A complete, beginner friendly course that teaches you Adobe Illustrator specifically for laser cutting and engraving. Stop hunting for someone else's files and start creating your own.
If you own a laser, you already know the frustration. The file you picture in your head almost never exists the way you want it.
Files you can't fix. You buy a design and open it to a tangle of stray anchor points and rogue lines. Somewhere in the cleanup it hits you: if you knew how to build it yourself, you'd have saved the time and the money.
The same design as everyone else. When everybody is selling the same handful of files, you either blend into a sea of identical products or get dragged into competing on price. Neither is where you want to be.
Ideas with nowhere to go. You've got a head full of designs you'd love to make, the ones that would actually set you apart, but they stay stuck there because you don't yet know how to bring them to life.
This course changes that. Instead of leaning on what's already out there, you'll learn to open a blank artboard and build exactly what you picture, clean and cut ready from the very first line.
We start from the very beginning and build your toolkit one piece at a time, across more than 50 videos and exercises and over 10 hours of instruction. By the end, you'll be comfortable navigating Illustrator and confident setting up files that are ready to cut.
A standalone read to get everyone on the same page before module one.
Create a new file, learn your way around Illustrator, and standardize your setup so it matches mine as we go.
The heart of the course: shapes, smart guides, colors and RGB codes, saving, groups and layers, text, and the align, transform, and arrange properties.
A real deep dive into the Pen tool across several lessons, plus the Pencil, Paintbrush, Blob Brush, and Smooth tools.
The Pathfinder tools and the Shape Builder tool, where simple shapes start turning into real designs.
Live Paint, Image Trace, and the Repeat, Radial, Mirror, and Objects on Path features.
Every tool is tied back to laser cutting, so you always know why it matters for your machine and not just what it does.
After week 6, all seven projects unlock for you to work through at your own pace, each one built to put everything from the lessons and exercises to work. From a dog portrait to building a box, they push you to put those keyboard shortcuts to use, with smaller mini projects woven into your weekly exercises along the way.
Over 10 hours of instruction. Every module and every lesson, available to you for life.
Live every Wednesday at 4 pm Eastern to review that week's exercise. Can't make it? Every live is saved and added to the course.
A members only Facebook group to ask questions, share your work, and get unstuck. If you're wondering something, someone else probably is too.
The course comes with Illustrator templates, workbooks to follow along, and transcripts, so you've got real resources to work with, not just videos to watch.
Plus the mini projects woven through your weekly exercises.
Learn on your schedule, revisit anything, and come back as often as you like.
You own a laser (Aeon, Thunder, xTool, Trotec, Epilog, and others all welcome) and want to design your own files instead of buying or settling for someone else's.
You're brand new to Adobe Illustrator, or you've poked around but never felt like you really knew what you were doing.
You want a clear, start to finish path rather than scattered videos that assume you already know the basics.
You do not need any design experience to start. You just need your laser, a subscription to Adobe Illustrator, and the willingness to learn.
“This clock is my first real me piece. From start to finish. And I am proud of it!! I would not have been able to do it without this course.”
I began laser crafting as a hobby. It actually morphed from a Cricut hobby. I work long hours running a family business and have always needed something to keep me occupied and distracted from it after hours. After finding Robin’s website and files, I finally felt I found something that spoke to me. To how I wanted to create. And finally being able to learn how to do it has been terrific. This clock is my first real me piece. From start to finish. And I am proud of it!! I would not have been able to do it without this course. I sell my pieces at a local consignment shop and I am so excited to be able to start selling things I designed! This course and the literature (print the workbooks!) are the down to earth lessons I needed to be able to tackle new software and designing techniques. Thank you Robin!!
“I gained the confidence to truly understand what I was doing instead of simply following along. I now have the skills and confidence to move forward creating original designs that are entirely my own.”
Welcome Home Custom’s Designing for Lasers course has completely levelled up the way I design for my business. It gave me a true understanding of Adobe Illustrator and LightBurn, and how to use them together to create laser-ready files. By giving us the tools to create our own projects within the tutorials, I gained the confidence to truly understand what I was doing instead of simply following along. I now have the skills and confidence to move forward creating original designs that are entirely my own.
“The projects that are included are so fun and are a great variety that really help reinforce the skills learned in the course lessons.”
