I'm taking a course at the moment and the Photoshop stuff came to me so easily...it was so much fun. Now though, we're getting into Illustrator and it seems like such a pain in the arse, It's almost like PS is so much more forgiving and friendly and fun and Illustrator the complete opposite...not fun at all.

I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I've been using PS a lot (well, to varying degrees) for like, five years, and illustrator not so much...but it seems really difficult. Anyone have anything useful that makes Illustrator easier/more enjoyable/ simpler/ funner that they can pass on? I'd be grateful.


Scrump

"As always, just Google Adobe 'Illustrator' Tutes and work through them like you did as a noob PS wannabee all those years ago.
It comes slowly but that's just traffic.
If you want to know anything in particular, just PM me OK!
I have a heap of 'Illustrator' tutes on hand (Ref Books and Video discs), so I know what a PITA learning curve you're having, BTDT

Just Yell Scrump, and I'll see what I can do, OK!

Regards

Wiz

seeing sharp outlines is making me happy when working with Illu. the rest is practicing, practicing and practicing again...

Hey Scrumptious...

I love Illustrator!!

• you can work in layers and then file>export into a .psd to add Photoshop stuff.
• Try and avoid doing drop shadows and stuff in Illustrator - do all that in P.shop.
• The 3D filter comes in useful sometimes...but then Object>Expand Appearance and put on layers to render in PS.
• You can also do stuff in PS then save as tif etc. and place in Illustrator.
• You can write text and then Type>Create outlines.
• You can also bring in photos and create vector graphics using the Trace tools etc.
• The pathfinder tools are great/useful - play around with some shapes and see what the tools can do.
• You can create vector stuff and then save for web, or PDF etc...and both PS and Illus work well with Indesign.
• You can create vector stuff and save as swf. for Flash etc.
• Then there's the pen tool - worth getting to grips with (similar to PS one).

I do some CS3 tutoring so if you need any help, just ask...hope this gives you a vague taste...I often work between the two apps for my work...they both have their merits and work well together. As Wiz says, learning anything takes time...and as YPiggy says, practice makes perfectish - there's a treasure trove of useful stuff in Illus.


Some sites that may be of usefulness:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/13.0/

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/category/tutorials/

http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/illustrator.html

http://www.taterboy.com/blog/2008/06/10-adobe-illustrator-tips/


Keep chopping!

Mx

Haha... I'd forgotten I'd started this thread ( a few beers in me at the time of writing)...but wow, nice work you three - very useful advice indeed. Thanks.

Illustrator is a great weapon to have, download some favorite cartoons and redraw them, that's how i started,


still needed some photoshop for shading ect

Okay...I think that's the biggest thing for me. The little touches being done in PS (as Mel also said)...bounce around between the two programs sort'a thing.

anything specific you need to know? I may be able to help.

Cheers Mikey... what I'm working on right now is the artwork for new home designs; much like the ones you'd get from a builder with all their different styles of houses, with landscaping etc. I've got the houses drawn but it all looks so flat and boring and unartistic. I think I'll do what the others have suggested and export to PS for the artistic touches etc.

And of course the navigation is taking a bit of effort,but, like PS that will come with time and practice.

come on scrump you can do this,

olaaaaaaaaaaa splodge thats a woman hohohooooooo, great,

master the pen tool!