Product Description

Teaches Illustrator 9 for Windows and Macintosh systems using pictures to guide the reader through the software, instead of lengthy explanations. The center section of the text is in full color, with examples for graphics and illustrations that can be created on Illustrator 9. Softcover.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1087413 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 536 pages

From the Back Cover

If youÕve studied vector-based drawing during the last decade, thereÕs a good chance that youÕve read The Illustrator Visual QuickStart Guide in one of its many iterations. Though this book has become the standard text in many design schools, it has evolved over the years along with the program itself. And with some of the radical changes in Illustrator 9 -- such as transparency, Flash output, the layers palette, and opacity masks -- the authors thoroughly revised this popular QuickStart Guide, as well. This newest edition includes over 100 additional pages on the latest features and a brand-new color section, as well as clearly marked locators to both new and improved features that can easily be found by simply flipping through the book. Best of all, it's delivered in a highly readable, entertaining, visual, and easy-to-navigate format. Whether you are a continuing user or new to Illustrator, this affordable, task-based book may be the only one you need to create powerful graphics for print or Web.

About the Author
Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas have written, designed, and illustrated Visual QuickStart Guides on QuarkXPress, Photoshop, and Painter. Their books have been translated into 12 languages and have sold more than 650,000 copies worldwide. They have taught at Pratt Manhattan, Cooper Union School of Art, the New School Computer Instruction Center, and Parsons School of Design.

Customer Reviews

Good reference tool - not a good tutorial book
I learned long ago that the Visual Quick Start books are better as a reference tool than as a tutorial bookl; this book is no different. At 488 pages, it is about twice as thick as the usual Quick Start Guides. This should also give you an indication to the large amount of content the authors put into it.

I bought the book to use as a study aide for taking my ACE Exam in Illustrator. It was not very helpful for this. I wasn't totally disappointed however. It is a great book for when I am actively using Illustrator and need to remember some activity that I don't do too often and need to look it up. Think of it like a giant list of organized directions for doing things in Illustrator. As this kind of reference, it is quite useful.

In order of (chapter)number, the authors cover: Interface (1), How Illustrator Works (2), Startup (3), Views (4), Objects Basics (5), Select/Copy (6), Transform (7), Reshape (8), Fill & Stroke (9), Pen (10), Layers (11), Create Type (12), Style & Edit Type (13), Acquire (14), Brushes (15), Combine Paths (16), Gradients (17), Appearances (18), Masks/Transparency (19), Filters (20), Precision Tools (21), Actions (22), Preferences (23), Output/Export (24), Separations (25) and Web (26).

If you are a beginner, buy something else like Deke McClelland's Real World Illustrator 9. Once you get grounded, buy this as a reference tool when you are trying to remember how to do a particular task. If you are studying for your ACE Exam, buy both Deke's book and the Adobe Classroom in a Book for Illustrator 9.

Great for Novices who want to stay that way
Elaine and Peter are career authors. They obviously don't use the products they write about, and this book is no exception. It is lacking in common sense, good advice, and practical tips and techniques. This series tends to be quite good overall, but the authors' obvious unfamiliarity with the product they are writing about shines through vividly.

If that weren't bad enough, many of the examples are poor quality and look bitmapped! In a vector book! Shame!

very helpful manual
I like this book - it's very comprehensive and helpful. In contrast, books such as the Illustrator 9 Bible couldn't hold my interest: too much time was spent in the first four chapters describing processes, rather than *showing* them with more practice examples and screen shots (as this book does).

In the Illustrator 9 Bible, there was some rather annoying fluff such as the jokey conversation transcripts - and one of the earliest chapters dealt with creating *graphs*, of all things, in Illustrator. By the time I had gotten to Chapter 4 I knew I needed a Visual Quickstart (VQS) Guide.

In short, I don't know why this VQS book is getting such a bad rap. I'm surprised that other reviewers rated this book so poorly. I've gotten through 17 chapters already during the past few weekends and am proud of my level of progress. With this book, I feel I am learning Illustrator well enough to pass the Brainbench certification exam (when the exam for version 9 becomes available).

I didn't encounter any mistakes (except for a minor one) while following practice examples. Occasionally, one minor thing or another wouldn't work, but then I was able to either figure out a way around it or overlook that. But that could've been because I missed something while reading.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Illustrator 9 thoroughly.