Adobe Illustrator Basics

Instructor: Cristol GregoryAssistant: Tara Caimi

Illustrator 10: Basic

1. Maneuvering2. Working with layers3. Creating simple shapes4. Creating paths5. Adding colors6. Working with text7. Saving illustrations

Vector vs. Raster

Vector - Infinitely sizeableConsists of layered shapes

• Logos• Ads (1p. text + graphics)•.EPS or .PDF files

Raster - Fixed resolutionConsists of one layer of pixels• Screen images• Photos and scanned images• .TIFF or .JPEG files

Illustrator components

Toolbox

Scratch area

Artboard

Illustrated image

Palettes

Scroll bars

Zoom box

The toolbox

Selection tools

Shape tools

Transform tools

Gradient tools

Viewing tools

Fill and Stroke Colors

Path and Text tools

Path editing

Scale objects

Rotate objects

Select objects

Palettes

Opened and closed through the “Window” menu

Layers palette

Currentlayer Highlighted

View/Hide Layer

Create New Sublayer

Create New Layer

Delete Selection button

Make/Release Clipping Mask

Sub-Layer expansion Lock/Unlock

Layer Thumbnail

Arrange objects

Drawing basic shapes

Rectangle and ellipse shapes

1. Click on tool button2. Click on the artboard for

dialog box 3. Or click and drag to draw

Line shapes

Other shapes

Scale objects

Selection tool Scale tool Scale dialog box

The Brushes palette

New Brush

Brush menu

Brushes

Traditional Brushes

Other Brushes

Components of a path

Corner anchor point (joining two curved segments)

Corner anchor point (joining a curve and a straight segment)

Smooth anchor point

Anchor points

Curved segment

Straight segment

Pen tool

Straight line segments

Corner point

Segment

Curved line segment

Corner Point

Direction Handle

Smooth point

Using the Pencil tool

Create an open path

Create a closed path

Reshape a path

Toolbox bar

Selection tools

Shape tools Painting tools

Transformation tools

Gradient tools

Viewing tools

Color box

Color modes

Viewing modes

Editing tools Selection tools Anchor point tools

Editing commands Average

command Join

command

Path Cutting tools Scissors tool Knife tool

Fill and Stroke

Swap Fill and Stroke button

Default Fill and Stroke button

Stroke box

Fill box

Stroke palette

Projecting Cap button

Miter Join button

Round Join button

Bevel Join button

Stroke palette tab

Butt Cap button

Round Cap button

Swatches palette

Show Pattern Swatches

New Swatch

Delete Swatch

Show All Swatches

Show Color Swatches

Show Gradient Swatches

Pattern swatches

Gradient swatches

No Fill

Color swatches

Color palette

Color sliders

Fill box

SpectrumColor bar

CMYK or RGBColor value boxes

Stroke box

White

No Color

Black

Web Color

Eyedropper tool1. Select an object to

color2. Select the

Eyedropper tool3. Click the object

from which you want to copy paint attributes

Paint Bucket tool

1. Select the object2. Select the Paint

Bucket tool3. Click the target

object

GradientsGradients

Color sliderColor slider Gradient barGradient bar

Gradient Gradient FillFill

Transparency palette Blending

Mode box

Thumbnail preview area

Typing text at a point

1. Click the Type tool button

2. Click in the artwork window

3. Type the text4. Deselect the Type

tool

Character palette

Vertical Stretch

Tracking(space between letters)

Kerning

Leading (space between lines)

Point Size

Font Style

Font family

Horizontal Stretch

Baseline Shift

Paragraph palette

Align Right

Align Center

Justify Full Lines

Justify All Lines

Space Before Paragraph

Right Indent

First LineIndent

Left Indent

Align Left

Typing text along a path

1. Draw or select a path2. Select the Path Type tool3. Click on the path - where you

want to start typing4. Type

Text to shapes (outlines)

1. Click the text2. Choose Type,

Create Outlines

3. Edit each character

Saving1. File Menu>2. Save for

Illustrator(.ai)

3. “Save As” for Portable Document Format (.pdf) or Post Script (.eps)