Foundation Illustrator 10

I bought Foundation Illustrator on the basis of two recommendations - one was after reading a review in a Mac magazine, which said that this book was one of the best available; and the second was that I had recently bought and worked through the excellent Photoshop Upgrade Essentials by the same authors. I was not disappointed. The explanations and instructions are very clear; and the real world information and examples were very useful.I particularly found the chapter on drawing paths of value - I finally understand how the Bezier pen works, and I've already had much success transferring these skills not only to my Illustrator graphics, but I've also been able to draw on this knowledge when working with paths and vector shapes in Adobe Photoshop.If you've ever had difficulty understanding how transparency works in Illustrator, you'll also find that chapter very constructive. The way in which transparency reacts differently depending on groupings and layers is complex, but this has been explained very clearly as well.There is also very good coverage of all the web features within Illustrator, something that some books tend to overlook; as well as thorough coverage of the new features like the Symbolism tools.All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase - the content and the style make it very worthwhile. I only have two minor niggles - the lack of color and CD. Some of the illustrations lose impact when printed in black and white, and a color signature would have made the book more impressive. Also the files towards the end of the book are fairly complex and large, and downloading them from the website is a little irritating. But then there are also bonus chapters on the companion website which I might not have found if I'd not had to download the source files.

I received this book in the morning and by the next evening I was using Illustrator 10 to produce web graphics. There is a minimum of jargon and the examples are to the point, offering new techniques all the time. The informal style makes this guide easy to read. All in all, an extremely satisfactory experience. Recommended.