oddhour:

The Dummies’ Guide to Illustrator

This is a tutorial I wrote back in high school intended for total Illustrator newbies coming into our newspaper staff. It tells you everything practical a newbie should know, with none of the fluff and fancy-schmancy tricks you don’t really want anyway. Download a pdf version here.

— Links from the tutorial and more —

Pen Tool Guides:

• Pen tool exercises 
• A guide to the pen tool
• Another guide to the pen tool (Photoshop)

VectorTuts’ Beginner Tutorials:

• A guide to the blend tool 
• A guide to pathfinder (more indepth)
• A guide to brushes
• A guide to type
• All about transforming

Simple designs to practice:

• 4 simple shapes in Illustrator
• More Simple Shapes
• Practice basic skills by drawing a ninja