illustratorOverview.doc
rev -09/22/2015
Overview Illustrator
We use it to create vector graphics:
o
o
o
o
Can resize without losing quality
Place dots (anchor points)
Connect the dots with paths
Creates shapes, with or without fill and stroke
Creating Shapes
 We use various tools to create paths and anchor points to
form shapes, and then maybe fill inside the shapes and
maybe add a stroke (border)
Illustrator overview
Page 1
 Once we have the anchor points, can fill the resulting
areas, aka. shapes, push, pull the anchor points and paths
to change the shapes
 Start Illustrator and choose a new print document, named
practice; set units to inches, size to letter, one column,
CMYK as the color model, and save the document as
practice.ai inside InClass/Illustrator
 Click OK
What you see is called the artboard (drawing area)
The document (page) also has a canvas area on the sides . Store
stuff there so you can access it later
Illustrator overview
Page 2
 Change workspace to Essentials, or reset Essentials by
clicking it
Can’t see my Artboard
What if I can’t find the artboard?
. Solution:
 View>Fit Artboard in Window
Might also try zooming out using Zoom tool (Or use
shortcut key Ctrl+ and Ctrl-)
Illustrator overview
Page 3
Change toolbox to two columns, rather than
one…personal preference: click tiny double-arrow top left:
 Fill and Stroke tools
As noted, once we draw a shape, we can color it in (fill) and/or
add a stroke/border.
Using Basic Shapes
Objective: Draw a red ellipse (circle).with a Black, 4pt (point)
stroke.
 Bring Fill tool to top
Illustrator overview
Page 4
 …use picker to select a color: Choose a Red...Gamut
warnings
 Choose a less saturated color
Now choose the color of the stroke…
 Click the tool to bring it to top. Use swatches this time to
choose the color: Want a black
Illustrator overview
Page 5
And

Open the panel
The swatches panel contains color boxes gradients (later)
Select the black olor
Now for the 4 pt stroke..can use Control Area (top of
document)
Illustrator overview
Page 6
ALMOST THERE…
 Finally, find, choose the Ellipse Tool
..pickup line maybe…love your ellipse!!or my, you have really
fabulous ellipse.!!!
 Hides under rectangle tool (note small arrow)
 Hold down shift key to draw out a perfect circle/square
Illustrator overview
Page 7
Note: Stroke size-use Control panel as above or open
Window>Stroke
 Use black arrow (selection tool) and click the circle…look
for anchor points. How many do you see?
Illustrator overview
Page 8
The box you see is called the Bounding Box. It can be used to
size the shape…It also can be hidden. (View>Show/Hide
Bounding Box.
Grab a corner and drag to resize.
The Arrows
The black arrow (Called Selection) selects an entire shape. The
white arrow, ( Direct Select) part of a shape.
 Choose white arrow and click an anchor point, now drag
it:
 Return shape to a circle (Ctrl-Z)
Illustrator overview
Page 9
 Select Nothing: Click in canvas with Selection tool
 Draw a small blue rounded rectangle smaller than the
ellipse and drop it on top of the circle…
Look for word ”center”…says the square is centered with the ellipse
 Assumes square is in layer above circle. Use arrow keys to
nudge square
 Zoom in (Crl+) or use zoom tool
 Look at layers panel
Illustrator overview
Page 10
Or Window>Layers
Note: Technically the two <path> items are sub-layers, Layer 1
is the actual layer; we refer to the sequence as the stacking
order
Note: Another way to center shapes: Use “Pathfinder” panel
Drag over both shapes
Window>Pathfinder
Illustrator overview
Page 11
Choose align vertical center and horizontal align center:
End of NOTE
 Drag the circle layer above the square…what happened?
Move back
Note: 2 The blue box means some artwork in the associated layer is selected
 Move the circle to the top. What happened?
