What is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is an industry-standard vector-based graphic design application. Designers use it to create web and mobile graphics, logos, icons and designs for print media. Adobe Illustrator was originally developed for Apple Macintosh computers in 1985. Adobe has greatly grown in popularity and is now available on Mac OS, Windows machines and on the iPad.

Scalable media

Part of what makes Adobe Illustrator such a useful tool for digital media is the designs are vector-based. Vector graphics are defined by points, lines and Boolean curves. This means they can be infinitely scaled up while retaining their resolution. In contrast, raster-based images, such as those used in Adobe Photoshop, are defined by pixels and lose resolution as they are scaled up.

The files for vector graphics are typically much smaller than raster files to save on storage space. These files can also be exported in a variety of formats depending on the intended use, such as PNG, JPEG or SVG.

How is Adobe Illustrator used?

Adobe Illustrator is used for creating a massive array of digital media assets, including illustrations, cartoons, infographics, logos and much more. Users can either start with a blank canvas or import photographs or other images to use as a base. A blank canvas is often used when making original illustrations or for sketching. Photographs and images are often traced over, added to, manipulated or can be re-colored within the app.

One key feature of Illustrator is its ability to allow users to manipulate text. This is great for creating postcards, posters and other marketing materials. Users can place text around a curve which is a huge help for designers when creating logos.

Illustrator has also been adopted as a standard for website and app design. Users can create mock-ups and wireframes of what a website or a mobile app will look like. These designs can then be passed off to web developers to create the final product.

Primary tools

Adobe Illustrator comes with a large library of tools that serve different purposes. However, there are a few primary tools that are used most often.

The selection tool is used to select individual objects to alter their properties. This can be used to reposition or stack it on other objects, or for more advanced uses, such as grouping and locking objects in place.

is used to select individual to alter their properties. This can be used to reposition or stack it on other objects, or for more advanced uses, such as grouping and locking objects in place. The paintbrush tool is used to add color with different types of brush patterns: calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern and bristle.

is used to add color with different types of brush patterns: calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern and bristle. The pen tool creates clean straight and curved lines and can be used to add or remove anchor points.

creates clean straight and curved lines and can be used to add or remove points. The pencil tool is used to draw freehand.

Adobe Creative Cloud (CC)

Illustrator is available as a standalone product or as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) suite, included with other popular applications, such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects. Both are paid for as a subscription. Because it’s hosted on the cloud, all media can be stored, managed and accessed from anywhere.

Adobe Capture: Illustrator,Ps

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Adobe Capture turns your Android phone/tablet into a creation machine for graphic design.

Imagine looking through your camera to see patterns, vector, and even fonts. Now imagine turning those visions into design materials to immediately use in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Fresco, and more. The power to transform the world around you into creative elements to build your projects is in the palm of your hands today.

Remove Background from Images

Take your photo inspiration and transform the background to use in your projects. Create high quality graphics to use in your projects.

Vectorize on the Go

Love poster? Looking for photo to sketch, pencil sketch? Create vector instantly with Shapes. Turn images into smooth, detailed, scalable vector with 1-32 colors, for use in logos, illustration, animation, vectornator and more. Point and shoot at your drawing or upload a photo and watch it magically transform into clean, crisp lines, pencil sketch.

Identify Typography

Looking for font finder? Find your perfect font using Adobe Capture. Take a photo of the type you like (in a magazine, on a label, a sign, anywhere!) and watch a list of similar Adobe Fonts magically appear.

Create Color Themes and Gradients

Designers, rejoice! Looking for customized color palettes, color match, color picker? Find an inspiring gradient? Find color by number or hex? Color grab? Aim your camera at the scene that has the colors you want and grab them to use in your artwork.

Build Beautiful Digital Brushes

Can’t find the right brush to paint? Take a photo or use an image to create brushes that match your creative vision. Use your brushes in Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fresco for rich painterly effects.

Craft Intricate Patterns

Love wallpaper? Looking for patternator? Capture inspiring images and generate patterns with Capture preset geometrics. Easily create beautiful, colorful patterns that fit with your creative projects by using your vector shapes with our precision pattern builder, patternator.

