Best Illustrator Classes Chicago, IL: Find Courses & Onsite Training

Learn More About Chicago Illustrator Courses

Part of the Adobe product suite, Illustrator is a software application for creating drawings, illustrations, and artwork using a Windows or macOS computer. Initially released in 1987, the software is continuously updated at regular intervals and is now included as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud.

With Illustrator you can turn prompts into editable graphics, design illustrations with precision, create designs of any size and add text, build complex shapes, and make 3D artwork. Widely used by graphic designers, web designers, visual artists, and professional illustrators throughout the world to create high-quality artwork, Illustrator includes many drawing tools that can reduce the time needed to create illustrations.

Now one of the most commonly used vector graphics design tools, Illustrator can create scalable designs like logos, branded merchandise, and product packaging. It also provides a user-friendly platform that can be mastered by both professionals and non-professionals aiming to build their online identities.

What Can You Do with Illustrator Training?

With expert-level skills in Adobe Illustrator, what you can create is seemingly endless. You could design a new font, custom wallpapers, high-quality icons, or bold graphics, helping you to establish your brand identity. Or, if you’re prepping for your next presentation at work, you could also create professional graphs and charts to wow your boss or develop infographics that help disseminate information.

Are you an aspiring or successful blogger? Creating templates for graphics in Adobe Illustrator can save time. All you have to do is open up a blog post template, add a new photo and text, save it, and publish.

If you own a local business, you can create posters and flyers for any upcoming events, promotions, or announcements that your community should know about. You can also use Illustrator to create social media banners that look cohesive and consistent across all of your social media accounts and add some personality to your website with customized buttons.

As you can see, with the right skill set, you can use Adobe Illustrator to bring all your creative ideas to life. Keep reading below to learn more about industries and jobs that use Illustrator, as well as the best classes available near you.

What Will I Learn in an Illustrator Class?

Adobe Illustrator is a widely used tool, so it comes as no surprise that there are nearly endless skills and techniques that you can learn. It’s vector graphics software, as previously mentioned, and you’ll see vector art used on everything from enormous banners to wallet-sized business cards, and everything in between. A versatile software requires a versatile set of skills, so below we’ve outlined the top general ones you’ll master in an Illustrator training course, including soft and hard skills.

Graphic Design and Creativity

Illustrator is a graphic design application so you’ll master quite a few graphic design skills while in a training class. You’ll use Illustrator to create vector graphics and vector images. These are made of points, lines, shapes, and curves based on mathematical formulas rather than a set amount of pixels, and can be scaled up or down while maintaining image quality. Graphic design is equal parts creativity and technicality, so it’s important to have or develop an artistic eye. Mastering color schemes, layout, and design are essential to success with Adobe Illustrator. Whether you’re developing a flyer, graphics for a website, or a font for your business, graphic design skills and a creative eye will serve you very well.

Time Management

Careers that use Adobe Illustrator, like Graphic Designer, are often fast-paced and involve working on many projects at once. You could have multiple clients at the same time, each with their own unique brand voice and identity. Time management, as simple as it sounds, will be key to your success. A quality Illustrator course will teach you how to plan out your projects and stick to deadlines, two things that will help you master time management and become an in-demand professional.

Marketing and Promotion

Illustrator can be used to design a variety of tactics, making it an ideal software program for marketing professionals. Anyone can make an ad, but it’s important that what you make connects with your target customer. From emails and online ads to printed marketing materials, you’ll need multiple touchpoints to move customers to action. While it isn’t necessary to be a marketing expert, it is helpful to know the basics of marketing strategy and the platforms or tactics typically leveraged.

Information Technology (IT) and Software Design

Because Adobe Illustrator is frequently used to create graphics for web and apps, having a basic understanding of IT or software design can offer you a more holistic perspective. While Illustrator is a more creative-focused program, you will often be working with professionals who handle the more technical side of things like coding and designing websites, apps, and their navigation. Most Illustrator classes will briefly cover the fundamentals of how to design your projects in Illustrator to function well with your back-end programming, fostering better relationships between creative and technical teams. Plus, the more knowledge you have of IT and software design, the more troubleshooting you can handle on your own.

