Tel: 01423 534630 • Email: info@tts-uk.com
Illustrator Jumpstart – zero to HERO
Description
Zero to Illustrator HERO in just 4 days!
Learn Illustrator from beginners to an advanced level in just 4 days. This fast track class is for designers and budding developers new to the Illustrator environment, or those that have not had formal training. You’ll produce an exciting graphic project using both the classic features and the new and improved tools in Illustrator and will leave this class with the ability to create and incorporate vector graphics for different projects.
You’ll also go beyond the basics with features like filters and effects, explore more in depth typographical adjustments and the printing process of your layouts.
Prerequisites
Graphic designers or people transitioning into a design job or taking on design responsibilities who need to use Adobe Illustrator to create illustrations, logos, advertisements or other graphic documents. They may have little or no experience with Illustrator, although they may already use Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.
Assumed Knowledge
Basic computer skills are necessary to complete this course. These skills include; a basic understanding of a computer’s operating system, launching an application, creating and saving files, and copying files from CDs and other media.
Skills
- Draw and understand Bezier curves
- The root of drawing in Illustrator
- Create a logo using simple shapes
- Accurately place and measure objects in the Illustration window
- Trace and colour your hand drawn artwork with Live Trace
- Live Paint and Live Colour
- Save illustrations for both print and web purposes
- Further adjust Bezier curves by creating Compound paths
- Create Custom Brushes and various Graphic Styles
- Work with Transparency and other raster effects like drop shadows
- Accurately adjust type in an artwork
- Prepare documents for composite and commercial printing
- Enhance the workflow and
- Integration of Illustrator with the rest of Creative Suite
- Course content
Creating basic Documents
- Explore the prebuilt Document Profiles
- Shortcuts to navigate the Artboard effectively
- Create custom Workspaces
Drawing in Illustrator
- Draw Paths with the Pen tool
- Add
- delete or adjust points along a path
- Understand how Bézier Curves work
- Freeform Drawing tools
- Live Trace to transform images or hand drawn sketches
- Into vector artworks that can be further adjusted
- Create Logo using simple Shapes
- Discovering basic Blends
- Symbols in Illustrator & Symbol Sprayer options
Modifying Objects
- Lasso select and the other goodies in the Select Menu
- Be precise using Smart Guides
- Grids & Guidelines
- Align
- Group & Duplicate to achieve better results
- Transform objects with Twirl
- Bloat & other Warp tools
- Layers palette: Hide & Lock Objects
- Intro to Isolation Mode for effective editing
Working with Colours in Illustrator
- Difference between Swatches and Colour palette
- Applying colour to Stroke and/or Fill
- Adjusting Stroke attributes with Stroke panel
- Introducing Gradients & Patterns
Text in Illustrator
- Point
- Area and Type on a path
- Import Body Type & fix Spelling Errors
- Find and Replace Text or Insert Typographic Characters
- Create Text Outlines to design your own fancy headlines
Outputting your Artwork
- Defining cropping area
- Saving your artwork in vector formats
- Save for Web & Devices
Creating Complex Illustrations
- Working with Compound Paths
- Use Expand Appearance to modify individual elements
- Keep your paths Simple & Cleaned Up
- Outline Strokes technique & option to add
- multiple Attributes to an Object
- Share the appearance attributes with Graphic Styles
- Create Custom Brushes: Calligraphy
- Scatter
- Pattern or Art – to place objects along a path
- Graphs – use your artworks instead of a simple bars
Modifying Artworks
- Discover Envelope Distort
- Utilize Clipping Masks for advanced design
- Live Paint as an easy way to colour artwork
- Learn about Transparency & Opacity Masks
- Stylize with Drop Shadows and Outer Glows
- Explore Gradient Mesh & its ability to add realistic
- 3D Shading and highlights to 2D graphics
- Learn the difference between Filters & Live Effects
- Advanced Blending techniques
Advanced Typographical Features
- Character Palette – adjust the kerning
- Baseline shift
- Horizontal & vertical scaling
- Paragraph Palette – Justification and Hyphenation options
- Use the 3D feature to extrude text or other Illustrator objects
Printing your Artwork
- Simulate multiple pages in Illustrator using the artboard and document setup
- Flattening Transparency for raster effects like drop shadows
- Glows and blurs
- Creating separations with Spot color vs. Process colour
Enhancing your workflow
- Live Colour for perfect Complementary / Analogous colours
- Creating Smart objects
- Dragging-and-dropping and exporting layers into Photoshop
- Editing options for PDFs
- Explore Links & Actions palettes
- Release to Layers command for quick web animations
- Get the best from Illustrator to Flash (SWF)