Generate 3D Textures

Generate realistic PBR materials for use in 3D design straight from the camera. Modify your materials for even more texture or blend the edges for seamless repeat tiling on your 3D objects.

Capture Light and Color

Love photography? Collect light and hue to turn into beautiful color grading profiles for your images and videos with Looks. Record the magic of a sunset and transfer that feel to use in your photos and video projects.

Adobe capture is one solution for all graphic design needs such as color match, color picker, photo to sketch, patternator, color finder, font finder, pencil sketch, vector, pixelcut, photoroom, background eraser, background remover, background blur, mask, blur image, photo gallery, exposure, canva design photo video, remove background, photo editor, digital camera, background editor, photo studio , pantone, indesign, imagine, svg, matterport, fresco, Creative cloud, adobe express, vectornator, lightroom, substance, digital art and more.

Seamlessly Sync Creative Elements

All your element save to Adobe Creative Cloud libraries. Instantly access your digital elements from your Creative Cloud account in all compatible applications.

MediaPost Appy award winner 2016!

Compatible Adobe Apps and Programs for Creative Assets

Photoshop, Photoshop express, Adobe Fresco, Photo shop Sketch, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, adobe photoshop mix, adobe Illustrator Draw, InDesign, Dimension, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Animate, adobe photoshop fix, adobe xd, adobe spark post, cc express, canva and adobe spark.

2GB FILE STORAGE

The free, basic Creative Cloud membership includes 2GB of complimentary storage for file syncing and sharing.

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Updated on Dec 12, 2022

How to Buy Adobe Illustrator in 2022 (Free Download or Subscribe)

Knowing how to buy Adobe Illustrator is essential for anyone undertaking vector graphic editing and design.

Adobe Illustrator has quickly become the best software for creating drawings, illustrations and artwork using a Windows or MacOS computer.

Now with the iPad Illustrator app, you can design anywhere, working seamlessly across your devices keeping everything in sync.

Editor's Choice Adobe Illustrator The best vector graphics editing software and artwork creation tool for Mac and Windows. Start Free Trial

You’re no longer able to buy Adobe Illustrator CS6 outright in 2022 since Illustrator is now a subscription software, part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem.

Subscribing to Illustrator offers numerous benefits, such as online backups, cloud storage, cross-device sharing, free assets, Adobe Fonts and more.

Let’s take a closer look at how to get your hands on this amazing vector graphics editor.

What is the Cheapest Way to Get Adobe Illustrator?

These are the 3 ways to buy Illustrator in 2022:

Illustrator Plan

Creative Cloud All Apps

All Apps Plan for Students & Teachers

You can also download a free Illustrator trial here >>

1. Illustrator Single App Plan – Best Value For Most Users

If you want to download Adobe Illustrator with none of the other major Adobe software, this is the best option – get it here >>

The Illustrator plan includes :

Adobe Illustrator – for all your illustration, drawing, painting, typography and graphic design needs.

– for all your illustration, drawing, painting, typography and graphic design needs. 100GB of cloud storage – backup and share your illustrations.

– backup and share your illustrations. Step-by-step tutorials – world-class artists show you their creations and teach you new techniques.

– world-class artists show you their creations and teach you new techniques. Adobe Express – task-based web and mobile app allowing you to make multimedia content, social media posts and marketing materials.

– task-based web and mobile app allowing you to make multimedia content, social media posts and marketing materials. Adobe Portfolio – build a free website portfolio to show off your illustrations and designs.

– build a free website portfolio to show off your illustrations and designs. Adobe Fonts – choose from a huge library of licensed fonts.

– choose from a huge library of licensed fonts. Behance – access to a thriving community of creatives to get feedback and sell your work.

– access to a thriving community of creatives to get feedback and sell your work. Creative Cloud Libraries – download new assets for your illustrative projects.

The Illustrator Single App Plan doesn’t include Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro or any of the other Adobe Apps.

Most people won’t need any additional creative apps for their illustration and vector graphics requirements.

Purchasing Adobe Illustrator gives you all the tools for basic and advanced vector graphics manipulation you can even download a free 7-day trial to try it out.

