The Adobe Illustrator CS Wow! Book [Paperback]

Sharon Steuer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321168925 | ISBN-13: 978-0321168924 | Publication Date: December 20, 2003

Designed to dazzle and inspire but not leave you in the dust, this beautifully designed volume lets you follow along as it dissects real-world projects from some of today's top Illustrator artists. In the process it teaches you how to use Illustrator in ever more creative ways for your own projects. Best-selling author and award-winning artist Sharon Steuer uses four-color pictures of real Illustrator projects to show what's possible and then employs simple, step-by-step instructions to explain the techniques that will produce those effects. You'll find comprehensive ground-up coverage of all of Illustrator CS' most important capabilities. Veteran users will be grateful to explore Illustrator CS' new features: powerful new tools for creating 3D graphics on the fly, a new Scribble Effect that lets you add a loose, hand-drawn look to your artwork, a redesigned text engine, enhanced PDF support, and more. On the CD, you'll find artwork from the book, technical documents, third-party software, clip art, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Some might think of a Wow! book as only showing how to create neon lettering or chrome highlights. But Sharon Steuer has given us a book that will have readers saying, "Wow! I can't believe how much better I am at Illustrator." The special techniques famous to the Wow! series are still represented here: pen and ink wash, scratchboard, warps, scribbles, and 3D effects, among many others. But what makes this book the one you'll keep by your computer is the incredibly clear writing, examples that cover all the fundamentals, and a clean layout.

The book is great for basics, although even experienced users will appreciate "The Zen of Illustrator" instructions that help you "think" and "see" in Illustrator. You begin by recreating basic shapes using a variety of methods, all the while becoming very agile with the pens, pathfinder palette, and other tools. Then, there's the Finger Dance: a set of keyboard fingerings that will take you right back to your piano lessons. These brilliant exercises help you move away from relying too much on your mouse (the slowest way to go) and in the habit of using the modifier keys (Control, Command, Shift, and Option). Other lessons include drawing and coloring methods, creating isometric images, patterns and vector photos, using distort filters, mapping techniques, extensive use of Illustrator CS's new typography tools, blends, gradients, transparencies, preparing artwork for use in Flash, designing web pages in Illustrator, and much more.

In addition to the at-a-glance charts in the Zen and Finger Dance sections (where you learn by looking more than reading), there's a nifty spread showing all the options in the pathfinder palette and another showing special techniques that can be achieved with brushes. And there's a handy pullout of glossary terms and summary explanations of all the steps in the Finger Dance.

There are techniques from accomplished artists and gallery sections displaying their work. Highlights include Marc LaMantia's expressionistic paintings of New York City, made from meticulously tracing over photos in Illustrator using the pen tool; Ann Paidrick's mindblowing, realistic dishes of glistening tomatoes and olives; and Yukio Miyamoto's awesome illustrations of a cat, a French horn, and a motorcycle, so detailed, you can't believe they are vector-based. This work is truly inspiring. In no time, you'll be more creative, work more efficiently, have more fun, and never let anyone borrow your book! --Angelynn Grant

About the Author

Sharon Steuer has taught computer imaging in art schools and training centers throughout the country. Her paintings and computer illustrations have appeared in numerous books and magazines and have been exhibited nationally for more than a decade. She is a recipient of the Faber Birren Color Award.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (December 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321168925
• ISBN-13: 978-0321168924
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,167,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

(Visit her at: http://www.facebook.com/SharonSteuer)
Sharon Steuer loves collaborating with other creatives--and working with the Illustrator WOW! team, and the contributing artists to the Illustrator WOW! Books, provides endless wonderful opportunities for collaboration.

For more than two decades, Sharon has pioneered the merging of traditional and digital art forms. Sharon's recent artwork weaves together her oil paintings, drawings, digital paintings, photographs, and personal artifacts to explore and reflect fragmented memory. Awards for her artwork include the national Faber Birren Color Award, a Windsor Newton Painting award, and an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

In addition to the 11 editions of the Illustrator WOW! Books, Sharon is author of "Creative Thinking in Photoshop," and has been a contributor to creativepro.com, as well as many other books and articles. She lives with her husband, sound artist and SFSU professor Jeff Jacoby, in San Francisco, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharon does it again... another BLOCKBUSTER, March 23, 2004

By 

Fred Showker "DTG Magazine" (The Design Bookshelf) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS Wow! Book (Paperback)

The latest addition to Sharon's long list of fabulous 'WOW' books has arrived at the Design-Bookshelf.com, and everyone agrees it's not only the BEST of the WOW series, it raises the bar for illustrator how-to books from this day forward.