Illustrator overview
Page 12
 Reverse the order
 Right-click a corner with the direct select tool
 If you had selected a regular rectangle you would see:
 Add rounded corners:
Adding Anchor points
 Click and hold on the Pen tool,
Illustrator overview
Page 13
 Select the circle (Selection OR Direct Select)
 Hide the Bounding box for now
 Click on a path and choose Add anchor point Tool
 Use the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) and pull and
push the anchor points…look for the word anchor:
Illustrator overview
Page 14
Scaling and rotating
And
 Can also use Transform panel
I find it necessary to use it with every project
Illustrator overview
Page 15
Example: Scaling
 Select an object using Selection tool (Black arrow)
Method # 1
o Double click the Scale tool and resize by 200%
This opens
Illustrator overview
Page 16
And: check preview and Scale Strokes…
Illustrator overview
Page 17
Method # 2:
 Use the Transform panel:
 Select the desired objects (drag over both shapes ) with
Selection tool)
 Open the Transform panel (Window>Transform)
 Click the link symbol
 Set width and height to 3” see above…look for link symbol:
Method 3:
 Make sure the Bounding Box is visible (Window/ Show/
Hide Bounding Box)
Illustrator overview
Page 18
 Click and drag a corner while holding down the shift key
(maintains aspect ratio …Width/Height)
Rotate is similar…Choose the tool
 Drag and hold down the mouse:
Illustrator overview
Page 19
The Swatches panel shows the document’s colors,
gradients(Explain) , and patterns. You can add additional ones
from built-in libraries, or “mix your own” colors. Use the colors
to fill in shapes
Panel Menus and Color Management
The Swatches panel,
Like most panels, Swatches has a panel menu…small arrow in
upper right
Illustrator overview
Page 20
Panel Menu Example: Adding new swatches
Adding a new swatch library member ( Library: A group of
related items)
 Click upper right corner,
 Choose Open Swatch Library… then Celebration
Illustrator overview
Page 21
 Choose a library from the list (They are additional colors)
 For example, drag Celebration panel onto the swatches
panel:
Illustrator overview
Page 22
 Choose colors that are indicative of the purpose; i.e. use
Foliage colors for a wildlife project,
 Check adobe color also, there is probably a theme for
nature
Note: Process Colors versus Spot Colors
 Colors can be process or spot. Spot adds in additional
colors other than CMYK, more expensive
 In general, stay with process colors-made with CMYK
inks…cheapest …
Review: Gamut=number of colors a given color model can
reproduce…Red Green Blue gamut on monitor larger than
CMYK (paper) and Spot colors have larger gamut than process
Use spot only when:
 Publication needs a color that cannot be accurately
reproduced with CMYK inks, such as precise color
matching of a corporate or logo color.
 Need more vibrant colors than what CMYK inks produce.
 Project requires special effects such as metallic or
fluorescent spot inks.
Illustrator overview
Page 23
 Basically, spot colors are more expensive, try to not use
them
Close, don’t save
 Ctrl-A and delete all
Practice using anchor points, Fills, strokes and
tracing objects
Will use the Rectangle tool and draw and fill a rectangle
multiple ways
 Select the rectangle tool:
 Select a green fill color from the swatches panel, and a 2
pt orange stroke:
(72 points/inch)
Method # 1: Drag down and to the right on the artboard (Can
move the artboard via space bar + left-mouse button…try it)
 Click where you want the rectangle and drag to
create it
Illustrator overview
Page 24
 Starts at a corner of the rectangle
 See if you can drag and hold to set the rectangle to exactly
3 “ wide, 2” tall:
o Not easy!
Let’s resize the rectangle so it’s the desired size.
o Click away
Resizing Shapes
 Select the rectangle
 Use Transform panel (Window>Transform)
o Enter W:3 and H:2
Or, as we saw, use Scale Tool:
Illustrator overview
Page 25
 Deselect (Select>Deselect or click away using black arrow
(Selection tool)
Method # 2: Click once on the artboard and enter the desired
width and height
 You can choose the colors before you create the square, or
afterwards.
 Practice: Make a 3”by 3” red rectangle with a blue 3 point
stroke:
Control Panel shows our decisions (Can make changes there
also)
Illustrator overview
Page 26
Method # 3: Drag a perfect square (circles too)
 Shift-Drag to create a perfect square (same for ellipses)
 Draw a small perfect square
o 2” x 2”.CMYK Blue fill, CMYK Red stroke (5 pt)
 Reverse the colors : Fill and Stroke (look for arrow)
 Reverse again
Method # 4: Draw from center-out
 Alt-drag to draw a rectangle by drawing from the center
out, rather than drawing from a corner. We will see a use
for this later
Drawing using Pencil tool
 It draws using the current stroke color, and size
 Turn Fill off
 Draw a 4-point black line:
Illustrator overview
Page 27
 Look for anchor points
 Click the white arrow (Direct Select)
 Click the line
 Find an anchor and drag
Drawing using Pen tool
 Click once, move cursor, click again to draw a straight line
 Make a triangle
or
Illustrator overview
Page 28
 Click once, Click again at another location but drag cursor
to create a curve with handles
Practice: Use the pen tool to create a shape like this:
Viewing Smart Guides
if Smart Guides turned on , and you pause over a corner of a
selected object, you will see the word anchor.
