Maybe Vector Graphics just has a steep curve

As slow as my start with Adobe illustrator was, I can really see how you can master the thing. The horizon is so close. It's just a different set of concepts, a different tool kit. Going from Raster to Vector is like moving from building mud huts to learning how to use power tools to build McMansions, once you've got the hang of it and you start to use the tools correctly, suddenly the whole project just explodes in scope and possibilities.

Like with so many artistic mediums I would suggest that success relies heavily on planning and tool comprehension. I always like to bring up the "ceramics example". When ever you make something from clay, you start by "setting the masses". That means that you have to start by giving your self enough clay to work with in each part that you are planning to carve. That same principal goes for Metalurgy and carpentry. That concept translates pretty well to CGI, as I will explain later, you should always start by creating the basic shapes that make up a 3d model. Once you have your "blobby" figure, you can manipulate individual vertices or NURBS to get to your final product. Finally, knowing your tools really informs what you can do to the primitive forms that you are working on.

In vector graphics you have the freedom to draw out or form something free hand, but again your final project will always be improved by planning using primitive forms.

Besides this silly artistic principal, the biggest thing that I found was that the more work that I put into a vector graphic, the worse that it got. Seriously, it's like every "improvement" just slowly works towards forming what ever good thing that you had further and further into a turd. I made ten logos, and the best ones were the simplest.

Take this logo for example. I have this goal to make a logo and custom font for use in a Zine that I'm working on. I spent hours and hours on this silly thing. Frankly, it's horrible. Way too involved, gross, boring, confusing. I'll need to re-approach it with the plain simplicity of some of my other attempts like these:

That last logo took just about ten minutes. I tried to "improve it, I spent a couple of hours trying to find a better more involved process, but every time it just got worse. It was like I could hear the art critic telling me "please stop helping". In the end I chose that logo, the "ARC", as my final submission for class. There was a close second in this one:

I formed the first word completely free-hand. The second word is an adjusted version of the "MOLOT" font from font squirrel. I wanted motion, and I was trying to reference electrical diagrams as well as eighties hair metal. I think that I can do better, but the core of the logo is definitely there. Maybe if I can figure out how to turn the "Electro" in to a paint brush stroke, and I switch out the Molot font for  something a little more.... Tron. Anyway, the Arc logo was complete. Simple. This project really taught me a lot about what is possible in the realm of vector graphics.