Adobe Illustrator Cs6 Classroom in a Book

1. Master the Illustrator CS6 Workspace for Efficiency

To make the best use of the extensive drawing, painting, and editing capabilities of Adobe Illustrator CS6, it’s important to learn how to navigate the workspace.

Workspace Familiarization. Understanding the Illustrator CS6 workspace is crucial for efficient design. The workspace consists of the Application bar, menus, Tools panel, Control panel, Document window, and panels. Customizing the workspace to fit your workflow can significantly improve productivity.

Key Elements:

• Tools Panel: Contains tools for creating and editing artwork.
• Control Panel: Displays options for the currently selected object, providing quick access to relevant settings.
• Panels: Offer a wide range of controls for modifying and monitoring your work.
• Document Window: Displays the file you’re working on.

Customization and Navigation. Adjusting the user interface brightness, arranging panels, and using viewing options like zoom and rulers are essential for a comfortable and productive design experience. Learning keyboard shortcuts and navigation techniques further enhances workflow efficiency.

2. Precise Selection and Alignment are Foundational

Selecting content in Adobe Illustrator is one of the more important things you’ll do.

Selection Techniques. Mastering selection tools is fundamental to manipulating artwork. Illustrator offers various selection methods, including the Selection tool for entire objects, the Direct Selection tool for individual points, and the Magic Wand tool for similar objects.

Alignment and Organization:

• Alignment Tools: Precisely align objects to each other, a key object, or the artboard.
• Grouping: Group related items for easier manipulation.
• Isolation Mode: Edit individual components within a group without affecting others.
• Arrangement: Control the stacking order of objects.

Strategic Selection. Hiding, locking, and arranging objects are essential for managing complex artwork and ensuring accurate selections. These techniques allow designers to focus on specific elements without accidentally modifying others.

3. Shapes are Building Blocks: Create and Refine

Vector graphics (sometimes called vector shapes or vector objects) are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors, which describe an image according to its geometric characteristics.

Basic Shapes. Creating and editing shapes forms the foundation of Illustrator design. Mastering tools for rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars is essential.

Drawing Modes:

• Draw Normal: Stacks shapes on top of each other.
• Draw Behind: Draws objects behind existing ones.
• Draw Inside: Draws objects inside a selected shape, creating a clipping mask.

Shape Manipulation. Combining and editing shapes using the Shape Builder tool, Pathfinder effects, and drawing modes allows for the creation of complex and unique designs. Image Trace converts raster images into editable vector shapes.

4. Transform Objects with Artboards, Rulers, and Perspective

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Artboard Management. Artboards are the foundation for organizing artwork in Illustrator. Adding, editing, renaming, and reordering artboards allows for efficient management of multi-page documents.

Transformation Tools:

• Rulers and Guides: Precisely position and measure objects.
• Scaling, Rotating, Reflecting: Alter the size, orientation, and symmetry of objects.
• Distorting and Shearing: Create unique shapes and perspectives.

Perspective Transformation. Applying perspective transformations adds depth and realism to artwork. The Free Distort effect allows for complex distortions, while the Transform Each command enables the application of multiple transformations simultaneously.

5. Pen and Pencil: Tools for Precision and Expression

You’ll learn more about lines and curves in Lesson 5, “Drawing with the Pen and Pencil Tools.”

Pen Tool Mastery. The Pen tool is essential for creating precise paths, including straight lines, Bezier curves, and complex shapes. Understanding anchor points, direction handles, and path segments is crucial for effective use.

Pencil Tool for Freeform:

• Freeform Drawing: The Pencil tool allows for creating organic and free-flowing lines.
• Editing Capabilities: The Pencil tool can also be used to edit existing paths, providing flexibility in design.

Combining Techniques. Combining the Pen and Pencil tools allows for a balance of precision and expression in artwork. Mastering both tools expands the designer's creative possibilities.

6. Color Mastery: From Theory to Custom Palettes

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Color Fundamentals. Understanding color modes (CMYK, RGB), color controls, and color theory is essential for effective design. The Color panel, Swatches panel, and Color Guide panel provide tools for creating and managing color palettes.

Custom Color Creation:

• Building and Saving: Create custom colors and save them as swatches for easy access.
• Color Groups: Organize related colors into groups for efficient management.
• Spot Colors: Create spot colors for specialized printing needs.

Color Harmony and Application. The Color Guide panel and Kuler panel offer tools for exploring color harmonies and applying them to artwork. Live Paint allows for intuitive coloring of complex shapes.

7. Type is Design: Formatting and Reshaping Text

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Type Fundamentals. Working with type involves understanding point type, area type, and type on a path. Importing text, creating columns, and formatting type are essential skills.

Text Formatting Techniques:

• Character and Paragraph Styles: Create and apply styles for consistent formatting.
• Reshaping Text: Use envelope warps and object warps to reshape text creatively.
• Text Wrapping: Wrap text around objects for dynamic layouts.

Advanced Type Manipulation. Creating text outlines allows for further manipulation of letterforms as graphic objects. Mastering these techniques expands the designer's ability to integrate type seamlessly into artwork.

