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Adobe Illustrator CS3: The Professional Portfolio (Portfolio Series, CS3) | 
 enlarge | Author: Inc. Against The Clock
Publisher: Against The Clock, Inc.
Category: Book
Buy New: $49.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 281122
Media: Spiral-bound
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 0976432463
EAN: 9780976432463
ASIN: 0976432463
Publication Date: 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New From Publisher
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Product Description
Against The Clock's Portfolio Series provides step-by-step lessons supplemented with important foundational discussions that expand your knowledge from basic familiarity to true mastery. In every project, you will work on realistic jobs that designers frequently encounter throughout their careers.By working through the challenging and fun lessons, you will:Draw and manipulate simple shapes to create vivid icons for workplace safety signage.Import external objects, create unique artwork to exact specifications, and incorporate text into an Illustrator design by creating a large-format kitchen-planning guide.Master use of the Pen tool -- the most critical tool in the application -- by developing a complete corporate identity package including stationery, envelopes, and business cards.Explore Illustrator's many brush libraries, symbols, and patterns to develop a custom map.Use advanced typography tools such as character styles, paragraph styles, and glyphs, and learn proper methods for combining imagery and complex text elements into a three-panel brochure.Create original artwork using filters, effects, and transparency for retail packaging, an extremely lucrative segment of the graphic design profession.Develop functional web components using Illustrator's ability to generate hot links, industry-standard XHTML, slices, and other elements required for site development. In addition, the project employs highly effective coloring functions through the use of Illustrator's Mesh tool.Generate attention-grabbing "infographics" to present data from both internal and external sources. In the final project, the student will simulate three-dimensionality both manually, through the use of guides and two-point perspective, as well as with Adobe's built-in Transformation functions.
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| Customer Reviews:
Best mix of Technical Learning and Fun! August 18, 2008
Adobe Illustrator CS3: The Professional Portfolio is an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn illustrator.
The book not only teaches you the software in easy to follow steps but it also gives you something to show for your efforts by the end of each project!
I previously puchased the Illustrator Classroom In a Book and finished it cover to cover. Although that book was very technically accurate and I was able to learn the software, it was boring. I also did not get any sense of what a graphics design company would be looking for in this software, or even exactly how it would relate to a real job.
The way the Illustrator Portfolio Series is written you will learn in a natural workflow environment instead of tediously being tutored on every tool without really getting enything accomplished.
I also really liked the fact that at the end of each lesson they give you a new fictional client to work with based on the the project you just completed. This gives you the chance to get your own creative juices flowing to not only meet the clients expectations but do the job to spec just as if you were actually working for a company. I could literally send my finished lessons to a printer or client without worry.
If you do decide to read another technically boring book I only recommend it as a predecessor to this one although this is really the only book you'll need. With this book you will learn the software fully and really see how everything relates to an actual work environment, something other books don't teach.
Five Stars Easily! You will not regret buying this book!
great details, excellent real life examples July 28, 2008
Best Illustrator book I've ever read. Ideal for users who already have a little basic knowledge and want to fine tune their skills.
Like a mini-internship at a graphic design firm December 14, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
On the job training is the best way to build your professional skills and portfolio. When you first try to break into the job market, you will frequently hear the words "come back when you have some experience". But how do you get that experience, unless you have a job? This book by Gary Poyssick and Erika Kendra is like a mini-internship or summer job at a graphic design firm.
The most impressive part of the book is the project-based approach the authors use to teach Illustrator CS3. As you work through each project, you are given insight into the decision-making, workflow and production aspects most commonly encountered in graphic design. You begin with a discussion of the client and his needs and then peek over the shoulder of the art director as decisions are made at each stage of production from document setup to production ready files. Then you jump into the project with step-by-step instructions and many supporting illustrations.
Of course, Illustrator is a complex software and there is a need to discuss the technical aspects of that software. But the authors handle this very well in special sections called Illustrator Foundations. Just as you would encounter in the workplace if you asked a co-worker to explain something new, they give you just enough information to achieve the project goals without overwhelming you with pages of technical details. Finally, at the end of each chapter is a portfolio project that is a "do it again" assignment.
So what are the projects? Beginning with an easy project to teach the basic Illustrator skills, you create a set of vector-based icons that will be used in several ways by the client. The kitchen planning guide project teaches precision drawing and text formatting. Next is a logo design and identity package which will teach how to create a design to meet printer requirements. The realty map project shows how to use Illustrator libraries to build and manage your design assets which will save hours in production time. Moving on to more challenging projects, you will learn how to design a project with folds and facing/non-facing pages. The cereal box project teaches how to work with die-cut templates supplied by the professional printer and incorporate pre-existing design elements into your artwork such as UPC bar codes. Most companies have a website and they want to be able to use the same artwork across both print and web. The last few projects show how to create designs with this goal in mind.
Gary Poyssick and Erika Kendra are authors and co-authors for many computer arts training materials.
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