Tools of The Trade
Mouse Vs. Tablet
What you use as an input device for Illustrator can be something huge for some of you out there.
The two I am talking about here are a mouse and a graphics tablet.
First off is your mouse, which you use on a daily basis. It's your trusty pal. Using a mouse to draw in Illustrator is not that hard, and it usually is because you already know how to use it.
The downside to a mouse (if there is a downside) is the lack of organic shapes you can draw, its hard for beginners to try to draw those swirly shapes. I still have a hard time doing so! But if you practice enough you can do them.
Sketching
Getting Those Pesky Details Out!
Before you can even think about taking your mouse or tablet pen to Illustrator, you need to sketch some ideas out. Granted there are some pretty talented people that can bang out an image/drawing out like nobody's business without taking a pencil/pen to paper, but the reality is most people need to get a clear idea of what they are drawing. Don't worry if you aren't the best drawer in the world, I used to have classmates that couldn't draw for beans but could make 3D models that were seriously impressive. Sketching out ideas helps you hash out bad ideas and bring details into good ones.
This was a beginning sketch for the header of the site. I was planning on having a monkey hanging on to a banner in the sky, with a star floating next to its head. But I quickly realized that I have done the whole sky thing before, so I decided to scrap that idea and go with the pencil, swirly, happy face theme. I wouldn't have realized this without sketching it out first.
Inspiration
When it comes to drawing anything on the computer, you have to think about where to get an idea about what it is going to look like. Now I know a lot of you out there tend to go online to find examples of what you want to draw (I am guilty of that as well), but the fact is, if you looked it up online, then someone else has possibly looked it up and used it was well.
Go Outside!
Instead of going online, turn off that computer and head outside!
You can find loads of inspiration by going out, this can range from a color palette to an object to draw.
Take this quilt for example, it was taken at the local county fair (this picture does no justice to the real thing) there is almost an instant palette there with each colored hectagon, as well as colors that work well them.