Customer Reviews

Adobe Illustrator CS Hands-On Training

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I NEEDED to KNOW Illustrator. Being retentive, I researched on Amazon, googled, and then went to the local library - reviewing all the Illustrator 'how-to' books. I purchased the 3 with the best reviews, and this one on a whim (it had a pretty cover.)

SO. This is the standout, esp. when linked to the publishers home page. I am a visual person - this is an honest 'visual' study guide, with excellent Demo quicktime movies to watch, easy to follow exercises (on the accompanying CD) to download and work along with, and a jovial manner that worked for me. It also works sequentially - moving from excercise 1 onward in a logical, building fashion to excercise 2, and 3, etc. It is home-study, and you do have to work along, but it works.
Regarding my saying it's "an HONEST visual study guide." Considering my pile of 3 top-reviewed books - all are lovely books, but maybe too lovely as the emphasis is the slick production of the book (and illustrations therein), and not on the teaching of sequential skills within the book. I wanted to learn Illustrator, not marvel at what others have done in Illustrator. And I wanted the information linear, not hit-and-miss depending on what page you opened the book.

I recommend this book highly for a logical, visual introduction to Adobe Illustrator. With the exception of the cover, it isn't that pretty, but it will teach the skills you need to make your own beautiful illustrations.

As a professional computer programmer, I've read tons of self training books. I have never read one as clear, well thought out and laid out as this one. I am half way through the book and will be sorry to see it end. Every time I stop after a technique and fool with it I soon develop a question and sure enough the very next paragraph answers the very question. If I read something in the explanations that stikes me as vague I only have to glance up at the illustration and it reinforces the point perfectly. The book won't make me a great artist but it definitely helped me kick out the stuff I needed for my web site. Jeff I thank you. Now on to the next chapter.

Jeff Van West has a winnner of an Illustrator tutorial. A lot of other how-to books give you a bunch of steps that lead the user to a "whiz-bang" result, but they lack in explaining why and how that result was achieved. This book goes through the process of explaining the cause and effect of Illustrator's tools and effects _before_ going through the steps, leading to a better understanding of when to use those tools and effects. I've used "Adobe Illustrator CS Hands-On Training" as a textbook in my beginning Illustrator class, and it's been a wonderful teaching tool. My only real complaint (and it's a minor one at that) is that the graphics are not all that pretty (graphic artists are attracted to shiny objects). Still, the book accomplishes what it sets out to do.

I bought this book as a backup for a video series I had watched. I'm sure it will be very useful. The video series was great and was given by the author of this book.

This book does a great job on teaching the basics of Adobe Illustrator CS through a step by step approach. Each lesson has plenty of detail and background information for the topic covered. Additionally, the Mac and PC differences were pointed out when needed. The 20 plus chapters cover a lot of useful materials from the various tools to type effects and even the new 3D capabilities. With this book I was able to familiarize myself with Illustrator quickly and painlessly.

The only problem with this book is that it's a bit sloppy. I spotted a number of spelling and grammar errors throughout the book. A few sections even had a minor step or two missing or out of place. But with so many screen shots and even videos it's quite hard to get lost. There are about a dozen videos that demonstrate some of the more complicated steps. The companion web site has another 20 or so extra videos on various new topics. The included CD also contains extra material such as a bonus chapter on integration with other programs. There are also sample chapters and demo movies from other books in the hands-on training (HOT) series.

I've had good success working through other books in the HOT series including this one. Some more editing could have probably benefited this book. But, I can still, without a doubt, recommend Adobe Illustrator CS Hands-On Training by Jeff Van West.

This is an excellent training book. It is well-written, presents the material in logical order, and holds the reader's attention. Examples are clearly presented, step-by-step.

I currently have three HOT books included this Illustrator CS book. This one is really disappoint one. Why? The book is about graphic, but all the pictures in the book are black and white. However, it comes with cd-rom, so it receives 2 stars otherwise.....