Interpersonal Skills

Graphic designers, marketing professionals, and various other roles that commonly use Illustrator tend to have one thing in common: collaboration. Creative roles inherently lend themselves to a collaborative work environment, so it should come as no surprise that having excellent interpersonal skills will be crucial to your professional success. Traits like active listening, charisma, confidence, and the ability to compromise are essential. If you plan to work with multiple clients, you’ll need to be able to negotiate things like project scope and rates. It’s vital that you develop the skills that help you present your work with confidence while fostering healthy relationships with clients and partners, and thankfully most courses will provide some guidance on this.

How Hard is It to Learn Illustrator?

The difficulty of Illustrator is dependent on several factors, the central one being previous experience with other vector graphics programs. If you have experience with similar software, like Adobe Photoshop or CorelDRAW, you may find that the learning curve is less steep. Your proficiency in Illustrator also involves learning graphic design principles such as color theory, composition, and typography. If you’ve already mastered these skills or are inherently artistic, learning Illustrator shouldn’t be too challenging.

Adobe Illustrator is known for being user-friendly but, like any software, the more advanced skills can be more difficult to learn. Skills like using the pathfinder panel, creating custom brushes, working with clipping masks, and mastering the perspective grid are all examples of advanced topics that may take longer to learn. Ultimately, mastering the basics of Illustrator is accessible to anyone with the right amount of passion and drive.

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Illustrator?

In addition to some of the previously mentioned advanced skills, there are a few more that are considered particularly challenging. The blend and gradient mesh tools enable you to create realistic shading and lighting effects. By using gradient meshes, you can achieve intricate and lifelike color variations within objects, while the blend tool creates smooth color transitions between two or more shapes.

Opacity masks allow designers to create complex transparency effects. By using grayscale images or patterns, you can control the opacity of objects, revealing or hiding portions of your artwork creatively. This technique can help create fades, blends, and artistic transitions between elements.

Illustrator’s variable width stroke tool creates dynamic and expressive lines. Designers can create more natural and hand-drawn effects by adjusting the width of strokes along their paths. This technique is valuable when creating artwork that requires a more organic and fluid appearance.

These are just a few of the advanced skills you can master in Illustrator. With an eye for design and a brain for brand development, anyone can master even these more challenging skills, especially with the assistance of an Illustrator training course.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Illustrator?

Luckily for novices, learning the basics of Illustrator can be done in only a few days. Bootcamps and entry-level training courses typically last around a week or less and cover all the fundamentals that a beginner needs to know.

However, students hoping to learn the advanced features or want to use the program professionally will need far more training. In-depth professional training courses that cover beginner to advanced skills can run for several weeks to a few months. And, even with more extensive training under your belt, you will need on-the-job experience to fully master Illustrator.

Should I Learn Illustrator in Person or Online?

There are many factors to consider when answering this question. The first factor is what learning environment is best suited for you. Do you excel in a collaborative environment where you can interact with your peers and receive instant feedback from your instructor? Or, do you prefer a more solitary learning environment, perhaps one where you can learn at your own speed?

You’ll also want to decide how much time you can commit to your education and what level of flexibility your schedule demands. Are you looking to immerse yourself in an intensive program? Do you work full-time and require your classes to be scheduled for evening and weekend hours?

In-person training offers face-to-face interaction with both your fellow students and your expert instructor. This collaborative environment is available for both full-time and part-time classes and provides structure and accountability, two things that can help you succeed. Online courses may lack this in-person interaction, but they make up for it with increased flexibility. Live virtual classes still offer instant feedback from your instructor and interactions with other students, while on-demand virtual courses allow for the most flexibility since you can decide where and when you learn.

The good news is that, no matter which version you attend, you can obtain a quality Illustrator education with a top-notch curriculum and expert instructors.

Can I Learn Illustrator Free Online?

Technically, it is possible to learn Adobe Illustrator for free online. YouTube videos, blogs, and free short workshops can all be a great way to learn the basics without investing financially. (Don’t forget to watch the most recent uploads so you’re learning the latest versions of the software.)

But, when it comes to the more advanced skills, an in-depth training course is going to be your best option. These courses will contain a curriculum developed and taught by experts and offer you the chance to receive feedback or troubleshoot any issues with your instructor or a support team. Formal training can also provide the structure and accountability that some students need to stay focused, creating an environment where you’re more likely to succeed. So, if you’re looking to master more than just the basics, a formal course or class is a better choice than free online resources.

