Online, free or low cost, high quality course in Adobe Illustrator CS6?

I've never worked with Illustrator before so please consider this as well. I'm wanting to learn graphic design for logos and websites as a hobby, and I'm looking for any courses that someone can recommend as I have no knowledge of what's reputable out there. Other than the description in the title, is also like it to be available to start at any time as well.

Any other suggestions are welcome as well. Thanks.

 

I'm looking at maybe subscribing at lynda.com. Does anyone have any familiarity with them? If I'm going to pay I would prefer a cheap recurring subscription. I just wonder about its quality of instruction.

 

I remember that I liked lynda.com several years ago when I was earning my degree in visual communication. I don't know how much experience you already have, but the Non-Designers books by Robin Williams are really quick reads with lots of useful, fundamental design info. Sometimes I still pull them out when I want a quick refresher. I know that this is a distance education forum, but if you decide that you love design, I'd recommend at some point taking a few in-person classes at a local school, simply because it is so much fun, both the work and the comradery with the other students and the professors. I'm glad that the first college I enrolled in for graphic design ended up canceling their distance education program, forcing me to finish my degree in-person at a local no-name college because photography, typography, and drawing were some of the most enjoyable classes I've ever taken in college.

 

Oh, hey, I just remembered, along with lynda.com, some of the Adobe "Classroom in a Book" sets were pretty helpful for learning software, too. They're inexpensive compared to the cost of a class.

 

Thank you Michelle, I might give them a try. For $25, If I don't like them it isn't that much lost. They seem to have pretty decent instructors too.

 

I've used Lynda.com for years, and for many topics. When I read the title of this post I thought "That's what Lynda.com is for". The quality in some courses is better than some online college classes, though you will not have any exams or follow up. It's truly a didactic experience.