Product Description

For years, Sharon Steuer and her international Wow! team have been reaching out to the world of professional illustrators to showcase the range and quality of work these artists are doing in Illustrator. In this revised edition of the best-selling and award-winning Illustrator Wow! Book, you’ll find tips, tricks, and techniques derived from actual projects from more than 100 of the world’s top Illustrator artists. Using Adobe Illustrator CS4, Sharon shows you how to integrate projects using multiple artboards, work transparency into gradients, and draw with the new Blob Brush tool. You’ll not only learn how to “think in Illustrator” with the Zen of Illustrator lessons, you’ll be guided in a wide range of techniques essential for mastering Adobe Illustrator. This edition is loaded with new artwork and lessons that cover:

• Basic and advanced techniques with the new Multiple Artboards feature

• Preparing Illustrator files for work in Photoshop

• Working with the Gradient Annotator and transparency

• Blob Brush tool artwork and integration with Live Paint

• Blending modes and transparency

• More masking with LiveType

• Expressive brushwork and symbolism

• Taking advantage of the improved Appearance panel

• New lessons for creating glows and highlights

• Updated Zen lessons

• Colorizing photos

• Demystifying Live Color

• Creating photorealistic mesh

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18249 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780321605580
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Award-winning artist, author, teacher and digital art guru, Sharon Steuer has been a major force in the digital art world for more than two decades. Her traditional and digital artwork has been exhibited widely, with awards for painting including the national Faber Birren Color Award and Windsor Newton Painting Award. Sharon is a regular columnist for creativepro.com, and is author of Creative Thinking in Photoshop: A New Approach to Digital Art as well as all editions of the best-selling Adobe Illustrator WOW! Book, which has twice received the Ben Franklin Award for best computer book. 

Customer Reviews

Wow.
I love vectors, and The Illustrator Wow! Book lives up to its name: Lots and lots of cool graphics... but more importantly, the book breaks down how the effects were created. It's a must for any hard-core Illustrator user.

Awsome Book
I bought this book to paralell with the Adobe Revealed book that i found quite confusing for a beginner in vector graphics , its a blessing not only as a reference book , but now i can see Why things are doing what they are doing. Also the book in my opinion is a plethora of information for the beginer to the advanced and to the pro.In my belief this book will not be one of those you read and put on a shelf due to the advanced knowledge , reference material , and the realy cool projects in the book.This is one well written book , and not a corporate rush job...so in my opinion it deserves a 10.

Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book
Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book
Sharon Steuer
Peachpit Press; 476 pages

Sharon Steuer's Adobe Illustrator CS4 WOW! Book is chock full of great tips, techniques and tutorials to get Illustrator users of all levels interested and motivated by the program's myriad functionality. The book's chapters start out basic and work their way to more advanced features and lessons.

As with previous Illustrator WOW! books, the book contains both a CD and pull-out glossary "Finger Dance" summary for both Mac and Windows users. The CD is full of Illustrator files, as well as trial demos and plug-ins to get you started (a descriptive list of what each plug-in does and costs follows in the book's appendix). Zen of the Pen, on Page 59, is an excellent introduction to the pen tools and again, its file is included on the CD.

The book does seem daunting in size at first glance, but such is the organization of the chapters that you needn't read it cover to cover, though the first two chapters covering the program basics are a great way to learn and/or refresh.

Further reading delves into the drawing tools, tracing, live paint, brushes, layers, working with type, blends, transparency, colour, live effects, and web/animation. The final chapter focuses on combining Illustrator with other programs, an excellent way to integrate what you've created into other documents.

There are artist's galleries at the end of each chapter, complete with a simple breakdown on how the artwork was created in the program. By viewing its accompanying art file on the CD, readers can deconstruct the file and learn how the piece was created, at their own pace. As well, there's an artist contact list at the back of the book for more information on their business.

I found this book and its CD a valuable resource for all things Illustrator. I would recommend this book as a reference guide to keep close at hand/on the bookshelf, as you'll seek its guidance time and time again.