2. Creative Cloud All Apps Plan – Best For Power Users

For users who need more than just Adobe Illustrator, the Creative Cloud All Apps plan is great value for money – get it here >>

You get access to over 20 apps for photography, video, design, web, UX and social media, plus integrated essentials like colour palettes, font families and an enthusiastic community of creatives.

It’s likely that professional illustrators will require Adobe software such as Adobe Photoshop or even After Effects – to be able to download these popular apps, you’ll need the All Apps plan.

Other video/photo-related apps included in the Creative Cloud All Apps plan are:

Adobe Premiere Pro – an excellent desktop video editing software for Mac and Windows.

– an excellent desktop video editing software for Mac and Windows. 100GB Cloud Storage – allows you to backup, share and edit across all your devices.

– allows you to backup, share and edit across all your devices. Adobe After Effects – used to create all types of visual effects and motion graphics, from animating movie titles to creating VR videos.

– used to create all types of visual effects and motion graphics, from animating movie titles to creating VR videos. Adobe Audition – professional Adobe tools to record, edit, mix and restore audio files for videos, podcasts and sound effects.

– professional Adobe tools to record, edit, mix and restore audio files for videos, podcasts and sound effects. Adobe Behance – a social media site/app dedicated to creators who want to share and sell their creative work.

– a social media site/app dedicated to creators who want to share and sell their creative work. Frame.io – powerful review (feedback) and collaboration tool for lightning-fast media sharing, direct camera to cloud transfers and multiple consecutive projects.

– powerful review (feedback) and collaboration tool for lightning-fast media sharing, direct camera to cloud transfers and multiple consecutive projects. Adobe Bridge – a media management program to categorise and edit files in conjunction with other Adobe apps.

– a media management program to categorise and edit files in conjunction with other Adobe apps. Adobe Lightroom – the number one image editing software for all your photo editing, organisation and storage needs.

– the number one image editing software for all your photo editing, organisation and storage needs. Adobe Media Encoder – used with Premiere Pro and After Effects to render videos, compressing and converting formats for universal use.

– used with Premiere Pro and After Effects to render videos, compressing and converting formats for universal use. Adobe Photoshop – the best graphic design software and image manipulation tool, period. Here’s how to download Photoshop for free.

– the best graphic design software and image manipulation tool, period. Here’s how to download Photoshop for free. Adobe Portfolio – free online portfolio and website building software that you can use to showcase your creative work.

– free online portfolio and website building software that you can use to showcase your creative work. Adobe Fonts – an online service that gives you access to an enormous font library with fonts you’re free commercially or for personal projects to use under a single licensing agreement.

For power users, business owners and agencies who require more than just Adobe Illustrator for their creative needs, the All Apps plan is a perfect choice.

If you consider that you’re getting 20 more useful apps and software for less than twice the price of the Illustrator (Single App) Plan, it’s really good value for money.

Also, if you’re a videographer and want to buy Adobe Premiere Pro, it makes sense to upgrade to the All Apps plan so you can also use Adobe Illustrator as well.

3. Creative Cloud All Apps Plan for Students & Teachers

This plan includes all the same 20+ apps as the regular All Apps plan – the key difference is that you get a big discount – get it here >>

In fact, if you’re a student or a teacher, you can get all the desktop software, mobile apps and web services for less than a standard single app subscription!

For anyone in education, buying Adobe Illustrator as part of the All Apps plan is a complete no-brainer!

Click here to check whether you’re eligible to get the discount.

How Much Does it Cost to Buy Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator costs US$20.99/month for individuals and US$35.99/month per license for teams.

Illustrator is also available as part of the Creative Cloud All Apps plan, which includes over 20 other apps for creatives such as Photoshop.

If you’re a teacher or a student, you can get the same All Apps plan at a discount.

How much does Illustrator cost a year?

If you pay for an annual subscription upfront, Adobe Illustrator costs $239.88.

This works out to $19.99 per month, which is a dollar less than if you paid monthly.

Can I just buy Illustrator?

Since Adobe Illustrator is subscription software, it’s not possible to buy it outright – Adobe doesn’t offer any Lifetime Licenses.

Is there a free version of Illustrator?

