Getting started 1

About Classroom in a Book^® 1

Prerequisites 1

Installing the program 2

Fonts used in this book 2

Online Content 2

Lesson files 2

Web Edition 3

Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition 3

Restoring default preferences 4

To reset the current Illustrator preferences 4

Additional resources 5

Adobe Authorized Training Partners 5

What’s new in Adobe Illustrator 2025 Release 6

Objects on Path 6

Text to Vector Graphic improvements 6

Gen Shape Fill (Beta) 7

Mockup improvements 7

Star as a live shape 7

A quick tour of Adobe Illustrator 2025 Release 8

Starting the lesson 10

Saving the document 10

Creating shapes 11

Resizing shapes 12

Copying shapes 13

Rounding corners 13

Combining shapes using the Shape Builder tool 14

Rounding a few corners 15

Applying and editing color 15

Practice making a leaf 17

Transforming the leaf 18

Applying a gradient 19

Practice applying a gradient 20

Creating with the Curvature tool 20

Applying a brush 21

Working with type 22

Grouping content 23

Curving text 23

Formatting the text 24

Working with effects 25

Finishing your sticker 25

1 Getting to know the work area 26

Welcome to Adobe Illustrator! 28

Opening an Illustrator file 29

Exploring the workspace 30

Getting to know the tools 31

Working with the Properties panel 32

Exploring the Contextual Task Bar 33

Finding more tools 34

Moving the toolbar 35

Customizing the toolbar 35

Working with panels 35

Moving and docking panels 37

Scaling the Illustrator interface 38

Switching and resetting workspaces 39

Using panel and context menus 40

Changing the view of artwork 43

Using view commands 43

Using the Zoom tool 44

Panning in a document 47

Panning with the Navigator panel 48

Rotating the view 48

Viewing artwork 49

Navigating multiple artboards 51

Arranging multiple documents 52

2 Techniques for selecting artwork 54

Starting the lesson 56

Selecting objects 57

Using the Selection tool 57

Selecting and editing with the Direct Selection tool 59

Selecting with a marquee 60

Exploring Enclosed mode 62

Locking objects 62

Unlocking objects 63

Selecting similar objects 63

Hiding objects 64

Selecting in Outline mode 65

Aligning objects 66

Aligning objects to each other 66

Aligning to a key object 66

Distributing objects 67

Aligning anchor points 68

Aligning to the artboard 69

Aligning objects to a path 70

Editing the objects on the path 71

Working with groups 72

Grouping items 72

Editing a group in Isolation mode 72

Exploring object arrangement 74

Arranging objects 74

3 Make a logo with shapes 76

Starting the lesson 78

Creating a new document 78

Saving your document 79

What is a bleed? 80

Working with basic shapes 82

Creating rectangles 82

Editing rectangles 83

Changing the color of the shapes 85

Rounding rectangle corners by dragging 86

Rounding individual corners 87

Discover other ways to round corners 88

Changing a corner type 88

Creating an ellipse 90

Editing an ellipse 90

Changing stroke alignment 92

Creating a pie shape from an ellipse 92

Drawing lines 94

Editing a line 94

Creating polygons 96

Editing a polygon 97

Creating a star 98

Working with drawing modes 99

Using Draw Inside mode 99

Practicing with Draw Inside mode 101

Editing content drawn inside 101

Pasting artwork between documents 102

Using Image Trace to convert images into editable vector art 103

Cleaning up traced artwork 105

Adding the text and bear logo to the flyer 107

Using Text To Vector Graphic (Beta) 107

Gen Shape Fill (Beta) 110

4 Editing and combining shapes and paths 112

Starting the lesson 114

Editing paths and shapes 115

Cutting with the Scissors tool 115

Joining paths 117

Cutting with the Knife tool 118

Cutting in a straight line with the Knife tool 119

Using the Eraser tool 121

Erasing in a straight line 122

Creating a compound path 123

Outlining strokes 125

Combining shapes 126

Working with the Shape Builder tool 126

Combining objects using Pathfinder effects 128

Understanding shape modes 129

Reshaping a path 131

Using the Width tool 132

Using Intertwine 134

Assembling the sign 135

Assembling the poster 136

5 Transforming artwork 138

Starting the lesson 140

How can you use artboards? 141

Creating and editing artboards 141

Creating a new artboard 141

Copying artboards between documents 143

