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#2 in IllustratorUdemyBestseller on UdemyIllustratorPaid courseBeginner levelCertificate

Adobe Illustrator CC - Essentials Training Course (Udemy.com)

Learn Adobe Illustrator CC graphic design, logo design, and more with this in-depth, practical, easy-to-follow course!

Created by: Video School

Last updated January 2025

Our take

Based on the ratings of 33,107 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in January 2025. No course pays to be reviewed.

A beginner's route into Illustrator built around doing rather than watching. The syllabus runs about 12 hours across 113 lectures and 15 sections, and it carries 35 assignments, so nearly every topic ends with something to draw. Daniel Walter Scott teaches it, even though Video School holds the Udemy listing, and reviewers repeatedly call him funny and easy to follow. It suits people who have never opened Illustrator, or who bounced off it once, and want logos, icons and simple illustrations by the end.

The rating sits at 4.8 from about 33,000 reviews, and roughly seven in ten of those are five stars. Students praise the exercise files, the short lecture lengths, and the project at the end of each section, which one reviewer says is what built their confidence in the program. The complaints are few. One two-star review says the volume of assignments is too much for someone with a day job. Another reports some videos not playing. The AI section is only two lectures and eight minutes, so don't expect much there.

It was last refreshed in January 2025, and the syllabus includes 3D, patterns and the intertwine feature. It stops at the essentials by design. An Advanced Training Course sits alongside it as the next step, and one reviewer says they enrolled in it straight away. For a first Illustrator course, this is the safe pick.

Best forComplete beginners who learn by drawing something after every lesson and want a small portfolio of icons and logos by the end.
Skip it ifYou already use Illustrator daily and want advanced tools, or you have no time to work through 35 assignments.

Pros

  • 35 assignments with exercise files, more than two per section on average, so practice is built in
  • Reviewers call Dan funny and clear, and say his teaching removed their fear of the program
  • Lectures run a few minutes each, which one busy student says makes it easy to fit in
  • Refreshed January 2025; the syllabus covers 3D, patterns and a short AI intro

Cons

  • The assignment count feels heavy to at least one student with a full-time job
  • The AI section is two lectures and eight minutes, so barely an introduction
  • A low-star review reports some videos not playing, and there are no quizzes to check understanding
I was a complete beginner and was very intimidated by Adobe Illustrator going into this course, but now I can say that I have SO MUCH more confidence!
Jenna Reed, a student

Genuinely beginner: no Illustrator knowledge assumed, just a copy of the app, ideally the Creative Cloud version.

Featured in our guide: The Best Graphic Design Courses on Udemy in 2026

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What you will learn

  • You will be able to add Illustrator to your CV
  • You will be able to start earning money from your Illustrator Skills.
  • You will have over 30 of your own projects to add to your portfolio.
  • Feel comfortable using Adobe Illustrator to design your own graphics from scratch.
  • Navigate Adobe Illustrator CC like a pro.
  • Design your own graphics, without any experience.
  • Draw beginner to advanced shapes and icons.
  • Learn all of the key skills of Illustrator: shapes, text, masking, effects, and exporting.
  • Master advanced Illustrator tools and techniques.
  • Export your projects for print, web, or other design projects.
  • Make your ideas come to life.
  • Create your own logos.
  • Draw existing famous logos.
  • Illustrate animals.
  • Draw with paint brushes.
  • Draw with pens & pencils.
  • Create custom typography.
  • Take hand drawings and recreate them using Illustrator.
  • Create a logo badge with text that wraps around.
  • Create type that follows a curving line.
  • Put images inside of text for cool effects.
  • Create beautiful gradients and apply them to icons, text & illustrations.
  • Find the secrets to choosing color combinations for your work.
  • Create a paper cut effect.
  • Pull, push & cut text to make interesting styles.
  • Repeat patterns to create vector flowers.
  • You will redraw yourself as an illustration.
  • Create many different icons styles.
  • Build a repeating pattern to be used as wallpaper or fabric designs.
  • Find many templates for posters, stationery & UI designs to save you time.
  • You'll build create assets like colors, patterns & drawings using the Illustrator mobile app.

