The Illustrator 8 Wow! Book

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review

In The Illustrator 8 Wow! Book, Sharon Steuer brings together expert work, slick tips, step-by-step procedures, and most important, what she calls the Zen of Illustrator: new ways to think and see in "this magical program, at first cryptic and counterintuitive," [which] can help you achieve creative results not possible in any other medium."

The first two chapters cover the basics, but Steuer brings her voice of experience: when to group, when not to; how to set up an archive file naming system that'll help you find what you need fast; how to get comfortable (and more efficient) with Illustrator's power-key shortcuts.

Then, with the help of nearly 100 illustrators, she shows how to make the most of features new and old alike: lines, fills, and colors; layers and templates; blends and gradients; type, masks, and special effects. Since Illustrator's often used with other programs, there's a full chapter showing how — with special attention to moving images into and out of Photoshop. There's new coverage of web and multimedia imagery, including how to work in RGB instead of CMYK.

The CD-ROM contains clip art, exclusive brushes and automated Actions, art you can pick apart to see how it was done; plus the complete Adobe Illustrator 8 Tryout Version. — Review by Bill Camarda (Contributing Editor)

Library Journal

Illustrator 8 is the latest version of Adobe's excellent vector program for image manipulation and creation. Vectors are lines of art in which Photoshop is a matrix of colors in rows and columns. Vectors are much easier to manipulate than a matrix of colors; they allow you to select areas of color easily for color change or line-size change. All these books are solid titles for folks trying to upgrade to Illustrator 8 or learn Illustrator for the first time. Alspach's and Weinmann's books are fine for starting out; Pirouz's and Steuer's works are for advanced users. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

A reference guide to production techniques using this computer art program. Includes step-by-step instructions for creating the book's color examples, and covers basics and the newest features of Illustrator 8. The CD-ROM contains a tryout version of Adobe Illustrator 8; various brushes, filters, clip arts, and fonts; and some basic tutorials. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.