Online classes in Photoshop Elements

Adobe Illustrator CS3: Getting Your Feet Wet

Join me to learn the ins and outs of Illustrator CS3, Adobe's premiere illustration package! Think you need to learn to draw to use Illustrator? You don't! In this course, you will become familiar with Illustrator’s interface and tools, and learn the difference between vector and raster images. You will learn to draw by combining shapes and by using the tools to edit anchor points. You will also learn to use color, gradients, and text in your documents, and to use the 3D tool.

Prerequisites

This class was written for Illustrator CS3. Most of it will also work with Illustrator CS and CS2.

Students must be familiar with their operating systems. This means you must know how to unzip files and open the file in Illustrator, you must understand what a menu is, and basic commands like copying and pasting, as well as Save and Save As.

You will need some sort of web presence to post homework. You can post them to your own web site or there are ideas here for more posting places: http://www.northlite.net/homework.htm

Enrollment:

Classes are $30 for a six week session. This class begins in November 2008 at Eclectic Academy!

Syllabus

This class is under development and as such, the syllabus is subject to change.

Lesson 1

Getting Started: Vector vs. Raster
Getting Familiar with the Interface, Palettes, and Tools
Opening, Closing, and Saving Documents
Using Save for Web
Saving and Managing Workspaces
Strokes and Fills
Swatches
Modifier Keys
Undo
Getting Help
Color Basics
Resetting Preferences

Lesson 2

Setting Preferences
Creating Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
Using Color: Swatches Palette, Color Palette, and the Color Picker
Watermelon: Guides and Grids
Clipping Masks
Using the Gradient Palette
Making a Custom Scatter brush

Lesson 3

The Selection Tool, Direct Selection Tool, and the Lasso Tool
Using the Pen Tool
Anatomy of a Path
Editing Paths
Practicing with the Pen Tool
Drawing with the Pen Tool
Filters vs. Effects
Using Undo
Using Brushes as Strokes on your Drawings

Lesson 4

More about Paths
Compound Paths
Pathfinder
Warp Tools
Arrange and Align
Twirl, Bloat, Pucker, and Scallop, Oh My!

Lesson 5

Anatomy of Type
Working with theType Tools
Text on a Path
Using a Path as a Type Container
Type on a Circle
Using Create Outlines
Gradient Text
Pattern Filled Text
Creating a Text Image

Lesson 6

More Type: Leading, Kerning, Tracking
Paragraph Alignment and Justification
Using Symbols
Symbolism Tools
Saving Custom Symbols
Document Cleanup
Using the 3D Filter

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Eclectic Academy

If you aren't sure what an online class is, read What are Online Classes?

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Disclaimer

All designs and images on these pages are copyrighted to me, Sara Froehlich and Northlite Designs, or in the cases of software boxes and logos, their respective copyright holders. If you want to use something of mine you see, please contact me for permission. Thank you!