If you hover near the center of an object, look for center to
appear
Same for paths
Try it
Illustrator overview
Page 29
Revisit Fill and Stroke
Fill
Can fill with a color or a gradient or a pattern
 Select the object
Fill with color...saw already
Fill with a Gradient
A gradual change from color to color: shades of gray is default
 Draw a yellow circle, no stroke
 Select it
 Now click the Gradient Fill tool
Should see:
Illustrator overview
Page 30
 Ellipse Result
 Now click the Gradient tool (toolbox)and manipulate the
bar:
Just drag across the circle:
Illustrator overview
Page 31
Roll your own
 Double-click the Gradient tool (Not the gradient fill)
Illustrator overview
Page 32
Result:
(Note: You can click and drag in any direction to apply the
gradient)
 Move the middle diamond left and right to see the effect
on the gradient fill
 You can drag the cursor to apply the gradient from any
angle (Drag from right to left so darkest is on the right)
 The icons on the bottom of the horizontal bar are called
stops There are two at the present time
 Can drag a color from the swatch panel to any stop, can
add, delete stops
 Drag a red swatch to the leftmost stop:
Illustrator overview
Page 33
 Pull down to delete a stop
 To change the gradient opacity: Double-click the stop
(Opacity determines how transparent the shape is. 100%
,means the object cannot be seen through)
o Move opacity slider to desired value
Illustrator overview
Page 34
Draw a yellow ellipse and a second, smaller blue ellipse
Apply a radial gradient with low opacity
See?
OK, so those are the most often used fill options (There is a fill
with Pattern, which we skipped
Using the Transform Panel…Precise Placement
 Can set size and location of an object via Transform panel,
which we opened at the beginning of this module.
 Draw a rectangle (square) and fill it with blue and a yellow
stroke
Note: If units are pixels or points, choose
Edit>Preferences>Units and change General to inches
 Open the Transform panel:
Illustrator overview
Page 35
 Select the rectangle, and click the middle reference on the
Transform panel and use transform to position its center
The blue box is at X=4, Y=4.
 Or use Control Panel
Illustrator overview
Page 36
Selecting Objects
 Use the Black Arrow (Selection Tool) to select the entire
object
Selecting part of an object Deselect everything first
 Use white arrow…the Direct Select tool
 Click a corner of any rectangle using Direct Select
 Pull the corner anchor point to deform the rectangle
Note:
Look at corner anchor points…only the one you selected should
be filled in…if not, click away (deselects), then click a corner
anchor it should be filled-in, the others hollow:
Illustrator overview
Page 37
Save your document (practice.ai)
Symbol Spray Tool
 Make a tree
 Find Symbol Sprayer tool
 Open up the symbol library (Window>Symbols), then click
the panel menu of the symbols window
 Choose the Open Panel Library
Illustrator overview
Page 38
 select Symbol Library>Nature
 Double click the symbol sprayer tool and adjust its size:
Illustrator overview
Page 39
 Click on a symbol ( I chose leaves in the nature panel
Draw a brown tree trunk, (Click the Color option: (otherwise
the tree will retain the gradient.
Illustrator overview
Page 40
 spray leaves!
Illustrator overview
Page 41
Cropping
Maybe want a piece of your artboard for a web site you’re
doing. Of course, the object then becomes a bitmap
The cropping tool is actually called the Artboard tool
It puts sizing handles around the artboard: try it
 Try to crop the tree
Here is mine:
Illustrator overview
Page 42
 To use on a Web page, need gif or jpg formal
 Crop and then choose File>save for Web
The Blend tool
 Use pencil tool and draw two lines with zero fill, 4 point
stroke, two different colors
 Select both lines
Illustrator overview
Page 43
 Object>Blend>Make
 Another gradient!
As long as we’re on blend, let’s blend a rectangle to a star (a
morph)
 Draw an orange rectangle and a green star
o Star tool is under Rectangle tool, just select and say
OK, color it green
o Draw an orange square
 Select both: (Drag over both, or select one, then shift-click
on the second object)
Illustrator overview
Page 44
 Object>Blend>Blend Options:
Says to Blend in 8 steps
 Then, Object>Blend>Make:
Illustrator overview
Page 45
Now for Pathfinder
 Draw a black ellipse and two smaller ones (Black also)…
 Now find Pathfinder panel
Will combine to create a single shape:
 Select all the objects, then alt-click to “Unite”
Illustrator overview
Page 46
Creates one object
Another example:
The color is that of the top object…switch the small circles fill to
be yellow
To subtract the top shapes from the bottom:
 Ctrl-Z
Illustrator overview
Page 47
Result:
o Save
o Close the document
Summary:
 Illustrator plays "connect the dots" to create paths
 No pixels are involved.
 There are several drawing tools: rectangles, ellipses, stars,
pencil, pen
 Objects are defined using anchor points
 We can add anchor points to existing objects
 Paths connect the points
Illustrator overview
Page 48
 Objects have fills and strokes
 Objects can be resized
 Objects can be blended into each other
 Color Management is comprehensive
 We can use Selection and Direct Select tools
Illustrator overview
Page 49