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Getting Started

Content Types

Important Information

Getting Started

Learn about submitting content and getting published on Vectortuts+.

Submitting Content to Vectortuts+

Prior to submitting content we recommend that you read the entire instructions on this page. Be sure to review the sections on Plagiarism and Crediting Sources, as well as, Vectortuts+ Author/Artist Agreement. Also, review examples of prior content published on our site. Search for the topic you’re writing on to see how your idea would fit on Vectortuts+, and find out if it’s something we have already covered. Of course we’re looking for new ideas, workflows, and techniques.

We publish multiple content types on Vectortuts+, such as: Written Tutorials, Video (Screencast) Tutorials, Quick Tips, Articles, and Premium Content. Each content type has submission instructions, be sure to read the relevant sections thoroughly.

Submit Content for Review

You can send in for review a single JPG image, and a short paragraph concept pitch, prior to submitting your final content. You can do this using the following form:

Submit Complete Content

Once you’ve finalized your work, completed content can be submitted through the following form:

About Publishing on Vectortuts+

Vectortuts+ is a well established design community with a focus on Illustrator and Vector Art that helps artists/designers learn new techniques, theory, and practical know-how that will help them achieve their goals. If you have some helpful knowledge you would like to share, then we’d like to talk with you.

Working With You

We have a strong belief at Tuts+ that everyone has unique ideas to share and techniques they come across as they work and experiment. We’d love to hear your creative content ideas and look forward to potentially working with you.

Payment

Want to submit a tutorial or other content to Vectortuts+? We only accept content that matches the site’s writing and content standards. If your content is accepted, we’ll pay an agreed USD rate per item published (make an offer!), and you’ll get to help your fellow Vector aficionados! You must have a PayPal or Moneybookers account for us to pay you. This fee will be paid within the first week of every new month, following publication.

Profile

Contributing to online publications is a great way to raise your profile online. When we publish your content, your author profile will be listed with the content. When submitting your final content please include a short paragraph for your profile, along with your email and website addresses.

What to Teach?

Topics we cover in our tutorials can be found by browsing through Vectortuts+ and range from character design, comics, icon design, techniques, and more. Any subject that Illustrator touches is potentially something we would cover on the site. We also cover other design, illustration, and art related subjects.

We’re looking for tutorials and other content that combines high quality art and design, with theoretical foundations, workflows and tips. We’re especially looking for Adobe CS5 content at the moment. You are welcome to make suggestions.

Your Content Must Fulfill the Following Criteria

  1. You must send in your already completed content for us to review for acceptance. Please note not every tutorial/content will be accepted. We recommend you pitch your concept to get feedback from us, prior to submitting the full content.
  2. Your content must be your original work and not published elsewhere.
  3. You will need to format your content as per the format described in the corresponding content type section below.
  4. You must have a PayPal or Moneybookers account for us to pay you, this fee will be paid within the first week of every new month, following publication.
  5. Your content may be edited prior to publishing.

Content Types

Review information on the types of content we accept for submission and publish on a regular basis for Vectortuts+.

Written Tutorials

These are long form written tutorials. We prefer more complete, practical and extensive tutorials, placed in the context of professional workflows with high quality final artwork. Tutorials should be 20 steps or more and have an image illustrating each written step. Here are some examples of written tutorials on Vectortuts+:

How to Format Your Tutorial for Submission

Your tutorial must come with:

  • A Sample EPS/AI source file for members to download.
  • A 200x200px preview image of the finished effect.
  • An HTML file with the tutorial written out. The HTML file should be written in the same way that tutorials on the site are, that is in a set of “Steps” with an image after each one. Additionally you should have a paragraph at the beginning giving an introduction. Download the sample tutorial HTML template here.
  • Images in the tutorial should be no more than 600px wide. The only exception is for when the tutorial has a final product that needs to be large (e.g. a wallpaper).
  • When packaging your tutorial place the source file and all images in the same folder as the HTML before sending.
  • If you’ve used images in your source material, then please read the section on Photography and Source Images in the Plagiarism and Crediting Sources section below.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Video (Screencast) Tutorials

These are long form video screencasts tutorials. The benefit of this format is one can see exactly what the artist/designer is doing. We prefer more complete, practical and extensive tutorials, placed in the context of professional workflows with high quality final artwork. Video tutorials should be well thought out, with clarity of voice, and show practical working methods. Here are some examples of video screencast tutorials on Vectortuts+:

We’re looking for full unique video tutorials. While the examples above show video versions of tutorials, we’re not looking for people to remake any of the written tutorials on the site, as we already have that covered. We are only looking for unique video tutorials.

