Adobe Illustrator CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques (How-Tos)

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $17.82

Customer Reviews:

Excellent instructions, user friendly manual. [Posted on 2008-04-04]
I found the format of this instruction guide to be perfect. The authors have chosen 100 essential techniques, and teach these in easy to follow and accessible lessons. By going through the book I was able to grasp the essential, most used tools in Adobe Illustrator. I found the directions and illustrations extremely user friendly, and they manage to make the software package seem easy to use. In the past I have bought the "Bible" instruction books to learn Adobe software, but this book was much more helpful and user friendly. I always felt bogged down by all the information in other guidebooks, but this one presents the most useful tools so that anyone can get started and start effectively using Adobe Illustrator. I highly recommend this to anyone (at any level) learning Adobe Illustrator. I feel confident using this software now, thanks to this book.

Good book, easy to follow [Posted on 2008-04-16]
This a very good book that takes you through the basics and beyond. I think an advanced user may not benefit as much as a beginner or intermediate user. One drawback is that the book ignores charts and graphs altogether, which is one of Illustrator's best features. But they aren't much different, if any different, from version 6 on. I've been using Illustrator since '92 so I used the book to find features exclusive to CS3. As for the charts, punch in charts and graphs for Adobe Illustrator into Google and you'll find some nice step-by-step examples. Good book for the price, especially if you're just getting started.

it's ok [Posted on 2008-04-21]
it's a good book, but it's all in black and white, not like other design books that have magazine paper and color photos explaining the points. there's a lot of text, but not many pictures or diagrams explaining, which in my case helps.

The most straight forward way of delivering all you need to know [Posted on 2008-05-08]
This is an excellent series of books. I started out with Photoshop and went on to study Illustrator and Dreamweaver. Is less then a quarter of the size of all the other instructional books out ther but packs ten times of easy to read and understand knowledge. I highly recommend it!

Good book for people who need instructions in a hurry [Posted on 2008-10-08]
I learned Illustrator on a need-to-know basis. Like many busy professionals, I learned only as much as I needed to know when I needed to know it. In the past I tried using the Classroom in a Book to increase my Illustrator skills, and while I generally like that approach - the book comes with a CD of sample files that allow the user to complete an interesting, attractive and complex project while working through each chapter - I've never managed to find the time to work through a whole chapter in one sitting. I need instructions in bite-size pieces, and that's what Adobe Illustrator CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques provides. Each technique is explained in just a few pages, so it's not comprehensive enough to turn the reader into an expert but it provides enough guidance to make the reader proficient in the use of that technique in just a few minutes.

Going through the book from beginning to end would give the reader a broad competency with Illustrator, as the 100 techniques cover the software fairly comprehensively. It is probably more effective, however, as a reference book. The book is great for beginners as it starts with the basics: creating new documents, saving and printing, finding tools, and drawing lines. Topics are arranged in a logical order, so that a technique never requires skills that weren't covered on previous pages in the book, but there is no progression from topic to topic. Techniques are arranged by topic into eleven chapters. The reader is not instructed to create a project and then build on it as he or she progresses from technique to technique or chapter to chapter. Each technique stands alone, and it is up to the reader to create a new AI file and try out the technique in his or her own unique way. At the end of the book I had screens full of interesting doodles and shapes, and a head full of new information, but no satisfyingly professional-looking image - as with the Classroom in a Book approach - that I could show off proudly and say "I made that."

The book includes many screen shots, but none of them are in color. This makes it less visually interesting than other books, but it does not interfere with instruction - everything is illustrated clearly. Another thing you won't find here is creative ideas for using Illustrator. This is a straightforward technical manual. It explains the basics, step by step, and it is up to the reader to provide the creativity and inspiration.

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