Illustrator CC 2018 Digital Classroom Book
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Illustrator CC 2018 Digital Classroom Book

Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 Digital Classroom is like having a personal instructor guiding you through each lesson, while you work at your own pace. This Illustrator book includes 14 self-paced lessons helping you learn essential skills and explore new features and capabilities of Adobe Illustrator.

  • Covers all essential Illustrator skills 
  • Gets you up-and-running quickly with included Illustrator lesson files available online
  • Written by expert instructors who regularly teach Illustrator training courses – it's like having your own personal tutor
  • Used by hundreds of schools and more than 100,000 readers
  • Fully updated for Illustrator CC 2018 version
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Illustrator CC 2018 Digital Classroom Book Contents

Starting Up

  • About Digital Classroom
  • Prerequisites
  • System requirements
  • Starting Adobe Illustrator CC
  • Fonts used in this book
  • Resetting Adobe Illustrator CC
  • Loading lesson files
  • Working with the video tutorials
  • Setting up for viewing the 
    video tutorials
  • Viewing the video tutorials with the Adobe Flash Player
  • Additional resources

Lesson 1: Adobe Illustrator CC Jumpstart

  • Starting up
  • Setting up the artboard
  • Creating the background shape
  • Combining Shapes
  • Using the new Kuler panel
  • Applying a fill and stroke
  • Creating the smaller combined shape
  • Applying color and effects
  • Cloning the small shape
  • Aligning and distributing the shapes
  • Adding Text
  • Applying the Warp effect
  • Adding text to the small shape areas
  • Distorting a shape
  • Importing an image
  • Adding lines of text
  • Using the new Touch Type tool
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 2: Getting to Know the Workspace

  • Starting up
  • Opening Illustrator
  • Exploring the new interface
  • Choosing a workspace
  • Opening a file
  • The document window
  • Using Artboards
  • Navigating multiple artboards
  • Using the new Artboards panel
  • Creating New Artboards
  • Switching screen modes
  • Changing your view
  • Preview versus Outlines
  • Zooming and scrolling
  • Scrolling with the Hand tool
  • Changing views with the Navigator panel
  • The Tools panel
  • Using tools and panels
  • The Control panel
  • Moving the Control panel
  • Panel groups and the dock
  • Custom workspaces
  • Saving workspaces
  • Using the Manage Workspaces dialog box
  • Customizing keyboard shortcuts
  • Custom shortcuts
  • Saving shortcut sets
  • Deleting shortcut sets
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 3: Illustrator CC Essentials

  • Starting up
  • Using the shape tools
  • Repositioning and visually resizing the rectangle
  • Finding or changing the shape’s dimensions using the Transform panel
  • Rotating and shearing using the
    Transform panel
  • Constraining a shape
  • Entering exact dimensions
  • Selecting artwork
  • Helpful keyboard shortcuts for selections
  • The selection tools
  • Using shape and transform tools to create artwork
  • Using the transform tools
  • Adding a fill color
  • Entering a shape size in the Transform panel
  • Viewing in Outline view
  • Rotating the shape
  • Changing the color of the triangles
  • Using layers when building an illustration
  • Creating a new blank layer
  • Cutting and pasting objects
  • Creating bubbles
  • Cloning the bubble group
  • Repeating a resize transform
  • Moving objects from one layer to another
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 4: Adding Color

  • Starting up
  • Basics of the Appearance panel
  • Changing colors
  • Adding Effects
  • Creating a colorful illustration
  • Using Live Paint
  • Converting the artwork to a Live Paint group
  • Applying Live Paint to the group
  • Adding a symbol to your artwork
  • Expanding the symbol
  • Saving swatches
  • What is a Global Color?
  • Selecting the Same color
  • Saving a set of colors as a group
  • Creating a color group from selected colors
  • Using the Color panel
  • Adding Pantone (Spot) Colors
  • Adding Pantone colors
  • Taking advantage of the new and improved Kuler panel
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 5: Working with the Drawing Tools

