Introduction to Illustrator CS6

About This Course

If you want to get a job as a graphic artist, you need to learn Adobe Illustrator. In this course, you'll see how Adobe Illustrator CS6 can give you the power to design, draw, and color images quickly and easily.

From drawing objects with the shape tools to mastering the all-important Pen tool to working with shape gradients, you'll gain the techniques you need to produce stunning vector graphics. You'll learn to apply and work with color, create shading effects and painterly brushstrokes, and add special effects such as 3D to your drawings that will set your work apart. You can also easily move designs back and forth between Photoshop and Illustrator to take advantage of the strengths of both programs.

Each lesson contains an assignment that challenges both your creativity and your growing skill with the program. The course is designed to let you work at your own level, whether you're just getting started with Illustrator or looking to refresh your Illustrator skills. Come experience the fun of Adobe Illustrator!

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, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Her fiber 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. She is also a two-time nominee for the Photoshop Hall of Fame.

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

Even if you're an absolute beginner, you'll feel right at home after we spend this first lesson touring Adobe Illustrator CS6's work area, toolbox, and panels. We'll jump right into some of Illustrator's fun features by auto-tracing a drawing, turning parts of it into a Live Paint Object (think of a digital coloring book), and recoloring it. As you meet each new feature, you'll learn more about what it is and what it does.

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 illustrations.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

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

Friday - Lesson 04

Illustrator's magic comes from the anchor points that control all the shapes in an image. Today you'll learn to alter the anchor points on geometric objects and previously created shapes, so you can mold the results into something new.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

The Pen tool is the basic instrument for creating vector art, and today you'll learn to use it. You already know what corner points and smooth points are and how to edit them; now you'll learn how to create them with the Pen tool as you trace over a template. You can do all your editing with the Pen tool once you understand its features . . . and you'll discover all the tricks today.

Friday - Lesson 06

Now that you know how to trace and flip symmetrical objects, it's time to try your new skills with more challenging images. Not all images are symmetrical, and not all images consist of only one object. You need to learn how to trace multiple objects in one image and manage the Layers panel as you lock and unlock layers. You'll also learn a suggested workflow for tracing and simplifying photographic content in Illustrator.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

The Appearance panel is your central monitoring station for making changes to fills, strokes, and effects. Today you'll learn to create strokes that look hand-drawn or have varying widths—even when you're using a mouse. You'll apply multiple strokes and fills to objects and create Illustrator effects that you can change at any time.

Friday - Lesson 08

Gradients are Illustrator's version of an airbrush that can lay down smooth blends of color. You can use gradients on objects (shapes) for backgrounds or for shading. Once you know how to create your own gradients, you can add realism to any image.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

One of the key problems for Illustrator users is getting realistic shading into vector objects. The Gradient tool helps, but it has limitations. In the lesson, you'll create realistic blends, use a gradient mesh, and use gradients on strokes rather than on objects to create some amazing effects.

Friday - Lesson 10

Did you know that you can change any set of objects (even an embedded raster image) into a symbol? And 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. Today you'll create stroke gradient curls to finish the work from Lesson 9, which will show you how turning the object into a symbol can speed up Illustrator's performance. You'll also use symbols to decorate 3-D objects.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Patterns are everywhere you look—from the tissue box on your desk to your favorite flannel pj's. And Illustrator CS6's pattern design engine is its most exciting new feature. Now Illustrator makes it easy to create complex patterns without detailed knowledge of pattern design. And even more important—it's incredibly fun! Just like when you're eating peanuts, you won't want to stop. You'll continue the fun by using the patterns as the basis for pattern brushes.

Friday - Lesson 12

What font would you 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.

Requirements

Adobe Illustrator CS6 for Windows or Adobe Illustrator CS6 for Macintosh (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins); Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP; Mac OSX; 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).