Illustrator CC 2015 Essential Training

Start drawing, designing, and illustrating with Illustrator CC. Learn all the essentials of the program, from installation to exporting final artwork.

Illustrator is an unparalleled tool for digital artists, and Adobe takes it to new heights with Creative Cloud. This course helps put Illustrator's power and flexibility at your disposal, offering a tip-to-tail overview of the program, from installation to exporting final artwork. Staff author Justin Seeley explains how to work with layers and artboards—the dual core of Illustrator's nondestructive workflow—and start drawing and transforming basic objects. He also shows how to create fills and strokes, add color, work with live effects, and integrate typography into your designs. At the end of the course, he'll show you how to print and export artwork, so you can share it with the world. Start here for everything you need to know to design, draw, and illustrate with Illustrator.

Introduction

• Welcome
• How to use exercise files
• How to send feedback

1. Getting Started

• What is Adobe Illustrator?
• Installing Illustrator via Creative Cloud
• Touring the Illustrator interface
• Exploring the Illustrator's Tools panel
• Creating new documents
• Modifying and saving your documents
• Setting up your Illustrator preferences

2. Navigating Your Documents

• Navigating a single document
• Navigating multiple documents
• Working with Illustrator's panels
• Building and saving your own workspace
• Understanding screen modes
• Creating and using custom views
• Creating and using custom guides
• Locking and hiding artwork

3. Working with Artboards

• Creating multi-artboard documents
• Exploring the Artboards panel
• Adding artboards on the fly
• Manipulating artboards with the Artboard tool
• Exporting your artboards as files

4. Working with Layers

• Exploring the Layers panel
• Creating and editing layers
• Targeting objects inside the Layers panel
• Working with sublayers
• Hiding, locking, and deleting layers
• Tips for organizing your artwork using layers

5. Drawing Basic Shapes

• Understanding vector paths
• Drawing basic lines and curves
• Drawing spirals
• Drawing rectangles and ellipses
• Drawing polygons and stars
• Using the Pencil tool for freehand drawing
• Modifying existing shapes and paths
• Exploring Illustrator's drawing modes

6. Transforming Objects

• Using the Direct Selection tool
• Grouping objects together
• Using isolation mode to edit grouped artwork
• Moving and duplicating objects
• Scaling objects
• Rotating objects
• Distorting and transforming objects
• Using the Transform Each command
• Reflecting objects

7. Working with Fills and Strokes

• Adding color fills to your objects
• Creating and using gradient fills
• Adding strokes to your objects
• Adding endpoints and dashed lines to your strokes
• Adding gradient strokes to your objects
• Creating variable-width strokes

8. Working with Color

• Understanding CMYK vs. RGB color
• Adjusting Illustrator's color settings
• Understanding process vs. global swatches
• Creating and using spot colors
• Working with color groups
• Importing Adobe Color themes
• Loading ASE files into Illustrator

9. Using the Appearance Panel

• Exploring the Appearance panel
• Attribute stacking order explained
• Applying multiple fills and strokes
• Working with live effects
• Saving appearances as graphic styles

10. Creating Complex Shapes

• Creating compound paths and shapes
• Working with the Pathfinder panel
• Using the Illustrator Brush tools
• Using the Eraser tool
• Creating artwork with the Shape Builder tool

11. Working with the Pen Tool

• Pen tool basics
• Drawing curves with the Pen tool
• Drawing complete shapes with the Pen tool
• Enabling and disabling the rubberband preview
• Avoiding the 'whips'
• Tracing exercise

12. Working with Type

• Creating point and area type objects
• Making basic edits with the Control panel
• Exploring the type panels
• Flowing text around objects
• Setting type onto a path
• Learning essential type shortcuts
• Adding Typekit desktop fonts to Illustrator
• Converting text into paths

13. Using Raster Graphics in Illustrator

• Placing linked images into Illustrator
• Working with the Links panel
• Embedding images into your Illustrator documents
• Using clipping masks
• Using the Image Trace panel
• Converting pixels into paths

14. Printing and Exporting Artwork

• Printing your artwork
• Saving files for print using PDF
• Packaging files for print production
• Exporting web assets from Illustrator
• Saving in legacy formats
• Placing linked Illustrator files into Photoshop
• Placing linked Illustrator files into InDesign

15. Conclusion

• Next steps