Special thanks to Ainsley Bevis for sending in this great Adobe Illustrator tutorial! She covers a number of good techniques good for beginner to intermediate Illustrator users. Ainsley is from BloomWebDesign.net ... and writes . . .
In this tutorial, I'll teach you how to design vector illustrations of Art Equipment in Adobe Illustrator. You can see the finished piece in this enlargement
Paint Brush
1. In Illustrator create a new document that's 500 X 600. With the pen tool create a shape like the handle of the brush (#1 below) using the color #ed1c24.
creating the brush
2. Next using the pen tool and color #3f3c36 draw a brush shape for the bristles of the brush. (#2 above)
3. Draw a paint shape on the brush with the pen tool and color #ffce00. (#3 above)
Add two details to the bristles
4. Bristle Details: Next, add two shades of bristle details to the brush. Use the color #262521 draw some bristles with the pen tool.
5. Draw smaller bristles again using the color #060909.
6. Highlighting the Paint: Draw two different shades of paint highlights with the pen tool using the color #f7e98b, and
7. Draw some more darker shades on the paint using the colors #f9f0c7 and #eac324.
http://www.graphic-design.com/photoshop/tutorial/illustrator-drawing-art-tools