How to Do Everything with Illustrator CS

So, you are beginning to believe that ten pound illustrator book will become your headstone! Send it to your mother in law, you don't need to start with that much information. How to do Everything........by David Karlins is a clear and concise group of instructions wich will help you jump start your computer drawing skills.Karlins covers all the basic drawing features of this powerful software, while including particular tips and cautionary notes where required. This book is a refreshing departure from most technical manuals, as it's colorful and easy to understand. There is a significant amount devoted to type and all the special effects which can be achieved. Since Karlins is a professional web designer, he seems to be particularly well versed in the methods to configure an illustration for the Web.Do not expect that by just doing the exercises in the book one will know and understand the material. As with any type of instructions it is important to set up some challenges of your own to test how far one can take ones instructions.Read and Practice, Practice, Practice!

How to Do Everything . . . by David Karlins is clearly evidence that in addition to the time he spends teaching Macromedia's Dreamweaver, he has found time to try to "demystify and break down the art of vector art." He points out where the CS version is different from earlier Illustrator versions. He especially praises improvements in the text formatting and the inclusion of better 3-D effect capabilities. It is convenient how throughout the book he includes the keystroke shortcuts for the various actions. David has included a lot of diagrams and illustrations to help understand the use of the various tools and pallets. A lot of time is well spent writing about how to use the various Pathfinder tools. His use of Caution, Tips and Note caveats in each chapter reminds the reader of an area that can use special attention.

This is a great book for beginning and intermediate users of Adobe Illustrator. The book is well laid out, colorful and pleasant to read. What is nice for the new user is he explains how to use the basic tools, and how to draw with them. Understanding paths and anchors are the basic elements of being able to use this type of software. You have the option of working through the whole book or picking and choosing your topic. A new user could work through the whole book, from beginning to end.The author includes many highlighted "notes," "cautions," and "shortcuts" interspersed throughout the book. For example, in the section where he is explaining about how to draw with paintbrushes there is a note telling you that Chapter 18 explains how to define custom brushes. In another section about the Pathfinder tools you are cautioned that those tools only with with vector objects - not bitmaps. And for those who are unsure of the difference between vector art and bitmap art, that explanation was given in the beginning of the book. It is this kind of basic information that makes this such a helpful book.He goes into great detail about the new text features and special effects. I can't say enough about how clearly this book is written. I have had my share of technical books that are hard to understand, unpleasant to look at and have typographical errors.While good portion of this book will be redundant to a Illustrator "power user," there is still a lot of useful information including a professional technique gallery at the back of the book.

What good is teaching if your not able communicate? This book "teaches" and relays information in an easy to understand way. Along with sufficient illustrations the concepts are easily explained. If you want to "Learn" AI 10 in a painlessly way, I'd recommend this book as a must have.