Course content

15 sections · 113 lectures · 12 hours of video 35 assignments, 1 article

  1. 1Getting Started 4 free previews4 lectures · 19 min
  2. 2Drawing12 lectures · 3 quizzes · 1.9 hours
  3. 3Artificial Intelligence2 lectures · 8 min
  4. 4Pen & Curvature Tool15 lectures · 6 quizzes · 2 hours
  5. 5Stroke, Pencil & Brushes14 lectures · 4 quizzes · 1.4 hours
  6. 6Type & Fonts16 lectures · 5 quizzes · 1.4 hours
  7. 7Color10 lectures · 4 quizzes · 54 min
  8. 8Images & Masking7 lectures · 2 quizzes · 33 min
  9. 9Artboards2 lectures · 1 quiz · 11 min
  10. 10Effects13 lectures · 4 quizzes · 56 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Anyone who wants to start using Illustrator in their career & get paid for their Illustrator skills.
  • Newbies, amateurs, graphic designers, motion graphics artists and any creatives who want to design their own graphics from scratch.

What you need before you start

  • Any version of Adobe Illustrator, preferably the CC (Creative Cloud) version.
  • No prior knowledge or experience with Illustrator is required

How it compares

Against the other 100 rated Udemy courses in Illustrator on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.8 out of 5higher than 89% of them
  • Reviews33,107#2 of 101 by number of reviews
  • Length12.1 hourslonger than 90% of them
  • Last updatedJanuary 2025more recently than 91% of them

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Course Description

Are you frustrated trying to teach yourself Adobe Illustrator?! This course will quickly allow you to start getting paid for your Illustrator skills.

Hey there, I'm Dan, and I'm not just a designer, but an Adobe Certified Professional and Adobe MAX Master Award winner. Join me as we embark on an incredible journey together learning Adobe Illustrator!

  • Jane: "It's just a GREAT course! I LOVE IT! And I will advise this course to everyone who wants to learn Adobe Illustrator! Daniel is a great teacher... no! Daniel is the perfect teacher! Thank you, Daniel, for this awesome course!"

Create logo design, icons, characters, textures, text-based graphics, illustrations & full graphic design skills in Adobe Illustrator CC!

This course was designed for the complete beginner, with practice files and fun projects to get you taking action. Throughout this Illustrator CC course, you'll be designing your own real-world projects that are professional and inspire you to do even more!

  • Keith: "This course is outstanding! I stayed away from Illustrator for many years because I was intimidated by it. Now, I am excited by it and what it can do and am finding the lessons to be very informative and educational. Am definitely looking forward to finishing this course and seeing where I can go from here..."

This course is tailor-made for those who are new to Illustrator and the world of design, as we start from scratch on our journey to becoming Illustrator superheroes! Together, we'll unravel the secrets and techniques that enable you to create anything your creative heart desires - from icons, logos, and postcards to beautifully hand-drawn illustrations.

Get ready to dive into the mesmerising world of Adobe Illustrator, where we'll craft stunning looking graphics. But we won't stop at just learning the tools; we're about to unleash our creative powers by creating real-world, practical, and portfolio-ready projects.

Together we will learn to:

  • Master the art of drawing with simple shapes and lines.

  • Unleash your creativity by combining and subtracting shapes using the Shape Builder.

  • Create advanced custom logos and graphics.

  • Explore the world of creative brushes, lines, and strokes to elevate your designs to the next level.

  • Use the Width tool to enhance your lines and strokes adding a style.

  • Conquer the pen, pencil, and curvature tools like a pro.

  • Dive into the wonderful world of fonts and the art of mastering type.

  • Use the intertwine feature to create interesting overlapping illustrations.

  • Learn the art of masking images and graphics.

