Illustrator Crash Course

Workshop #1: Down & Dirty with Adobe Creative Suite

1 Photoshop

2Illustrator

3InDesign

Monday, December 12, 2011

Illustrator’s primary purpose is to draw and manipulate vector-based shapes.

In a raster-based program, this circle is made up of

thousands of pixels.

In a vector-based program, this circle is made up of a center point

and four outer points connected by edge lines.

IllustratorInterface




For example, you can easily enhance a drawing with different fills and strokes.




Illustrator is also great for creating illustrations, diagrams, and charts.



object fill color& stroke color2

tools that cover most Illustratorcapabilities

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basic propertiesof currently selected objects

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drawing area

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layers panel

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artboard(current print

page size)7

menus for object properties

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To Zoom In To Zoom Out To Move Around

CTRL +(PC)

CTRL -(PC)

Hold down theSpacebar.

Click & Drag.⌘ +(MAC)

⌘ -(MAC)


IllustratorSelecting Objects

1. Use the Selection Tool (V) to select objects in the drawing area.

2. In the Layers panel, find the buildings layer and delete the Clipping Mask.

3. Right click on the buildings in the drawing area and Ungroup.

Selection Tool

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IllustratorSelecting Objects

1. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select parts of objects (Anchors / Paths).

2. Click on the corner or side of a building to adjust the shape.

Direct Selection Tool

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IllustratorStyling Objects

1. Click on a building. Select > Same > Fill & Stroke to select all the same type of object.

3. Align Stroke to Inside of the objects.

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2. In the Stroke Menu, adjust the line Weight to 1 pt.

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StrokeMenu

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IllustratorDrawing Objects

1. Using the Rectangle Tool, draw a few shapes on top of a building.

3. Select Color in the gradient field to change the object fill.

2. Double-click on the object Fill to bring up the Color Picker.

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RectangleTool

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IllustratorDrawing Objects

1. In the Layers Menu, Create New Layer.

3. Using the Ellipse Tool, draw several circles by the park.

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2. Double-click on the layer to bring up Layer Options. Rename the layer to “trees.”

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EllipseTool

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TIP: Hold Shift while drawing to create objects with equal aspect ratios.

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IllustratorTransparency

1. Select all your trees by clicking on the radio button on that layer.

3. In the Transparency Menu, change the object transparency to Multiply.

2. Using the Eyedropper Tool, click on the green space to make your trees the same color.

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1EyedropperTool

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IllustratorDuplication

1. Copy (CTRL+C) and Paste (CTRL+V) to create more trees, or by clicking and dragging while holding Alt.

3. Using the Rotate Tool (R), click and drag around the axis point to rotate the new trees.

2. Scale the new trees down by holding Shift and dragging in / out the corners of the bounding box.

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RotateTool

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IllustratorDrawing Lines

1. Using the Pen Tool, create a line: click once to create the first Anchor Point. Click again to create a second Anchor Point.

2. Remove Fill by clicking None on the Tool Panel. Change the Stroke color to red.

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PenTool

3. In the Stroke Menu, add Arrowheads and click the Dashed Line box.

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IllustratorDrawing Lines

1. Using the Pen Tool, create another line. BUT, this time, when you draw the second Anchor point, click-hold-drag to create a curve.

2. You can manipulate the curve by playing with the Handles of the Anchor point.

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Add Anchor PointTool

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3. Create more anchor points on an existing line using the Add Anchor Point Tool.

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IllustratorUsing Guides

1. CTRL+R (Command+R in Mac) adds the Rulers to your window.

2. Click and drag down from the top Ruler to the new Anchor point on the line to create a horizontal Guide.

ScissorsTool

3. Using the Scissors Tool, cut the first line where it intersects with the Guide.

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Rulers


IllustratorAdding Text

2. Use the Line Tool to create a short line pointing up. Add an Arrowhead.

1. Lock all other layers by click-dragging down the Toggles Lock boxes in the Layer Menu.

TextTool

3. Using the Text Tool, draw a textbox. Inside, type “N” for north.

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LineTool

4. Using the options on the Properties bar, change text Size and Font.

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IllustratorSaving

1. File > Save As... > Format2. Checking Preserve Illustrator Capabilities will allow you to reopen the file in Illustrator.


Illustrator Crash Course

Design

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