Adobe Illustrator is often the least used member of the graphic design trinity which also includes InDesign (or QuarkXPress) and Photoshop. Its main use is the creation of print graphics, anything from a corporate logo or a map of directions to your office. It can also be used to build website layouts and web graphics include Flash animations. There are also several functions relating to page layout, such as the ability to link paragraphs of text and run text around images.
When running Illustrator training courses, we have noticed that a lot of delegates have had difficulties in getting into the program and finding applications for it. People will say things like: "It's been on machine for ages. I've just never got around to using it." To a lot of people, it seems far less exciting than Photoshop and far less useful than QuarkXPress or InDesign. Many of these people seem to be suffering from "Blank Canvas Syndrome": you create a new file and there is this blank page just sitting there with nothing on it. It's up to you to create everything yourself. At least, with Photoshop you can build your artwork using photos as your raw material.
As Illustrator trainers, we take on board the fact that running an Illustrator training course involves more than just tuition of the use to tools and techniques. To get delegates feeling enthusiastic about using the program, we also need to rid them of their fear of the stark blank canvas facing them every time they create a new file. We have identified four main techniques for ridding new users of "Blank Canvas Syndrome". Firstly, it is important to clearly identify the type of artwork you want Illustrator to create for you. Secondly, use Illustrator's Live Trace facility to create vector elements which can become a starting point for your own artwork. Thirdly, use background images as guides as you create your own drawings. And, fourthly, copy, reuse and modify elements that already exist within your own drawings.
The most successful Illustrator training courses that we run are for people who know exactly what they want to use the program for. It could be cartographers, technical illustrators or fabric designers; as long as they have a specific brief, we can show them the best techniques to solve their particular requirement. However, for a lot of delegates, Illustrator is something they feel they could and should be using but they don't really know where to start.
For users who are using the software in a less clear-cut and focused way, we always try to point out on our Adobe Illustrator training courses that you don't have to start with a blank canvas. We always recommend that wherever possible you import relevant graphic material such as scanned images, keep them on a background layer and use various Illustrator tools and techniques to either trace the images or simply to use them as guides and points of reference as you are creating your own original artwork.
Adobe once owned a program called Streamline which was a utility for converting bitmapped images into vectors. Though they have now discontinued it, Streamline lives on in the guise of Illustrator's Live Trace function. This allows you to convert bitmaps imported into Illustrator into vectors, either by choosing one of the preset settings or by creating a custom set of parameters. The program is very fast, so it is easy to experiment with several different settings to see what gives the best results. Once you have got your vectorised version of the artwork, you spend a bit of time cleaning it up and it's good to go.
Scanned or other images can also be placed on a background layer and used to provide constant points of reference when originating new Illustrator artwork. Background images can help to ensure that elements within the Illustrator artwork you create are of the correct dimensions have the correct relative proportions and so forth. For example, if you are drawing human figures, placing a photo of some people on a background layer can help to ensure that you don't end up creating figures with disproportionately large heads or long arms.
Another way of getting past Illustrator Blank Canvas Syndrome is to base new elements that you create on elements that already exist within your drawing. The program has a rich range of tools and techniques for doing this. You can create simple copies of an original element and you can also create transformed copies of the original. Illustrator also has the facility of applying multiple attributes to the same object. For example, you can give the same circle, say, five borders rather than creating five overlapping circles.
In short, that blank Illustrator page can soon be filled with lots of funky stuff. The trick is to realise that, once you decide what it is you want to create, your can accelerate the process of drawing by tracing elements from bitmapped images, using images as points of reference and basing new items within your drawing on elements that you've already created. - 32522
When running Illustrator training courses, we have noticed that a lot of delegates have had difficulties in getting into the program and finding applications for it. People will say things like: "It's been on machine for ages. I've just never got around to using it." To a lot of people, it seems far less exciting than Photoshop and far less useful than QuarkXPress or InDesign. Many of these people seem to be suffering from "Blank Canvas Syndrome": you create a new file and there is this blank page just sitting there with nothing on it. It's up to you to create everything yourself. At least, with Photoshop you can build your artwork using photos as your raw material.
As Illustrator trainers, we take on board the fact that running an Illustrator training course involves more than just tuition of the use to tools and techniques. To get delegates feeling enthusiastic about using the program, we also need to rid them of their fear of the stark blank canvas facing them every time they create a new file. We have identified four main techniques for ridding new users of "Blank Canvas Syndrome". Firstly, it is important to clearly identify the type of artwork you want Illustrator to create for you. Secondly, use Illustrator's Live Trace facility to create vector elements which can become a starting point for your own artwork. Thirdly, use background images as guides as you create your own drawings. And, fourthly, copy, reuse and modify elements that already exist within your own drawings.
The most successful Illustrator training courses that we run are for people who know exactly what they want to use the program for. It could be cartographers, technical illustrators or fabric designers; as long as they have a specific brief, we can show them the best techniques to solve their particular requirement. However, for a lot of delegates, Illustrator is something they feel they could and should be using but they don't really know where to start.
For users who are using the software in a less clear-cut and focused way, we always try to point out on our Adobe Illustrator training courses that you don't have to start with a blank canvas. We always recommend that wherever possible you import relevant graphic material such as scanned images, keep them on a background layer and use various Illustrator tools and techniques to either trace the images or simply to use them as guides and points of reference as you are creating your own original artwork.
Adobe once owned a program called Streamline which was a utility for converting bitmapped images into vectors. Though they have now discontinued it, Streamline lives on in the guise of Illustrator's Live Trace function. This allows you to convert bitmaps imported into Illustrator into vectors, either by choosing one of the preset settings or by creating a custom set of parameters. The program is very fast, so it is easy to experiment with several different settings to see what gives the best results. Once you have got your vectorised version of the artwork, you spend a bit of time cleaning it up and it's good to go.
Scanned or other images can also be placed on a background layer and used to provide constant points of reference when originating new Illustrator artwork. Background images can help to ensure that elements within the Illustrator artwork you create are of the correct dimensions have the correct relative proportions and so forth. For example, if you are drawing human figures, placing a photo of some people on a background layer can help to ensure that you don't end up creating figures with disproportionately large heads or long arms.
Another way of getting past Illustrator Blank Canvas Syndrome is to base new elements that you create on elements that already exist within your drawing. The program has a rich range of tools and techniques for doing this. You can create simple copies of an original element and you can also create transformed copies of the original. Illustrator also has the facility of applying multiple attributes to the same object. For example, you can give the same circle, say, five borders rather than creating five overlapping circles.
In short, that blank Illustrator page can soon be filled with lots of funky stuff. The trick is to realise that, once you decide what it is you want to create, your can accelerate the process of drawing by tracing elements from bitmapped images, using images as points of reference and basing new items within your drawing on elements that you've already created. - 32522
About the Author:
The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Illustrator training courses in London and throughout the UK.
