As an artist and illustrator, my studio workflow relies on tools that don’t just get the job done, but actually keep the creative spark alive. Adobe Illustrator is constantly evolving, and while classic vector techniques will always have their place, several features—both fresh updates and hidden gems—have completely transformed how I build artwork. They cut out tedious, repetitive tasks, smooth out frustration, and open the door to ideas that felt impossible just a short while ago.
In this first part of my series, I’m pulling back the curtain on the specific tools and features I reach for every single day to bring dynamic energy, speed, and joy back into vector illustration.

1: The Fidelity Slider in the Pencil Tool
Sometimes we are skeptical when we hear that a single feature in a tool can make a huge difference, but the Fidelity slider is one of those game-changers. That single slider makes all the difference in how smooth a path is when using the Pencil Tool.
The Fidelity slider tells Illustrator to generate fewer anchor points and aggressively average out small hand jitters, creating sweeping, fluid curves. If you need tight adherence to intricate sketches, keep it one notch below maximum smoothness to retain sharp turns.

2: The Blend Tool: Pure Creative Magic
If you haven’t explored the updated Blend Tool lately, you’re missing out on serious creative freedom. Testing out different options often delivers stunning, unexpected color transitions that go way beyond the original plan. Try blending across a custom spine or mixing contrasting palettes—you might just stumble onto your new favorite visual effect!

3: Updated Gradient Presets
I use gradients constantly in my workflow, and Adobe’s recent update to the preset libraries has been fantastic. They’ve added a fresh batch of modern presets that I’m really enjoying, and having these ready-to-go options speeds up my creative process tremendously. Even when I customize the color stops to match my artwork, starting with a strong preset cuts my setup time in half.

4: Making Custom Patterns in Illustrator
As an illustrator and business owner, I am always creating custom patterns in Illustrator. I love turning my own hand-drawn motifs, pencil strokes, or vector shapes into editable, seamless repeats.
Simply select your artwork and go to Object > Pattern > Make.
From there, you can create endless pattern variations directly from your designs. The best part? You can adjust the artwork directly on the canvas and preview every change updating in real time!

5: Custom Brushes
Custom brushes are a huge part of my illustration process. I am always updating my brush library with new brushes for every project and workflow. Creating a custom brush and bringing it into my artwork takes my creative joy to a whole new level! In Illustrator, making your own brush couldn’t be easier.
Quick Tip: Starting with a single vector shape, you can create entirely different brush types—or make endless variations of the exact same brush!

6: The Width Tool
What can I say about this tool, except that it’s pure magic for transforming the most boring, static stroke into something dynamic and expressive? The best part is that it’s so effortless to use, sometimes I catch myself thinking, “Can it really be this simple?” Instead of being stuck with a flat, uniform stroke weight, the Width Tool lets you interactively sculpt the thickness at any anchor point or anywhere along the path.

7: Objects on Path
Objects on Path in Adobe Illustrator lets you attach and distribute repeated shapes, icons, or vector elements directly along the contour of any open or closed curve with live interactive controls.
The Objects on Path feature turns the tedious chore of manually moving and aligning objects along a curve into an effortless, lightning-fast workflow.

8: Intertwine
Making overlapping objects look truly interwoven has always been somewhat challenging. With the Intertwine feature, that entire process is so much faster and easier.
The Intertwine feature allows you to seamlessly weave overlapping vector paths, shapes, text, or strokes over and under one another without cutting paths, expanding strokes, or messing up your layer structure.

9: Mockup
As a freelancer, I work on a lot of branding projects for both my clients and my own business, and the Mockup feature makes the presentation process completely seamless.
The Mockup feature in Adobe Illustrator lets you realistically wrap vector art, patterns, or typography around 2D raster images—such as t-shirts, mugs, packaging, or tote bags—directly on the canvas. It automatically conforms your artwork to surface curves, perspective angles, and natural fabric folds.

10: The Turntable
Turntable in Adobe Illustrator takes a single flat 2D vector object or character and automatically generates multiple rotated angles and perspective views.
The Turntable is one of my favorite tools in Illustrator. It truly makes what felt impossible not so long ago a reality! I can rotate any artwork in any direction—up, down, or around—and place preview angles directly on the canvas. On top of that, I can adjust each view separately. Starting from just a single character, I can use Turntable to generate dozens of different angles and variations, and switching up the color palette gives me completely unique results every time!

This is where our creative fun begins! Taking time to just sit down and make art is so important, and I want to make it as relaxing as possible for our community.

I have put together a full digital project kit so we can paint this cozy autumn pumpkin together. Let’s skip the blank-page stress—your download includes my original sketch, a custom color palette, and step-by-step instructions. It is the perfect way to unwind and play in Photoshop or Adobe Fresco.