  • Discover the magic of distorting, bending, warping, and liquefying illustrations. 

  • Select and use color combinations like a true master of design.

  • Craft your own unique repeating patterns.

  • Transform real drawings into captivating stencil-style images.

  • Export your creations for print, web, social media, and more.

  • Acquire the techniques used by professional graphic designers. 

  • Work with your own mini-brief - creating a unique Farmer's Market brand and bringing it to life.

  • Harness the power of Adobe's Generative AI features to push your creative boundaries.

  • Working with mood boards to gather inspiration.

  • Create realistic mockups to enhance your designs even further.

  • Engage in a wealth of class projects to put your skills to the test.

  • Stay ahead with a handy printable PDF cheat sheet. 

  • Access downloadable exercise files to help you practice and refine your skills.

  • Benefit from forum support provided by the BYOL Teaching Assistant Team. 

  • Discover professional workflows and shortcuts to work more efficiently.

  • Gain access to a treasure trove of additional resources and websites to supercharge your career.

But that's not all! I'll unveil Illustrator's hidden gems that will transform you into a pro at discovering and utilizing breathtaking vector based graphics. We'll dive into the latest Illustrator tools, including the mind-blowing Generative AI features that allow us to craft illustrations that were once thought impossible.

Whether you've never even opened Illustrator or have struggled with it in the past, I'm here to show you the easy way to create breathtaking artwork and portfolio projects to be proud of. Join me as we go from Illustrator zeros, to Illustrator superheroes!

Requirements

  • All you need is a copy of Adobe Illustrator, you can get a free trial from Adobe.

Who is this course for?

  • Absolutely no previous Adobe Illustrator experience is required.

  • This course is designed for newcomers to Illustrator and design in general, so no prior design, drawing, or illustration experience is necessary.

  • This is a relaxed, well-paced introduction, perfect for producing a wide range of drawings, illustrations, logos, and portfolio projects. Only basic computer skills are necessary - if you can send emails and surf the internet, you're more than capable of mastering this course.

What you'll learn

  • Drawing with Shapes & Lines

  • Drawing with the Shape Builder

  • Creating a custom logo

  • Working with Brushes

  • Drawing with the pen, pencil & curvature tool

  • Learn how to work with type & fonts. 

  • How to vectorise an image in Illustrator

  • How to curve text in illustrator

  • How to trace an image in illustrator

  • How to warp text in illustrator

  • How to embed images in illustrator

  • How to mask images & graphics. 

  • How to distort, bend, warp & liquefy illustrations. 

  • How to make 3D illustrations. 

  • How to make your own repeating patterns. 

  • How to create stencil style images from real drawings. 

  • How to save, print & export for Print, web & social media.

  • Lots of real world exercises for you to practice.

  • Loads or class projects for you to complete.

  • Printable Cheat sheet. 

  • You will get the finished files so you never fall behind.

  • Downloadable exercise files.

  • Techniques used by professional graphic designers.

  • Professional workflows and shortcuts.

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Udemy Discount

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Instructor Details

Video School

Learn creative skills, from absolute beginner to advanced mastery. 

Video School exists to help you succeed in life. Each course has been hand-tailored to teach a specific skill from photography and video to art, design and business.

Whether you’re trying to learn a new skill from scratch, or want to refresh your memory on something you’ve learned in the past, you’ve come to the right place.

Education makes the world a better place. Make your world better with new skills!

Our courses can be watched 24/7 wherever you are. Most are fully downloadable so you can take them with you. You can also view them on mobile devices with the Udemy mobile app.

All courses have a 30-day money-back guarantee so that you can check it out, make sure it’s the right course for you, and get a refund if it’s not!

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Reviews

4.8

33,107 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Uchenna Gabriel on 7/23/2026

some of the videos are not working

By Nudar Nawal Hossain on 6/25/2026

Dan is amazing. Makes learning so fun, in the simplest and most straight forward way. I have always felt so intimidated seeing all the buttons in illustrator that i never dared to try it out. Thanks to Dan, I'm starting out my graphic designing journey, something i've always wanted to do. Much love and appreciation, xx.