Yes, there’s a 7-day free trial version of Adobe Illustrator available to anyone.

Click on the Free Trial option of the Adobe Website here. Select any plan (don’t worry, you won’t be charged provided you cancel before the trial period ends.) Enter your email ID and payment details. After your 7-day free trial ends, your Adobe Creative Suite membership will continue, unless cancelled before the free trial ends.

Can I download Adobe Illustrator without Creative Cloud?

You’ll need to download Premiere Pro, and then uninstall Creative Cloud (see guide). However, the CC is needed for stable use of the Adobe software.

Are there any Adobe Illustrator Discounts?

There are currently 2 ways to get a discount on Illustrator. The first is to check here on the Adobe special offers page which occasionally features Adobe Illustrator discounts. The other way is if you are a student or teacher and sign up for the Students & Teachers Creative Cloud Apps plan.

Where can I download Illustrator CS6?

Adobe Illustrator CS6 is now a discontinued software version and is no longer available to download. All Adobe products are now part of the Creative Cloud Apps ecosystem which is a mixture of free software and apps and those only available in a subscription plan The subscription model means you’re getting all the latest graphic design features, advanced functions and regular updates.

Do I need Photoshop and Illustrator?

If you’re starting with an image, Photoshop is generally recommended. Illustrator can then be used in conjunction with Photoshop in order to add things like logos, vector graphics and hand-drawn lettering.

Which is Better: Photoshop or Illustrator?

Illustrator is best for graphical illustrations while Photoshop is more for photo-based work. Their features overlap slightly, but it’s best to use them both together for an entire creative editing experience. See here for Illustrator alternatives.

Is Illustrator on iPad?

Yes – you can download the Illustrator for iPad app here and design anywhere, working seamlessly across your devices while keeping everything in sync. You can also bring in images from Adobe Photoshop on the iPad and easily access your colour palettes in Creative Cloud Libraries.

Recent Adobe Illustrator Updates

December 2022 release (version 27.1)

Taper and twist 3d objects

Preview color, and opacity in real-time

Convert bullets, and numbering to text

Illustrator on the iPad: October 2021 release (version 2.0)

Blend objects – Create unique blends with objects using the Blend tool and give your designs an artistic touch.

– Create unique blends with objects using the Blend tool and give your designs an artistic touch. Vectorize (Technology Preview) raster images – Convert raster images or sketches to vector art and edit the object and its paths with ease.

– Convert raster images or sketches to vector art and edit the object and its paths with ease. Transform shapes with the Shape transform tool – Analyze and modify similar lines and curves within complex shapes using the Shape transform tool.

– Analyze and modify similar lines and curves within complex shapes using the Shape transform tool. Stylize paths with the Paintbrush tool – Give your art a hand-drawn feel using the Paintbrush tool. Create cool calligraphies, artistic designs, and personalize your brushes.

– Give your art a hand-drawn feel using the Paintbrush tool. Create cool calligraphies, artistic designs, and personalize your brushes. Share for commenting – Share a link to your Illustrator document with anyone. View, review and share comments to stay on the same page.

– Share a link to your Illustrator document with anyone. View, review and share comments to stay on the same page. Place linked cloud documents – Work with linked PSD Creative Cloud files in Illustrator on the iPad. Relink, update, or embed to work on the file.

– Work with linked PSD Creative Cloud files in Illustrator on the iPad. Relink, update, or embed to work on the file. Rulers and Guides – Position and align text and graphic objects with precision using rulers and guides.

– Position and align text and graphic objects with precision using rulers and guides. Capture colours – Choose and add solid colours to your swatches using the built-in camera powered by Adobe Capture.

(Source: Adobe)

Final Recommendations

If you only require Illustrator for your vector graphics editing needs, the Single App plan is best for you. You can always upgrade to the All Apps plan if necessary.

If you want to get a bit more creative with your illustrations, you’ll need Adobe After Effects, which means you’ll need the All Apps plan which includes AE and all the other apps.

If you’re a student or teacher, the answer is simple – get the Adobe All Apps plan for students and teachers to get a discount on Illustrator and gain access to all the other excellent Adobe apps.

Resources & References for Further Reading