Happy Monday to you, Springleap lover, wherever on Planet Earth you are! This is a big week for every nation on this spinning blue ball in space - it's the week in which every country scratches its head and wonders 'Are our guys up to the task? Have they trained enough? Will they bring home the medal bacon?' With only 4 days to go till the big opening ceremony, spirits are high and the host city London is buzzing! The Olympic Flame has made its way across the world, and the final preparations are underway for 16 days of record-breaking achievements and fierce competition! 

In the spirit of the Olympics, here at the The Leap we're bringing you some Olympic-themed suggestions on where to find the best design and illustration tutorials. Among these are some that are worthy of gold medallist designers, and others that are more aimed at intermediary and up-and-coming competitors. But whichever you choose to check out, remember - just as in the Olympics, practice makes perfect! 

First up: Chris Spooner's fantastic tutorial bank over on his Spoon Graphics blog, which features 50 Illustrator tutorials every designer should see. Among them are some of the best introductions to basic vector drawing, through to advanced tricks of the trade. Love your vectors? Wanna make them world-class? Click on over to Spoon Graphics and vectorise your work into next week!

Next up: the awesome Vector Tuts, where pro's and amateurs get great tips on polishing their work. Among the tutorial available is this Olympic-themed gem: how to create a running track in vector, in mere minutes!  There are other sporting-themed tutorials, such as how to create a medal, or a trophy, but the real prizes on Vector Tuts are the Critiques, where a designer submits their work and offers it up for critique. These awesome sessions are open to anyone, you just have to sign up, so take a look! 

We couldn't sign off on our blogpost for today without bringing you a video tutorial, and what better way to kick off than in Olympic style, with a step-by-step guide on how to create the Olympic rings? Clickety clack, don't hold back!