What should I learn first in Adobe Illustrator CC?
The following fundamental ideas and abilities are
recommended as a place to start if Illustrator is new to you:
Workspace and User Interface: Become familiar with Illustrator's user interface,
including the toolbar, panels, and art-board. Learn how to edit your workspace,
change grid and unit settings, and move around in your document.
This
is the user interface:
Toolbar: The tools
needed to create and edit objects in Illustrator are found on the toolbar,
which is on the left side of the screen. The categories in which the tools are
arranged can be enlarged or collapsed.
Panels: The panels, which may be found on the right side of
the screen, offer more settings and controls for the tools and document
elements. The Layers panel, the Properties panel, and the Character and
Paragraph panels are a few typical panels.
Artboard: The
Illustrator artboard is the workspace where you create your designs. It is
comparable to a canvas in conventional art.
Control
Bar: At the top of the screen is a control bar that offers choices for
creating, opening, and saving documents as well as zooming in and out of the
document.
Panels
can be opened and closed, relocated to other locations, or docked together in
the Illustrator workspace to suit your preferences. Additionally, you can make
unique workstations and effortlessly switch between them.
Shapes and Vector Graphics: Learn how to use the shape tools, such as the rectangle, ellipse, and polygon tools, in vector graphics to build and modify common shapes. Recognize the differences between raster and vector graphics and the significance of vector graphics for Illustrator.
Shapes: The Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Star tools can be
used to construct shapes, which are the fundamental building blocks in
Illustrator. Shapes are specified by mathematical equations that guarantee they
remain smooth and scalable no matter how much they are enlarged or decreased,
and they may be combined and changed to create complex drawings.
Vector graphics: Rather than utilising pixels to define points, lines, and curves,
vector graphics are constructed using mathematical equations. The fundamental
benefit of vector drawings is their scalability, which allows them to be
enlarged without sacrificing quality. In illustration, logo design, typography,
and other design disciplines where exact lines and shapes are crucial, vector
graphics are frequently utilised.
Fill and Stroke: Learn how to use the Fill and Stroke options in the Properties tab to give your forms colour and outlines. Learn how to utilise the Color Guide to construct colour harmonies and experiment with various colour modes and swatches, including RGB, CMYK, and Pantone.
Fill: In Illustrator, the fill of a shape or object is the colour or pattern that is applied to the object's inside. Fills might be patterns, gradients, or solid colours, and they are always editable.
Stroke: Illustrator
defines a shape or object's stroke as the colour or pattern that is applied to
the object's outline. Strokes can be made of solid colours, gradients, or
patterns, and their width as well as other characteristics like corner radius
and dash patterns can be changed.
Layers and Objects: Learn how to use the Layers panel to create, manage, and arrange layers in your project. Learn how to group, lock, and conceal objects, as well as how to modify individual objects using the Selection and Direct Selection tools.
Layers:
In Illustrator, layers are similar to
transparent sheets that are placed on top of one another to form a composition.
One or more things may be present in each layer, and objects may be readily
transferred between layers or rearranged inside of a layer. Complex graphics
can be organised using layers, which also makes it simpler to manage and change
the design's separate components.
Objects: In
Illustrator, objects are distinct graphic components including forms, paths,
text, and more. Using tools like the Selection tool, the Direct Selection tool,
and the Group Selection tool, objects can be moved individually or
collectively. Complex designs can be made by blending, masking, reshaping,
changing the colour, and combining other objects.
Type and Text: Learn how to use the Type tool, the Character and Paragraph panels, and text formatting to add and add text to your projects. Learn how to alter the distance between characters and paragraphs, as well as how to wrap text around objects, by experimenting with various fonts and styles.
Type: The text elements in a design, such as headlines,
body text, and captions, are referred to as "type" in Illustrator. The
Type tool can be used to produce type, and tools like the Character panel, the
Paragraph panel, and the Character Styles panel can be used to format it. Using
tools like the Type on a Path tool and the Warp Text tool, type can be moulded
and modified, as well as its appearance, including font style, size, colour,
and spacing.