  • Starting up
  • Working with the Pen tool
  • Drawing straight lines
  • Drawing curved lines
  • Drawing hinged curves
  • Drawing curved lines to straight lines
  • Drawing straight lines to curved lines
  • Tracing images
  • Placing an image as a template
  • Placing an image using Image Trace
  • Working with the new Image Trace option
  • Other drawing tools
  • Using the Line Segment and Arc tools
  • Using the Pencil, Smooth, and Path Eraser tools
  • Using the Eraser tool
  • Editing existing paths
  • Adding and removing points
  • Refining a curve
  • Cutting and joining paths
  • Combining shapes using the Shape Builder tool
  • Combining the shapes
  • Subtracting with the Shape Builder tool
  • Creating the Fish Eyes
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 6: Exploring Additional Color Options

  • Starting up
  • Taking a look at the finished illustration
  • Adding tonal values with gradients
  • Customizing an existing gradient
  • Saving the Gradient
  • Applying a second instance of the gradient
  • Using the Gradient panel
  • Updating a gradient
  • Creating and using patterns
  • Creating a bounding box
  • Applying the pattern
  • Editing a pattern fill
  • Locating existing patterns
  • Finishing up the illustration
  • Creating a Color Group
  • Using the Color Guide
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 7: Using Patterns

  • Starting up
  • The Pattern Options panel makes creating patterns more manageable
  • Creating a pattern
  • Applying a pattern
  • Editing a pattern swatch
  • Editing a pattern in an object
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 8: Working with and Formatting Text

  • Starting up
  • Formatting type
  • Paragraph formatting
  • Formatting imported type
  • Paragraph and character styles
  • Editing styles
  • Advanced techniques with text
  • Text on a path
  • Warping text
  • Text in a shape
  • Creating outlines
  • Check spelling
  • Find and Replace
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 9: Organizing your Illustrations with Layers

  • Starting up
  • Getting to know the Layers panel
  • Using layers to organize your illustrations
  • Using the Layers panel to make selections
  • Creating new layers and moving items between layers
  • Paste Remembers Layers
  • Template Layers
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 10: Working with Symbols

  • Starting up
  • Cleaning out the symbol library
  • Creating symbols
  • Editing symbols
  • Importing a symbol library
  • Using the symbolism tools
  • Editing nested symbols
  • Replacing symbols
  • Saving symbol libraries
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 11: Using Effects and Transparency

  • Starting up
  • Working with the Appearance panel and effects
  • Applying effects
  • Editing effects
  • Using graphic styles
  • Creating and saving graphic styles
  • Applying and modifying graphic styles
  • Working with object transparency
  • Working with multiple opacities
  • Working with blending modes
  • Saving and importing graphic styles
  • Applying graphic styles to layers and symbols
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 12: Exporting and Saving Files

  • Starting up
  • Saving using the AI file format
  • Saving an illustration with layers
  • Make a template layer
  • Using the Transform Effect
  • Duplicating a Stroke
  • Saving different versions of the logo onto separate layers
  • Expanding appearance
  • Save the first version
  • Using Live Paint
  • Using the Color Guide panel
  • Saving the third version
  • Using Recolor Artwork
  • Saving a layered PDF
  • Integration with other applications
  • Exporting for Photoshop
  • Integrating with InDesign
  • Integrating with Flash
  • Integrating with Microsoft Expression Blend (XAML)
  • Integrating with Premiere and After Effects
  • Saving as EPS
  • Save for Web
  • Making a Flash animation
  • Exporting a Flash animation
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 13: Advanced Blending Techniques

  • Starting up
  • Using the Blend Tool
  • Applying a gradient
  • Applying Radial Gradients
  • Applying gradients using Illustrator’s Gradient Mesh options
  • Adjusting the Mesh
  • Revisiting Blend Options
  • More mesh work
  • Overlapping images
  • Applying a gradient mesh using the Mesh tool
  • Finishing up with the Mesh tool and automatically adding a Highlight
  • Using the Symbol Tools
  • Creating a symbol
  • Modifying a Symbol’s appearance
  • Self study
  • Review

Lesson 14: Adobe Illustrator CC New Features

  • Starting up
  • What makes Adobe Illustrator CC so great?
  • Opening the finished file
  • Creating the luggage tag
  • Punching out the strap holder
  • Cloning the tag
  • Placing multiple images
  • Converting an image to vector art
  • Investigating the improved Links panel
  • Adding text
  • Using the new Touch Type tool
  • Embedding an image
  • Creating an image brush
  • Applying the image brush to a stroke
  • Package file