SOFTWARE TRAINING for STUDENTS @ UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN-MADISON

Art 102: Illustrator

How to Use This Manual

About This Manual

Welcome! This STS Manual is meant to serve as a reference guide for Art 102 students needing help learning the many Illustrator tools and techniques available. Simply click on any topic listed within the table of contents above to go directly to that topic’s short video tutorial!

Regardless of your Illustrator skill level, please first review the videos found within The Essentials section below to ensure you have a solid understanding of image basics and the current Photoshop interface.

Project 1 – Topics To Review

There are a lot of topics covered and it might be a bit overwhelming! To help make navigating this manual a bit more manageable, below we have listed out which topics may be most useful to review for your Art 102 Photoshop Project 1:

  • The Essentials (Entire Section)
  • Creating a New File (Document Set-up) (Single Video)
  • Creating Shapes (Entire Section)
  • Manipulating Shapes (Entire Section)

The Essentials (Required)

Pre-Illustrator: Overview of Vector Art

The Illustrator Interface (Panels)

Navigation (Panning + Zooming)

Selection Tool vs. The Direct Selection Tool

Working with Multiple Illustrator Documents

How to Reset the Workspace

Saving as an Illustrator File or PDF

Exporting as an Image File (JPEG and PNG)

Starting Your Project in Illustrator

Creating a New File (Document Set-up)

Guides, Grids, and Rulers

All About Layers

Creating Shapes

Shape Tools + Basic Transformations

Create New Shapes with The Pen Tool

Tracing with the Pen Tool

Create Organic Shapes with the Pencil Tool

Making Copies

Manipulating Shapes

Changing Points and Paths with the Direct Selection Tool

Combining Shapes with the Shape Builder Tool

Managing Objects and Organization

Selecting and Grouping

Isolation Mode

Arranging Layers

Cropping with Clipping Masks

Working with Colors

Stroke and Fill – What Are They?

The Color Picker

Swatches and Color Guide

Gradients

Matching Colors with The Eyedropper Tool

Advanced Appearance: Appearance Panel, Blend Modes, and Layer Effects

Working with Text

The Type Tool and the Character Panel

Type on a Path Tool

Area Type Tool

Creating Text Outlines (Shapes)

Aligning Your Objects

The Align Panel