On 26th October I attend in Introduction to Adobe Illustrator on-line Training Eventbrite run by Westland Place Studios, London.
It proves a worthwhile course placing the use of Adobe Illustrator in context and how it links with the other applications of photoshop and indesign:-
Illustrator is vector based with no loss of quality in resizing and therefore easier to edit. It generates shapes/lines for posters, logos etc.
Photoshop is pixel based – it is quick to take a photograph but harder to edit as the pixel based squares may blur with loss of quality.,
Indesign – can incorporate documents from Illustrator and Photoshop as single or multiple pages (desk-top publishing), brochures.
The course explained :-
1. Adobe illustrator use for logos and branding.
2. Working with RGB (Red Green Blue) on the screen and it converts to CMYK to print (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).
3. To be aware of copyright and licensing when using images from the web.
4. Advised to have two monitors to work from and discussed Apple Mac.
5. Looked at terms: hugh, saturation and brightness rather than colour
6. To be aware of colour numbers for direction (briefs/outcomes).
7. Reminder of colour theory: anaologous colours (side by side), complimentary colours (opposites).
8. General thoughts about a brief- needs to be detailed with specifics (no confusion) and include, what colours, what fonts, note where does the image come from? note where does the source text come from? what time scale? provide 3 to 4 versions of choice.
9. Introduction to the Illustrator screen tools: drawing, selecting, deleting and editing.
Further notes:-
ai (adobe illustrator)
svg (scalar vector graphics)
eps (encapsulated postscript)
The course recommended practice at a basic level becoming familiar with Illustrator before moving on to an advanced course/learning.
Attending this course is good as a start and OCA IT have also been helpful in providing links I can visit to practice.
I have considered it may have been better to have explored these IT packages earlier. However from a personal point of view I feel I am stepping into the IT at the right time as I may have relied upon it too much before gaining an understanding of the fundamentals of illustration first.
Here is the certificate:-
Adelaide Art 