How to Format Your Video Tutorial for Submission

Please review the suggestions in the Written Tutorials section, as many of the same issues apply to video tutorials. Also, ensure that you adhere to the following rules when recording and submitting your video tutorial:

  1. Video length must be 15 minutes or more.
  2. Introduce yourself at the beginning of the tutorial and say you are making this tutorial exclusively for Vectortuts+.
  3. Submit an MP4 format of the final video.
  4. Final video must be in High Definition (1280×720 (16:9) or 960×720 (4:3) for 720p).
  5. You must include a description of your tutorial.
  6. Include a 200×200 pixel preview image.
  7. Include a Final image of the tutorial. This can be up to 600 pixels wide.
  8. Include a Video Screenshot. This is a screenshot of the video that we include when we upload the video (should be different than the final image).
  9. If the video file is 100mb or more, then break it up into more than one video. Each part cannot be more than 100mb.
  10. Audio quality must be good and narration must be clear and well thought-out.
  11. We use Blip.tv to distribute our video, you can see previous videos on Vectortuts.blip.tv.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Articles

We do have a regular group of writers that contribute content such as interviews, roundups on resources, and inspirational posts. We’re not currently accepting this type of material from our general audience, as we only publish a limited amount of this material and we have that covered.

There are some types of articles though that we are always interested in, such as: articles that explain techniques, those that cover art and design theory as it related to Illustrator and design subjects, and case studies of high end projects. Here are some examples of articles of this type:

How to Format Your Articles for Submission

Ensure that you adhere to the following guidelines before submitting your article:

  1. An HTML file with the article written out. The article should have multiple headings, major headings get h2 tags, and your welcome to use h3 and h4 tags as needed. Additionally you should have a paragraph at the beginning giving an introduction. And include a well thought out conclusion.
  2. Include a 200x200px relevant preview image.
  3. Images in the tutorial should be no more than 600px wide and please follow the guidelines in our Plagiarism and Crediting Sources section. Also, you’re encouraged to use examples from your own work to illustrate your points when relevant.
  4. When packaging your tutorial place all the images in the same folder as the HTML before sending.
  5. While some topics may require more length, aiming for 800 to 1200 words is a good range for article size.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Quick Tips

Quick tips are 3-5 minute screencasts, short articles, or short 6-10 step tutorials on how to do something simple, quick, but useful. There are lots of little tips, tricks and techniques that are too small for a long format tutorial, but would still be useful and beneficial to the design community.

We post numerous quick tips each week, and pay $50 USD as the base rate for these.

Quick Tip: Short Written Tutorials

See our Written Tutorials section for information on putting together a written tutorial. Quick Tip tutorials are similar, except these are shorter and more focused (6-10 steps). Here is an example:

Quick Tip: Screencast/Videos

See our Video (Screencast) Tutorials section for information on putting together a video/screencast tutorial. Quick Tip screencasts are similar, except these are shorter and more focused (3-5 minutes). Here is an example:

Quick Tip: Articles

See our Articles section for information on putting together written articles. Quick Tip articles are similar, except these are shorter and more focused (around 500 words). Here is an example:

Submit Quick Tips

You can send in for review a single JPG image, and a short paragraph quick tip pitch, prior to writing or recording your quick tip. You can do this by following this link: Vectortuts+ Preview Submission Form or final content can be submitted here Vectortuts+ Preview Submission Form.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Premium Content

Artists can earn more by submitting Premium content. In addition to our regular site, we also offer Premium tutorials for our premium members. These are generally advanced tutorials. They are an opportunity for members to learn how to create stunning, complex art from master designers.

If you have a fantastic in depth written or screencast tutorial idea feel free to send us your idea. Note that we pay more for these and are happy to negotiate the payment amount. Feel free to pitch a concept using the forms below.

Formatting Premium Tutorials

If your Premium Tutorial is written, then review the Written Tutorials section above for formatting information. If you Premium Tutorial is a video, then review the Video (Screencast) Tutorials section above for formatting information. We will send you additional formatting information upon concept acceptance as well.

Submit Content to Vectortuts+

To pitch us a content concept for review or to send final content for editing you can use our forms found here: Submitting Content to Vectortuts+.

Important Information

Read and understand this important information prior to sending final content for the Vectortuts+ editing team to review for publication.

Vectortuts+ Style Guide

For style, spelling, grammar, etc., the Chicago Manual of Style and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary are used, with the following customizations for Envato based on the conventions used in the Illustrator help documents.

Summary

  1. AI Menus and Palettes – Prefer capitalization to any kind of formatting (bold, italics; em, strong, b tags, etc.), as it will probably be removed later by the editors.
  2. Italicize – (1) Use if you are referring to a word as a word or letter as a letter (see Summary item #4 for an example). (2) If you want to emphasize a word.
  3. Spelling – Use American spellings if you can. This is something we’ll correct for you, however, so don’t worry if you’re not familiar with the conventions of American grammar and spelling.
  4. Keyboard Shortcuts – Use a + between commands but a hyphen if using the word click, as in Ctrl-click. Shortcuts should be spelled as they are written on your keyboard keys.
  5. Remember, only ONE space after a period.

