How-to resources for Illustrator and Photoshop

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently started a new role that involves graphic design, mainly using Illustrator and occasionally Photoshop. I’ve been somewhat thrown in at the deep end, and these are the only tools I currently have access to (alongside Canva, which I’d prefer not to rely on), so I’m keen to build a solid foundation and improve properly.

I’ve been practicing in my spare time and understand the very basics, but I’m finding it difficult to progress in a structured way. There’s so much content out there—especially on YouTube—that it’s hard to know where to focus. I often start a tutorial, only to get stuck when something unfamiliar comes up, which then leads me down another rabbit hole before I can return to the original video.

I’ve also noticed that many tutorials lack clear explanations or voiceovers, which makes them difficult to follow as a beginner, as I don’t always understand the reasoning behind each step or how to apply what I’ve learned on my own afterward.

I’d really appreciate any recommendations for beginner-friendly learning resources—whether that’s structured courses, specific YouTube channels, books, or anything else that helped you when starting out. Ideally something that explains not just how to do things, but why.

Thanks in advance for any guidance or support on this—I’d really appreciate any help you can offer. Also, apologies if this isn’t the right forum for this kind of question, but I thought this would be a good place to ask.

Cheers,

J