Customer Reviews

Illustrator CS Accelerated: A Full-Color Guide

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

 

 

Lets start with the positive aspect -->
This book is very colorful with nice glossy pages and had a good intro to the many tools illustrator has to work with.

OK THE BAD PART-->
The projects looked very easy to do until I bought the book and actually sat down to do some learning. I am very familiar with all the Illustrator tools so I know my way around, however the directions given in the book had me very confused. The first project was a building with a satellite dish. This project to an artist looked very simple to construct yet trying to follow the directions made no sense. No matter what I did by following every word from the author, the building was horrible and lop sided due to the directions.I followed every word exactly that the author gave as instructions and yet my projects didn't even come close to what the book presented. Being very fluent in photoshop I knew this was not my fault.
As an example for the building with the satellite project he author did not mention perspective positioning and left alot of detail out. To a novice or a beginner this would be very discouraging.
I was really excited about this book from the way it looked in the store that was until I got home and read the directions while trying to perform the projects in the book. The author must have had to much wine while he was writing.

I do not recommend this book because the author will leave your head spinning. Following the project's instructions will make you feel it is your lack of following directions and artistry when really the book just plain out sucks at teaching!


If you have this book and your new to Adobe Illustrator please realize that the tutorials are badly written leaving huge gaps of instructions needed to perform each project.
Please note that if you are using this book as an Illustrator learning tool and you are completely baffled that after many hours you can't get your project to look right, IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT.
It is not your ability to understand illustrator rather it is the authors lack of understanding of who would be buying this book.
Don't give up learning, just get a better author who can define and explain each step carefully and detailed-

This could have been a fabulous book, but the author failed to pay attention to the fact that this was more than just showing pretty art work but rather a teaching tool to adavnce people in their desire to learn Illustrator.

There are a number of problems with this book. First, the book starts with an introduction to the controls. Nice idea, but it would have be nicer if the examples the author gives were included in the disk so that we could follow along. The big problem with this book, though, is that the sample projects cannot be done the way the author says they can. Take the first exercise, the building with the satellite dish on top. The little box that the dish sits on can't be made the way the author says--changing the width of the box copied from the main building changes the perspective of the sides of the box, so it doesn't match the rest of the building. In the second exercise, the dartboard, you need to color alternating slices of the outer ring different colors. But the ring can't be broken up, not using the technique the author gave. As in the other case, the properly finished project is included on the disk but I can't figure out how the guy finished it. This is very very poor. Don't be fooled by the glossy graphics, this is a lousy book.

Illustrator CS Accelerated: A Full-Color Guide

I was looking for an Illustrator book that was suggested by a collegue. I order this one used, great book, it was $3.00 and it is a great book. I am sorry to say I wish I had waited a couple of days, as the price went from $3.00 to .75 cents, I probably at that point would have ordered more, for my students.
Great book.

This book can really be confusing when doing some of the exercises. Many of the exercises have very unclear instructions, plus the the author often times only gives keyboard shortcuts for the PC so if your a Mac person good luck. Most of the time you can figure it out, but it's annoying. At least the author could have given the menu equivalent. A couple of the exercises were so cunfusing that I just gave up. I did learn a little about Illustrator, but I got tired of the unclear instructions so I retired the book. I would not recommend this book.

That is all. Thre are some great exercises, but who can follow them. I wish Deke McCleeland had written this book. He at least numbers his figures so that you know what you should see when you do what he says to do. This author doesn't do that. There are times when a performed action doesn't render the result you expect. I'm giving the 2 stars because the book looks really nice.

The layout of this book is very professional in nature, stunningly full of color with a nice clean look, as is all of the Accelerated series.

Also comes with a CD full of course files to do with the exercises, this is particularly imperative for the beginner, may not be for the more advanced.

Chapter 1. Covers the Interface of Illustrator CS. Installation and Interface. Chapter 2. Basic Drawing Tools. Make a cool Dartboard using the Polar Grid Toll, also simplifying and Adding Anchor Points. Chapter 3. Drawing and Editing Paths. If you love the pen tool, you will like this chapter, if you are new to the pen tool you may pull out a few hairs. If you practice and practice you will find the pen tool second nature. The pen tool is very important to Illustrator. Chapter 4. Covers Gradients, Blends and Clipping Masks. Learn to blend objects to create Morphing Effect.
Chapter 5. Make a Christmas Card using layers and filters. Chapter 6. All to do with creating and editing text. Text on a path, text inside an object. Chapter 7. Creating a poster using symbols and transition effects. Chapter 8. Covers using Advanced Techniques with the Liquify and Mesh tools. Use the Mesh tool to make your image look more realistic. Chapter 9. Using the paint brush tools, making patterns. Chapter 10. Covers the Transparency tool and 3D tool. Use the 3D effects to make Flash Animation, use the Scribble effect on an image, also Edit your effects.

Note: You must have Macromedia Flash to do the Illustrator/Flash Animation.
This book is for beginner to professionals, the exercise are easy to follow. Also keep an eye open for all the tips and notes scattered throughout the book.

The book has some basic errors in some chapters (as in some books these days). These are not substantial errors but they may make the beginner confused.

One of the better Illustrator books in the $30 price range.

This book serves as an excellent resource for Illustrator users of any level.

The book sells for $29.99 in the US.
Marks Five (5) out of Five (5).