Illustrator 8 Magic (The Magic Series) [Textbook Binding]

Raymond Pirouz (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Magic Series | Publication Date: December 17, 1998

Award-winning designer Raymond Pirouz brings his writing and design expertise to the "Magic" series, focusing on the new features of Illustrator X. Readers will learn how to add pizzazz and creative techniques to their designs. The CD-ROM contains more than 7,000 stock images from Digital Stock, plus demos of Adobe's entire suite of publishing and design software.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this useful book, beginning- and intermediate-level Illustrator users can learn how to create eye-catching images in a few relatively simple steps. The full-color illustrations and step-by-step instructions make this an especially attractive book for aspiring artists who still have a lot to learn about Illustrator and about creating good-looking graphics.

The first part of the book focuses on composition; you create an illustration using simple shapes; work with overlapping objects; create gradients, blends, and meshes; and use masks to create special effects. Part 2 has you convert sketches into line art and integrate photos with vector art. Part 3 is all about type: designing type along paths, creating shapes with type, outlining type effects, creating shadows with type, and tweaking type for custom results. In Part 4, you use filters to create custom shapes, form knockouts (using tools formerly classed as filters), give objects translucency, and create a cross-hatching effect. Part 5 focuses on creating a coherent business identity via custom logos, stationery, posters, and packaging. --Kathleen Caster

From Library Journal

Illustrator 8 is the latest version of Adobe's excellent vector program for image manipulation and creation. Vectors are lines of art in which Photoshop is a matrix of colors in rows and columns. Vectors are much easier to manipulate than a matrix of colors; they allow you to select areas of color easily for color change or line-size change. All these books are solid titles for folks trying to upgrade to Illustrator 8 or learn Illustrator for the first time. Alspach's and Weinmann's books are fine for starting out; Pirouz's and Steuer's works are for advanced users.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Textbook Binding: 288 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Pub (December 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562059521
• ISBN-13: 978-1562059521
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,966,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book makes it easy to learn illustrator, December 9, 1999

By 

Megan (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrator 8 Magic (The Magic Series) (Textbook Binding)

i was really intimidated when trying to learn illustrator on my own and this book was just exactly what i needed. it presents "homework" assignments and you are walked through step by step on how to recreate the "homework". the instructions are really easy to understand, the work gets a little harder and more involved as you work through the book. it was a TREMENDOUS help in becoming more profficient in illustrator and after i graduated from the book i have often reffered back to it and found exactly the information i needed to make my work perfect.

5.0 out of 5 stars This book truely is superb, May 1, 2004

By 

"anthony_uk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrator 8 Magic (The Magic Series) (Textbook Binding)

This is a truely great book, the best software tutorial book I have come across - and I have read a few. What makes it so great? I am not sure, but it actually got me working in Illustrator, something the Illustrator 8 Bible (amongst others) was unable to do.

This book was priceless to me. Don't be put off in any way by the deceptive simplicity of the lessons: if you are a beginner then this is exactly what you need, and as it covers the core functionality of the software is just as useful if you are using a newer version of Illustrator.

I am doing some nice stuff in Illustrator and it was all down to this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thank you, Raymond.

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this book if you expect to make any magic!, March 5, 2000

By 

QuesoLoco (Escondido, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illustrator 8 Magic (The Magic Series) (Textbook Binding)

This book is truly pathetic and is totally out of place compared to the many other Magic books that are of much better quality. The projects hardly even look like what a child would come up with. I find this so disappointing, none of the images in the book dazzle the eye or would come close to inspire an adjective like magical. In fact the only thing that comes close is the word Magic on the cover of the book (which was made in Photoshop). All the tips are pretty rudimentary except for a small piece that gets into dimension. If you'd like a book that answers all your, question basic or technical, Illustrator 8 Bible is one great book. For those of you not up to reading a 800 some page book - an excellent book is the Adobe Classroom in a Book. CIAB goes through pretty much all the features of Illustrator and will get you in touch with making images that look far more "magical." If you'd like to get a book that gets you into thinking of depth and dimension, then this is a good book for you (especially for the price), otherwise I think you'll be severely disappointed too.