Course description
This is a comprehensive two-day introduction to Adobe Illustrator, designed to teach new users how to produce professional graphics and illustrations.
The course, run through an Adobe authorised training centre, covers Illustrator’s sophisticated drawing and text controls, creating complex shapes, using painterly effects and the new LiveTrace and LivePaint features, allowing you to dramatically increase your levels of productivity and creativity.
Throughout the two days the emphasis is on practical, hands-on learning and at the end of the course there will be a series of practical exercises designed to both consolidate new skills and build confidence. If you wish to tailor this outline to your exact requirements, please call or email us.
Day One
INTRODUCTION
WELCOME TO ILLUSTRATOR
- About vectors and bitmaps
GETTING STARTED IN ILLUSTRATOR
- Opening illustrations
- Using templates
- Creating new illustrations
- Using document profiles
- Exploring panels and workspaces
- Navigating your illustrations
ARTWORK COMPONENTS
- Outline vs Preview mode
- Rulers, guides and grids
- Intuitive Smart Guides
- Paths, point and handles
- Grouping objects
- Using layers
- Working in Group Isolation Mode
CREATING BASIC SHAPES
- Creating primitive shapes
- Creating polygons, stars and spirals
- Drawing lines, grids and arcs
- Snapping and aligning shapes
APPLYING COLOUR
- Colour models
- Applying colour to objects
- Spot vs. process colour
- Process and global process colours
- Managing swatches
- Creating colour groups
- Introduction to gradients
- Loading swatch libraries
WORKING WITH LAYERS
- Creating layers
- Using layers effectively
DRAWING IN ILLUSTRATOR
- Working with paths, points and direction handles
- Drawing paths
- Tips for drawing curves
- Editing, manipulating and modifying paths
- Adding and deleting anchor points
- Splitting cutting and erasing paths
- Using the Average and Join commands
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Day Two
ORGANISING YOUR ARTWORK
- Introducing multiple artboards
- Editing the artboard size
- Using guides and smart guides
- Creating custom guides
- Positioning elements
- Aligning and distributing artwork
PAINTING IN ILLUSTRATOR
- Manipulating stroke options
- Creating dashed lines
- Adding arrowheads to strokes
- Creating variable width strokes
- Introducing blends
- Painting with the Paintbrush
- Using the Blob brush
PLACING IMPORTED GRAPHICS
- Placing vs embedding images
- Creating template layers
- Photoshop import options
USING LIVETRACE
- Automatically tracing artwork
- Adjusting LiveTrace results
- Converting LiveTrace objects
USING LIVEPAINT
- Creating LivePaint groups
- Painting LivePaint objects
- Detecting gaps
- Modifying LivePaint groups
TRANSFORMING OBJECTS
- Using the Transform tool menu commands
- Using the Transform panel
CREATING COMPLEX SHAPES
- Introducing the Shape Builder tool
- Creating compound shapes
- Expanding compound shapes
WORKING WITH TYPE
- The type tools
- Using the Character and Paragraph panel
- Creating outlines from text
SAVING AND EXPORTING
- Saving Illustrator files
- Creating Adobe PDF files
- Exporting files from Illustrator
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