8. Layers: Organize, Control, and Isolate Artwork

The preferences file controls how command settings appear on your screen when you open the Adobe Illustrator program.

Layer Organization. Creating and managing layers is crucial for organizing complex artwork. Layers allow for selective viewing, locking, and editing of content.

Layer Manipulation:

• Moving and Duplicating: Easily move and duplicate objects between layers.
• Locking and Viewing: Control the visibility and editability of layers.
• Pasting Layers: Maintain layer structure when pasting content from other files.

Advanced Layer Techniques. Creating clipping masks and applying appearance attributes to layers enhances design control. Isolation mode allows for focused editing of specific layers.

9. Draw in Perspective for Realistic Depth

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Perspective Drawing Fundamentals. Understanding perspective drawing principles is essential for creating realistic depth in artwork. The Perspective Grid tool provides a framework for drawing objects in perspective.

Grid Manipulation:

• Preset Grids: Utilize preset grids for quick setup.
• Editing the Grid: Adjust the Perspective Grid to match the desired scene.
• Drawing in Perspective: Draw objects that automatically conform to the grid.

Advanced Perspective Techniques. Selecting and transforming objects in perspective, attaching content to perspective, and working with symbols in perspective enhance the realism of artwork.

10. Blend Colors and Shapes for Dynamic Effects

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Gradient Fundamentals. Working with gradients involves understanding linear and radial gradients, color stops, and gradient editing techniques. Applying gradients to strokes and fills adds depth and dimension to artwork.

Blending Objects:

• Blended Objects: Create blends with specified steps for controlled transitions.
• Smooth Color Blends: Generate seamless color transitions between objects.

Advanced Blending Techniques. Modifying blends, adding transparency to gradients, and exploring methods for editing gradient colors enhances the visual impact of artwork.

11. Brushes: Stylize Paths with Unique Strokes

Adobe® Illustrator® CS6 is the industry-standard illustration application for print, multimedia, and online graphics.

Brush Fundamentals. Working with brushes involves understanding Calligraphic, Art, Pattern, and Bristle brushes. Applying brushes to paths and editing brush settings enhances the expressiveness of artwork.

Brush Customization:

• Creating Art Brushes: Design custom Art brushes from Illustrator artwork.
• Editing Brush Options: Adjust brush settings to achieve desired effects.
• Colorization Methods: Change the color attributes of brushes using Tints, Tints and Shades, and Hue Shift.

Advanced Brush Techniques. Working with the Blob Brush tool and Eraser tool allows for intuitive painting and editing of shapes.

12. Effects: Add Depth and Dimension to Your Art

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Live Effects Fundamentals. Using live effects involves applying effects, editing effects, and styling text with effects. Live effects are non-destructive, allowing for easy modification.

Pathfinder and Offset Effects:

• Pathfinder Effects: Edit shapes with Pathfinder effects for complex compositions.
• Offset Path Effect: Create outlines and borders with the Offset Path effect.

3D Effects and Mapping. Working with 3D effects involves creating revolved objects, changing lighting, and mapping symbols to 3D artwork.

13. Applying Appearance Attributes and Graphic Styles

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Appearance Attributes Fundamentals. Using appearance attributes involves editing and adding attributes, reordering attributes, and applying appearances to layers. Appearance attributes are non-destructive and can be easily modified.

Graphic Styles for Consistency:

• Creating and Saving: Create and save graphic styles for consistent formatting.
• Applying and Editing: Apply graphic styles to objects and layers, and edit styles globally.

Web Graphics and Optimization. Aligning content to the pixel grid and slicing content are essential for creating web graphics. The Save For Web command allows for optimizing images for web use.

14. Working with Symbols

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Symbol Fundamentals. Working with symbols involves using existing Illustrator symbol libraries, creating symbols, and editing symbols. Symbols are reusable art objects that reduce file size and ensure consistency.

Symbolism Tools for Dynamic Art:

• Spraying Symbol Instances: Use the Symbol Sprayer tool to create symbol sets.
• Editing Symbol Sets: Edit symbols with the Symbolism tools for dynamic effects.

Advanced Symbol Techniques. Storing and retrieving artwork in the Symbols panel and mapping symbols to 3D artwork enhances design capabilities. Working with symbols and Flash integration allows for creating interactive content.

15. Combining Illustrator CS6 Graphics with Other Adobe Applications

Adobe® Illustrator® CS6 is the industry-standard illustration application for print, multimedia, and online graphics.

Combining Artwork Fundamentals. Combining artwork involves understanding vector versus bitmap graphics and placing Photoshop files. Illustrator supports various Photoshop data, including layer comps, layers, and editable text.

Masking Techniques:

• Clipping Masks: Apply simple clipping masks to images.
• Opacity Masks: Create opacity masks for complex effects.

Working with Links and Exporting. Sampling colors in placed images and working with image links enhances design workflow. Exporting layered files to Photoshop allows for seamless integration with other Adobe applications.

Last updated: March 3, 2025