What Should I Learn Alongside Illustrator?

Because Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, learning the other products is a great idea. If you want to edit images, Photoshop is the industry-standard. Tweaking photos isn’t all that Photoshop does: it’s also a graphics editor and, with Firefly integration, its AI photo editing capabilities are growing more powerful.

After Effects is a popular tool for visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing and is also used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television, for tasks like keying, tracking, and compositing, and creating visual effects such as explosions and lightning strikes.

Adobe Firefly lets you employ text prompts to generate images using generative AI. It's conceptually similar to other AI image generators but offers a wider range of applications, allowing users to generate text effects and color palettes, as well as images.

InDesign is a page layout tool that’s used primarily for print but also can be used in digital publishing. A standard tool in the publishing industry, it’s often used by graphic designers and production artists to create posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books, and ebooks.

Lightroom is used for image organization and image manipulation. It's a great tool for a photo studio or photographer needing to handle numerous images. It doesn’t have all the image editing features of Photoshop, but it does offer a simpler interface that’s easier to use for standard tasks.

Premiere Pro is used widely in the film and TV industry, as well as by YouTubers and marketing and design professionals. A comprehensive video editing tool, it’s based on a visual timeline and can edit everything from commercials and music videos to TV series and feature-length movies. Features like Auto Reframe, which applies intelligent reframing to your footage (keeping the action inside the frame for different aspect ratios, are useful, as is the ability to snap graphic elements to guides, to each other, or to tracked items.

Industries That Use Illustrator

Chicago is a cultural and economic hub in the Midwest, boasting a diverse population, a world-renowned art scene, and multiple successful industries. These industries, and countless others, rely on Illustrator professionals to develop business logos, website graphics, print materials, and so many more marketing and brand tactics. With such high need across various enterprises, there are plenty of roles for you to pursue, several of which are covered in the next section.

Manufacturing

With an established and varied set of specialties, strong distribution networks, a skilled workforce, and a wide variety of public and private support, the manufacturing sector is thriving in Chicago. Manufacturing is an important part of the city’s economy, supplying 200,000 jobs in 6,800 companies, including factory manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation, logistics, and warehousing.

Transportation

Chicago’s transportation industry generates $24 billion annually in output and employs more than 260,000 individuals, making it the largest in the nation. There are more than 16,000 transportation, distribution, and logistics firms located in the metro area, which is the highest in the nation.

Finance

Nearly 200 years ago, Chicago established its first banks and exchanges. Boasting one of the most diverse financial industries among U.S. metros, the city is now home to the third-highest employment in the finance and insurance sector. The finance industry generated $132.3 billion in 2022, with 325,000 employees across 13,776 businesses.

Health Services and Technology

Over 40 national medical and health associations are headquartered in Chicago, including the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, and the American Hospital Association. The city also has many colleges and universities, and 3,000 biomedical and engineering students graduate here annually. With a concentration of experts and the city’s advancements in medical manufacturing, Chicago is an ideal environment for innovation in healthcare.

Illustrator Job Titles and Salaries

Thanks to Illustrator’s versatility, several job titles commonly leverage the software for their design and marketing tactics. A few major roles are listed below with a brief explanation of each to help you decide the right career path for you. Think of Illustrator mastery as a way to open multiple doors to different career paths. All you have to do is decide which door to walk through.

Graphic Designer

There are many different careers you could pursue that require Adobe certification. You could become a Graphic Designer and use graphics, text, colors, and animations to develop branding, advertising, and messaging. Graphic designers often use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in their daily work, so it’s a good idea to become certified in these two languages. The average salary for a Graphic Designer in Connecticut falls somewhere between $55,000 and $65,000 for those relatively new to the field.

Drafter

As a Drafter at an architecture firm, you could use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fresco to sketch out designs and develop detailed diagrams, maps, and schematics. Drafters create technical plans by gathering drawings, determining specifications, outlining material and equipment needs, and creating diagrams using computer-aided design (CAD) software. Drafter salaries typically fall between $57,000 and $72,000.

