Getting Inside Illustrator

Hello, dekeIstrators! I wanted to make a special appearance to share something with those of you who are veteran users of Adobe Illustrator, this special Illustrator history lesson from our good friend Mordy Golding. Mordy has a new series over at lynda.com that is designed expressly for Illustrator “insiders” who may just feel like changes in the software have passed them by. In this video—a free excerpt from Mordy’s first installment of said series, Illustrator Insider Training: Rethinking the Essentials—Mordy gives a terrific explanation of some of the reasons you may have missed significant improvements in the way Illustrator works. Bottom line: It’s not you! It’s not your throwing back too many martinis! It’s not your stubborn adherence to old school practices! It’s just that a paradigmatic shift happened in the software whilst you understandably may not have been listening. You are off the hook! And meanwhile, Mordy has (count ‘em) three installments of this terrific series to help tried-and-true Illustrator experts get the most from recent developments without having to go back to square one. (Of course, if you need square one, there is Deke’s new Up and Running with Illustrator course.)

So, if you already have a lynda.com subscription, you get Mordy as part of the deal. And if not, might I suggest signing up for a free 7-day trial at lynda.com/deke. Illustrator gurus, coming at you from all directions. You’re welcome! (And nice to see you.)

Next entry:Deke’s Techniques 053: Capturing a Monster in Motion

Previous entry:Deke’s Techniques 051: Making a Fictional Creature in Photoshop

  • I loved that

    I loved the timeline. Plus, you did a great job of explaining why a ground-breaking update might not immediately resonate with its intended audience. As you say, Illustrator 9 changed everything, whether we all know it or not.

    As usual, Mordy my friend, you did a great job!

  • Illustrator VS Photoshop

    It would be great if you and Morty Came up with a list for these 2 products that show what they are really best suited for. I have been using computers since they had only 2 floppy disk drives and 640mb. I have noticed a large part of computer people don’t know what app is best for certain things, for example. Lotus 123 was one of the first apps out. Later came Excel and both were great for financial things. Everyone then found out how versatile they were because they also were used for databases. Later Access came out and it took me months to convince the powers that be to use Access for data not Excel. This was for a printing company that produces tags for all kinds of plants,trees and flowers which were all in Excel. I finally did convince them of the power of Access to handle and move around data, photos, descriptions etc. Several years later the boss said it was the best idea he had to go to Access so the parent company could share information with us. Right tool for the right job. I would love to have a list of Illustrator and Photoshop to show the powers that be the advantages of using each program for what it was made for instead of using one program for everything. I get tired of reproducing artwork when it could have been done right in the first place. Sorry about the rant but I am stuck redoing another batch of clip art again, I woiuld rather be at the beach.

    Gillie60

  • Mordy, Great series!

    Mordy, Great series!


  • Finally An Insider

    Just Finished This Unique * Illustrator Insider Training: Rethinking the Essentials * Series A Week Ago, It Has Helped Alot, Though I Was Just A Beginner With Strong Basics , Now I Feel A Complete Insider To Illustrator. . . Thanks Alot MORDY :o)

    And Yea Deke Iam On with You Now :p Learning This Whole Week The One On One Advanced Course Of Illustrator :o) . . . Love Ya My TEACHER

  • Make a PDF from Illustrator that can be edited by Acrobat etc.?

    Hi - I have asked around and surprisingly have had no good solutions. We have letterhead made using Illustrator. It has a text box for the letter. When we create a PDF, Acrobat only does line by line editing which is not acceptable. What we need is a way to send a file to others in our department (who do not have Illustrator) and have them write a letter on the PDF (or another format if you suggest one) and then be able to generate a PDF to send to students electronically. Any ideas? We want to go paperless and the only way I have been able to do this is to use the stationery as a ‘background’ in Word - but Word does not hold formats well and becomes quite messy. Suggestions greatly appreciated about how to achieve this! Jen :)

  • Acrobat forms?

    You might look into creating a form—use the same PDF file, but in Acrobat Pro, define a single large form field that people can fill out. However, the text would always be a form field meaning others could always edit the letter. You would also need to enable those using Reader to fill out the form elements.

    Mordy Golding


    http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

  • Illustrator vs Photoshop, Which is best for the job?

    I love this idea, Gillie. My content manager’s wheels are spinning.

    Colleen

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