Course Synopsis: Discover high quality drawing and illustration with Adobe Illustrator. You will start with an overview of Illustrator and work on lessons that will step you into a greater skill level. Discover the unique features of Illustrator, including how to create logos, professional type effects, complex airbrush effects and color control. We also recommend this course for those planning to obtain the Adobe Certified Expert status.

Who Should Attend: Graphic professionals who need an essential understanding of vector illustrations. Experienced users will also benefit from the many tips and tricks and special exercises.

Prerequisites: Because of the amount of material we cover in class, we do require students to be comfortable using a mouse, opening and saving files, and the general operations of computers. While we will make every reasonable effort to help, students with insufficient skills may be required to observe the class lessons or do their best to keep up without slowing down the rest of the class. We highly recommend working with the application tutorial before coming to the course.

What You Will Learn:
• Lines and shapes
• Selection Tools
• The Pen Tool
• Using the Live Trace Tool
• Type Basics
• Transform Tools
• Fill and Stroke
• Gradients
• Using Layers
• Using Blends
• Transparency
• Exporting to EPS and PDF

Time: Class time is 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. Breaks are scheduled throughout the day and lunch is typically scheduled 12-1. Students provide their own lunch.

Locations: We have company-operated facilities in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, San Diego and Washington DC. We also work with a network of rental facilities to offer our classes regularly across the United States and in Canada. Please double-check the location of your class with our office to make sure you get to the right location.

Related Courses: We recommend the following courses that relate to this class: Photoshop and Flash Professional. Please take a look at our other course outlines.

Goals: Sterling Ledet and Associates realizes the importance of education and we take pride in being able to offer you classes that are more custom fit to your needs. Call us at (770) 414-5007 if you have any special questions or e-mail us at sales@ledet.com.

Registration: Please fill out our registration form and fax it to us at (312) 896-9094.

Adobe Illustrator CS4 Training Course Outline

LESSON 1
Getting to Know the Work Area
Working with the Tools Panel
The Control Panel
Working with Panels and Panel Menus
Saving Your Workspace
Viewing Artwork
Navigating Multiple Artboards
Arranging Documents
Using the Navigator Panel
Finding Resources for Using Illustrator
Checking for Updates

LESSON 2
Selecting and Aligning
Using the Selection Tool
Using the Direct Selection Tool
Selections with the Magic Wand
Grouping Items
Aligning Objects
Applying Selection Techniques

LESSON 3
Creating Basic Shapes
Using Basic Shape Tools
Outlining Strokes
Working with Line Segments
Joining Paths
Working with Shape Modes
Using Live Trace to Create Shapes

LESSON 4
Transforming Objects
Scaling Objects
Reflecting Objects
Distorting Objects
Shearing Objects
Positioning Objects Precisely
Changing the Perspective
Making Multiple Transformations

LESSON 5
Drawing with the Pen Tool
Creating Straight Lines
Creating Curved Paths
Building a Curve
Curves and Corner Anchor Points
Selecting and Manipulating Curves

LESSON 6
Color and painting
Color Modes
Understanding the Color Controls
Color Fundamentals
Copying Attributes
Using the Appearance Panel
Building and Saving Your Own Custom Color
Using Illustrator swatch libraries
Creating a Spot Color
Creating Color Groups
Editing Color with Live Color
Creating a Color Group with Live Color
Assign Colors to Your Artwork
Using Patterns
Creating Your Own Pattern
Working with Live Paint
Create a PDF from your artwork

LESSON 7
Working with Type
Importing a Text File
Creating Columns of Text
Understanding Text Flow
Working with Overflow Text
Threading Text
Working with Font Size and Color
Paragraph Attributes
Saving and Using Styles
Creating Character Styles
Sampling Text
Creating Text on Paths and Shapes
Creating Text Outlines

LESSON 8
Working with Layers
Creating Layers
Moving Objects and Layers
Locking Layers
Viewing Layers
Pasting Layers
Creating Clipping Masks
Merging Layers
Applying Appearance Attributes to Layers
Isolating Layers

LESSON 9
Blending Shapes and Colors
Working with Gradients
Creating and Applying a Linear Gradient
Adjusting the Direction and Angle of a Gradient
Creating a Radial Gradient
Changing Colors and Adjusting the Gradient
Applying Gradients to Multiple Objects
Adding Transparency to Gradients
Working with Blended Objects
Creating a Blend with Specified Steps
Modifying the Blend
Creating Smooth Color Blends

LESSON 10
Applying Attributes and Graphic Styles
Using Appearance Attributes
Adding an Additional Stroke and Fill
Using Graphic Styles
Applying Graphic Styles to Objects and Layers
Adding to an Existing Graphic Style
Applying an Appearance to a Layer
Copying, Applying, and Removing Graphic Styles

LESSON 11
Working with Symbols
Using Illustrator Symbol Libraries
Editing Symbols
Creating Symbols
Applying a Symbol Instance
Using the Symbolism Tools
Updating a Symbol
Breaking a Link to a Symbol

LESSON 12
Overview of Printing and Color Separations
Learning about Printing Devices
Halftone Screens
Output Device Resolution
The RGB Color Model
The CMYK Color Model
Spot Colors
Synchronizing Color Using Adobe Bridge
Separations Preview
Specifying the Bleed Area
Saving in the EPS Format
Exporting and Importing Flattening Settings
Saving as Adobe PDF