Illustrator 8 Basics If you think learning this program is going to be easy (at least compared to Photoshop), think again. Illustrator can do some really powerful things, but you have to know what you're doing to get them. Unfortunately I can't cover absolutely everything, so I have a couple of things to recommend: Yokaze's paths tutorial - this is for Photoshop users, but it's a great way to get used to how the pen tool and vectors work. The Illustrator 8 Wow! Book - this book is a godsend if you've never used a vector program before, and is an absolute inspiration if you have. 'Tis lovely. Get one. I'm using a Mac, so bear with me... I'll be referring to the command/Apple key as 'control' since I assume that most of the people visiting my site are PC users. The programs are virtually the same on Mac and PC, so the only thing different you should see about the menus is the font and menu colour. :) This here on the left is the Illustrator toolbar. Anyone who's used Photoshop before will recognise at least a few of the icons on it.The really important ones are the first three, though (the two arrows and the pen nib). The Selection Tool (the black arrow) lets you select a whole vector object or path at a time. Dragging with this tool will move the entire path/object. Shift-click to select multiple objects; alt-click to deselect individual objects from a group; control-click elsewhere to deselect everything. The Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow) lets you select a single point or group of points on a path and edit them. When you move the arrow over an unselected node (them little squares) on a path, a small box will appear next to the arrow; clicking will select just that point. You can also drag node handles using this tool to adjust curves on a path. The Pen Tool (the pen nib) is what you'll be using through most of the cel-style tutorial on this page. Those of you who just learned how to use it in Photoshop will probably freak, but it functions differently in Illustrator (far more logically too). Clicks one after the other will create straight lines between nodes; click-dragging creates handles and curves the part of the path you're working with. Clicking on the end of a curve will create a corner point, letting you make sharp turns. Control-clicking finishes off the current path and can be used as a selection tool if control is held down. Watch your cursor carefully as you work with the pen tool: An x next to the cursor denotes that you're ready to start a new path. A / next to the cursor denotes that you're continuing an existing path or joining one path to another. A + next to the cursor denotes that you're adding a point to the path. A - next to the cursor denotes that you're removing a point from the path (which can be pretty disastrous at times). An o next to the cursor denotes that you're closing a path. This will automatically finish the path. Remember, Illustrator has a scary number of levels of undo (mine's set to 200)... don't be afraid to multiple undo when you have to! Control-z is the undo command, Control-shift-z is the redo command. If you're like me you'll use them quite a bit. ^_^;;;;

tutorials - chiaroscuro