Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

39

LINES, SHAPES, AND COLOR

THE FUNDAMENTALS of any

illustration are lines, shapes, and colors.

These are the elements that define your art-

work—whatever it may be—and it’s their

interaction that creates the final composi-

tion. Even the most complex art starts with

these basic elements, as shown in Figure 2-1.

Not surprisingly, Illustrator gives you a

host of ways to create and manipulate these

basic elements. Illustrator has five dedicated

tools for creating lines (or in the case of two

tools, groups of lines) and six for shapes.

But things don’t end there. Once you’ve

drawn these building blocks, Illustra-

tor gives you tools to split apart the

lines and shapes and stitch them back

together. You can layer simple lines and

shapes on top of one another to create

more complex art, even applying discrete

strokes and fills to each element. Like

Dr. Frankenstein, you can combine

all these pieces into one singular

creation, with Illustrator as your

faithful Igor. (It’s my job to help

make sure your creation won’t be

chased by an angry mob with torches.)

Figure 2-1.

Lines and shapes create the

boundaries of the art...

Color adds depth

and detail...

...all working together to

create the final illustration.

Original illustration by Ant Creations

from iStockphoto.com.

ABOUT THIS LESSON

you’ve downloaded the lesson fi les from

www.oreilly.com/go/Deke-IllustratorCS5,

as directed in Step 2 on page xiv of the

Preface. This should result in a folder called

Lesson Files-AIcs5 1on1 on your desktop.

We’ll be working with the fi les inside the

Lesson 02 subfolder.

It’s time to take advantage of Illustrator’s basic drawing functions,

including the various incarnations of the line and shape tools. In

this lesson, you’ll learn how to:

• Draw lines, arcs, and spirals . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 41

• Split, join, and align paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 44

• Draw basic shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 51

• Combine basic shapes into more complex ones . . . page 62

• Choose, mix, and apply color to your art . . . . . . page 66

• Adjust the fi ll, stroke, and ordering of

your illustration’s objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 74

Video Lesson 2: The Basic Shape Tools

In this video lesson, I’ll introduce you Illustrator’s funda-

mental drawing tools, the geometric line and shape tools

that allow you to create path outlines. You’ll also see how

to apply fi lls and strokes to the paths you create. Starting

with this basic introduction, we’ll build on these drawing

skills throughout this book.

To start with the basics, visit www.oreilly.com/go/deke-

IllustratorCS5. Click the Watch button to view the lesson

online or click the Download button to save it to your

computer. During the video, you’ll learn these shortcuts:

Operation Windows shortcut Macintosh shortcut

Constrain the rectangle tool to a square Shift-drag Shift-drag

Draw a shape from the center outward Alt-drag Option-drag

Draw a square from the center outward Ctrl+Alt+drag -Option-drag

Undo the last action Ctrl+Z -Z

Toggle between fi ll and stroke Press the X key Press the X key

Set stroke to “None”

Press the

key (forward slash) Press the key (forward slash)

Select All Ctrl+A -A

Deselect All Ctrl+Shift+A -Shift-A

Add or subtract sides to a shape Press the  or  keys Press the  or  keys

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Lesson 2: Lines, Shapes, and Color