You can try Adobe illustrator for a 30 day trial period...its expensive to buy but is the industry standard and now Freehand has bitten the dust is the only (professional) choice. I will be adding some tutorial on my website in the near future. If there is any particular subject you would like me to cover please e-mail me.

www.nicemonkey.co.uk

If you are serious about doing vectors, it's difficult to avoid Illustrator. Trying out with a freeware program may work for you, but since Illustrator is so dominant, it's probably a good idea to start learning sooner rather than later. It's a good program, but there's a lot to learn.

I really know Photoshop well but have never begun to try Illustrator even tho I have CS3.
But I've seen so much neat vector work done I'm going to force myself to enroll in an Illustrator course next month.

I expect a steep learning curve, just as with Photoshop. At least I know how to open Illustrator. Wish me luck.

I purchased an older version of Illustrator 9 from ebay for 100 bucks, since most sites require saving in illustrator 8 format, it appears to me that many of the advanced things that the newest version will do are not necessarily needed.  I have found that it is similar to vector based mapping software that I use daily in my profession, so the learning curve hasn't been as bad.

I still am trying to get accepted at Istock, they appear to be the strictest.

Lee

Illustrator is a totally counter intuitive program, especially if you have started by being a photoshop expert. It just does things in a totally different way. It took me eighteen months from buying a copy to being proficient enough to make it worthwhile applying and getting accepted at istock . I learnt using Real World Adobe Illustrator and the Wow CS2 Illustrator book - but I'm still not really past the basics. I can at least use the pen tool now (which helps in PS too!) although a most of my stuff I draw and paint as I would on paper using a pressure sensitive brush with a Waconm Graphire tablet.

 If you want to get accepted on istock the trick seems to be doing a variety of original  drawings. All the posts I've seem complaining about rejections as illustrators have been from people who have tried to get in using three  very similar, simple drawings using primitive vector shapes or three swirly backgrounds/rehashes of grunge stuff that they already have on the site.

 I managed to get accepted first try, despite there being some technical issues with all the images that I uploaded (as I found when I tried to have them accepted in the collection!). Once you are accepted you can do as many shiny icons and glossy buttons and twirly backgrounds as you please -but they don't seem to get you accepted as an illustrator there these days.

First you need to now what vector is! All what you do in illustrator, coreldraw, ink or some other vector program do is a vector file! (don�t count plaice a image or photo into your file) If you place one image into your file and save it as one eps, the image or photo is still one image or photo! The program is just a toll to draw, like a pen or bit of paper, (i now that is more complex that a bit of paper). If you don�t now how to draw is very difficult to learn. But if you look into the web and read some books you will see that in the end is not that hard. Best of luck

After spending the last few days in Illustrator CS3 I learned that:

1. Lots of my Photoshop skills help.
2. I'm still a lousy drawer.
3. I wish I could find a good tutorial in what file formats are most desired by designers...not just the file formats that the sites mention. I see a lot of formats listed with vectors on iStock but I have no clue on how to upload them along with the EPS and JPEG. Supposedly you can also upload AI and PDF there but I don't see where in the upload sequence I can do so.

Susan,
    Thanks for the tips on file formats. Glad to hear that EPS8 and jpgs should cover most. I'm actually quite good with the pen tool so I'll probably stick to contouring, gradients, and my usual goofy concepts. I'm thinking of IRS/taxes themes right now and the 2008 elections.
     One other observation: How in the world is there a market for so many icons? They seem to sell like crazy if the numbers on iStock are any indication.