Illustrator CC 2017 One-on-One Fundamentals

Introduction

• Welcome to One-on-One
• The new Illustrator CC 2017 interface

1. Working with Documents

• A first look at Illustrator
• Opening from the Windows desktop
• Opening from the Macintosh Finder
• The Start screen and Recent Files panel
• Creating a new document
• Points, picas, and other units
• The advanced document settings
• Modifying your new document
• Saving your changes
• Closing open documents on the PC
• Closing open documents on the Mac

2. Working with Artboards

• Pages of any size, at any angle
• Using the Artboard tool
• Undo, Redo, and Revert
• Deleting and scaling artboards
• Creating and duplicating artboards
• Artboard tips and tricks
• Introducing the Artboard panel
• Autoarranging artboards
• Artboards and rulers

3. Getting Around

• Navigating your artwork
• Zooming in and out
• Using the more precise Zoom tool
• Animated zooming and GPU Performance
• Scrolling (or panning) a document
• Specifying a custom zoom level
• Working with multiple open documents
• Panels and workspaces (important!)
• Cycling between screen modes

4. Drawing Lines

• Now, we draw
• Creating center guides
• Using the Line Segment tool
• Drawing straight lines
• Duplicating and extending
• Using the Move command
• Introducing the Scissors tool
• Joining your line segments
• Using the Arc tool
• Using the Rectangular Grid tool
• Using the Polar Grid tool
• Using the Spiral tool
• Adding a circular end to a spiral
• Adjusting the curvature of an arc
• Centering all artwork on an artboard

5. Drawing Shapes

• And now, we draw better
• Creating a time-saving template
• Using the Ellipse tool
• Live ellipses and pies
• Drawing two perfectly aligned circles
• Creating compound paths
• Using the Rectangle tool
• The dynamic round corner controls
• Adding some simple reflections
• Rotating your artwork into position
• Using the Polygon and Star tools
• Working with live polygons
• Creating the perfect 5-pointed star
• Repeating stars in alternating rows
• Introducing the Group Isolation mode
• Adding a drop shadow to a layer
• Using the crazy Flare tool
• The top-secret tilde key trick

6. Color and Swatches

• How color works
• The color modes: RGB vs. CMYK
• Hue, saturation, and brightness
• Selecting a color from the spectrum ramp
• Creating and applying swatches
• Working with global swatches
• Searching swatches by name
• Auto-deleting and adding swatches
• Using the Eyedropper tool
• Loading swatches from another document

7. Strokes, Dashes, and Arrows

• The rich world of strokes
• Adjusting the line weight
• How strokes align to path outlines
• Caps, joins, and miter limit
• Making practical use of caps and joins
• Dashes and arrowheads
• Variable-width strokes
• Numerically adjusting Width Points
• Custom aligning strokes to paths
• Creating a custom Width Profile
• Creating a classic round-dotted outline
• Drawing a quick-and-dirty gear
• Combining multiple strokes
• Offsetting strokes to simulate depth

8. Creating and Formatting Type

• Text at its best
• Setting up page margins
• Placing and flowing text
• Creating multicolumn text frames
• The Smart Punctuation command
• Working with point type
• Formatting display text
• Fitting headline and optical kerning
• Formatting body copy
• Creating a drop cap
• Wrapping text around a graphic
• Resolving widows and orphans
• Finding a character with the Glyphs panel
• Creating a paragraph style
• Redefining a paragraph style
• Creating type on a path

9. Building Custom Paths

• Using Join and the Shape Builder
• Using the Join command
• Using the Join tool
• Using the Shape Builder tool
• More ways to use the Shape Builder
• Creating a real-world project
• Creating an inset reflection
• Coloring a path with the Shape Builder
• Sculpting with variable-width strokes
• Converting text to path outlines
• Gap detection and path splitting
• Drawing with the Shaper tool
• Combining paths with the Shaper tool
• Editing paths inside a Shaper Group

10. Using the Pencil Tool

• The world’s best freeform drawing tool
• Drawing freeform path outlines
• The Smooth tool and Path Eraser
• Extending and connecting paths
• Drawing straight and perpendicular lines
• Creating a tracing template
• Combining the Pencil with a drawing tablet
• Coloring your Pencil tool art

11. Painting and Erasing

• The best tools for painting
• Painting with the Blob Brush
• Fusing path outlines together
• Introducing the Eraser tool
• Reassigning keyboard shortcuts
• Merging selected paths
• Releasing compound paths
• Erasing and smoothing lumps
• Painting with a few simple clicks
• Reducing the roundness value
• Painting with a drawing tablet

12. Using the Curvature Tool

• Drawing one point at a time
• Drawing with the Curvature tool
• Working with smooth and corner points
• Curvature tool curiosities
• Creating quick smooth shapes
• Tracing a custom path outline
• Drawing slender, organic forms
• Adding line art embellishments
• Creating a paint-splattered background

13. Using the Pen Tool

• The tool that can draw anything
• Creating corner points
• How smooth points work
• Drawing smooth points
• Creating cusp points
• Using the Anchor Point tool
• Real-world drawing with the Pen tool
• Drawing perspective edges
• Drawing a few distress marks
• Drawing a long perspective shadow
• Getting smooth results from smooth points
• Giving a letter a 3D beveled edge
• Combining curved and straight segments
• A preview of round corners

14. Drawing with Round Corners

• Making corners smooth
• The round corner widget
• Rounding off corner points
• Changing the corner type
• Rounding characters of type
• Absolute vs. relative rounding
• Drawing with rounded rectangles
• Drawing an iPhone
• Decorating an iPhone screen
• Drawing a leather smart phone case
• Colorizing a line art template
• Turning corners into organic curves
• Reshaping rounded paths

15. Making Screen Graphics

• Saving for devices and the web
• Aligning objects to the pixel grid
• Aligning objects as you draw or modify them
• Aligning text to the pixel grid
• Introducing the Save for Web command
• Scaling your art to suit its destination
• For devices and presentations, use PNG
• Saving an 8-bit graphic
• Saving a JPEG image
• Saving vector-based SVG files
• Assigning a copyright
• Using the Export for Screens command
• Using the Asset Export panel

Conclusion

• Until next time