adobe illustrator course London, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds

Zero to Illustrator Hero in just 5 days and gain the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA)

Get recognised for the new skills you’ve just gained: Get Certified!

This fast track Illustrator course is for designers and budding developers new to the Illustrator environment, or those that have not had formal training.

You’ll produce an exciting graphic project using both the classic features and the new and improved tools in Illustrator and will leave this class with the ability to create and incorporate vector graphics for different projects. Get recognised for the new skills you’ve just gained: Get Certified! Don’t just learn Illustrator– get recognised for the knowledge you’ve learned.

Whatever your career path, proven Adobe software expertise will keep you ahead of the curve and help you develop a solid competitive advantage in today’s complex marketplace. Adobe certifications are a reliable validation of your skills and knowledge, and can lead to accelerated professional development, improved productivity, and enhanced credibility in your field.

You will be prepared for and take the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) exam at the end of this course.

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

Graphic designers or people transitioning into a design job or taking on design responsibilities who need to use Adobe Illustrator to create illustrations, logos, advertisements or other graphic documents. They may have little or no experience with Illustrator, although they may already use Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.

ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE

Basic computer skills are necessary to complete this Illustrator course. These skills include; a basic understanding of a computer’s operating system, launching an application, creating and saving files, and copying files from CDs and other media.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Draw and understand Bezier curves
• The root of drawing in Illustrator
• Create a logo using simple shapes
• Accurately place and measure objects in the Illustration window
• Trace and colour your hand drawn artwork with Live Trace
• Live Paint and Live Colour
• Save illustrations for both print and web purposes
• Further adjust Bezier curves by creating Compound paths
• Create Custom Brushes and various Graphic Styles
• Work with Transparency and other raster effects like drop shadows
• Accurately adjust type in an artwork
• Prepare documents for composite and commercial printing
• Enhance the workflow and
• Integration of Illustrator with the rest of Creative Suite

Setting up Illustrator projects

• Identify project requirements
• Establish target audience and needs
• Define media format and publishing requirements

User interface

• Identify user interface elements
• Create and select Workspaces
• Navigate and zoom documents

Creating artwork

• Understanding difference between vector and bitmap formats
• Apply design principles to create artwork
• Using pen and shape tools to create basic geometry
• Selecting and Grouping objects
• Transform and modify elements
• Create and manipulate text
• Organise artwork using layers
• Create symbols

Colours

• Selecting and applying colours
• Creating colour swatches
• Applying and modifying gradients
• Working with spot colours

Effects and transparency

• Apply transparency to objects
• Blend elements using blend effects
• Working with bitmaps
• Placing raster images
• Using the links panel to relink and update images
• Tracing images using live trace presets

Publish artwork

• Identifying common file formats
• Choose appropriate settings to optimise graphics on the screen, print and video
• Creating JPEG, PDF, PNG, SVG

Live Colour and Live Trace

• Use Live Color to create colours
• Generate a colour group
• Recolour artwork
• Live trace bitmap images
• Improve the trace result

Effects and transparency techniques

• Adjusting and applying effects such as drop shadow and 3D
• Using Photoshop effects
• Use the Appearance panel
• Create transparency and opacity masks
• 3D shading with the gradient mesh tool

Type features

• Create character and paragraph styles
• Leading, Kerning and Tracking
• Horizontal and vertical scaling
• Add text to a vector path

Create custom brushes

• Calligraphic brush
• Scatter brush
• Pattern brush
• Art brush
• Bristle brush

Drawing techniques

• Use the Pen tool
• Work with compound paths
• Use the expand appearance command
• Use the outline strokes command
• Create, use and update graphic styles
• Use envelope distort
• Blend tool
• Create clipping masks
• Use the Width tool
• Use the Pathfinder panel
• Use the perspective grid tool
• Create and manipulate patterns
• Work with layers and sub layers

Artboards

• Create and manage multiple artboards
• Export artboards

Setup for Print

• Print terminology explained
• Optimise the effect quality by adjusting raster effect settings
• Create trim marks and crop marks
• Preview artwork using CMYK soft proof
• Package option

ACA Exam Preparation

• Using copyrighted material
• Identify design project requirements and deliverable
• Establish the purpose and needs for your target audience
• Mock exam
• Exams