Head over to the link in my bio to preview the project and grab your files from The Digital Canvas Toolkit. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Hi everyone! Today is a day I’ve waited for a long time because I can finally share an incredibly helpful tool the team released in Adobe Illustrator!! I am talking about the AI Assistant.
Note: The AI Assistant is currently available in the Adobe Illustrator public Beta. You can download it directly from your Creative Cloud app.

You know me—I am always excited about technology and creativity, and I love sharing the tools I find genuinely helpful. Today is definitely one of those days. The AI Assistant in Illustrator is a tool I started using every single day after trying it. It represents the true core of what an AI Assistant should be. By using it, I can finally concentrate on the important tasks, like creating my art, building projects, and focusing mostly on the creative side.

If you’ve attended any of my presentations (whether on a conference floor or online) or read my posts, you know I am always asking you to name your layers! I know the importance of it based on my own workflows. When I create art, I get excited and pay attention only to the creative process. And by the end… it’s a disaster. Usually, I have 200+ layers (at least!), and when I need to find a specific layer to adjust, it takes more time to find it than it did to create the actual art.
Now, with the AI Assistant, I can finally stop paying attention to something that is boring (at least to me): organizing my layers!

I created this cute parrot, and of course, I have tons of layers. And yes, I did not spend time organizing and renaming them.

So, I will ask the AI Assistant to organize my layers. I can do this by clicking on “Get Started” or clicking on “Organize,” and I will go with “Organize.”

Once I click on “Organize,” the assistant suggests what type of assistance I might need, such as “Rename all layers as per document.” That’s good, but I want something else, so I asked the AI Assistant to: “organize all layers, delete hidden layers, rename all layers.

The AI Assistant started working on the task, and here we have full transparency into exactly what the Assistant is doing.

Once the task is completed, the Assistant will let you know and show you everything it did.

It will also suggest future tasks it could handle for you. If there is anything from the suggestions you want to do, simply click on it! Or, if you have a specific task in mind, just ask the Assistant to do it by typing what you want in the prompt/text area.

Tip: If you ever need to undo the latest Assistant task, simply go to Edit > Undo Assistant Action.

Very often in my workflow, I need to pick a color from an image. Now, I can do it much faster. Well, let me correct myself: I will ask the AI Assistant to do it for me! This is my Frida that I created in Illustrator, so I asked the Assistant to create a color palette from the image.

Once again, I have full transparency into exactly what the AI Assistant is doing, and when it finished the task, it showed me what it did and the result. Look at this!

These are just a few examples of how the AI Assistant in Adobe Illustrator can help you minimize boring and repetitive tasks. Along with the examples I showed you today, I use the Assistant to rename my artboards, get my document ready for print, and export my artboards.

This is what I was so excited to share with you today. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Also, I am so excited to announce that I am starting a new weekly live stream:
The Hands-On Illustrator: Vector & Vision with Victoria.
Join me every Friday at 1 PM ET to talk, explore, and create vector art using a mix of classic and new tools in Adobe Illustrator. I can’t wait to see you all there!

Hello everyone, and as always, thank you so much for stopping by and for all your support. I appreciate it very much.
Every month, I receive a flurry of questions about my thoughts on AI—this tidal wave spreading across every corner of our lives. I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating: AI evolves daily, weaving itself into everything from our creative workflows to the mundane tasks of everyday life.

But how we engage with this technology matters. I see people using AI in two very different ways:

1. The “Default” Trap
In this scenario, we ask AI a question or give it a command, and we accept the answer as gospel. We think, “I would do it differently, but it’s AI—it knows better.” This approach is dangerous. When we stop questioning the output, we risk degrading our ability to make decisions, our resourcefulness, and our unique perspective. Worse, we often delegate tasks to AI that we could do faster ourselves, just to buy more time to scroll through social media—content fed to us by algorithms that already “decided” what we should see. By relying on chatbots for everything and letting algorithms curate our reality, we risk losing our individuality, our unique understanding of the world, and even our human desire for genuine connection.

2. The Creative Partnership
In this scenario, we are the architects. We have the ideas, the vision, and the skills, but we use AI as a tool to bring those concepts to life.
Whether it’s learning a new hobby, coding a smart home automation, or using AI to assist in photo restoration and retouching, we are using the tech as it was designed: as an assistant. Personally, I love having AI in my toolbox. It helps me bridge gaps and execute my vision, but the vision itself belongs entirely to me. It doesn’t make my decisions; it just helps me get the job done.

Is Creativity Dead?
This is the question I hear most often: “Do people still want original art?”
My answer is an emphatic yes. People crave work born from the human soul, vision, and passion. AI cannot replicate that. It lacks human experience, emotion, and the ability to pour life into a canvas, a melody, or a poem. It’s not coming up with something new. Because we as humans project our own emotions onto art, that connection is what makes it unique.

