Illustrator CS5

Course details

Module One:

Lesson 1 – Getting to Know the Work Area

• Working with the Tools Panel
• Working with Panels
• Resetting and saving Your Workspace
• Using panel menus
• Using the zoom tool
• Using the Navigator Panel
• Understanding rulers
• Searching for a topic in the Search of Help box

Lesson 2 – Working with basic shapes A

• Accessing the basic shape tools
• Creating rectangles
• Creating rounded rectangles
• Creating ellipses
• Creating Polygons
• Creating Stars
• Creating Lines, Arc and Spiral
• Understanding drawing modes
• Outlining strokes
• Creating a dashed line
• Changing stroke width and alignment
• Using the Width tool

Lesson 3 – Color and painting A

• Color Modes
• Creating color
• Building and saving a custom color
• Using Illustrator swatch libraries
• Working with the Color Guide panel

Lesson 4 – Selecting and Aligning

• Using the Selection Tool
• Using the Direct Selection Tool
• Creating selections with the Magic Wand tool
• Selecting similar objects
• Aligning objects to each other
• Distributing objects
• Aligning to the artboard
• Working with groups
• Working in isolation mode
• Arrange objects
• Selecting objects behind
• Applying Selection Techniques

Module Two:

Lesson 5 – Transforming – Objects A

• Transforming content
• Scaling objects
• Reflecting objects
• Rotating objects
• Shearing objects

Lesson 6 – Working with basic shapes B

• Combining and editing shapes
• Working with Pathfinder effects
• Using Eraser tool
• Scissors Tool
• Knife Tool
• Joining paths
• Working with line segments

Lesson 7 – Color and painting B 

• Working with the color panel
• Using the Color Picker
• Copying attributes
• Creating & Editing color groups
• Assigning colors to your artwork
• Working with Live Paint
• Editing Live Paint
• Module Three:

Lesson 8 – Working with basic shapes C

• Working with shape modes
• Working with the Shape Builder tool
• Using Live Trace to Create Shapes
• Draw Inside mode
• Positioning objects precisely
• Distorting objects
• Blending objects

Lesson 9- Blending Colors and Shapes

• Working with gradients
• Creating and applying a linear gradient
• Adjusting the direction and angle of gradient blend
• Creating a radial gradient
• Changing colors and adjusting the gradient
• Applying gradient to multiple objects
• Adding transparency to gradients
• Working with blended objects
• Creating a blend with specified steps
• Modifying the blend
• Creating smooth color blends

Lesson 10 – Applying Appearance Attributes and Graphic Styles

• Using appearance attributes
• Editing and adding appearance attributes
• Reordering appearance attributes
• Adding an additional stroke and fill
• Using graphic styles
• Creating and saving a graphic style
• Applying a graphic style to an object
• Copying, applying, and removing graphic styles

Module Four:

Lesson 11 – Drawing with the Pen Tool

• Creating Straight Lines
• Creating Curved Paths
• Splitting a path
• Adding arrowheads
• Deleting and adding anchor points
• Convert between smooth points and corner points
• Drawing & Editing with the Pencil tool
• Assembling the parts
• Painting the artwork

Lesson 12 – Working with symbols

• Using existing Illustrator symbol libraries
• Creating symbols
• Editing a symbol
• Breaking a link to a symbol
• Replacing symbols
• Renaming symbols
• Working with the Symbolism tools
• Copy and edit symbol sets
• Storing and retrieving artwork in the
• Symbols panel
• Mapping a symbol to 3D artwork
• Symbols and Flash integration

Lesson 13 – Working with Type

• Importing a Plain Text File
• Understanding Text Flow
• Resizing type objects
• Formatting type
• Changing the Font Color
• Changing additional text attributes
• Changing paragraph attributes
• Saving and using styles
• Creating and using a paragraph style
• Creating and using a character style
• Reshaping text with an envelope wrap
• Using the Free Distort effect
• Wrapping text around an object
• Creating text on open or closed paths
• Creating text on paths
• Creating Text Outlines

Module Five:

Lesson 14 – Working with pictures

• Place picture
• Working With Live Trace
• Photoshop Effects (Filters)

Lesson 15 – Working with Adobe Bridge

• Combining artwork
• Vector versus bitmap graphic
• Placing Adobe Photoshop files
• Placing Photoshop files
• Duplicating and editing a placed image
• Embed a Photoshop image with Layer comp
• Applying color edits to a placed image
• Masking an image
• Applying a clipping mask to an image
• Editing a mask
• Masking and object with multiple shapes
• Release a mask
• Creating an opacity mask
• Sampling colors in placed images
• Replacing a placed, linked image
• Exporting a layered file to Photoshop

Lesson 16 -Applying Effects

• Applying an effect
• Editing an effect
• Styling text with effects
• Editing shapes with a Pathfinder effect
• Offsetting paths
• Applying a Photoshop effect
• Working with a 3D effect
• Creating a revolved object
• Changing the lighting of a 3D object
• Mapping a symbol to the 3D artwork

Module Six:

Lesson 17 – Transforming Artboard- Part 2

• Working with artboards
• Adding artboards to the document
• Editing artboards & Renaming Artboards
• Working with rulers and guides
• Multiple Transformations

Lesson 18 – Working with Layers

• Creating Layers
• Moving Objects and Layers
• Locking Layers
• Viewing Layers
• Merging Layers
• Isolating Layers

Lesson 19 – Working with Brushes

• Using Calligraphic brushes
• Editing a brush
• Using a fill color with brushes
• Remove a brush stroke
• Using Art brushes
• Drawing with the Paintbrush tool
• Create an Art brush
• Drawing with the Blob Brush tool

Lesson 20 – Working with Perspective Drawing

• Understanding Perspective
• Understanding the Perspective Grid
• Using a preset grid
• Drawing objects in perspective
• Selecting and transforming objects in perspective
• Attaching objects to perspective
• Editing planes and objects together
• Adding and editing text in perspective
• Adding Symbols to the Perspective Grid
• Release content from perspective
• Changing perspective

Module Seven:

Lesson 21 – Putting It All Together

• Designing A logo
• Designing A business card
• Designing A Letter head