Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

xi

HOW ONE-ON-ONE WORKS

Welcome to Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One, another in a series

of highly visual, full-color titles that combine step-by-step lessons

with more than six hours of video instruction. As the name One-on-

One implies, I walk you through Illustrator just as if I were teaching

you in a classroom or corporate consulting environment. Except

that instead of getting lost in a crowd of students, you receive my

individualized attention. It’s just you and me.

I created One-on-One with three audiences in mind. If you’re an

independent graphic artist, designer, or Web content creator—

professional or amateur—you’ll appreciate the real-world authen-

ticity of the tutorials and your immediate ability to apply what you

learn in your own work. If you’re a student working in a classroom

or vocational setting, you’ll enjoy the personalized attention, struc-

tured exercises, and end-of-lesson quizzes. If you’re an instructor in

a college or vocational setting, you’ll find the topic-driven lessons

helpful in building curricula and creating homework assignments.

Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One is designed to supply beginners

with all the guidance they need to get started in Illustrator, while

giving more advanced users the depth of knowledge that will for-

tify their expertise. And I’ve seen to it that each lesson contains a

few techniques that even experienced Illustrator users don’t know.

Read, Watch, Do

Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One is your chance to master Adobe

Illustrator under the direction of a professional trainer with more

than 20 years of computer design and graphics experience. Read

the book, watch the videos, do the exercises. Proceed at your own

pace and experiment as you see fit. It’s the best way to learn.

Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One contains twelve

lessons, each made up of three to six step-by-step

exercises. Every lesson in the book includes a corre-

sponding video lesson (see Figure 1), in which I intro-

duce the key concepts you’ll need to know to complete

the exercises and see features that are best explained

in action. Best of all, every exercise is project-based,

culminating in an actual finished document worthy

of your labors (like the examples in Figure 2). The

exercises include insights and context throughout,

so you’ll know not only what to do but—just as im-

portant—why you’re doing it. My sincere hope is that

you’ll find the experience entertaining, informative,

and empowering.

All the videos and sample files required to perform

the exercises are available for download at oreilly.

com/go/deke-IllustratorCS5. If you already have an

oreilly.com account and are logged in, you can click

straight through to a site where you can play the vid-

eos, download them to your computer if you like, and

get the sample files. (If you don’t have an oreilly.com

login, you’ll be invited to create one, and then be sent

properly on your way.) Together, the book, sample

files, and videos form a single, comprehensive train-

ing experience.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

xii

Preface