Adobe Course
Illustrator Basics

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful and versatile tool for creating illustrations for the print and Web. By tapping the power of vector software, you can produce detailed and scalable art for almost any application.

In this 6-lesson course, you'll build a solid foundation in Adobe Illustrator, learning from a master teacher. You'll start with a tour of important menus, tools, and palettes, then explore selection tools, drawing tools, layers, the pen tool (a lesson unto itself) as well as transformations/ distortions, type tools, and modifying paths and shapes. You'll never call Illustrator help again.

Hands-on class projects will include a robot, a CD cover, photorealistic art, a postcard, a bus ad, and a visual identity. You'll be surprised how quickly you begin to master this challenging but rewarding software application.

Michael Hamm is a freelance designer, Web developer, and creator of Points&Paths.com, a Web site devoted to all things vector ... get bio

Work efficiently in the Adobe Illustrator environment with various modes, palettes, and settings.

Use the full range of shape drawing and freehand drawing tools to build illustrations.

Apply fill and stroke colors to objects created with the drawing tools.

Develop attractive illustrations using advanced selection, organization, and drawing tools.

Accurately trace the contours of an image using the Pen tool and its associated features.

Use the full range of transformation and distortion tools to accurately modify objects’ shapes.

Use the various type tools, and apply wrap, flow, shape, and path modifications to typography.

Design an advertisement using appropriate typography, drawing tools, and a clipping mask to contain the art within a shape.

Align multiple objects with the Align palette and create complex shapes from simple objects with the Pathfinder palette.

Design a logo using the appropriate tools and features covered throughout the course.

Outline:

LESSON 1 Getting to Know Illustrator Lesson One unpacks all the goodies in the Illustrator toolkit. You'll learn how to create and save files, access basic palettes and drawing tools, manage your workspace, and select colors with CS3's new Live Color feature. An overview of selecting shapes, creating fill colors and stroke outlines, and working with different views and magnification sets up for your first project, in which you design your own robot.

LESSON 2 Selecting, Organizing, and Painting True Illustrator mastery comes from the ability to quickly select and manipulate any detail in your artwork. Lesson Two equips you for this task with a focus on direct selection, anchor points, pasting, and grouping. You'll learn how to use drawing aids such as the ruler, guides, and smart guides. Drawing tools including the paintbrush, pencil, smooth, and eraser tools are explored along with the handy Live Paint feature. The lesson culminates with tips on how to organize your work in layers and create templates. A CD cover project gives you the chance to apply this knowledge.

LESSON 3 Of Path and Pen Tools Lesson Three tackles the mighty Pen tool, a daunting learning curve for most Illustrator users (no pun intended). You'll learn how to draw all types of paths, straight or curved, open or closed, adding and manipulating anchor points to create specific effects. You'll learn tips and techniques for smooth curves, including using the Convert Anchor Point tool. Cutting and carving tools such as scissors and knife tools are also explored to give you in flexibility in editing and creating detail in your designs. In the exercise, you'll create an illustration based on a photographic image

LESSON 4 Transformations and Distortions Transformation tools give you the ability to rotate, reflect, and twist your artwork, reconfiguring or expanding a motif and moving elements around the artboard at will. Lesson Four explores a variety of tools for transforming and distorting your designs. We'll discuss how to transform, scale, shear, and reshape your artwork—or even liquify it! The class project is a promotion for a petting zoo.

LESSON 5 Type Tools Sooner or later, most of your designs will incorporate the written word. Lesson Five gives you a grounding in the tools that make Illustrator a great text layout application. You'll explore the Type tool, learning how to create text boxes, resize type, wrap text around images, create vertical columns or fill shapes with text, adjust leading and kerning, and make your type follow paths. Just watch it go! You'll also learn to use styles to help automate your text formatting in large documents. In the exercise, you'll design the type for a bus ad.

LESSON 6 Modifying and Combining Paths/Shapes How's your alignment? In Illustrator, alignment tools are key to adding a final gloss and polish to your compositions. Lesson Six kicks off with an exploration of how to arrange objects and anchor points on your artboard, grouping and spacing elements. Different options in the all-powerful Pathfinder palette are discussed as a means of creating new shapes out of existing lines and objects. And a final discussion of modifying and combining paths and shapes leaves you with options to edit and shape any aspect of your artwork. The final project is a visual identity design that integrates everything you've learned in the course.

Tuition: $829 US