On the other hand, AI gives people who never felt they had the “skill” to paint a way to express themselves. My mother, a musician who felt she couldn’t paint, found a new outlet through generative AI. I believe it is always important to create, regardless of the tool. However, I believe we should be precise with our language: “Generative Art” is the perfect term for this imagery. It is a distinct category, separate from traditional or digital art created by hand. There is room for both, and only you can decide which tools are right for your journey.

A Final Thought
We have more choices than ever. We have traditional mediums, digital tools, and AI assistants. But now, more than ever, we must remember that our humanity is our greatest power.
AI is a helper, but the “originality” must remain in human hands. It’s time to lean back into real human interaction. No social media platform or AI bot can provide the feeling of being loved, appreciated, or truly connected. That comes from a phone call, a text to a friend, or visiting a real person’s website or blog.
I want to see the messy art studio. I want to see the “not perfect” paintings. I want to see the musician’s studio where the music was born through struggle, not just perfect, algorithm-corrected notes. I want to see the poet’s basket full of discarded drafts before that one perfect rhythm was found.
That is what real life looks like. It isn’t the “perfect” feed projected by an algorithm. So the choice is yours: decide what you want to see, decide who you want to be, and choose your tools with intention.

Hello everyone. As always, thank you so much for stopping by and taking time to read my blog. I appreciate it so much.

I want to share with you something exciting I added to my product and macro studio photography. Today, Platypod announced a new product for photographers – Platypod Bracket & Bounce Modular Flash & Lighting System . I am super excited about it because I can use it with my mirrorless camera and my iPhone workflows. What Platypod released today is handy for any type of photography, including studio and location sessions.

This is the Platypod Bracket & Bounce Modular Flash & Lighting System that I’ve been using for the last few weeks in my studio, and I could not be happier.

I used to struggle with keeping my reflector exactly where I needed it. With the Platypod Modular Flash & Lighting System, I can position it precisely where I want, and it stays put without me having to constantly readjust it. Now, I can tilt, rotate, and angle it as close to my subject as necessary. It makes my product and macro photography much easier and more enjoyable!
It’s easy to install and take with you wherever photography calls you. And it’s lightweight, so it will not add extra weight to your photography backpack.

The possibilities of how I can use it are like a mix-and-match style. I can use it to attach my mirrorless camera and my phone. I can use it to attach a light, or I can use it in combinations of both.

In our fast-moving world of photography, we appreciate equipment that is lightweight, multifunctional, small, and easy to assemble and use.

Platypod has once again introduced a solution that makes the photography workflow easier and more creative. I have used Platypod products for so many years and could not be happier. Great, long-lasting products and great customer service. The Platypod team loves what they do and they love the photography community, and for many years they have been a part of it.

Hello, my readers! I am so happy to see you here. Thank you for stopping by. I can’t wait to share some news about Adobe Photoshop that will reshape our entire workflow in an incredible, fantastic way. Let’s start, shall we?

As always, when we work with technology, we are always anticipating new updates and new features. Some of them we appreciate very much, some of them aren’t too important to the specific workflows we use all the time, and some of them completely reshape the entire industry! That is exactly what the Photoshop team released today in Photoshop Beta: Rotate Object! Yes, I know! It is an incredible, fantastic feature that we, as users, weren’t even brave enough to dream about just a few years ago!
If you are working on photo compositing or if you are a content creator, today is a dream come true. Like magic, Rotate Object was introduced exactly when I needed it the most. I was working on a client’s fairytale poster for a children’s book club and I desperately needed a few characters at different angles, so the Rotate Object feature arrived right on time!

This is the image I started with

I brought my first character into the scene, and of course, I removed the background using the ‘Remove Background’ option right in the Contextual Task Bar.

Now, I needed to turn this character to his left to look at the bridge where our other character will be. Without the new Rotate Object feature, this task would have been super difficult, requiring me to find the same character from a different angle—or, if that was impossible, to find a completely new character. But the problem was that my client gave me this specific character and wanted to use it. So, Rotate Object to the rescue!
To turn the character to the left (or any other angle), select the character > click on “Transform Image” in the Contextual Task Bar.

And now, click on the magic ‘Rotate Object’ button in the Contextual Task Bar!

Using Rotate Object, Photoshop will create a preview of the object that you can rotate to see different angles. Or, by using the Tilt option, you can preview the object from above or below. When you are happy with a specific rotation or tilt, click on ‘Done’.

Once you have positioned the object or character exactly as you want it regarding rotation and tilt > click on ‘Harmonize’ in the Contextual Task Bar to harmonize all your layers.

Tip: Photoshop will generate 3 different Harmonization variations. Pick the one you like the most.

Now, using the same steps, I will rotate the two characters to match the story in the scene.

Now you see why I am so excited about the Rotate Object feature!!! Install Photoshop Beta from your Creative Cloud app, try it for yourself, and thank me later!

Thank you so much for reading and letting me share my excitement with you today! If you want to support my work, see more of my creative workflow, and catch my latest tutorials, please consider following me on social media. I always love connecting with fellow creatives! You can find me here:

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