Introduction to Illustrator CS4

About This Course

If you’re planning a career as a graphic artist, mastering Adobe Illustrator is a must. In this course, you’ll see how easy it is to create amazing art using this powerful software tool.

Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for creating vector images—graphics you can resize to fit on anything from a dome to a billboard. And if you think of vector graphics as hard-edged and sharp, think again—because you can now create stunning blends and shading effects.

In addition, Illustrator is the program of choice for drawing logos and designing type effects. It’s also an outstanding companion tool to Adobe Photoshop, and it’s perfect for creating graphics for Flash sites.

In this course, you’ll learn how to use a wide range of tools in Adobe Illustrator CS4. For instance, you’ll explore the enhanced Recolor Artwork feature, which helps you choose a harmonious color scheme for your image and completely alter the color palette of any image without individually selecting each object. You’ll also see how the redesigned Gradient tool makes it easier to adjust colors directly on an image.

In addition, you’ll learn how to draw and trace with the Pen tool and how to fine-tune the contours of any line. You'll also discover how to work with color, use shortcuts for applying color to images, and add special effects such as 3D to your drawings.

This course is designed to let you work at your own level, whether you're just starting out or looking to refresh your Illustrator skills. By the end of these lessons, you’ll be a master at using this elegant tool to further your career and express your own creativity.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Sherry London.

Sherry London is a noted Photoshop and Illustrator expert, fiber artist, writer, and teacher. Her art has been featured in magazines and exhibitions. Her published works include Photoshop CS2 Gone Wild, Photoshop Magic, Photoshop Effects Magic, Photoshop In Depth, Photoshop Textures Magic, and Illustrator f/x and Design. She wrote the Tips and Tricks column for Photoshop User magazine for many years and is a two-time nominee to the Photoshop Hall of Fame.She has taught for the prestigious Thunder Lizard Photoshop Conference and the Professional Photographers of America seminars, as well as for Drexel University, Moore College of Art, and Gloucester County College. Sherry holds a Master's Degree in Information Systems and has taken doctoral level courses in curriculum design.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

If you're an absolute beginner, you'll feel right at home after we spend this first lesson touring Adobe Illustrator CS4's work area, toolbox, and panels. The first thing you'll learn is how to arrange the panels to best suit the way you work. Then we'll jump right into using some of Illustrator's fun features by auto-tracing a drawing, turning it into a Live Paint Object (think of a digital coloring book), and recoloring it.

Friday - Lesson 02

Today you'll discover Illustrator's Shape tools, which are the first step on your gentle journey toward using the all-important Pen tool. Get ready to draw shapes and combine them to form other shapes and more complex illustrations.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Now that you've learned how to create shapes, it's time to cut loose and start playing with color. In today's lesson, you'll discover how to create your own colors, save them, and apply them to your vector art. You'll also learn more about the fabulous Recolor Artwork command and see how you can create and save color harmonies. After this lesson, you'll have a friend that's always there to advise you on what colors work together.

Friday - Lesson 04

Today you'll learn how to "read" an Illustrator document. If you know where to look, you'll see that an Illustrator document reveals every one of its creation secrets. Here's a secret: It all happens in the Layers panel. You'll also find out how to apply multiple strokes, fills, and effects to an object.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

You can use the Pencil tool to draw anything you wish in Illustrator, and it creates a pretty decent path. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create, smooth, and reshape a Pencil path. Be sure to check out the assignment, which lets you turn a photo of a person into an abstract or stylized vector shape.

Friday - Lesson 06

Have you ever wondered what font you would use to create type that looks like it belongs to Marilyn Monroe? Today you'll explore the basics of typography while you learn to use the Type tool. You'll discover how to fill a shape with text and how to flow text along paths and around shapes.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

The Pen tool is the basic instrument for creating vector art, and today, you've finally gotten to the lesson where we'll go over how to use it. You already know what curve and smooth points are and how to edit them, but now you'll learn how to set them with the Pen tool as you draw. You can do all of your editing with the Pen tool once you understand its features, and you'll discover all the tricks today.

Friday - Lesson 08

Now that you know a few of the basics of typography and have mastered the Pen tool, you'll learn how to dress up your text and objects with gradients and effects. You'll begin this lesson by learning how to create beautiful color gradients in the Gradient palette. Then you'll explore some of the gradient libraries, which are collections of delicious preset gradients.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

You may wonder what's left to learn about Illustrator at this point, but in reality, we've only just begun. Today, we'll explore Illustrator's Brushes palette, which lets you create every manner of brush for embellishing your designs. Once you know how to apply and modify the available brushes, you'll be able to create hundreds more brushes by borrowing from Illustrator's Symbols palette. This opens up a world of opportunities.

Friday - Lesson 10

The Blend tool is just plain fun! You can use it for practical things, such as creating highlights and shadows in your drawings, but you can also use it for creating unbelievable special effects. You'll discover all the secrets in today's lesson.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

The Mesh tool scares almost as many designers as the Pen tool does. That's a shame, because you can get amazing shading and airbrush effects with this fun feature. Once you get the hang of it, the Mesh tool is easy to understand, and you'll learn all you need to get going in this lesson. First, you'll learn the anatomy of mesh objects, how to create them, and how to apply color to them. Then you'll see how you can use a mesh to create a watercolor background for a stylized piece of art.

Friday - Lesson 12

Did you know that you can change any set of objects (even an embedded raster image) into a symbol? Once you have a symbol, you can apply it to any drawing you want with a single click. This process makes your image reusable and saves storage space. We'll wrap up our course with plenty of opportunities for you to pull all your skills together and begin your own journey with Illustrator.

Requirements

Adobe Illustrator CS4 for Windows and Windows XP or Vista or Adobe Illustrator CS4 for Mac and Mac OS X; Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). Note: Illustrator software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.