Agreed: Sharon has retained some of the lessons from past WOW books. These lessons still hold true to the spirit of essential training, and should never be discarded. The pull-out "Finger Dance" card is indispensable, and no one -- read my lips -- no one does a better job of teaching the Pathfinder tools and the Gradient Mesh. Sharon's visual explanation of Clipping Masks and Opacity Masks in just a few pages goes further than 20 pages in the pulp books.

The new content easily offsets the price with glorious color visions of the most striking Illustrator work being created today. And then you get the insider details on how they were done. It's not just about teaching the software. You can lecture on Envelopes and Warps until dark, but nothing comes close to the "how-did-they-do-that" spark of enlightenment to fully learn the technique. Along with the "how" there's got to be a "WHY" or you're spinning your wheels.

We seriously disagree with another reviewer here who seems to find a lack of "WOW" in the new edition. Hold a mirror under his nose! If the Gallery samples are not wowing you, and the new series on typography doesn't wow you -- and the warping, crunching and filters section doesn't wow you... or the fabulous art and tutorials on the CD don't wow you . . . you may not be breathing!

I fully recommend this book to my "Intro To Digital Graphics" students at James Madison University. And, with each new roll-out of Illustrator, I find the WOW books the most inspiring and most useful teaching aid available today. I encourage the students to have the spine shaved off and the book drilled for 3-ring binder use -- so it lays flat for use during the exercises. They do it and they thank me. I also believe the Illustrator Visual Quickstart books are excellent. I require them as well for use as a "shop manual" -- but the Illustrator WOW book is the one that inspires the students to greatness.

If you've never purchased an Illustrator WOW book, then you MUST. We at the Design-Bookshelf.com believe that no matter how many WOW books are on your shelf, if you paid your blood-money to Adobe for the CS version, your investment in software will go much further by adding this new WOW book!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid, April 7, 2004

By 

Roger Dale Harris "Roger Harris" (Fairview Heights, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS Wow! Book (Paperback)

I have been using vector programs as my main graphics tool almost daily since 1991. I have instructed and trained quite a few people in the use of vector graphic programs. I try to get people to think vector rather than just learning techniques of various vector applications; I believe this will help a designer's thinking and execution in both vector and raster work.

Until last week I never looked at any of the Illustrator WOW Books because the title seems to point to the kind of instruction I don't care for. I recently looked through and then purchased Sharon Steuer's latest Illustrator CS Wow Book. I was very impressed with how she teaches the ideas behind vector art while still covering the application techniques. I recommend this book to anyone wanting a better understanding of vector art. This is about as good as it gets.

Sharon Steuer's approach to vector art builds the users knowledge about how to think in vector. This makes the user more aware and understanding of raster also. Sharon Steuer knows these principles and makes them the foundation of the art she picks and the method of her demonstration. Sharon Steuer is the only writer I have encountered that locks down these concepts from the simplest of her instruction through the most esoteric of her lessons. She will be the first writer I recomend to people at any level of ability that wants to learn or expand their graphic art understanding.

Roger Harris
Eikon Studio

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a how-to book at all - buy something else., February 20, 2005

By 

A. White "Photo Chick" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS Wow! Book (Paperback)

I'm new to Illustrator, having only experience in Photoshop. This book was not designed with me, a beginner, in mind. The first 40 pages are filled with "new & improved in Illustrator CS" tips, which make little sense at all to a person who's never used the program, even when sitting in front of the PC with the book open. The Zen of the Pen section, designed as a finger exercise to get a person used to clicking with the right hand and using shortcut keys with the left hand, is confusing, and lacks enough step-by-step info for a true beginner to get through it and feel confident.

The accompanying CD has lots of finished art on it, but no tutorials, and seems to be organized in an unusual structure. It's as if the author is using her book to showcase her fellow artists' work and not to show exactly how these things were created. There are a few deconstructing exercises, but again, not very beginner-oriented. I longed for bezier curve exercises, how-to's, etc., but was left disappointed. The CD is useless for learning, to be blunt.

I would have given this a 2 if not for the wonderful color illustrations, and the fact that it's probably and excellent book for someone with previous Illustrator experience. I'm using this book for a college class, and about 70% of the class, over half of which HAVE Illustrator experience, are disappointed in the tome's info as well.

For a beginner, I'd recommend Classroom in a book, or some other, 1-2-3 type book. I wanted detailed information on how to accomplish concrete tasks, and instead I got a book that skims over techniques with a lot of pretty pictures.