Graphic design is a creative process that reaches into everything we do these days, from websites to application interfaces to product packaging. The talented hand of the graphic designer is seen everywhere, and it can be a rewarding, yet very challenging career. As a designer, you are constantly trying to improve. In this industry if you are standing still, you’re falling behind and you need to be constantly expanding your portfolio, designs, knowledge, career and more.

If you didn’t already know, the industry standard applications for graphic design are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. What you can do with these applications is only limited to your imagination. In this guide, we are going to make good use of the courses and ebooks here on Tuts+ and hopefully get a good solid grounding on how you can become a graphic designer.

Getting Started

The best way to get started and learn any software application is to get down and dirty with it and create something.

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  Creating Vector Art

  This course by veteran illustrator Von Glitschka takes you through the entire creative process from drawn design to final vector illustration.

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  Digital Drawing Fundamentals

  As an experienced digital painter and designer, Kirk walks you through the building blocks of digital drawing, shapes and shading, composing and perspective, and much more.

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  30 Days to Learn Illustrator

  Experienced illustrator Ryan Quintal takes you from newbie to Illustrator pro in just 30 days. Once you’re up and running, Ryan will work through a final project, a product case design, to show how it all goes together.

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  InDesign Fundamentals

  Jump into the world of print design by learning the leading publishing software, Adobe InDesign. Cheryl Graham does a masterful job of explaining the ins and outs of this great publishing program.

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  Rockstar Icon Designer (eBook)

  Veteran icon designer Kate McInnes introduces you to the wonderful world of icon design, so you too can become a rockstar icon designer!

Beyond the Basics

Once you get a good handle on how to work with both Photoshop and Illustrator, it’s then time to move up a gear and go beyond the basics.

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  Working with Type in Illustrator

  Want to know the secrets that the experts know? Then follow along with Cheryl Graham as she shows you how to work with type in Adobe Illustrator.

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  Banner Design in Photoshop

  If you’re a designer and you’ve been tasked with creating a banner, there’s a lot more too it than just throwing a few elements into place. Gary Simon has all the details on how to make the perfect banner, and he’ll walk you through it in this course.

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  Selections & Masking in Photoshop

  Learn all you need to know about masking and selection techniques in Photoshop. From basic shape masking to separating out fine details, Philip Zeplin walks you through the pro tips and techniques you’ll need to know.

Advanced Training

It’s time to tackle the more advanced level techniques and really delve deeper into some of the software applications we need to master for graphic design.

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  Illustrator Effects In Depth

  In this course, Cheryl Graham teaches you how to work with live effects, text effects, a 3D effect and much much more.

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  Mastering Gradient Mesh in Illustrator

  From photo-realistic 3D to subtle shapes and shades of color, you can achieve some stunning effects with the gradient mesh tool. If you’re comfortable with Illustrator and ready to jump into advanced illustration techniques, this is the course for you.

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  Advanced Photoshop Techniques

  In this course, Howard Pinsky will walk you through many of the advanced tools and techniques of Photoshop professionals, creating your own actions and shortcuts, and look at using Photoshop in specific contexts and projects.

Practice, Practice and Practice More!

I was given some advice a few years ago on how to master the tools of the trade and become successful at being a designer: “practice!” Find something on the web or in print that you like the look of and then open up Photoshop or Illustrator and try and recreate it. At first you will be pulling your hair out, making mistakes and crawling the web in search of answers. But making those mistakes will lead you to those answers. In time you will develop your own style and become more efficient at using those tools!