisa Rogers is an illustration agent who offers many niche courses on different styles of illustration. All her courses are driven by industry experience and geared towards working as a professional illustrator.
2. Princes Royal drawing school in London offers some great online and in person drawing courses
I particularly recommend comics and graphic novels course by Emily Haworth-Booth.
3. Domestika
This website has a good selection of technical illustration lessons.
4. Skillshare
I really enjoyed this class about iPad drawing by Lisk Feng.
5. Chelsea online and offline short courses
UAL is a leading art & design university in the U.K. I did their Chelsea book illustration course, which is also offered online now.
Subscribe to my new Youtube channel here to get more illustration tips and advice!
I hope that these ideas will be helpful for you when you are starting out with illustration.
If you enjoyed this article, let me know in a comment, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my mail-out here for more tips and news.
Graphic Design Software are infamous for being pricey and if you are just beginning your career as a Graphic Designer or are looking for casual graphic design tools for creating social media and marketing images then paying for a costly software may not be desirable. There are many free graphic design software and online tools available which offer professional quality graphic editing capabilities and we will take a look at them in this article.
You may already be aware of the most popular graphic design software: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. However they are available at a monthly price and not free. In this post, we are sharing a list of best and free Graphic Design Software that are suitable for beginners as well as can cater to advanced graphic editing needs. These software and online tools are capable of creating social media images, poster designs, Facebook cover and a lot more. They offer simple and easy to use interface which can be learned in minutes. Many of them offer ready made templates which can be modified by simple drag and drop interface and easy change of text and colors.
If you are just looking for a free tool to edit and re-touch your photos then you may want to take a look at these free online photo editors. In this post, our list includes those online tools and software which are capable of creating graphic design items such as posters, mock-ups, flyers, logo, infographics, presentations, magazine cover, greeting cards etc. What’s great is that all the products listed below are free to use. They may offer advanced templates or products at a price however all the basic features they offer are free.
Gravit Designer
Although Gravit Designer is a new entrant, it has already gathered a lot of appreciation from graphic designers and is regarded as a viable free alternative to Adobe Illustrator and Sketch. Gravit Designer is a full featured vector design application which sits right inside your browser and doesn’t require any installation or paid subscription. It presents clean, intuitive interface and can be used to design any kind of vector graphics. You can also download app for your favorite platform and use it offline.
Canva
Canva offers creation of graphics using multiple pre-created layouts and templates with an easy to use web editor. You can easily create social media images, posters, flyers, book covers and a lot more graphic items using their editor. Text, font, colors and images can be changed easily and you are allowed to download and share your creation for free. Canva offers paid templates as well as paid images, however many templates and images in their collection are free. You can also upload your own images and then add text overlays.
Crello
Free Drafting Software For Beginners
Crello is an alternative of Canva and offers similar features and functionality. This free online graphic design software allows creation of design using pre-created formats such as social media covers, ads, posters etc. Crello offers over 5000 free designs and collection of over 60 million images.
Snappa
Free Design Software For Beginners
Snappa is another quick and easy graphic design software similar to Canva. It offers a free plan which includes 40,000+ free photos and upto 5 downloads per month. The free plan contains limited design templates to choose from and integration with 2 social accounts. You can upload your own graphics too in Snappa editor as well as import your custom fonts. Connecting your social media account allows you to share the graphic on the social platform right from the app.
Gravit Klex
Klex is built by the Gravit Designer team and offers an experience similar to Canva. It has pre-built designs and layouts which you can easily edit to your liking with change of image and text. Many graphic elements such as shapes, illustrations, emojis, icons, frames and stickers are included to be used for free in your design. You can upload your own images or choose from many of the backgrounds and free images provided in the editor.
Design Wizard
Design Wizard has thousands of templates and over a million images for you to choose from and create your own design for social media, business cards, invitation and greeting cards etc. The free plan offers a pay as you go option which includes buying premium templates starting from $1. You also get online storage of 15MB to store your design.
Stencil
Similar to other easy to use graphic design tools, Stencil also provides you with 650+ pre-designed templates, over a million images and 800,000+ icons and graphic elements to help you create your graphics. Free and simple image creation tools like Stencil are best suited for social media marketers, bloggers and small businesses. With the free plan you can create upto 10 images per month.
Vectr
Vectr is a free vector graphic editor similar to Gravit Designer. You can download it to use on your desktop or use the web interface. Vectr is easy to learn and free tutorials and user guides are provided as well. You can send anyone a URL to your Vectr document for real-time collaboration, others can watch you create and edit designs live.
Inkscape
Inkscape is a professional vector graphics editor available for Windows, Mac OS X as well as Linux. It’s open source software licensed under GPL. Inkscape is trusted by professional graphic designers and is one of the best free alternative to Adobe Illustrator. The learning curve may be a bit steeper compared to other graphic editors listed above, however with Inkscape, you would be able to create complex vector graphics which may not be possible to create in other free editors.
GIMP
Talking about free alternatives, GIMP is long reigning king of free image editing software and is accepted as a powerful free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. You can refer to GIMP tutorials to get started with this amazing and free photo editor. GIMP is open source and available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems.
Do you use any of these free graphic design tools already? Were you looking for an alternative to Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and found what you needed? Our team here at SDR uses many of the graphic editing tools listed above to create our blog graphics, logo, social media images etc. You can check the following collection of articles which will help you get better sense of graphic design if you are a beginner.
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