Adobe Illustrator

This is a comprehensive two day Adobe authorised introduction to Adobe Illustrator. The course has been designed to enable anyone new to Illustrator to produce professional graphics, designs and illustrations. The course covers Illustrator’s sophisticated drawing and text controls, creating complex shapes, using adjustable strokes, using painterly effects and the Image Trace and LivePaint features allowing you to create beautiful, professional artwork and designs.

Throughout the two days the emphasis is on practical, hands-on learning including a series of exercises designed to consolidate new skills and build confidence. If you wish to tailor this outline to your exact requirements, please call or email. You need no previous experience to attend this course.

Course Calendar

Day One

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME TO ILLUSTRATOR

• About vectors and bitmaps
• Syncing settings in Illustrator CC

GETTING STARTED IN ILLUSTRATOR

• Opening illustrations
• Using document profiles
• Exploring panels and workspaces
• Useful shortcuts
• Creating new documents

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
• Using the Width tool

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

• Using the Pen tool
• 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

Q & A

Day Two

ORGANISING YOUR ARTWORK

• Introducing multiple artboards
• Editing the artboard size
• Using guides and smart guides
• 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

• Linked vs embedding images
• Creating template layers

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
• Using the Pathfinder panel
• Creating compound shapes
• Expanding compound shapes
• Expanding Appearance and artwork

WORKING WITH TYPE

• Using type tools
• The Touch Type tool
• Using the Character and Paragraph panel
• Creating outlines from text
• Using type on a path

SAVING AND EXPORTING

• Saving Illustrator files
• Creating Adobe PDF files
• Exporting files from Illustrator
• Using Safe for Web

Q & A

*This course runs very regularly. For dates please call 020 7221 3399

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