Moving and resizing artboards 144

Aligning and arranging artboards 146

Setting options for artboards 147

Changing the order of artboards 148

Working with rulers and guides 148

Creating guides 149

Editing the ruler origin 150

Transforming content 150

Working with the bounding box 150

Positioning artwork using the Properties panel 151

Scaling objects precisely 153

Rotating objects with the Rotate tool 154

Scaling using Transform Each 155

Shearing objects 156

Transforming using menu commands 157

Using repeats 158

Applying a mirror repeat 158

Editing a mirror repeat 159

Working with the Puppet Warp tool 160

Adding pins 160

Rotating pins 162

Introducing the Dimension tool 163

6 Using the basic drawing tools 166

Starting the lesson 168

Creating with the Curvature tool 169

Which drawing tool to use, when? 169

Drawing paths with the Curvature tool 169

Editing the path with the Curvature tool 171

Joining with the Join tool 172

Finishing the social graphic 173

Creating corners with the Curvature tool 174

Practicing with the Curvature tool 176

Finishing the mug handle 177

Creating with the Pencil tool 178

Drawing paths with the Pencil tool 178

Exploring the Pencil tool further 179

Creating dashed lines 180

Adding arrowheads to paths 181

Practicing adding arrowheads 182

7 Drawing with the pen tool 184

Starting the lesson 186

Why use the Pen tool? 186

Starting with the Pen tool 187

Creating straight lines to make a crown 187

Continuing to draw a path 189

Practicing by making another crown! 190

Drawing a house with the Pen tool 190

Practicing by making another house! 192

Exploring curved paths 192

Drawing a curve with the Pen tool 193

Practicing by creating more curves! 194

Drawing a series of curves with the Pen tool 194

Practicing by creating continuous curves! 195

Changing path direction 196

Practicing by creating more curves! 197

Combining curves and straight lines 198

Practicing by making the other sail! 199

Practicing by creating more curves! 200

Putting your learning into practice 200

Editing paths and points further 204

Deleting and adding anchor points 205

Converting between smooth points and corner points 207

Converting anchor points with the Anchor Point tool 208

8 Using color to enhance artwork 210

Starting the lesson 212

Exploring color modes 213

Working with color 214

Applying an existing color 214

Making a custom color 215

Saving a color as a swatch 216

Editing the global swatch 218

Editing a non-global swatch 219

Using the Color Picker to create color 221

Using Illustrator swatch libraries 223

Creating and saving a tint 224

Copying appearance attributes 226

Exploring color groups 227

Using the Color Guide panel for creative inspiration 227

Applying colors from the Color Guide panel 228

Using Recolor Artwork to edit colors in artwork 229

Recoloring artwork 229

Sampling color in Recolor Artwork 231

Making color variations with sample prompts using Generative Recolor 233

Making color variations with custom prompts using Generative Recolor 234

Working with Live Paint 235

Creating a Live Paint group 235

Painting with the Live Paint Bucket tool 236

Modifying a Live Paint group 238

9 Adding type to a project 240

Starting the lesson 242

Adding text 243

Adding text at a point 243

Adding area type 244

Converting between area type and point type 246

Exploring area type auto sizing 246

Importing a plain-text file 247

Threading text 248

Formatting type 250

Changing font family and font style 250

Activating Adobe Fonts 250

Applying fonts to text in Illustrator 252

Fixing missing fonts 253

Changing font size 254

Changing the color of text 255

Changing additional character formatting 255

Changing paragraph formatting 257

Vertically aligning area type 258

Using glyph snapping 259

Working with glyphs 259

Resizing and reshaping type objects 259

Creating columns of text 259

Reshaping type objects 260

Creating and applying text styles 261

Creating and applying a paragraph style 261

Sampling text formatting 262

Practicing paragraph styles 263

Editing a paragraph style 263

Working with character styles 264

Creating text lists 265

Applying text lists 265

Editing text lists 265

Wrapping text 266

Curving text on a path 267

Warping text 269

Reshaping text with a preset envelope warp 269