The Designing for Lasers course is everything I hoped it would be and more! I’ll admit that I was intimidated…I have had an Adobe Illustrator subscription for a few years and I got overwhelmed every time I tried to teach myself how to use it effectively. I love that this course lets me watch a video tutorial and have a printed reference document with screenshots and step by step instructions. Everything is self-paced so when life gets busy I can come back to the course later and have time to focus on it. The projects that are included are so fun and are a great variety that really help reinforce the skills learned in the course lessons. I have so many ideas in my head and I can’t wait to bring them to life through learning the skills Robin teaches in the Designing for Lasers course!
“Her style of teaching made the lights go off and for the first time in years I actually understand Illustrator (and just may be enjoying it also).”
I cursed Illustrator for years despite watching videos, took a mini course at the college and tried to self teach. One day this amazing designer said try my course. I trusted her and thought what do I have to lose (well more of my sanity). However I signed up knowing I would fail but her style of teaching made the lights go off and for the first time in years I actually understand Illustrator (and just may be enjoying it also).
“I KNOW that designing was my weakest link and now I feel empowered to take on projects that were a hard NO before this class.”
I can’t say enough about this class. I KNOW that designing was my weakest link and now I feel empowered to take on projects that were a hard NO before this class. I’m not an expert and don’t expect myself to be yet, but boy am I learning. That’s the real key. I think it might be the smartest money I’ve spent since I started playing with my first Glowforge, 7 years ago. Thank you Robin, for creating this opportunity for all of us!
“Learning how to break a photo down into layers and shapes in Illustrator, then bringing it to life in wood, completely changed how I think about design. It is a whole different way of seeing a picture.”
I have been admiring Robin’s work for years. The way she brings wood pieces to life is amazing. I told her a long time ago if she ever taught this technique, I would be front and center!!!!
Well she finally did it and I signed up so fast.
Learning how to break a photo down into layers and shapes in Illustrator, then bringing it to life in wood, completely changed how I think about design. It is a whole different way of seeing a picture.
Robin, thank you for being generous enough to teach what you know. This skill is going to open up so much for my shop and I am just getting started.
If you have been wanting to learn something new in this space, go find the person who does it best and ask them to teach you. That is exactly what I did.
I've been designing for the laser community since 2020, and my work has a look people recognize. I'm known for mixing woods, paying close attention to grain direction, and building complex, intarsia inspired designs where every piece is chosen to fit. It's the difference between a flat cut out and something that feels crafted.
That style is the whole reason I built this course. Designs like that don't come from a free file or a lucky download. They come from knowing how to build clean, intentional files in Adobe Illustrator, piece by piece. I've sold hundreds of thousands of cut files to makers around the world, and my work has been featured in laser publications and by major laser manufacturers.
I run a small team out of my warehouse here in Ohio, and we design and test our work every day, so when I teach you something, it's because we actually do it. And it all starts the same place yours will, with a blank artboard. I built this course to hand you that skill directly, so you can stop relying on other people's files and start making exactly what you imagine.
Enrollment is closed right now. Add your email and you'll be the first to know the moment it opens. No spam, just one note from me when it's time.
More than okay. We start at the very beginning and build up, so you're never expected to already know something we haven't covered.
No. I won't be teaching you how to draw. I'll be teaching you how to turn an idea into a proper laser file in Adobe Illustrator, using shapes, reference photos, and the right tools to build it. You bring the vision, and the course gives you the skills to construct it correctly for your machine.
Yes. This isn't a how to run your laser course. I'm assuming you already know your way around your machine and have a basic handle on sending and cutting a file. What this course gives you is the piece that comes before that: designing the file itself, set up correctly so it's ready to cut when you are.
Yes. The course teaches Illustrator specifically, so you'll want an active subscription to follow along. Everything we do is designed to work in current versions.
Yes. I work across different laser brands and the major vector programs, so I know how Illustrator behaves compared to the others. The real difference usually comes down to file format and how you save, and that's exactly what you'll learn to handle here.
Both. Keyboard shortcuts are given for Mac and Windows side by side throughout the course.
No problem at all. Every Wednesday live is recorded and added to the course for you to watch anytime.
For life. Buy once, and the course and all future updates are yours to keep.
The course opens to new students every so often rather than year round. The best way to catch the next opening is the waitlist above. The moment the doors open, you'll be the first to hear from me.
