Adobe Illustrator CS5: Learn by Video at Dominant Systems Book Store

This complete training program from Adobe Press and video2brain combines over 17 hours of exceptional video training with a full-color 120-page guide to teach you the fundamentals of Adobe Illustrator CS5 as well as the basic principles of vector-based graphics.

Expert authors and trainers Chad Chelius and Russell Viers demystify the interface and show you how to create original artwork. You’ll learn to use essential tools to draw in perspective, set sophisticated type, work with multiple artboards, and create resolution-independent raster effects.

Topics include:

•   Making complex paths
•   Painting watercolor strokes
•   Customizing panels and workspaces
•   Using Pathfinder effects and the Shapebuilder tool
•   Vectorizing line drawings
•   Delivering files to print, the web, or virtually any device

and more!

The lessons are wrapped in a feature-rich interface that lets you jump to any topic and bookmark individual sections for later review. Full-Screen mode provides a hi-def, immersive experience, and Watch-and-Work mode shrinks the video into a small window so that you can play the videos alongside Adobe Illustrator CS5.

As with all titles in the Learn by Video series, the project files used in the lessons are included with the course, and interactive review questions help reinforce what you're learned. Selected videos are also provided ready to be downloaded for viewing on your iPhone, iPod, or other compatible mobile device.

Customer Reviews & Comments
I had a pretty basic familiarity with Illustrator going into this, so I wasn't sure it would be all that helpful - I just wanted a quick refresher and was prepared to be a bit bored. It turns out, this is not at all boring - it's an excellent overview, full of great advice and cool tricks for getting started and working with and making the most of the power of Illustrator. Advanced Illustrators may not need it, but it is very thorough and I expect that almost anyone would pick up valuable insights after working through these many tutorials. Certainly casual and intermediate users, and especially those in need of a refresher, are likely to learn a lot from this guide. Not only is it easy to follow and covers a wide range of helpful tips and tricks - but the design examples they lead you through are excellent models of achieving elegant designs employing simple principles. One of my favorite aspects of the various lessons was just seeing what kinds of design examples they came up with - and I feel like I've learned as much about design principles as I have about the Illustrator tools as a result of working through the tutorials. A valuable emphasis here is on what you can do with Illustrator that you can't do in Photoshop or other programs, and how the differences matter. There are several overlaps between the Adobe products, but each one has some things it can do best, and I have a much better idea now of when and why to go to Illustrator first. I'm primarily into Adobe for video, but Illustrator is ideal for creating some of the elements I'll use in video, such as graphic elements for dvd menus and title sequences and posters and illustrative elements in videos. The authors are engaging and clear, enthusiastic and often funny, and they make learning Illustrator exciting. I used another guide like this that was a bit dry, but this one's not - the enthusiasm of the speakers for Illustrator is evident and infectious. Each chapter is broken down into subsections that last usually less than ten minutes - and I found that I learned something new from almost every section. The techniques they outline cover most of the basic tasks, but they show all kinds of interesting shortcuts for taking advantage of Illustrator. I'd worked through the "Classroom in a Book" guide to Illustrator already, and learned a lot there, but even in the first couple of lessons here I was learning things they never covered. I even found the introductory sections on workspaces and panels - often the most boring part of introductory guides - to be intriguing and full of helpful advice. I really liked chapter 3 - where the index is effectively the tool panel, and selecting any tool opens a detailed tutorial that explains how to use it effectively. There are, additionally, chapters on effective navigation, working with documents, manipulating objects and layers, using color and text, working with raster objects like photos, effects, brushes, graphs, and on saving and exporting your artwork. One odd thing - in chapter 3 - was the discussion of the "symbol stainer" tool. The author explains that one thing about the tool is that before you can use it you have to select a color, so he selects a color and then begins to apply it to white sheep symbols. It doesn't do anything so he explains that it doesn't work on black or white symbols. Then it seems that he started over, and selected the tool, explained that you need to select a color to apply it, tried to apply it to the white sheep and then it didn't work so he said lets create a new symbol that's not black and white and he creates a brown sheep. But then instead of showing how it works with the brown sheep he starts again and it doesn't work on the white sheep so he selects a rain drop and applies it there. It's as if he made a mistake and then started again but didn't go back and cut out the mistakes. That's rare, though, and the only place I noticed a mistake. (One of the authors does tend to overuse the word "accordingly" and I couldn't decide whether it was endearing or annoying.) The only other thing that bugs me is that the chapter quizzes only tell you which questions you miss but don't give you the right answer and don't explain what you did wrong. Overall, though, it's an excellent overview, and gave me a lot of detailed tips that I hadn't had, even though I'm not a total beginner with Illustrator. This is a thorough, engaging and extremely informative guide. I feel much more confident in Illustrator now than before I went through this, and I highly recommend it.

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