The Adobe Illustrator CS2 Wow! Book (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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 Adobe Illustrator CS2 in ever more creative ways for your own projects. Best-selling author and award-winning artist Sharon Steuer uses lavish, four-color images of real-world Illustrator CS2 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 coverage of all of Illustrator CS2’s most important capabilities. Veteran users will be grateful to explore Illustrator CS' new features, including the new drawing tool, Live trace, Live paint, SVG-T and much more. On the CD, you'll find many examples of artwork from the book, third-party software, demos, samples, and more.

About the Author

Award-winning artist, author, teacher and digital art guru, Sharon Steuer has been a major force in the digital art world for more than two decades. Her traditional and digital artwork has been exhibited widely, with awards for painting including the national Faber Birren Color Award and Windsor Newton Painting Award.  Sharon is a regular columnist for creativepro.com, and is author of  Creative Thinking in Photoshop: A New Approach to Digital Art as well as all editions of the best-selling Illustrator WOW! Book, which has twice received the Ben Franklin Award for best computer book. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (September 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321320468
• ISBN-13: 978-0321320469
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #290,033 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD, January 11, 2006

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

Each year the Design Bookshelf rates the very best books for computer graphic arts -- The Illustrator WOW book has been a winner in the past. But each year we also highlight a book that goes beyond the "Best" to receive our SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD.

Year after year, upgrade after upgrade, Sharon Steuer consistently brings the very finest compendium on Adobe Illustrator available. While other WOW books and Bibles fade into dust, Sharon brings Illustrator users everywhere the WOW they need. I'm not even going to refer you to my review -- the Special Distinction Award speaks for itself -- and this book. Just go ahead and buy it now -- and purchased along with the Real World Adobe Illustrator CS2 book, the serious Illustrator user will have everything needed to go all the way to master status.

Fred Showker
Editor / Publisher, The Designers' Bookshelf
design-bookshelf.com

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, July 8, 2006

By	Jesse Boyer "-LostSeed.com" (Deland, Florida USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been wanting this book for a while, and I finally decided to purchase it.

I was very impressed by the artwork throughout the entire book, inlcuding examples from professionals, every page is colored, and its so easily organized. Its a pretty thick book at around 430 pages of all full color (still amazes me at the price I got it for).

I've used several Adobe Illustrator Books, including:
Visual QuickStart Guide: Illustrator CS,
Adobe Illustrator 10/CS/CS2 Classroom in a Book,
Adobe Illustrator CS in 24 Hours,
and several others that I didn't completely read.

I know thats a lot of books but It took me a while to grasp the feel of Illustrator. I would say if you have used Illustrator for over 3 months and have a basic understanding of it then this is the perfect book to expand your creativity and give you a new outlook on devoloping vector graphics. It goes through a lot of the beginner guides, but it jumps right into getting you active and used to Adobe Illustrator with simple exercises and methods of creating things. I also like the included HotKey piece in the back of the book, good to hangup to get used to using keyboard/mouse only (not clicking tool items). The CD is also a big plus, if you want to get good at Illustrator this is the best book I would suggest.

This is, hands down, the best book I've ever purchased for the computer.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, August 19, 2006

By	Apprentice - See all my reviews

One reason I love this book is that it is geared toward more advanced techniques and intermediate users rather than absolute beginners. There are plenty of books written for beginners but there are not many books such as WOW! Book that focuses on teaching beyond the basic skills.

The book does a good job of explaining how the tools work although in a sense much faster pace than Classroom in a Book. I've tried Adobe Illustrator CS2 Classroom in a Book and I would say that is a good book for beginners compared to this one but if you're ready to advance in your Illustrator techniques and learn how the software is applied to real projects, the WOW book cannot be beat.