Architect

Working in architecture demands a lot of training and education, but Adobe Illustrator is one skill you might not think of boosting for this career path. Architects are responsible for designing all kinds of structures and working with city planners to ensure the safety of whatever they design. They can use Adobe Illustrator to display and easily update professional renderings of their designs. You can expect to make around $102,000 as an Architect in Chicago.

Fashion Designer

Adobe Illustrator is often used by fashion designers to design fabrics with repeated patterns that retain the quality of their intricate details. “Flats”—black and white drawings of a garment as if it were laying FLAT on a table—can be created in Illustrator. They include accurate construction and styling details (unlike more artsy fashion illustrations) and can be scaled to any size. The average salary for a Fashion Designer in Chicago is $92,482, well above the national average.

Illustrator Classes Near Me

ONLC’s Adobe Illustrator Core Skills: Level 1 is designed to take your Illustrator skills to the next level whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user looking to fill in the gaps. Students in this course will learn to set up documents and save document presets, use multiple artboards, and navigate and zoom in and out as needed to create illustrations. You will also master the selection and drawing tools to create basic shapes and paths, and then combine them to create more complex drawings. You’ll also learn how to use type in Illustrator including point and area type, styles, and creating type on a path. The class also covers the layers panel, how to organize the elements of your design, and how to use layers to create multiple versions of a layout.

Basic computer and file management skills are required for this course, which will be taught using PC hardware with Windows software. Minor Mac keyboard and interface differences will be highlighted by the instructor and you are welcome to use either PC or Mac for this class.

Computer Training Source’s Illustrator Part 1 teaches you the fundamentals of Adobe Illustrator so you can gain the skills needed to create stunning vector graphics. You will learn to draw shapes, manipulate paths, and use color. You’ll also master concepts like grouping content, basic typography, object stacking order, layers, print considerations, and exporting your work for both print and web. Held in-person in Schaumburg, you’ll take your design skills to the next level in this comprehensive course.

Illustrator Part 2 with Computer Training Source can help you take your skills to the next level. Through hands-on instruction, you will learn advanced path manipulation and appearance controls. This class also explores patterns, symbols, brushes, gradient mesh, perspective drawing, masking techniques, creative effects, print proofing, and exporting directly to the web. This class is also held at their Schaumburg location so you can benefit from face-to-face interaction with your instructor and peers.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SCAIC) offers an online course called Digital Design: Adobe Illustrator. The course starts with the basics before moving on to more advanced techniques like transparency, feathering, masking, compound paths, gradients, layering techniques, and the specifics of the pen tool. This online course is also on-demand, so there are no set meeting times and you can learn when it's convenient for you. Weekly course assignments include readings, video demonstrations, tutorials, online discussions, assignments, and critiques. You’ll receive personalized feedback from your instructor on each assignment and throughout the creative process, to ensure true mastery of the topics.

SCIAC also offers Introduction to Graphic Design—Intensive that examines the fundamentals of two-dimensional design in the digital age. You’ll explore principle elements of design including composition, color, and typography through a series of projects that introduce Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop as primary graphic design tools. You’ll also gain an understanding of the professional design process from the client brief to the finished digital project. You’ll leave this course with a solid foundation in strategies for solving design problems, a basic design vocabulary, and an understanding of how Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are leveraged in creating professional work. Before starting this course, you should know how to create, delete, rename, and move files and directories without assistance.

General Assembly’s Digital Hand Lettering in Adobe Illustrator is held in-person in downtown Chicago. This beginner’s workshop teaches you how to use tools in Adobe Illustrator to digitize your lettering designs so that you can publish them on a blog or social media, or use them in a print project. You’ll learn to convert hand-drawn lettering into a digital object in Adobe Illustrator and live trace, reshape, and edit your lettering. You’ll also explore adding backgrounds, colors, and textures to your digitized lettering design. No prior experience with Illustrator is required for this class. You’ll need to bring a laptop to each class (Mac preferred) and have Adobe Illustrator version CS4 or higher already downloaded on your laptop for the start of class.

Online Illustrator Training from Training Connection is another great option. This instructor-led course will transform you from an aspiring artist into a professional illustrator, skyrocketing your career to new heights. This training is based on a series of real-world projects that cover how the various tools and panels work together, how to master the Pen tool, and important concepts like text effects, complex shapes, bezier curves, vector brushes, combing vector and raster artwork, and blending modes. You’ll also discuss proper and efficient workflow and various design techniques. You will receive an Adobe Certificate of Course Completion once you have passed the course. Training Connection’s unique approach allows you to pick the length of your class, offering options ranging from one to five days.

