Intro To Illustrator

When first being introduced to Illustrator learning the software seemed like such a daunting task. The first major emphasis was on the pen tool. The way it was presented made the tool seem super easy to use; boy, was I wrong. I had so much trouble with the pen tool in my first few attempts of using it. The way the curves were made was beyond me. I kept getting tangled messes of path line and thought I was hopeless. I did check out some tutorials that helped better explain how to use the tool. One of these tutorials that I became fond of was made by Adobe. I have added the link below.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-illustrator-cs6/essentials-of-the-pen-and-pencil-tools/

Another tool I had a problem grasping was the gradient mesh. I wanted to be able to create a somewhat three dimensional effect and all I was creating was splotches of random color. I was able to find this tutorial that helped me out greatly.