Adobe Illustrator Cs6 Classroom in a Book

As a primary training book, or as a stand alone reference, this book would only get 2 stars from me. But using it in conjunction with other sources, it is not so bad. Keep that in mind before you buy this book. (On the cover of this book, it says: "Everything you need to master the software is included." I disagree, see below.)In general the book is OK, but it seemed to often focus on laying out steps to follow, without first establishing an understanding of what was going on. That is a general feeling. But on some fundamental things, the book seemed weak. For example, how to use the Rotation Tool should be pretty basic and well covered in any book on Illustrator. But it isn't covered well at all in Adobe Illustrator CS6 Classroom in a Book. I tried experimenting around to figure it out after reading the related info in the text, and I couldn't. So I looked on line, and found some lessons that filled in the holes about how to relocate an object's center, so that the rotational center point can be altered. And I also looked (successfully) in other books I already had for information on using the Rotation tool.I found that as I ran into questions, that referring to my old text book from 2007 (Revealed by Chris Botello) and the new Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium/Digital classroom actually answered most of my questions. But it did distress me that the book under review (Adobe Illustrator CS6 Classroom in a Book) should be spotty enough that I needed to resort to other books, when I thought this book would be the be-all and end-all.But one thing that REALLY bugged me, is that at the start of each chapter, they say how long it should take to work through the chapter. When they say, one hour, plan on three. And I already had a class in CS2 about 6 years ago, and did well, but hadn't used it since. But I wasn't starting at ground zero. Seeing that I was taking 3 hours, when they say only one should be needed, is demoralizing, until you see this happen enough times that you figure they must have decided to time how long it takes to read the lesson, without stopping even one time.Thanks, Chuck

I am convinced that if I tried to learn AI-CS6 without this book, I would still be struggling with the basics. I don't know how the Adobe Creative Team does it differently from others, but I learned the features and techniques of AI-CS6 with a whole new level of comprehension.Notes and Tips:- Take your time. I completed lessons in 2-3 times the suggested durations. Sure, I could have raced through each lesson, but that isn't the point. My objective was to learn AI-CS6 by taking the time to explore each lesson and experiment with the features. The lessons and examples are rich in content.- Read the instructions carefully. Many of the instructions are specific where every word is important. Skimming the text doesn't work.- Each lesson has an initialization step to set AI-CS6 with a known default configuration (resets the essentials). This is nice because it allows the user to experience any lesson in any order or to refer back to any lesson.- Many of the techniques (e.g., setting the fill color, re-sizing, managing layers) are shown using multiple methods.- The examples are well-designed. It became obvious as I progressed through the lessons. The examples are so crucial to the book and learning AI-CS6.- I bought the Kindle version of the book. As other reviewers have indicated, the link to download the files is located on the last few pages. I had no problems finding the fifteen zip files but the 'Download All' button didn't work for me. Even with clicking the download button for each of the fifteen files, I had the files in a minute.- The first example is titled 'A Quick Tour of Adobe Illustrator CS6' and introduces several of the tools and features using a sign post example. I had two reactions to this first example: 1) AI is an amazing software app for illustrations. 2) If the rest of the book is like this first tour of AI-CS6, then I am in way over my head. Fortunately, the fifteen actual lessons are very well-designed and instructive.Great job creating an indispensable guide to learning AI-CS6!

I bought this book and a handful of others about CS6 when I was playing at being an artist. I've seen some other students create wonderful illustrations in class. Creating great art takes some skill and talent. I spend too much time reading and watching fantasy and science fiction.If you like reading try some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi authors: Richard Adams, Palo Bacigulupi, Suzanne Collins, Abe Evergreen, Diana Gabaldon, Hugh Howey, George Martin, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, and Andy Weir.If you’re looking for good shows to watch consider miniseries like The Astronauts Wives Club (2015), Band of Brothers (2001), Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000), Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (2003), Into the West (2005), Lonesome Dove (1989), Manhattan (2014-2015), Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Taken (2002) and The 10th Kingdom (2000), which are all terrific because they have clear beginnings that establish an objective, then strong middles and conclusive endings where the goal is achieved, like a good novel.Other shows I’ve really enjoyed include Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Cowboy Bebop (1998), Downton Abbey (2010-2015), Firefly (2002), Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Granite Flats (2013-2015), The IT Crowd (2006-2013), Jericho (2006-2008), Merlin (2008-2012), The Prisoner (1967-1968), Rome (2005-2007), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011), Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010), Stargate: SG-1 (1997-2007), Stargate: Atlantis (2004-2009), Star Trek (1966-1969), Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001), and The Tudors (2007-2010). I didn’t list any contemporary series I’m following that don’t have an end date yet, not conducive to binge watching from beginning to finish.

Okay. It's a good book. Its scope is wide, even from the get-go techniques are relatively advanced and complex as it tries covering many of the functions of Illustrator you may not even have known about despite having used it before. Still, I'm not sure that their approach is the best from a pedagogical standpoint, or certainly not for absolute beginners as the projects may seem a bit daunting.Still, I am not going to subtract more than one star for whatever shortcomings I may feel the book has, for it is still the best one-volume cover-most-bases tutorial book on Illustrator I have had the pleasure to read. It did help me to get started, it did teach me many basic skills as well as more advanced ones when I was starting out, and it did help me overcome that overwhelming sense of not knowing where to begin the first time you sit down and try to figure out how to do anything in Illustrator. Especially if you are entirely new to vector graphics too.I know this will no longer be the latest edition, but I am sure newer editions are equally good, if not better, and it's a series of books I therefore can recommend wholeheartedly.

I have to be honest - I hate Illustrator. But I think it is mainly down to the fact that I grew up studying and working in Photoshop (and the free download of PhotoFiltre). I had to work out Illustrator as I am studying web design at college, even though we can use other elements we were asked to produce various things in Illustrator, so willingly I ran towards Amazon to find a book that would teach someone who has no idea what they are doing, and transform them into a magician at Illustrator.After a few reads I managed to create various things, it was helpful. I have managed to swiftly drop Illustrator and run in the opposite direction to my friend Photoshop, but I know when the time comes (oh and it will come) - that this book on my shelf will get me there.

Being a non-professional person who has basic previous experience, I bought this book as a way to broaden my knowledge of Illustrator mainly for hobby purposes but with a view to possibly doing some future web based design work for friends or family.Currently about 3 or 4 chapters into this book and so far so good. I bought the kindle version so as you can imagine the clarity of some of the images is less than you would expect from a paper book, however the instructions and downloadable content are easy to follow.Looking forward to working through the projects and possibly looking at more books in the range for other Adobe software such as Photoshop.

Seems to be best how to Illustrator CS6 book available. The exercises starts off well (although the first one is very hard - to provide you a taster of every thng). However the later exercises (around the halfway mark) doesn't seems to be proof read as they don't replicate the same results as shown in the book. You have to work it out yourself (like moving the layers around). It is like that with all the second half of the exercises. This book could have be very good.

Teaching is an art! This book fails at times to deliver succinctly. Also the information is all over the place because it is not exactly teaching you a particular website to build (like other web site do) but giving you tons of information that you may not need. I can understand that this can be in fact useful but I wanted to see more working examples because it can otherwise get boring to read..