Anyone good with Illustrator?

I've had Adobe Illustrator for a couple years now as part of the Suite my office purchased for my use as Marketing Coordinator, but I've never really grasped that program. I'm trying again, because it seems like such a waste to not use a program that I know is fabulous. Part of my problem is that I don't really know what I *could* do with it if I knew the program better.

Is anyone here experienced with Illustrator? And would you be willing to share some samples of what you have done with the program? I'm looking for inspiration.

I have Illustrator, but I removed it from my computer, because I didn't really get the grasp of it, either. I believe, if I'm not mistaken it's pretty much the same, although a better qualitiy version of a program I do use, called Micrografx Designer. Micrografx is a bit more user friendly than Illustrator and I've created a lot of things with that program.

I'm a graphic designer and I work in Illustrator almost every day to design everything from ads and logos to newsletters and brochures. There is sooooo much that you can do in Illustrator...it's amazing! Believe me, I still have more to learn but I took a class at a local community college and once you get the hang of it, it's actually a very user-friendly program. I use it more than an other program I have. If you would like to learn it in-depth, I would suggest getting the Illustrator Tutorial book with cdrom...it takes you step by step through each brush, menu, etc. That's basically what we followed in class. I'll try to get some my work together in Photobucket to post soon!

Originally Posted by lovemycodygirl

I'm a graphic designer and I work in Illustrator almost every day to design everything from ads and logos to newsletters and brochures. There is sooooo much that you can do in Illustrator...it's amazing! Believe me, I still have more to learn but I took a class at a local community college and once you get the hang of it, it's actually a very user-friendly program. I use it more than an other program I have. If you would like to learn it in-depth, I would suggest getting the Illustrator Tutorial book with cdrom...it takes you step by step through each brush, menu, etc. That's basically what we followed in class. I'll try to get some my work together in Photobucket to post soon!

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That would be great! I think most of my problem is that I just don't even know *what* I can do with it. You see a bajillion and one cool Photoshopped images, and when I see them I go through it in my mind of how I could reproduce that effect on my own images. But Illustrator images don't just pop out at me like Photoshop ones do.

i LOVE illustrator. It's great for print work and stuff. i designed all our wedding stationery with it (wedding invitations, menus, direction cards, church programs etc.) It was fun will all that DIY projects!

You could also try to find adobe illustrator for dummies.. i have it and LOVE it... i already new how to use photoshop but the book shows you a whole new world of things to do.. lol and explains things simpily!

I've never heard of it sorry. I don't even know how to use photoshop.

Pearly, those are lovely! You did a fabulous job. Just seeing those gives me some ideas of how I can use Illustrator for the company.

Thanks Heidi!

Here's another invitation i did for my friend using Illustrator.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...nvitefinal.jpg

It's a tri-fold invite, and that was basically the layout. i also create monograms, cards for baby/bridal showers, favor tags etc. The options you have with illustrator are endless, there's so much you can do with it! Have fun!

I've never used Adobe Illustrator but I would love to try it. I can't download the current trial version because I'm still using Windows 98 on my computer. I'm using Corel Draw 9 and really like the program as I slowly discover what it can do.

I use Illustrator all the time lemme see what I have.. Actually, if you remember my VERY first sig of the winking kity, that was done in illustrator.

My suggestion, if you want to get familiar with the tool, find a simple picture and use the pen tool to trace it out. Also, it's perfect for layouts. I'm a graphiic designer and use illustrator to make menu's car ads, drawings, and identities

Here's a couple of brochures and labels that I've designed in Illustrator over the years here at work. This program is more of a drawing program, rather than a layout/design program such as Quark Xpress, but I use it for basically everything now, except those pieces with multiple pages or photos such as an Annual Reports or newsletters. Almost every graphic on these pieces were hand drawn in Illustrator, except for the photos, somce logos and fonts. I use Photoshop for pieces that need fixing, shadowing, 3-Dism...mostly involving photos.

It's easier to learn Illustrator if you buy the book and do the tutorials...especially for the drawing aspect of the program. I took a class at a local college and it was really hard to grasp the drawing part in the beginning. But once you get it, it's fun and you end up doing more and more things in the program.
Susan

Brochure for Schools...

Coupon for Coffee shop...

Brochure for kids...

Label for press release packets...

Originally Posted by Hobbester

i LOVE illustrator. It's great for print work and stuff. i designed all our wedding stationery with it (wedding invitations, menus, direction cards, church programs etc.) It was fun will all that DIY projects!

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Pearly - I love your wedding invites - they are awesome!! So original. I've been thinking of designing my own as well for my wedding (when we finally tie the knot of course!) Where did you get them printed and if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost? I'd love to see one in person!!
Susan

Very cool stuff!

I think part of my problem is that I don't have any artistic talent at all. I mean, even stick figures don't turn out all that well for me! So I think that's my biggest issue with figuring out Illustrator. I have these grand visions in my head, but if I have to draw it myself it looks like a 5 year old did it.

One thing I really do need to figure out, though, is how to take something I've done in Photoshop and make it into an Illustrator file as vector graphics. I have designed some t-shirts and the printer requested they be vector graphics. A friend of Earl's did it for me, but I have no idea what he did nor can I find anything online as a tutorial.

Vector images as a whole are primarily illustrations as opposed to photographs and scanned images...these images aren't pixelated like the ones in Photoshop...and I'm assuming some printshops can't use them. I do wonder if you could take the finished Photoshop image and save it as an EPS file and then open and save it in Illustrator as an Illustrator EPS file. Or you can open a new Illustrator file and then place your image into it. I would ask the printer - I've never printed t-shirts using anything but Illustrator files.

One thing that took me a while to learn in Illustrator is bezier curves...that's what you use to draw with.

Originally Posted by lovemycodygirl

One thing that took me a while to learn in Illustrator is bezier curves...that's what you use to draw with.

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I've tried using bezier curves in Corel Draw, but I am EXTREMELY challenged in figuring out how to use them. Everytime I grab a "node", the line or curves just go everywhere.

Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

I've tried using bezier curves in Corel Draw, but I am EXTREMELY challenged in figuring out how to use them. Everytime I grab a "node", the line or curves just go everywhere.

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The only thing that helps with bezier curves is practice...go slow and do it over and over again. Once you finally get it, you'll be surprised how easy they are and how much you can do.

You are correct. Practice, practice, and then some more practice. I have finally gotten the "handle" (so to speak) on adding nodes to make objects bend in the way I want them to. The first image below is the result of my adding nodes and bending the lines til my heart was content. The image is currently entered into a contest on another forum. The 2nd image, I had created this morning because it's the only way I'm getting a new computer at the moment!!

Illustrator can be used for alot of graphics that require text. mostly it allows you to manipulate text so you can have the look you want, it also is good for 3D figures that you draw free hand then scan in and making it look like the real object on the computer. I would recommend looking in to learning about gradient mesh, its more advanced in illustrator, more of the artistic part but if your doing posters you can do some really cool stuff.
Here are some of my examples.