Introducing Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool for creating great artwork, but it can be hard to get started. This beginner’s guide teaches you what you need to achieve great results.

Introduction

• A bright and confident beginning

1. Meet the Document

• Welcome to the Home screen
• Creating a new document
• Welcome to the interface
• Resizing and adding artboards
• Getting around your document

2. Guides and Shapes

• Creating snapping guidelines
• Creating custom margin guides
• Drawing geometric shapes
• Drawing straight lines
• Creating a borderless background

3. Beautifully Smooth Lines

• Drawing with the Pencil tool
• Editing a path with the Pencil tool
• Painting with the Blob Brush
• Using the Eraser tool
• Simplifying path outlines

4. Text and Formatting

• Installing fonts with Adobe Fonts
• Creating and formatting text
• Working with point type
• Creating type on a path
• Converting type to outlines

5. Fills and Strokes

• Creating color swatches
• Introducing the Appearance panel
• Filling and stroking type
• Applying variable-width strokes
• Using the Gradient tool
• Creating a radial gradient
• Creating a freeform gradient
• Using the Eyedropper tool

6. Edit and Organize

• Using the Shape Builder tool
• Copy, Flip, and Join
• Offsetting a path outline
• Groups vs. compound paths
• Select and isolate
• Creating a clipping mask
• Introducing the Layers panel

7. Rotate, Reflect, and Scale

• Using the Rotate tool
• Using the Reflect tool
• Using a Pathfinder operation
• Rotating by the numbers
• Duplicating a transformation
• Using the Scale tool
• Drawing a quick and easy penguin face

8. Precise Path Adjustments

• Reshaping any path outline
• Copy, Paste, Join, Offset
• Using the Blend tool
• Dynamic round corners
• Adjusting control handles
• Dragging curved segments
• Using the Anchor Point tool

9. The Curvature and Pen Tools

• Using the Curvature tool
• Introducing the Pen tool
• Drawing curves with the Pen
• Smooth points and cusps
• Drawing real-world paths

10. Dynamic Effects

• Applying drop shadows
• Editing a dynamic effect
• Creating a perfect dotted outline
• Using the Transform effect
• Automatically tracing a photograph
• Expanding a traced image

11. Live Paint

• Introducing Live Paint
• Editing a Live Paint object
• Creating interwoven path outlines
• Live Paint and gradients

Conclusion

• Next steps