Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4

601 Pages·2009·47.33 MB·English

by  Mordy Golding

Real World
adobe
®
illustr ator
®
cs4
mordy golding
Real World Adobe® Illustrator® CS4
Mordy Golding
Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
Fax: [phone]
Find us on the web at www.peachpit.com.
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected].
Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education.
Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4 is published in association with Adobe Press.
For the latest on Adobe Press books, go to www.adobepress.com.
Copyright ©2009 by Mordy Golding.
Project Editor: Karyn Johnson
Development Editor: Robyn G. Thomas
Production Coordinator: Cory Borman
Copy Editor: Kim Wimpsett
Proofreaders: Liz Welch, Doug Adrianson
Composition: Myrna Vladic, David Van Ness
Indexer: Jack Lewis
Cover Design: Charlene Charles-Will
Cover Illustration: Von R. Glitschka
Notice of Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the pub-
lisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected].
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution
has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit Press shall have any liabil-
ity to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products
described in it.
Trademarks
Adobe Illustrator is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other coun-
tries. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed
as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark or
claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and
services identifi ed throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefi t of such com-
panies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is
intended to convey endorsement or other affi liation with this book.
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-57355-1
ISBN-10: 0-321-57355-2
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my wife, Batsheva,
who continues to support me in everything I do.
The words in this book belong to her
just as much as they do to me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are two people who I need to thank fi rst, even though words can’t
really describe the gratitude I owe for their sincere friendship. Sharon Steuer
and Sandee Cohen helped me establish myself in the Adobe Illustrator com-
munity, and for that I am eternally grateful.
After months of writing, I look back and realize how much work has gone
into this book, and I have a new appreciation for the team at Peachpit Press.
Thanks to Nancy Ruenzel, Marjorie Baer, Nancy Davis, Charlene Charles-
Will, Sara Jane Todd, and the folks at Adobe Press. I want to personally
thank Kim Wimpsett for copy editing this book and Cory Borman,
David Van Ness, and Myrna Vladic for their work in production. A man
is lucky to have an editor, but for this book, I’ve been blessed with two.
Karyn Johnson has proven to be a friend fi rst and an editor second.
Robyn Thomas has expertly guided this book to its completion. The
high quality of this book is to Karyn’s and Robyn’s credit.
A tremendous note of thanks is extended to Barbara Obermeier, who ably
assisted in updating several chapters in this book. I am also extremely grate-
ful to have had the opportunity to work once again with my good friend
and colleague Jean-Claude Tremblay. JC tirelessly tech edited this book and
offered wonderful advice. I learn from him as much as he does from me.
If you think publishing a book is a huge undertaking, I can assure you that
producing an application like Illustrator is an even greater task. Special
thanks go to the entire Illustrator team for their concerted efforts and
specifi cally to David Macy, Terry Hemphill, Teri Pettit, Ian Giblin, and
Brenda Sutherland for their personal assistance and advice. Thanks also to
Thomas Phinney, John Nack, Michael Ninness, Lynn Grillo, Noha Edell,
Whitney McCleary, Stacy Sison, Jane Brady, Bill Perry, Julieanne Kost, and
the always-entertaining Russell Brown for their continued friendship.
I’m lucky enough to count a number of professional authors and educators
among my friends. Thanks to David Blatner, Deke McClelland, Bert
Monroy, Claudia McCue, Michael Murphy, Scott Citron, Brian Wood,
and Barry Anderson, who continue to share advice, support, and funny
anecdotes over the occasional drink.
I reserve a personal note of appreciation for my friend Von Glitschka, who
created the wonderful illustration that appears on the cover of this book.
Von is an extremely talented artist who still longs for FreeHand even as he
embraces Illustrator.
Finally, I want to thank my entire family for their encouragement and sup-
port. Your collective words, smiles, and hugs help me keep my focus on the
most important things in life. Speaking of important things, Simcha, go get
your Gemara—let’s learn.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv
Chapter One: Creating and Managing Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Exploring the Welcome Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Creating New Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Creating Your Own New Document Profi les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Setting Up Your Document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Using Multiple Artboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Navigating Within a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Modifying Artboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Handling Artboards and Legacy Workfl ows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using Multiple Artboard Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Viewing Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Using Overprint Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Using Pixel Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Using Rulers and Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Using Smart Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Defi ning Custom Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Working with Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Creating Meaningful Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter Two: Selecting and Editing Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Making Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Setting Your Selection and Anchor Display Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using the Direct Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using the Group Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Using Alternative Selection Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Making Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Using the Bounding Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Living by the Numbers with the Transform Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Working with the Transformation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Transforming Multiple Objects at Once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Exploring the Power of the Transform Again Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Exploring the Pathfi nder Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Combining Shapes with Shape Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Changing Paths with Pathfi nders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
