Adobe Illustrator (2026) review

Date:
Sun, 26 Apr 2026 19:15:00 +0000

Description:
Another year, another major Adobe Illustrator update. Have they finally fixed some long-standing glitches? Do I think the new tools and features will be worth your while? Read on to find out

FULL STORY ======================================================================Adobe Illustrator began development in 1985, with its initial release coming out in 1987. 39 years in an eternity in computing terms, and its amazing this venerable piece of software is still the ruling king when it comes to design, illustrations and vector-based work.

We've long championed it as one of the best graphic design software apps around - but now I'm taking a look at some of the new features that are being introduced with the latest version, Adobe Illustrator 2026 (I explored
version 30.3). Adobe Illustrator: Pricing & plans Subscription-only but the price befits its status as the king of the hill Cheaper alternatives
available like Canvas Affinity But they lack all the features and integration with other Adobe software Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps subscription options: 12 month plan - 56.98 per month (683.76 total cost) Adobe Illustrator is a professional app, and as such, is part of Adobes Creative Cloud Pro subscription. As has been the case for years now, you cant purchase the software, you can only rent it.

Creative Cloud Pro includes over twenty high end software packages, including Photoshop , InDesign, and of course, Illustrator, and will cost you $35 a month for the first three months on an annual subscription (after that deal, the price reverts to $70 a month for the remainder of your agreement).

If thats too much for you, you can subscribe to Illustrator on its own for
$23 a month. Students and educational institutions can also get it or the entire suite at a steep discount.

Be aware though that every time you use generative AI, youll be spending credits. You get a set number every month with your plan, but also have the option of purchasing more separately, either as a one-off, or as part of another subscription.

OK, time to take a look at some of the new features that caught my eye in Adobe Illustrators new release. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news
and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Adobe Illustrator: Features (Image credit: Adobe // Future) Loads of new features added I especially like those focused on interface improvements like color artboards Great tools for refining your designs including snapping to
tangents Lets start with some simple improvements to do with Artboards. Up to now, if you needed them to have colored backgrounds, youd have to create a rectangle, apply a color to it and use that as your backdrop, which, although doable, was cumbersome.

Now, finally, you can apply different colors to each of your Artboards, right from the Properties panel, through its Fill dropdown menu. By default, its
set to transparent, but you can also choose either black or white, and if thats not enough, selecting Custom gains you access to a virtually unlimited gamut of colors.

Right-clicking on the canvas offers some handy options to manage your documents artboards. Youre able to rename, duplicate, or delete them, or even create new ones with ease. Theres also the option to lock a selected
artboard, but sadly no option to unlock it - to do that you need to go to Window > Artboards, and click on its lock icon from the popup window. So, I guess 'cumbersome' hasnt completely gone away. (Image credit: Adobe //
Future) But its still an improvement. And speaking of improvements, the classic Eyedropper tool has been enhanced, and I found it works more reliably than before. A single click, for instance, will now properly copy the color and stroke of a selected object (you can extract more of course, but that depends on what you selected in the Eyedropper options).

Theres also shift-clicking. Press and hold the shift key, and youll get a large circle around the eyedropper cursor. The bottom half represents the current color, while the top half is the color itll change to once you click.

A color picker that works as advertised and has added functionality, I can work with that. (Image credit: Adobe // Future) This leads us to some subtle additions you probably never knew you needed, like how the end of a straight line now snaps to a circles tangent, or how one line snaps perpendicularly to another. Those are on by default and will make precise designs much easier.

And speaking of much easier, how about gradients with fewer banding - or no banding at all, even? Depending on how close you get to a gradient, youll start to notice lines along it as the one color changes to another. This latest version of Illustrator introduces two options to dissipate those
lines, creating a much smoother gradient. (Image credit: Adobe // Future) The first one is via a new menu in the gradient Properties called Method. By default, its set to Classic, but change it to Perceptual, and it should look more like it would in real life - at least thats the intention. The change
can be quite subtle depending on the complexity of your gradient, and in my experience, it ranged from no discernible change, to a pleasing improvement.

The second option is a Dither tick box. This one works in either Method, and when toggled, it adds a mesh of subtle imperfections to the gradient to conceal any banding, and I found the results to be very effective. Adobe Illustrator: AI tools (Image credit: Adobe // Future) Introduces impressive AI-based tools to expand your creations horizons But why do all the hard work when you can let a complex algorithm do it all for you, right? Right? Well
not quite, but Adobe Illustrator now comes with some interesting AI tools to broaden your digital creations, like Generative Expand.

Triggering the tool will give you handles which you then drag beyond the confines of your original creation. This will create pink borders, making it clear where Illustrator needs to apply itself. When youre ready (and you have enough credits), click on Generate and the machine will get to work.

It should only take a few seconds but I found the end results, like
Generative Expand on Photoshop, to be impressive - and I dont particularly like AI! The results werent perfect, mind, but it should be much easier to manually refine the output as opposed to creating all that expanded area yourself. (Image credit: Adobe // Future) Another complex algorithm feature I was impressed by is Turntable. Its designed to turn a 2D vector graphic into
a 3D one. Your results may vary, and the tool itself warns you if it thinks the image youve selected might not yield good results. That warning may, or may not be correct - sometimes the only way to know for sure is to spend your credits and try it out.

The objects I experimented with, varied in their success. The globe was interesting, but then again Illustrator did warn me it might not work as expected, so kudos for the warning. The butterfly was mostly flawless, and
the horses head (a sketch of a head, not a Godfather triggering nightmare)
was perfect.

So yes, your mileage may vary, but when it works great, its eye opening (but not in A Clockwork Orange way). Once done, youre able to rotate your now-3D object 360 degrees using a slider. To the right of it are Up and Down arrows; these allow you to see your design from above or below by a maximum of 30 degrees either way.

All in all, Illustrator keeps getting refined with each update. The improvements are most welcome, and the new features will certainly please a lot of artists. Theres something here for everyone which is always a positive thing. Should I buy? (Image credit: Adobe // Future) Buy it if... You need a powerful vector-based illustration system with a steady stream of
improvements and new features to make the expensive subscription worthwhile

Don't buy it if... Youre not a fan of the increasing incursion of AI into
the software, or despite all its features, the asking price is just too much for you. We've also tested out the best Adobe InDesign alternatives and the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps deals Recommended Retailer Creative Cloud All Apps 49.94 56.98 /mth View at Adobe



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/software-services/adobe-illustrator-2026-review


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)