2014 has been a very busy year for the Design & Illustration section of Tuts+ and here's why:

• We've successfully merged into one unified site to provide all content within the Tuts+ family in one glorious site! This helped give you all your design content within one wonderful section... Design & Illustration.
• We've ventured into more niche areas of content, such as fractal art and Arabic calligraphy.
• We've been expanding our content for smaller software brands, such as Sketch, Inkscape, Pixelmator and iDraw.
• We've been reaching out to more of our community by translating our most popular tutorials into a variety of languages, such as Portuguese, German, Arabic, Russian and Spanish.

And there's so much more to mention, but the main thing is, we provide all this written tutorial content for free!

The Top 40 Design & Illustration Posts of 2014

So apart from all of these highlights of 2014, what exactly were the top tutorials posted in the Design & Illustration section? Well in no particular order, it's my pleasure to share with you our top 40 tutorials.

• 
  Print Design
  How to Create a Promotional Flyer in Photoshop
  Róbert Šarudy
• 
  Photo Effects
  How to Add Realistic Falling Snow to a Photo in Photoshop
  Tony Aube
• 
  Typography
  Mastering Calligraphy: How to Write in Cursive Script
  Megan Eckman
• 
  Portrait
  How to Render Short, Detailed Hair in Adobe Illustrator
  Sharon Archer-Thomas
• 
  Tools & Tips
  10 Things You Need to Know About Smart Objects in Photoshop
  Martin Perhiniak
• 
  Text Effects
  How to Write in the Sand in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose
• 
  Drawing
  Human Anatomy Fundamentals: How to Draw Hands
  Joumana Medlej
• 
  Comics
  Cartoon Fundamentals: How to Draw the Female Form
  Monika Zagrobelna
• 
  Typography
  Mastering Calligraphy: How to Write in Roundhand Script
  Megan Eckman
• 
  Pixel Art
  How to Create an Animated Pixel Art Sprite in Adobe Photoshop
  Gleb Polikanin
• 
  Sketch
  The A to Z of Sketch
  Armando Sotoca
• 
  GIF
  How to Optimize an Animated Gif: 10 Ways
  Martin Perhiniak
• 
  Text Effects
  How to Create a Chalk Logo Effect in Photoshop
  Lindsey Meredith
• 
  Roundups
  The A to Z of Adobe Illustrator
  Mary Winkler
• 
  Comics
  Cartoon Fundamentals: How to Draw Cartoon Hands
  Carlos Gomes Cabral
• 
  Poster Design
  Create a Mixed Martial Arts Event Flyer in Photoshop
  Wojciech Pijecki
• 
  Text Effects
  Create a High-Gloss, Bubble Gum Text Effect in Photoshop
  Samuel Mensah
• 
  Illustration
  Create an Illustrated Watercolor and Ink Photo Effect in Photoshop
  Sheridan Johns
• 
  Poster Design
  How to Create an Ornate, Vintage, Poster Design in Photoshop
  Benjamin Mounsey
• 
  Character Design
  Create a Fun Cartoon Character Face in Adobe Illustrator
  Andrei Marius
• 
  Modo
  Create a 3D, Fruit-Textured, Text Effect
  Tomasz Lechocinski
• 
  Vector
  How to Create Banner, Label and Badge Templates in Illustrator
  Nataliya Dolotko
• 
  Adobe Photoshop
  The A to Z of Adobe Photoshop
  Mary Winkler
• 
  Vector
  How to Create a Retro Fox Illustration in Adobe Illustrator
  Nataliya Dolotko
• 
  UI Design
  Designing an Elegant Blog Layout in Photoshop
  Tomas Laurinavicius
• 
  Vector
  How to Create a Surreal Poster Design in Adobe Illustrator
  Mary Winkler
• 
  Patterns
  How to Create an Abstract Low-Poly Pattern in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
  Mary Winkler
• 
  Poster Design
  Create a Post-Apocalyptic Movie Poster in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign
  Mark Mayers
• 
  Logo Design
  Comparing the Logo Creation Process Between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
  Mary Winkler
• 
  Animation
  Create an Animated Interface GIF in Adobe Photoshop
  Mohammad Jeprie
• 
  Vector
  Design a CD Cover in Low-Polygonal Grungy Style in Adobe Illustrator
  Yulia Sokolova
• 
  Text Effects
  Create a Retro Gold Leather Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose
• 
  Halloween
  Create "The Walking Dead" Inspired Grungy Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose
• 
  Halloween
  Create a Spooky Forest Setting in Adobe Photoshop
  Kirk Nelson
• 
  Halloween
  Create a Mysterious Halloween Scene in Adobe Illustrator
  Yulia Sokolova
• 
  Adobe Illustrator
  The 7 Habits of Highly Efficient Adobe Illustrator Users
  Cheryl Graham
• 
  Color
  Experiment With Color in Adobe Illustrator to Create an Abstract Rose Illustration
  Masha Goubar
• 
  Illustration
  Create a Tattoo Style, Grunge, Day of Dead Girl Poster in Illustrator
  Sergey Kandakov
• 
  Illustration
  Create a Large Face, Cat Illustration from Stock in Adobe Illustrator
  Sharon Archer-Thomas
• 
  Adobe InDesign
  Create 5 High-Impact Typography Effects in Adobe InDesign
  Grace Fussell

Happy New Year and All the Best for 2015!

As always, if there's something you want to learn, no matter how simple, complex or niche it is within the Design & Illustration world, drop us a comment and we'll be sure to consider it.

If you're interested in seeing if your skills and educational content can make the cut for the Top 40 posts of 2015, then why not get in touch!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for 2015, from Team Awesome (the ever-so-talented Design & Illustration Instructor Team) and myself. We hope you join us in 2015 for more inspirational and original content!