Text: A type element's content, such as words and sentences,
is referred to as text in Illustrator. Using features like the Character panel,
the Paragraph panel, and the Character Styles panel, text may be prepared and
input into a type element using the keyboard. Using the Type on a Path tool,
text can also be justified, aligned, and wrapped around shapes or paths.
Styles and effects: Learn about the numerous styles and effects that Illustrator offers,
including gradient, stroke, and inner and outer glow effects. Learn how to
include these effects into your designs along with other trends like live
corner effects and 3D effects.
Styles: Using Illustrator's styles, you can preserve and apply uniform formatting to design elements including type formatting, fill and stroke colours, and more. The Properties panel can be used to build styles, which can then be saved and applied to various items in a design.
Effects: In
Illustrator, you can give things unique finishing touches like drop shadows,
glows, bevels, and more. The Effect menu can be used to add effects, and the
Appearance panel can be used to change and modify them. Effects may be combined
to produce intricate visual effects, and they may also be saved as graphic
styles to be applied to several items in a design.
Finding paths and paths: Learn how to join or change pathways using the pathfinding procedures unite, intersect, exclude, and trim as well as how to construct and manipulate paths with the Pen tool.
Paths: Illustrator defines paths as a network of
interconnected points that are used to draw vector graphics including forms,
lines, and curves. Tools like the Pen tool, Line tool, and Shape tool can be
used to draw paths. In order to produce intricate forms and designs, paths can
be worked with utilising tools like the Direct Selection tool and the Pen tool.
Finding paths:
Locating and choosing routes in a design
is referred to as "finding paths" in Illustrator. Tools like the
Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, and Group Selection tool can be used for
this. In order to manipulate and modify the paths in a design, finding paths is
a crucial first step.
Brushes and Symbols: Learn how to make and use custom brushes, such as calligraphic, scatter, and art brushes, to give your creations distinctive strokes. Play around with symbols and discover new ways to use them to build reusable graphic pieces.
Create
and reuse graphic components in your projects with the help of brushes and
symbols in Adobe Illustrator CC.
Brushes: In Illustrator, brushes are used to add decorative
strokes to pathways and forms. You can make your own unique brushes or utilise
the built-in brushes provided with Illustrator. There are many different sorts
of brushes, such as Art Brushes, Pattern Brushes, and Scatter Brushes. Using
brushes, you may produce a variety of effects, like hand-drawn lines and leafy
vines.
Symbols: In
Illustrator, symbols are visual components that can be used repeatedly
throughout a page. They can be added on the artboard by dragging them from the
Symbols palette or by using the Symbol Sprayer tool. They are saved in the
Symbols palette. Symbols can be modified just once and updated immediately
throughout the entire document, making them handy for designing repeated components
like logos, icons, and other design elements.
Masking and Clipping: Learn how to utilise masks and clipping paths to conceal or reveal specific elements of your creations.
In Adobe Illustrator CC, the terms "masking"
and "clipping" describe methods for concealing or revealing specific
features of an object or collection of objects.
Masking: Placing
an object on top of another and utilising the top object to partially conceal
the bottom object is known as masking. By selecting the items you want to use
as the mask and the objects you want to mask in Illustrator, you may build a
mask by selecting the "Clipping Mask" option from the Object menu.
The bottom object's components that are out of form are concealed by the top
object, which serves as a mask.
Clipping Paths: A clipping path is a closed path that serves as a
boundary to specify which portions of an object or collection of objects are
displayed and which portions are concealed. By first drawing a closed path
around the objects you wish to clip with the Pen tool, selecting the objects
and the path, and then selecting "Make Clipping Mask" from the Object
menu, you may construct a clipping path.
You should start by thoroughly learning these
fundamental ideas and abilities in Illustrator. You'll have a solid foundation
for making more intricate drawings and graphics once you've mastered these.