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.
ISBN: 0321508947
Authors: David Karlins and Bruce K. Hopkins
Publisher: Adobe Press; Copyright © 2007
List price is $29.99
Reviewed by Anne Thwaits, October 2008