24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does Illustrator Scare You?, December 17, 2005
This review is from: Adobe Illustrator CS2 @work: Projects You Can Use on the Job (Paperback)
"Let's get it out of the way right up front: Illustrator scares some people." From that opening line, I knew this book was for me.
I've avoided learning Illustrator during the 15 years I've been in graphic design and related fields both professionally and for fun. I had learned other vector-based programs like Flash and Fireworks just fine. I was aware of so many beautiful and exciting illustrations created by designers proficient in Illustrator. But, alas, Illustrator and it's foreign tools scared me.
Scared no more. With the purchase of Creative Suite 2, I decided NOW was the time to face my fears and become a more well-rounded and proficient designer.
The book's author not only takes you through a project-oriented approach to learning the tools of Illustrator. But he stops to share insights and tidbits of wisdom from his long and successful career along the way.
The first project, well picked for first ups, takes you through creating a simple logo using all of the common, yet often misunderstood, if not feared, tools of Illustrator. This chapter alone, is worth at least half of the book's price. Before reading this chapter, my understanding of the pen tool and it's myriad options was to draw your curve or line and if you make a mistake, fix it with undo and try again.
After just the first chapter, I understood how to start with a rough pencil sketch (whether by hand or in Illustrator) and use the pen tool and guides to create perfect curves and lines for a polished look - think conceptualizing a comic book page and then refining with pen and ink and then finally giving your page life with color and effects.
This book does not claim to be a beginner's book, nor does it claim to teach you everything about Illustrator step-by-step. Know what it is when you pick it up. It will teach you to use the power of Illustrator, but I would recommend that you be already VERY familiar with any other Adobe product and the common Adobe interface, or at least pretty computer literate. I'm used to reading technical instruction books, and still I found myself re-reading several lines to decipher something that was left out, or poorly described (or completely in error). That was very frustrating at times. If you don't feel you are an intuitive person (i.e. mind reader at times), you may wish to start learning illustrator elsewhere.
I also am not convinced that Illustrator is the best program to use for some of the projects presented here (I would use InDesign for magazine ads and tri-fold brochures for example).
Those being the book's only weakness, I still give it 4 stars for everything wonderful that it is and for helping me to overcome my fear of Illustrator.
Less than 30 days ago, I was a Illustrator novice. Now I'm proud to show my Illustrator illustrations to all. See my scientific illustration of an atom under customer images for this book.
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Technical Writer's opinion, November 17, 2005
This review is from: Adobe Illustrator CS2 @work: Projects You Can Use on the Job (Paperback)
BOOK REVIEW: Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work
If you take the high cost of software, hardware, computer books and just about everything else into consideration these days, then you have to be careful how you spend your money. When you pay thirty or forty dollars for a computer book, you should make sure that it is worth your hard-earned money. Personally, I only buy what I really need. The first question I ask, is; will the purchase of a specific computer book add any value to my life. By that, I mean, will it help me in my job, with my personal life or help me accomplish anything. Since I'm an author, technical writer and editor as well as a programmer, I'm a hard cookie to sell. Working hard for my money and giving it away is not my style. So, I want you to know that what you read in this review is the honest truth. Everyone has different needs and only you will know if buying a certain computer book will aid you in what you want to accomplish.
Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work is an exceptional value that I could not pass up. Published by Sam's Publishing, I believe it is really worth the money and here are some of the reasons I bought it. This book is not one of those lengthy computer manuals that you have to spend hours wading through before you find the answer you seek. No, this book is different.
How is it different? It is designed to focus the user on learning Illustrator by creating projects that allow you to create many useful things while following step-by-step instructions. The amazing thing is that while some of the projects seem simple-such as creating a logo, for instance-you are actually learning how to use tools and techniques that can be applied to accomplishing other tasks such as designing a cover for a book or something similar. Here are a few of the useful projects you will work on:
· Create web sites and extravagant graphics for your site
· Create business graphics, newsletters and handouts
· Logos
· Posters
· Professional advertising materials
· Brochures
· Packaging art for labels and other materials
· Art for CD/DVD labels and covers
· Business cards.
These are only a few of the projects and tasks you will work on. This innovative book will teach you practical, useful and efficient ways to use Illustrator. The focus of the book is to teach you to start and complete projects without having to search through dozens of pages to find out how to do what you need to do. The material in this book is tailored for everyone including the novice and the person with more advanced knowledge of Adobe Illustrator. That means that just about anyone can benefit from this book.
The book is project oriented and in each well-defined project, you learn how to create such things as logos, business cards and copy proofs. Along with step-by-step instructions-just like the teacher was standing right in the room with you-you are presented with many helpful tips. When you do these projects, you learn how to use tools and processes, as you need them. This means that you don't have to learn each tool before you do anything useful.
This book definitely has broad appeal. Web site designers, artists, corporate users, and even writers can benefit from the knowledge obtained within its pages. The techniques you learn here can be applied to many other situations. For example, you learn how to create business cards. By learning how to create and manipulate appealing text, you can apply that skill to creating text for you web pages or even for book covers. Of particular interest to those in the business world will be the projects on creating graphs and charts for presentations and reports. Worthy of noting is the fact that you can download project templates and finished projects from [...].
As a writer and editor, I consider this book one of my most important tools because I've already found uses for many of the things I've learned from its pages. I've been an author, technical writer and technical editor on over four hundred computer books and technical manuals. As a person who has read my share of such books, I can attest to the fact that you'll enjoy using this book and you'll be happy with what you learn from it. Maybe it won't bring enrichment to everyone's life-there are always exceptions-but it sure has helped me in my business.
Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work is available at most computer bookstores, online at amazon.com and [...]. It sells for around thirty dollars. You can also get information about the book at Sam's Publishing web site.
Dallas G. Releford, Author, Programmer and Novelist
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