Introducing Illustrator Essentials!

I'm so excited to share what I've been working so hard on over the last couple months... my first eCourse! That's right—in the next couple months I'll be releasing my very own course teaching creative folks how to harness Adobe Illustrator for their brand needs. It's going to be called... wait for it... Illustrator Essentials!

Why Adobe Illustrator?

You might be wondering why I've decided to create this course. First of all, Adobe Illustrator is the primary software I use for my brand design work. The creative capabilities of the software are truly amazing and vector-based artwork is super flexible for a wide variety of brand needs.

What sparked the idea for this course? Well, the short answer is my clients. I work with so many incredibly passionate small business owners who want to take charge of their design needs but don't have the technical chops to navigate complex design software. They do their best to create what they need in simpler software, but it's never quite what they imagine.

I love creating templates for my clients so they can take charge of their own brand needs while feeling confident that the designs will maintain the same level of quality and consistency as when we first created them. My goal is to not only empower creative folks to work within such templates, but to help them design for themselves as well.

Is it just for beginners?

Will this course be just for beginners with no design experience? Absolutely not! The first few modules will cover the basics, but from there I'll be digging into some more advanced topics too. These will include icon design, creating seamless patterns, my favorite Illustrator shortcuts, and more!

So even if you're a seasoned designer, there will be gold nuggets for you throughout the course and some great tools that will supercharge your workflow.

Illustrator Essentials - Logo Design

Progress

So what's the ETA on this thing anyway? Over the last week I've been hard at work on the logo and branding elements for the course, and I'm so excited to share these with you! This week I'll be continuing to expand the brand visually. I'll also be taking the outlines I've written for each module, and writing out the full lessons. Once those are ready, it's time to record the content and begin integrating it with the slides and screenflows I've been working on.

Long story short, you can expect the course to launch early this Spring! If this sounds like it's up your alley, I highly recommend you subscribe to stay in the loop so you're the first to hear when Illustrator Essentials will drop! Not to mention, I've got some very fun things planned for launch week that you won't want to miss. 😉

My “Sales” Approach

Now, selling is always where things get a little weird. To be honest, I ended up purchasing the subscription to my course platform via a super salesy webinar last April. That's right, I tuned in like so many of you have to learn and consider it for the future only to be bombarded with a countdown clock and a “you-can't-possibly-pass-this-up” bundle that expired at the end of the session. So I did it, I gave into the pressure and ponied up the hefty annual subscription. And do you know what? I wasn't ready.

I'd been wanting to get into the education space for quite a while, and I know I have valuable insights to share. I looked at all these creative entrepreneurs around me (who had been in business at least a year longer than I had) offering courses and I thought, “I should be doing this now too.” So I leveled up before I was ready, and that's why it's taken me almost a year to even wrap my head around launching this thing and getting my butt in line to make it happen.

Why am I telling you this?

Because when the time comes, I don't want to pressure you. I don't want to give you ultimatums or trick you into signing up for something you're not ready for. My goal is to strike the right balance of authenticity and "oh by the way, I have something that will be incredibly helpful for you that you can buy if you want.”

So subscribe if you're interested, and I promise to share beautiful content, honesty, things I'm excited about, and whatever helpful insights I can along the way. Then when the time comes, you can be the one to decide if you're ready.

What's Next?

Speaking of excitement, and you know I'm usually brimming with it, this course is only my first offering in the digital product space. Illustrator Essentials will be the first course I offer as part of a much greater learning-meets-empowerment vision I have.

What else is on the list? I'm so glad you asked! There will be brand design templates (stationery and digital), an Illustrator script to help with packaging final branding files, and (by popular demand) a logo and brand design course taking you through my whole process from discovery to deliverables!

I'd love to have you along for the ride. Stay tuned!