Adobe Illustrator Basics1

7/25/2019 Adobe Illustrator Basics1

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Graphic Design Tutorial:Adobe Illustrator Basics


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Open your Illustrator

Use the Start Menu

OR

the AI icon on your desktop


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What is Illustrator?

Illustrator is a vector drawing program. It is used to draw illustrations, cartoons,

diagrams, charts and logos. Unlike bitmap images that store information

in a grid of dots, Illustrator uses mathematicalequations to draw out the shapes.

This makes vector graphics scalable withoutthe loss of resolution.


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Advantages of Vector Graphics Scalable without resolution loss Lines are crisp and sharp at any sizes Print at high resolution Smaller file size Good for drawing illustrations

Disadvantages of Vector graphics Drawings tend to look flat and cartoon Hard to produce photo realistic drawings


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Common Uses of Illustrator

1. Designing Logos


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2. Drawing Maps


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3. Drawing Illustrations


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4. Infographics


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5. Packaging Design


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Illustrator Workspace

Toolbar

Status Bar

MenuControl Palette

Artboard

Floating Palette


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The Floating PaletteThis is the floating palette which contains properties for ourshapes. It is commonly used for changing colors and stroke

width .

Please Completethe Ai Tool

IdentificationWorksheet

Turn into the Inbox whencompleted


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Day 2: Basic Shapes

In this lesson, we will look at how to use theshape tools to draw our basic shapes inillustrator. But before we start, we will look athow to select a basic shape so that you haveno problems in selecting and editing shapes in

Illustrator.


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Selection Tool: Used for selecting and moving ashape. It can also be used to resize a shape.

Direct Selection Tool: Selects a single anchorpoint instead of the whole shape. Used forediting anchor point of a shape. Click once on apoint to select and hold Shift to select multipleanchor points.


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Understanding Fill & Stroke

Click and drag out a Rectangle as shown. By

default, it has a white fill and black stroke.(Stroke is the border of the shape)


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Changing Fill Color

Lets start changing the fill color for the

rectangle. Double click the Fill from the ToolPalette. It will pop up the Color Picker. Drag theslider to blue and select a deep blue color. Click

Ok after that.


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Removing Stroke

Click the Stroke in the Tool Palette once to swap

it above Fill. Click the None icon boxed up in redto set the Stroke to None. The black stroke willdisappear.


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Constrain Proportions

To draw a perfect square, we will select the

Rectangle Tool. Hold Shift and drag to draw asquare. Same for the circle, we will select theEllipse Tool and hold Shift to drag out a circle.


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Resizing Shapes

To resize shapes, select the shape using the

Selection Tool and a bounding box will appear.Drag the corner anchor point to resize it. Toconstrain to proportion while resizing, hold Shift

as you resize. Hold Alt if your want to resizefrom the same position.


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Rotating Shapes

Select the shape with the Selection Tool and a

bounding box will appear. Move your cursornear the anchor corner and a rotation icon willicon, click and turn it to rotate the square. To

snap at 45 degrees increment, hold Shift andturn.


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More Options for Shape Tools

Select the Star Tool. Click once on the artboard

and an option will pop up. Enter the samevalues below and click Ok. It will draw a starburst shape. This method can be used to bring

out more options for shape tools.


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ConclusionAlmost all the objects found in our daily life canbe built from combining using the basic shapetools.

AssignmentUsing your knowledge of Ai so far, create ananimal or object using the basic shape tools.Submit your finished animal on eChalk as a .PDFfile.


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How to save files

Go to File>Save As

File Name:BE SPECIFIC

File Type


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How to save files

Adobe Illustrator .AIAdobe Photoshop .PSP

Adobe .PDF

EDITABLE NOT EDITABLE

HUGE file size Not friendly for sharing Not all computers will be able to open(Must have the software)

Smaller Size(email, eChalk, website friendly)Most computers can open


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Day 3: Drawing with the Pencil Tool

We can quickly draw shapes and lines quicklyusing the Pencil and Pen tool.

Assignment: Watch the video at the linkbelow. Create a house with a backgroundusing the Pencil and/or Pen tool.

Submit design via eChalk, in a .pdf format.Pencil and Pen Tool Video
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-illustrator-cs6/essentials-of-the-pen-and-pencil-tools/http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-illustrator-cs6/essentials-of-the-pen-and-pencil-tools/


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Drawing a Line

Select the pencil tool and click and drag to draw

a free hand line drawing.


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Closing Paths with Pencil Tool

To close a path, hold Alt/Option as your Pencil

Tool reaches the start point. A circle icon willappear next to the Pencil Tool to indicate pathclosure.


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Smoothing Jaggy Lines

Normally when you draw with the Pencil Tool,the path looks jaggy. To smoothen the parts thatare jaggy, simply hold Alt/Option to turn thePencil Tool to Smooth Tool. Then draw over the

area of the lines which you would like tosmoothen.


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Reshaping Path

To reshape a path, make sure your path is

selected and use the Pencil Tool to redraw theparts you would like to reshape. Note that thestart and end path must be close to the original

path to make it work.

P il T l P f


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Pencil Tool Preferences

You can turn on the Pencil Tool Preferences bydouble clicking on the Pencil Tool. You canchange the fidelity and smoothness to find acombination that works for you.Fidelity: Determines how close the path is drawn to your mouse movement.Set it at a higher fidelity if your not good at drawing with your mouse.Smoothness: The higher you set for smoothness, the less anchor point itproduces. Thus, producing a smoother line.


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Placing an Image

Go to File > Place. A dialogue box will pop up and the file in

shared-->vmontgomery-->illustrator

Find a photo youve saved somewhere on yourcomputer.

Click outside your photo to place.


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Layers

Double click on the Layer name. The default name is Layer 1. A dialogue box will pop up. Here you can

change some of the Layer preferences like thename. This is my photo layer, so I changed thename to Will.


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Next I want to lock my sketch layer so I dont draw on it


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Next, I want to lock my sketch layer, so I don t draw on it.To lock a layer, click on the area to the left of the layername. A lock will appear. This isnt permanent, so you can

always unlock it by clicking it again. FYI, to the left of the Lock is the Visibility. This makes the

layer visible or invisible.

Finally you want to create a second layer to draw


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Finally, you want to create a second layer to drawon. Click on the icon at the bottom that looks likea sheet of paper. A new layer appears. You canclick on the name to change the name or otherpreferences.


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Day 4: Illustrator Animal

-Using your knowledge ofIllustrator, create an animal using

basic shapes and the pencil tool.

Documents

Adobe Illustrator Basics1