Aligning Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Distributing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Distribute Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Distribute Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Working with Tools of Mass Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Painting with Distortion: The Liquify Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Getting Into Shape: Envelope Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Creating Transitions with Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Creating a Blend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Editing a Blend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Releasing and Expanding Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter Three: Technical Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Drawing Primitive Vector Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using Closed-Path Shape Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using Open-Path Shape Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Drawing by Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Drawing and Editing Free-Form Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Mastering the Pen Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Adding and Deleting Anchor Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Using the Reshape Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Cutting Paths with the Scissors and Knife Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Creating Compound Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Performing Advanced Path Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Working with the Join and Average Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Using the Outline Stroke Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Exploring the Offset Path Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Simplifying Vector Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Using the Split Into Grid Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Removing Unnecessary Elements with the Clean Up Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Chapter Four: Creative Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Drawing with Live Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Using Live Paint to Color Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Releasing and Expanding Live Paint Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Merging Live Paint Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Using Live Paint to Edit Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Drawing with the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Unleashing the Power of Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
Exploring the Illustrator Brush Quartet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Applying Brush Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Defi ning a Calligraphic Brush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Defi ning a Scatter Brush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Defi ning an Art Brush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Defi ning a Pattern Brush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Modifying Brush Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Expanding Brush Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Drawing and Erasing with Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Using the Blob Brush Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Using the Eraser Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Using Gradient Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Adding Pizzazz with the Flare Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Drawing a Vector Lens Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Editing a Vector Lens Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Chapter Five: Organizing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Understanding Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Understanding Attributes and Stacking Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Targeting Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Applying Multiple Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Expanding Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Enhancing Appearances with Live Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Applying a Live Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Editing a Live Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Working with Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Adding a Soft Drop Shadow to a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Adding a Stroke to a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Using Isolation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Working with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Using the Layers Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Understanding Object Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using Layers and Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter Six: Coloring Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Creating and Using Color in Illustrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Using the Color Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Using the Swatches Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
Working with Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Adding Color with Fills and Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Applying Fills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Applying Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Getting Inspired with Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Using the Color Guide Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Limiting the Color Guide Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Tapping In to a Community Around Color with Kuler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Modifying Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Recoloring Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Converting Art to Grayscale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Performing One-Click Color Fixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Viewing Color on the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Controlling Color Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Proofi ng Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Previewing Contrast for Color Blindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Understanding Book Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Chapter Seven: Working with Live Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Combining Features and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Deconstructing the Effect Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Is It Vector, or Is It Raster? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Massaging Pixels in Illustrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Convert to Shape: Changing for the Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Applying the Convert to Shape Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
What If…You Apply the Convert to Shape Effect to Text? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Crop Marks: Cut Here, Please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Distort & Transform: Transforming Your Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Distortion Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Transform Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Paths: Drawing Outside the Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Pathfi nder: Creating Complex Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
What If…You Combine Offset Path and Pathfi nder Effects on a Group? . . . . . 233
Rasterize: Creating Vectors That Act Like Pixels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
What If…You Apply the Rasterize Effect to a Raster Image? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Stylize: Now You’re Stylin’! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The Add Arrowheads Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The Feather Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
The Inner Glow and Outer Glow Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238