Adobe Illustrator CC Digital Classroom

Lesson 3: Illustrator CC Essentials

 

Illustrator is used to create many types of artwork from simple icons to complicated illustrations and technical documentation. In this lesson, you’ll use the shape tools, work with basic selection techniques, and complete artwork. Along the way, you will learn some helpful tips for creating artwork on your own.

What you’ll learn in this lesson:

• • Creating shapes
• • Selecting objects using the selection tools
• • Transforming shapes
• • Using layers to organize artwork

Starting up

Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your workspace. See “Resetting Adobe Illustrator CC Preferences” in the Starting up section of this book.

You will work with several files from the ai03lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have loaded the ailessons folder onto your hard drive from www.digitalclassroombooks.com/epub/illustratorcc. See “Loading lesson files” in the Starting up section of this book.

Using the shape tools

Making shapes is an important part of using Adobe Illustrator. In Lesson 5, “Working with the Drawing Tools,” you learn how to make your own custom shapes and lines using the Pen tool, but many times you will work with shapes that are ready-to-go, right off the Tools panel.

Though it might seem simple if you have used Illust rator before, transferring a shape from the Tools panel to the artboard ...