See the full style guide below for a couple more items and examples of the above items.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  1. Keyboard shortcuts are capitalized and spelled Shift, Command, Alt, Enter, Ctrl.
  2. Use the + key to separate shortcut commands but a hyphen with the word click.
  3. Capitalize the keyboard letters you refer to.

Examples:

  • “Now press Command + Shift + I to inverse your selection.”
  • “Command-click the handle layer to select its pixels, go to Select > Modify > Expand, and use a value of 1px. Then in a layer below the handle layer, fill your selection with white. Then press Command + D to deselect and then press the right arrow twice to move it to the right. This is just to give our handle a bit of a thin white highlight.

Illustrator Menus, Palettes, and File Paths

  1. ONLY capitalize (no bold, italics or other emphasis) when you’re speaking directly about the AI menu/palette settings, but lowercase if you’re speaking generally: Opacity/opacity.
  2. Put the keyboard shortcut in parentheses following the capitalized menu/palette name: Pen Tool (P).

Examples:

  • “We’re using two types of Inner Shadow (one using Inner Shadow and one using Inner Glow). Also we have a subtle Gradient Overlay and a Drop Shadow and a bit of Satin. I’ve chosen these to try to make the object look 3D by using shadows at the edges curving away and a radial gradient to make it look like light is hitting the middle. The satin is just to add a bit of extra something!”
  • “Choose File > Automate > Crop and Straighten Photos.”

Capitalization

DO capitalize:

  1. Illustrator, and acronyms like CSS, OK, PSD, AI
  2. Web, Web site, Internet
  3. Font names

DON’T capitalize:

  1. Colors
  2. The word e-mail.

Numbers

  1. Spell out numbers from one to ten.
  2. Use numerals for all AI settings and instructions.

Examples:

  • “Draw a 10px stroke around your figure.”
  • “In fact, there are three gradients drawn in and three 1-pixel lines used.”

Discussing Type: Speaking of Words and Letters

When you’re referring to a word or letter as a word or letter, use italics rather than bold or other emphasis.

  • “Draw a big L-shape in the top left. Then write the word love.“

Naming Layers and Files

  1. Use double quotes, not single quotes for layer names.
  2. Capitalization is up to you.
  3. Periods go inside the quote marks.

Examples:

  • Name this layer “Smoke.”

Plagiarism and Crediting Sources

There are a few issues to we wary of when writing tutorials and putting together content.

Credit All Sources and Use Common Sense

Always credit your sources. When you credit your sources, it’s clear that you aren’t trying to hide something. For tutorial submissions it also lets our editors check that the tutorial is acceptable.

Use common sense and Err to the side of caution. There are no hard and fast rules about copyright. Beware of “rules” like ‘copying 40% is OK’, there’s no such thing. And remember that even aside from exact words or images, it can be the idea or principle. If you think something might not be OK, then trust your gut and don’t do it.

Photography and Source Images

Some tutorials make use of photos for their effects. There are a few things you need to know in this regard:

  • DO NOT use images from Google Image search or simply taken from a website
  • DO NOT use images from Flickr UNLESS they have a Creative Commons License for Commercial Use. In this case you must provide an attribution link back to the Flickr page you found the image on. Note you can find CC Commercial images on Flickr using their Advanced Search feature.
  • DO use images you photographed yourself
  • DO use images from free stock sites like SXC.hu and StockVault.net, BUT make sure you check the agreement for use in files for distribution. Sometimes you need to ask permission from the photographer. We need this because if the image is included in the sample file, we can’t distribute it unless you have permission.
  • IF YOU USE images from a stock site like iStockPhoto, Dreamstime, or other THEN you are free to use the images in your screenshots, but in the source files you need to use a watermark over the image as they do in the previews on their sites. In other words you can purchase a stock image to use, but in the sample file you can’t be distributing the whole image (because the photographer isn’t receiving a royalty from the sale of files).

Please include links to the source of any images you have used in your tutorial wherever it has been used. If you do not include your image sources your tutorial will not be accepted, because we need to verify that the file is OK.

Thank you for taking the time to make sure the photos are OK, it helps protect the site, the photographer and yourself!

Vectortuts+ Author/Artist Agreement

If Your Tutorial or Content is Accepted

  • The author can use tutorial/content graphics in any commercial or non-commercial work, except in an online tutorial, and source files and artwork cannot be resold or redistributed elsewhere.
  • You grant a license to readers to use the knowledge and demonstrated effects shown in the tutorial/content in their own projects without reference to yourself, Envato, Tuts+, or this site. They may not reproduce the tutorial itself, but they can use the techniques you teach.
  • You grant a license to Envato to be the exclusive publisher of the tutorial/content online. You may republish extracts online – for example on your own site – however the tutorial in its entirety should not appear elsewhere. You may also republish the tutorial offline in any way you wish – e.g. sell it to a magazine, submit it to a book. However, source files and artwork may not be redistributed elsewhere.
  • You consent to the full tutorial, content, extracts, samples or examples from it appearing in other Envato sites, products and services.