Customer Reviews

The Adobe Illustrator CS4 Wow! Book

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I love vectors, and The Illustrator Wow! Book lives up to its name: Lots and lots of cool graphics... but more importantly, the book breaks down how the effects were created. It's a must for any hard-core Illustrator user.

I gave this book a 2 stars to get the attention of potential buyers who have no experience with Illustrator, and those who have experience with much older versions of Illustrator and Macromedia. This book may not be for you. (I fall into the later category). The book clearly says though, "Tips, tricks, and techniques from 100 top illustrator artists". And that's what this book is, and not much more.
The book's "Illustrator basics" chapter (the reason I bought this book), is for users familiar with past but recent versions of Illustrator. The chapter "Illustrator Basics", would be Basic for them. This is a book to have after you've become familiar with the software. I am buying a couple of other books and keeping this one for future reference.

This WOW! book has some wonderful examples of how the various tools in Illustrator work, including step-by-step instructions on how each example was created. Illustrator is a vast program, so to have some visuals and some 'how-tos' at your fingertips makes a huge difference in the ease of your learning curve! Fantastic book!

Real World Illustrator is probably a better book for total beginners, but if you have an inkling of an idea what you're doing, you'll probably get way more mileage out of this title. Tons upon tons of full-color plates you can casually skim through until something catches your eye, then dive into the dissection of how it was put together. Whatever this book doesn't explore in detail is usually covered pretty well by the help files.

I wouldn't recommend this for absolute just-starting- out beginners because Illustrator can be frustrating to learn at first. But most definitely, this is the MOST INSPRING of all Adobe Illustrator books available, for all the cool stuff that can be done in Illustrator. Just enough instruction, lots of color examples, tips and tricks, and the absolute finger dance chart. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

WOW! is packed with helpful tips, tutorials, and terminology.
If anything I'd say it's too packed! I found it almost overwhelming to read.
Probably best for someone who is already familiar with the basics of Illustrator because a novice won't be able to absorb all of this information at the same time.

This book rocks. Right away it answers questions I've had about Illustrator for years, and offers answers in a way that makes sense to me. Then it dives into specific projects, again, in a way that works for me. Other books offer the same or similar info, but they organize it in pieces, while this books combines methods tools in a logical way. If ANYTHING, I might wish there was more "WOW" in there, but then again I like that it's up to me to use what's there to rock the world.

So look forward to me selling my other Illustrator books because this is THE ONE.