Getting started with Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is often the least used member of the graphic design trinity which also includes InDesign (or QuarkXPress) and Photoshop. Its main use is the creation of print graphics, anything from a corporate logo or a map of directions to your office. It can also be used to build website layouts and web graphics include Flash animations. There are also several functions relating to page layout, such as the ability to link paragraphs of text and run text around images.
When running Illustrator training courses, we have noticed that a lot of delegates have had difficulties in getting into the program and finding applications for it. People will say things like: “It’s been on machine for ages. I’ve just never got around to using it.” To a lot of people, it seems far less exciting than Photoshop and far less useful than QuarkXPress or InDesign. Many of these people seem to be suffering from “Blank Canvas Syndrome”: you create a new file and there is this blank page just sitting there with nothing on it. It’s up to you to create everything yourself. At least, with Photoshop you can build your artwork using photos as your raw material.
When we run Illustrator training courses, we accept that our job is not just to show delegates how the program works and how to use its various tools and options. We also need to show them how to get past this idea of the stark blank canvas with nothing on it. There are four main antidotes to Blank Canvas Syndrome. The first is to have a very clear idea of the type of artwork you want to produce with Illustrator. The second is to use the excellent Live Trace facility built into the program. The third technique is to make liberal use of scanned and other bitmapped images as points of reference. And, fourthly, reuse elements that you have already created, both within the same drawing and between different illustrations.
Getting started with Illustrator becomes a lot easier once you have a clear idea of what type of artwork you need to produce. When often run courses for companies who will be using Illustrator in a very specific way, such as fashion companies, architects or cartographers. This type of training tends to be very successful because it’s just a case of showing people which tools and techniques they need to use to create the necessary output.
For users who are using the software in a less clear-cut and focused way, we always try to point out on our Adobe Illustrator training courses that you don’t have to start with a blank canvas. We always recommend that wherever possible you import relevant graphic material such as scanned images, keep them on a background layer and use various Illustrator tools and techniques to either trace the images or simply to use them as guides and points of reference as you are creating your own original artwork.
Adobe once owned a program called Streamline which was a utility for converting bitmapped images into vectors. Though they have now discontinued it, Streamline lives on in the guise of Illustrator’s Live Trace function. This allows you to convert bitmaps imported into Illustrator into vectors, either by choosing one of the preset settings or by creating a custom set of parameters. The program is very fast, so it is easy to experiment with several different settings to see what gives the best results. Once you have got your vectorised version of the artwork, you spend a bit of time cleaning it up and it’s good to go.
Bitmapped images can also provide useful visual reference points as you create your own artwork. You place the image on a background layer and, optionally reduce its opacity down to around 45%, so it doesn’t clash with the elements you are creating. As you draw, you can then make constant comparisons between your own art and the content of the background reference images.
Another trick we always point out to delegates attending our Illustrator training courses is the ease with which you can create elements which are variations on existing elements within your drawing. Illustrator has powerful techniques for creating transformed copies of an object. It also allows you to place multiple strokes and fills on an object and to apply effects to each of them. Thus, for example if you need to create four concentric circles, you can just create one circle and give it four strokes, using the Offset Path command to position each of them.
The bottom line is that Illustrator’s blank canvas doesn’t have to stay blank for very long. You just need to formulate a clear idea of what you want to achieve with the program. Wherever possible, find images which you can either trace or use as reference points as you originate your own artwork. And, when creating new elements always ask yourself: “Can I base these new elements on items that already exist within the drawing?” If you use these simple techniques, then Blank Canvas Syndrome will never become a huge affliction for you.
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