Editing the content of the envelope warp 269

Creating text outlines 270

Exploring Retype (Beta) 271

10 Organizing your project with layers 274

Starting the lesson 276

Understanding layers 277

Creating layers 278

Creating a sublayer 280

Editing layers and objects 281

Locating content in the Layers panel 281

Dragging content between layers 283

Trying another method for dragging content to a layer 285

Locking and hiding layers 286

Reordering layers and content 288

Viewing individual layers or objects as outlines 290

Pasting layers from another document 291

Merging layers into a new layer 293

Searching and filtering layers 294

Creating a clipping mask 295

11 Gradients, blends, and patterns 298

Starting the lesson 300

Working with gradients 301

Applying a linear gradient to a fill 301

Editing a gradient color 302

Saving a gradient as a swatch 303

Adjusting a linear gradient fill 304

Applying a linear gradient to a stroke 306

Editing a gradient on a stroke 307

Applying a radial gradient to artwork 309

Editing the colors in the radial gradient 310

Adjusting the radial gradient 311

Applying gradients to multiple objects 312

Adding transparency to gradients 313

Applying a freeform gradient 314

Editing a freeform gradient in Points mode 315

Applying color stops in Lines mode 317

Creating blends 318

Creating a blend with specified steps 318

Modifying a blend 319

Creating a smooth color blend 320

Editing a smooth color blend 321

Blending with the Blend tool 321

Getting creative with patterns 322

Applying an existing pattern 322

Creating your own pattern 323

Applying your pattern 325

Editing your pattern 326

Putting it all together 326

12 Using brushes to create an ad 328

Starting the lesson 330

Working with brushes 331

Using Calligraphic brushes 331

Types of brushes 331

Applying a Calligraphic brush to artwork 332

Editing a brush 333

Drawing with the Paintbrush tool 334

Editing paths with the Paintbrush tool 336

Smoothing with the Paintbrush tool 336

Editing the Paintbrush tool options 337

Removing a brush stroke 338

Using Art brushes 339

Applying an existing Art brush 339

Creating an Art brush 340

Editing an Art brush 341

Using Pattern brushes 344

Creating a Pattern brush 345

Applying the Pattern brush 347

Editing a Pattern brush 348

Using Bristle brushes 350

Changing Bristle brush options 350

Painting with a Bristle brush 351

Grouping Bristle brush paths 352

Working with the Blob Brush tool 352

Drawing with the Blob Brush tool 352

Editing with the Eraser tool 354

13 Exploring creative uses of effects and graphic styles 356

Starting the lesson 358

Using the Appearance panel 360

Editing appearance attributes 361

Adding another fill to content 362

Adding multiple strokes and fills to text 364

Reordering appearance attributes 367

Using live effects 369

Applying an effect 369

Editing an effect 371

Styling text with a Warp effect 372

Temporarily disabling effects to make edits 373

Applying a Photoshop effect 375

Applying 3D effects 376

Using graphic styles 379

Creating and applying a graphic style 379

Updating a graphic style 380

Applying a graphic style to a layer 381

Scaling strokes and effects 383

14 Exploring time-saving techniques 386

Starting the lesson 388

Working with symbols 389

Using default Illustrator symbol libraries 389

Transforming symbol instances 391

Editing a symbol 392

Working with dynamic symbols 393

Creating a symbol 394

Practice editing a symbol 396

Breaking a link to a symbol 396

Working with the Symbol Sprayer tool 397

Replacing symbols 397

Working with Creative Cloud libraries 399

Adding assets to a Creative Cloud library 399

Using library assets 401

Updating a library asset 402

Creating a mockup 403

Working with global editing 405

15 Placing and working with images 408

Starting the lesson 410

Placing image files 411

Placing an image 411

Transforming a placed image 413

Cropping an image 414

Placing a Photoshop document 416

Placing multiple images 419

Placing Creative Cloud files 420

Masking content 420

Masking content with a shape 421

Exploring the mask you made 421

Editing the mask and image 422

Automatic masking for an image 423

Editing the image mask 424

Masking with text 425

Creating an opacity mask 425

Editing an opacity mask 427

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