IconLogic’s Advanced Adobe Illustrator CC Training is held live online and led by an expert instructor. Designed for the intermediate Illustrator user, you’ll master more advanced skills like creating artwork for illustrations, logos, stationary, page layouts, and posters. You’ll also master adding and formatting type on a poster, including text wrap, text on a path, defining multiple columns, and paragraph styles. You’ll learn to use layers to organize your Illustrator projects; create gradient swatches, smooth-color blends, and blended shapes with the Gradient Panel and Blend tool; use the Blob Brush and Eraser, plus use the four default brushes and how to create your own; and how to use Pathfinder, Distort & Transform, Offset Path, and Drop Shadows. This class is eligible for Continuing Education credits, should you be pursuing those.

Berkeley Extension offers Illustrator I, a live online course that teaches you to use Illustrator's powerful drawing tools to create drawings, icons, logos, brand identity, and original print and digital artwork. Through step-by-step instructions, you will learn to use many crucial tools like pen and anchor points and Bézier curves, which allow you to draw anything you can think of. You will also learn about infographics, products, posters, photorealism drawings, and other promotional marketing materials. Other important skills covered include transformation, selection, direct selection, type, blend, and eye dropper. You will master working with layers and organize your drawings, color palettes, gradients, and Illustrator's amazing typographic capabilities.

While not offered in-person in Chicago, the Graphic Design Certificate from Noble Desktop course still offers face-to-face interaction through its live online format. This three-month part-time (or one-month full-time) training offers hands-on experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, three essential programs for Graphic Designers. You’ll learn to edit & retouch photos in Photoshop, create vector graphics in Illustrator, and design page layouts in InDesign. Throughout the course, you’ll create a stunning portfolio to showcase your talent to potential employers or clients. Tuition for this course includes one-on-one mentoring, setup assistance, and a free retake. Payment plans and other forms of financial assistance are available for those who need it.

Noble Desktop also offers Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp, an online course that covers beginner and advanced skills. You’ll create various graphics using the standard drawing tools, the Pen tool, type, compound paths, effects, layers, masks, patterns, blends, colors, and more. Noble Desktop’s drawing templates make mastering Illustrator’s vector pen tool a little easier, which is often a challenging skill for students. Other topics covered include how to create complex shapes from basic shapes and how to use these techniques for any kind of graphic, for both print and the web.

Illustrator Corporate Training

If you’re looking to offer in-person or online training to your office or team, Noble Desktop can help. They offer a variety of corporate training programs, including in Adobe Illustrator. You can order vouchers in bulk at a discount, choose which courses are available to employees, and even let your employees choose their schedule. Plus, you can choose to have your training hosted at a location of your choosing, live online, or at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan office.

With a top-notch customizable curriculum and instructors who are experts in their industries, Noble Desktop’s corporate training is designed to cater to your business or organization’s needs. For more information or to schedule a free consultation, you can reach out to Noble Desktop at corporate@nobledesktop.com.

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Key Insights

Learn More About Chicago Illustrator Courses

What Can You Do with Illustrator Training?

What Will I Learn in an Illustrator Class?

Graphic Design and Creativity

Time Management

Marketing and Promotion

Information Technology (IT) and Software Design

Interpersonal Skills

How Hard is It to Learn Illustrator?

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Illustrator?

How Long Does It Take to Learn Illustrator?

Should I Learn Illustrator in Person or Online?

Can I Learn Illustrator Free Online?

What Should I Learn Alongside Illustrator?

Industries That Use Illustrator

Manufacturing

Transportation

Finance

Health Services and Technology

Illustrator Job Titles and Salaries

Graphic Designer

Drafter

Architect

Fashion Designer

Illustrator Classes Near Me

Illustrator Corporate Training

Chicago Illustrator Corporate & Onsite Training Noble Desktop

Illustrator Training Locations in or Near Chicago

Chicago Careers & Salaries Related to Illustrator

Related Classes

Chicago Illustrator
Corporate & Onsite Training