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best illustrator tutorials/books

L

langecustomgraphics

New Member
I recently got an iMac, and the cs5 suite. I have been an avid pc and corel user for years. I am having some issues transferring what I want to do and can to into illustrator. I ordered illustrator class room in a book and it should be here tomorrow. I am just looking for some more recommendations as I want to get into this program and progress my working knowledge of all formats. I do have cutting master plug installed and can cut directly for illustrator and can import my eps file to cut from my pc and corel. But just kinda messing around in illustrator is starting to get on my nerves and making my past blue ribbon intake increase. ;) thanks for your help
 
Custom_Grafx

Custom_Grafx

New Member
The help file is a very valid reference, with illustrations and good explanations. They've really done a good job. There is a book called "real world adobe illustrator". Also good.

As mentioned above though, you can search for just about any feature on google, and it's sure to come up somewhere in the form of a detailed tutorial.

Depending on what you do, you may want to place some degree of emphasis on;
1) the appearance pallette
2) layers pallette
3) colour management and colour modes
4) offset paths
5) gradients and other types of fills
6) brushes and their varieties
7) the symbols pallette (alot of people overlook this as a good way to reduce file size and speed lag when using repeated complex elements)
8) flattening and transparency (a big topic which will save you a lot of pain in print production down the track)
9) auto trace
10) text and paragraph pallettes
11) magic wand pallette
12) pathfinder pallette (a must)
13) transform and align pallette (another must)

That's all I can think of for now, but these are some important ones for this industry in my opinion.
 
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rjssigns

rjssigns

Active Member
Another option is to take a Mac Intro at the local tech college. Then take a basic Illustrator class. I know most think they can learn it on their own, but having to "drive" the software every week to turn in projects is where it's at. My instructors expected near perfection every week and I delivered. Besides which, I had to face weekly critiques in nearly all my classes. Bring your A game or be left for dead.

Another thing is having the motivation and perseverance to follow along online. You better be like a pitbull on a pork chop.


I did the full boogie at 'TC and have an extremely solid foundation. Now I only use tutorials to pick up new techniques.

I do not wish to come across as some know-it-all hard a**. Just wanted to relay my experiences.
 
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