The Adobe Illustrator CS4 Wow! Book [Paperback]

Sharon Steuer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321605586 | ISBN-13: 978-0321605580 | Publication Date: June 27, 2009 | Edition: 1

For years, Sharon Steuer and her international Wow! team have been reaching out to the world of professional illustrators to showcase the range and quality of work these artists are doing in Illustrator. In this revised edition of the best-selling and award-winning Illustrator Wow! Book, you’ll find tips, tricks, and techniques derived from actual projects from more than 100 of the world’s top Illustrator artists. Using Adobe Illustrator CS4, Sharon shows you how to integrate projects using multiple artboards, work transparency into gradients, and draw with the new Blob Brush tool. You’ll not only learn how to “think in Illustrator” with the Zen of Illustrator lessons, you’ll be guided in a wide range of techniques essential for mastering Adobe Illustrator. This edition is loaded with new artwork and lessons that cover:

• Basic and advanced techniques with the new Multiple Artboards feature

• Preparing Illustrator files for work in Photoshop

• Working with the Gradient Annotator and transparency

• Blob Brush tool artwork and integration with Live Paint

• Blending modes and transparency

• More masking with LiveType

• Expressive brushwork and symbolism

• Taking advantage of the improved Appearance panel

• New lessons for creating glows and highlights

• Updated Zen lessons

• Colorizing photos

• Demystifying Live Color

• Creating photorealistic mesh

Editorial Reviews

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 Adobe Illustrator WOW! Book, which has twice received the Ben Franklin Award for best computer book. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (June 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321605586
• ISBN-13: 978-0321605580
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,391 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

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book, October 13, 2009

By 

Ariane Colenbrander "ariane c" (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS4 Wow! Book (Paperback)

Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book
Sharon Steuer
Peachpit Press; 476 pages

Sharon Steuer's Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book is chock full of great tips, techniques and tutorials to get Illustrator users of all levels interested and motivated by the program's myriad functionality. The book's chapters start out basic and work their way to more advanced features and lessons.

As with previous Illustrator WOW! books, the book contains both a CD and pull-out glossary "Finger Dance" summary for both Mac and Windows users. The CD is full of Illustrator files, as well as trial demos and plug-ins to get you started (a descriptive list of what each plug-in does and costs follows in the book's appendix). Zen of the Pen, on Page 59, is an excellent introduction to the pen tools and again, its file is included on the CD.

The book does seem daunting in size at first glance, but such is the organization of the chapters that you needn't read it cover to cover, though the first two chapters covering the program basics are a great way to learn and/or refresh.

Further reading delves into the drawing tools, tracing, live paint, brushes, layers, working with type, blends, transparency, colour, live effects, and web/animation. The final chapter focuses on combining Illustrator with other programs, an excellent way to integrate what you've created into other documents.

There are artist's galleries at the end of each chapter, complete with a simple breakdown on how the artwork was created in the program. By viewing its accompanying art file on the CD, readers can deconstruct the file and learn how the piece was created, at their own pace. As well, there's an artist contact list at the back of the book for more information on their business.

I found this book and its CD a valuable resource for all things Illustrator. I would recommend this book as a reference guide to keep close at hand/on the bookshelf, as you'll seek its guidance time and time again.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE best Illustrator book for intermediate to advanced users, December 18, 2009

By 

D. Dorset (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS4 Wow! Book (Paperback)

If you know anything about vector art, the work in this book will completely blow your mind. But it's not just pretty pictures. The Illustrator CS4 WOW book goes through, in precise detail, the techniques used to make these designs. What's more, the AI files for the illustrations are included on the CD. This is huge! You can go through and look at the work of the masters. Imagine being able to watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel in real-time. That's basically what having the AI files on CD is like for the Illustrator user. If you're proficient at vector art but you're having trouble mastering the techniques to create truly eye-popping artwork, then you need this book. It's a wonderful resource.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awsome Book, October 28, 2009

By 

Mr Lucky (Sacramento) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Adobe Illustrator CS4 Wow! Book (Paperback)

I bought this book to paralell with the Adobe Revealed book that i found quite confusing for a beginner in vector graphics , its a blessing not only as a reference book , but now i can see Why things are doing what they are doing. Also the book in my opinion is a plethora of information for the beginer to the advanced and to the pro.In my belief this book will not be one of those you read and put on a shelf due to the advanced knowledge , reference material , and the realy cool projects in the book.This is one well written book , and not a corporate rush job...so in my opinion it deserves a 10.