Open a new document with an artboard sized for your background. I made this one for the iPad, so I used 1024×768. Open a new document and choose your artboard size. Every page must have a good background to build upon. This tutorial doesn’t cover title text or cute mole character – just the background. We are going to make the background that you see here, in the title screen for Mole Whack. The key ingredients of a good background are: Base Color + Gradient Overlay + Texture

Through trial and error and some panicked scouring of the internet for clues, I have learned the key ingredients to solid, attractive backgrounds (maybe if I’d gone to art school they would have taught me!). I’ve had to make a lot of backgrounds for our own apps as well as Ray’s tutorial projects. You might not be the Michelangelo of the digital world, but by the end of this tutorial, you will definitely be able to put together a functional, attractive background. How am I supposed to make something like that for my app? Pay close attention the the backgrounds – they don’t distract from the content, but they are not a plain color.”But those are made by professionals”, you say. Take a look at some apps you think are really attractive ( or check out this list).

Illustrator tutorials for beginners