👋 Welcome to the latest edition of my monthly motion design newsletter, where I bring you fresh tutorials, a sneak peak of what’s coming soon, a handy tip, and a random recommendation!

🥳 New

​Adobe Illustrator Essentials​

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If you’re familiar with my YouTube playlist, Adobe After Effects Fundamentals, this is that for Illustrator! There are 8 videos that I’ll be releasing on YouTube every other week, but the entire series is available now on Skillshare.

The Illustrator Essentials series is designed to help beginners get started in Adobe Illustrator. While there’s a focus on the tools and techniques used to create illustrations for animation, it’s also applicable to graphic design and static illustrations.

⬇️ The series comes with a handy workbook, filled with tips and tricks, so you can follow along as you watch.

⬇️ I also updated the Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet.

🤫 Sneak Peak

To help you practice the skills you learn in Adobe Illustrator Essentials, I’m working on a class about how to illustrate these icons:

I also plan to update my Easy Animated Icons class (it’s the first class I ever recorded!), where you can learn how to animate the icons you illustrate.

⚡ Quick Tip

To sample a color outside of Adobe Illustrator, first grab the eyedropper tool (keyboard shortcut I). Then click inside of Illustrator, hold, and drag your cursor outside of Illustrator to the color you want to sample. Lift your finger off the mouse to sample the color.

Now that you’ve sampled the color, hold option/alt while clicking graphics inside Illustrator to recolor them.

In After Effects, from the color picker, you can use the eyedropper to sample colors from outside of After Effects. You don’t even need to hold down any keys 🤔

👉 Random Recommendation

I’ve been on a peanut butter kick lately 😜. When I’m not eating it straight from the jar, I’ve been making these homemade protein peanut butter cups.

Melt 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon coconut oil together (either on a low setting on the stove or in the microwave). Pour a thin layer of chocolate into candy molds or muffin papers. This recipe makes about 24 peanut butter cups depending on the size you make. Let the chocolate harden in the freezer or fridge while you make the peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup peanut butter (I use peanut butter with no added sugar or oils, just peanuts and salt).

1–2 tablespoons maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)

1/4 cup protein powder

Once the first layer of chocolate is hardened, roll a spoonful of peanut butter filling into a ball and press on top of each chocolate cup. Cover with chocolate (you may need to re-melt). Place in fridge or freezer again until hardened. Enjoy!

Megan Friesth

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PS: For those of you paying attention, thanks for your patience; this newsletter usually goes out on the first of the month. I wanted to include the Ai Essentials series so that's why it's late.