By Diana Secrean on 6/2/2026

Really enjoyed this Illustrator course. The pace was just right, and the tutor's voice, accent, and sense of humour made the lessons easy and enjoyable to follow. I especially liked the practical exercises, which helped me apply what I learned straight away. As a self-taught designer, I found it a great way to reinforce and build on my existing skills. A great course overall!

By Enes on 4/20/2026

I had a basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, but this course has helped me significantly improve my skills. Thanks to Mr. Daniel's fluent and instructive teaching style, I'm learning new techniques in every lesson. I would like to thank my instructor and the team for helping me improve myself. :)))

By Silviu Balan on 4/20/2026

Great charming and funny instructor, great pace, everything was explained in details. The big amount of individual class projects really helped get the hang of tools. Overall an amazing course with an amazing instructor. My small personal feedback for the instructor is to split the longer videos from the course in two or three parts because I find them more digestable and in the end increases the time spent learning. Thanks for the course Dan. :)

By Anete Janko on 4/11/2026

Hey I am truly sorry for rating it with 4.5 with no reason, this course is a solid 10/10. At the beginning of this year, I started private sessions with a professional designer and it was not even close to proper learning experience You guys give. Always making me smile with the style of leading this course ,clear, great instructions and now Im hooked! I'm not even in middle of the course, but I already made quite complex T-shirt design. Just awesome :) Thank you so much for what You do.Deffo diving into advanced course after this one!Very cool :) Thank you!!!

By Rick B on 4/6/2026

Dan Scott’s Adobe Illustrator Essentials course is incredible. I had avoided Illustrator for over two decades after my first encounter with the pen tool — which, let’s be honest, doesn’t feel like a pen at all. But now I’m designing logos, wordmarks, monograms, and so much more. I genuinely never thought that would be possible. The course is exceptionally well structured, and Dan’s instruction is easy to follow and surprisingly fun. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dip their toes into Adobe Illustrator.

By Siddharth Babubhai Vithani on 3/21/2026

Title: The Gold Standard for Learning Illustrator! If you are looking to master Adobe Illustrator, look no further. Daniel Scott is an Adobe Certified Trainer, and his expertise shines through every lesson. This course is perfectly structured with a clear, logical outline that makes even the most complex tools easy to understand. What truly sets this course apart is the inclusion of comprehensive exercise files. These allow for hands-on, self-paced learning, which is essential for building muscle memory in design software. You aren't just watching; you are creating alongside a pro. One of the biggest advantages of purchasing this course is the value over time. Daniel keeps the content updated on a regular basis, ensuring that you are always learning the latest features and workflow improvements. Verdict: If you are on the fence about which Illustrator course to buy, definitely go for this one. It is an investment that continues to pay off.

By Dana Wenzel on 2/20/2026

I loved the course. Dan is great at giving you all the options to choose from so you can decide what works best for your flow. I am new to Illustrator, and he makes it look very simple and easy to do, and easy to follow his instructions. And he is funny. I'm looking forward to the advanced class and his other Adobe classes.

By Kendell Ball on 12/22/2025

THIS COURSE HELPS SIMPLIFY LEARNING IN ILLUSTRATOR, THE REST IS UP TO YOU ON HOW YOU EXPLORE YOUR CREATIVITY. I TOOK A YEAR AWAY FROM THE COURSE BECAUSE OF MY INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPH AND LOOK I WENT FULL CIRCLE AND IT LEAD ME BACK TO ILLUSTRATOR THE ULTIMATE TOOL USED BY SOME OF THE BEST CREATIVE MINDS IN THE WORLD. THANKS DAN YOUR FUNNY AS WELL AS SUPER HELPFUL.

Showing all 10 reviews on CourseDuck

Read all 33,107 reviews on Udemy

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Quality Score

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Overall Score : 96 / 100