Introduction to Illustrator CS3
Whether
you're just hoping to do a little more with your art or you want to design
professionally, this class will give you the Illustrator training you need!
Adobe Illustrator CS3 is the program of choice for many graphic and visual
artists. It allows you to draw and manipulate artwork, add special effects,
apply color, and much, much more. Illustrator also sets the industry
standard for creating vector images, which you can resize without loss of
quality.
In this course, you'll learn how to draw and trace with the Pen tool, use
the new and amazing Recolor Artwork command, enhance your project with
color, and bring your projects to life with interesting type. And with each
lesson, you'll get an assignment that challenges both your creativity and
your growing Illustrator skills. The course is appropriate for those just
getting started with Illustrator and those looking to update their skills by
mastering this version of the program.
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Adobe Illustrator CS3 for Windows and Windows XP or Vista or Adobe Illustrator CS3 for Mac and Mac OS X; Internet access; e-mail; and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser. Note: Illustrator software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end.
Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to
space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
| If you're an absolute beginner, you'll feel right
at home after we spend this first lesson touring Adobe Illustrator
CS3's work area, toolbox, and panels. The first thing you'll learn
is how to arrange the panels to best suit the way you work. Then
we'll jump right into using some of Illustrator's fun features by
auto-tracing a drawing, turning it into a Live Paint Object (think
of a digital coloring book), and recoloring it. |
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
| Today you'll discover Illustrator's Shape tools,
which are the first step on your gentle journey toward using the
all-important Pen tool. Get ready to draw shapes and combine them to
form other shapes and more complex illustrations. |
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
| Now that you've learned how to create shapes,
it's time to cut loose and start playing with color. In today's
lesson, you'll discover how to create your own colors, save them,
and apply them to your vector art. You'll also learn more about the
fabulous Recolor Artwork command and see how you can create and save
color harmonies. After this lesson, you'll have a friend that's
always there to advise you on what colors work together. |
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
| Today you'll learn how to "read" an Illustrator
document. If you know where to look, you'll see that an Illustrator
document reveals every one of its creation secrets. Here's a secret:
It all happens in the Layers panel. You'll also able to apply
multiple strokes, fills, and effects to an object. |
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
| You can use the Pencil tool to draw anything you
wish in Illustrator, and it creates a pretty decent path. In this
lesson, you'll learn how to create, smooth, and reshape a Pencil
path. Be sure to check out the assignment, which lets you turn a
photo of a person into an abstract or stylized vector shape. |
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
| Have you ever wondered what font you would use to
create type that looks like it belongs to Marilyn Monroe? Today
you'll explore the basics of typography while you learn to use the
Type tool. You'll discover how to fill a shape with text and how to
flow text along paths and around shapes. |
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
| The Pen tool is the basic instrument for creating
vector art, and today, you've finally gotten to the lesson where
we'll go over how to use it. You already know what curve and smooth
points are and how to edit them, but now you'll learn how to set
them with the Pen tool as you draw. You can do all of your editing
with the Pen tool once you understand its features, and you'll
discover all the tricks today. |
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
| Now that you know a few of the basics of
typography and have mastered the Pen tool, you'll learn how to dress
up your text and objects with gradients and effects. You'll begin
this lesson by learning how to create beautiful color gradients in
the Gradient palette. Then you'll explore some of the gradient
libraries, which are collections of delicious preset gradients. |
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
| You may wonder what's left to learn about
Illustrator at this point, but in reality, we've only just begun.
Today, we'll explore Illustrator's Brushes palette, which lets you
create every manner of brush for embellishing your designs. Once you
know how to apply and modify the available brushes, you'll be able
to create hundreds more brushes by borrowing from Illustrator's
Symbols palette. This opens up a world of opportunities. |
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
| The Blend tool is just plain fun! You can use it
for practical things, such as creating highlights and shadows in
your drawings, but you can also use it for creating unbelievable
special effects. You'll discover all the secrets in today's lesson. |
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
| The Mesh tool scares almost as many designers as
the Pen tool does. That's a shame, because you can get amazing
shading and airbrush effects with this fun feature. Once you get the
hang of it, the Mesh tool is easy to understand, and you'll learn
all you need to get going in this lesson. First, you'll learn the
anatomy of mesh objects, how to create them, and how to apply color
to them. Then you'll see how you can use a mesh to create a
watercolor background for a stylized piece of art. |
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
| Did you know that you can change any set of
objects (even an embedded raster image) into a symbol? Once you have
a symbol, you can apply it to any drawing you want with a single
click. This process makes your image reusable and saves storage
space. We'll wrap up our course with plenty of opportunities for you
to pull all your skills together and begin your own journey with
Illustrator. |
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Recommended Courses:
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Drawing for the Absolute BeginnerIntroduction to CorelDraw X3
Creating Web Graphics with Photoshop CS3
Design Projects for Adobe Illustrator CS2
Introduction to Photoshop CS3
