About this Course

Adobe® Illustrator® is a sophisticated vector drawing application used to create artwork for print, web and mul¬timedia designs. In this two day instructor-led course, you will learn to use Adobe Illustrator to draw and manipulate drawn shapes to create logos and to successfully combine text and graphics to create advertisements.

Audience Profile

This course is for designers, publishers, pre-press professionals and marketing communications professionals. It is also intended for people who are switching to a design job or taking on design responsibilities and need to learn to create graphics.

At Course Completion

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will have covered the following topics:

• Get to know the workspace
• Working with panels
• Creating a custom workspace
• Using multiple artboards and multiple document
• Zooming, panning and navigating the document
• Selection techniques with the select, direct select, group select and magic wand tools
• Aligning and distributing objects
• Isolation mode
• Working with groups
• Drawing with basic shape tools
• Adding strokes and fills to paths
• Using Pathfinder Effects and Shape Modes
• Working with the Shape Builder tool
• Using Live Trace
• Precise drawing and positioning techniques
• Artboards - adding, editing, reordering and renaming
• Transforming objects - scaling, reflecting, rotating, shearing and distorting
• Using the Pen and Pencil tools to draw and edit paths
• Working with Color
• Gradient techniques
• Working with paragraph, character table and object styles
• Nesting styles

Prerequisites

Before taking this course, students should be familiar with the basic functions of their computer’s operating system such as creating folders, launching programs and working with windows. Students should also have basic Windows application skills such as copying and pasting objects, formatting text, and saving files.

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Getting to Know the Work Area

• Understanding the Workspace
• Adjusting the User Interface Brightness
• Working with Tools Panel
• Exploring the Control Panel
• Working with Panels
• Resetting and Saving your Workspace
• Using Panel Menus
• Changing the View of Artwork
• Using the View Commands
• Using the Zoom Tool
• Scrolling Through a Document
• Viewing Artwork
• Navigating Multiple Artboards
• Using the Navigator Panel
• Understanding the Rulers
• Arranging Multiple Documents
• Exploring Document Groups
• Finding Resources for Using Illustrator

Lesson 2: Selecting and Aligning

• Selecting Objects
• Using the Selection Tool
• Using the Direct selection Tool
• Creating Selections with a Marquee
• Creating Selections with the Magic Wand Tool
• Selecting Similar Objects; Aligning Objects
• Aligning Objects to Each Other
• Aligning to a Key Object
• Aligning Points
• Distributing Objects
• Aligning to the Artboard
• Working with Groups
• Grouping Items
• Working in Isolation Mode
• Adding to a Group
• Exploring Object Arrangement
• Arranging Objects
• Selecting Objects Behind
• Hiding Objects
• Applying Selections Techniques

Lesson 3: Creating and Editing Shapes

• Creating a New Document
• Working with basic Shapes
• Understanding Drawing Modes
• Creating Rectangles
• Creating Rounded Rectangles
• Creating Ellipses
• Creating Polygons
• Working with Draw Behind Mode
• Creating Stars
• Changing Stroke Width and Alignment
• Working with Line Segments
• Joining Paths
• Using the Width Tool
• Outlining Strokes
• Combining and Editing Shapes
• Working with the Shape Builder Tool
• Working with Pathfinder Effects
• Working with Shape Modes
• Using Draw Inside Mode
• Editing Content Drawn Inside
• Using the Eraser Tool
• Using Image Trace to Create Shapes
• Cleaning up Traced Artwork

Lesson 4: Transforming Objects

• Working with Artboards
• Adding Artboards to the Document
• Editing Artboards
• Renaming Artboards
• Reordering Artboards
• Transforming Content
• Working with Rulers and Guides
• Scaling Objects
• Reflecting Objects
• Rotating Objects
• Distorting Objects
• Shearing Objects
• Positioning Objects Precisely
• Changing Perspective
• Applying Multiple Transformations
• Using the Free Distort Effect

Lesson 5: Drawing with the Pen and Pencil Tools

• Starting with the Pen Tool
• Creating Straight Lines
• Creating Curved Paths
• Building a Curve
• Converting Smooth Points to Corner Points
• Creating the Violin Illustration
• Drawing Curves
• Selecting a Curved Path
• Drawing a Curved Path
• Drawing a Closed Path with Curves
• Drawing the Violin Shape
• Creating the Strings
• Splitting the Path
• Adding Arrowheads
• Creating a Dashed Line
• Editing Curves
• Deleting and Adding Anchor Points
• Converting Between Smooth Points and Corner Points
• Drawing with the Pencil Tool
• Editing with the Pencil Tool
• Finishing the Violin Illustration
• Assembling the Parts
• Painting the Artwork

Lesson 6: Color and Painting

• Understanding Color
• Color Modes
• Understanding the Color Controls
• Creating Color
• Building and Saving a Custom Color
• Editing a Swatch
• Using Illustrator Swatch Libraries
• Creating a Spot Color
• Using the Color Picker
• Creating and Saving a Tint of Color
• Copying Appearance Attributes
• Creating Color Groups
• Working with the Color Guide Panel
• Editing a Color Group
• Editing Colors in Artwork
• Working with the Kuler Panel
• Assigning Colors to your Artwork
• Adjusting Colors
• Painting with Patterns
• Applying Existing Patterns
• Creating your Own Pattern
• Applying a Pattern
• Editing a Pattern
• Working with Live Paint Regions
• Creating a Live Paint Group
• Editing Live Paint Regions
• Working with Gap Options

Lesson 7: Working with Type

• Working with Type
• Creating Point Type
• Creating Area Type
• Importing a Plain Text File
• Working with Overflow Text and Text Reflow
• Threading Text
• Creating Columns of Text
• Formatting Type
• Changing the Font Size
• Changing the Font Color
• Changing Additional Text Attributes
• Working with Glyphs
• Resizing Type Objects
• Changing Paragraph Attributes
• Creating and Applying Text Styles
• Creating and Applying a Paragraph Style
• Editing a Paragraph Style
• Sampling Text Formatting
• Creating and Applying a Character Style
• Editing a Character Style
• Reshaping Text with a Preset Envelope Warp
• Reshaping Text with an Object Warp
• Wrapping Text Around an Object
• Creating Text on an Open Path
• Creating Text on Closed Paths
• Creating Text Outlines

Lesson 8: Working with Layers

• Creating Layers
• Selecting and Moving Objects and Layers
• Duplicating Layer Content
• Moving Layers
• Locking Layers
• Viewing Layers
• Pasting Layers
• Creating a Clipping mask
• Merging Layers
• Locating Layers
• Applying Appearance Attributes to Layers
• Isolating Layers