Any Illustrator Experts?

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:15 am

Can anyone clue me in on how to draw in Illustrator. I am trying to use thie method described here

http://frank05.critter.net/vector.html

but that sure seems laborious. If I try to just draw each time I lay down a new stroke it 'joins' with a previous stroke in unexpected ways. I can deselect with each stroke but it seems unnatural. Can't you just draw in Illustrator as if it was a pencil? Am I missing some setting somewhere?
Seems like lots of places want Illustrator so I want to practice. I drew a quick doodle and want to try it in Illustrator.

Thanks for any advice

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:33 am

Eureka! Methinks I struck gold! http://www.illcraft.blogspot.com/ Will try to follow this starting tomorrow.

JCook · Post by **JCook** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:29 pm

Hi bupaje,

Good luck with your Illustrator learning effort. It's a great program, and knowing it will add to your abilities as a graphic artist. I've been using Illustrator since the first version came out (1986, maybe?) and I love it. It can be laborious to draw things, but there are many tools. If you want to learn how Bezier curves work, the pen tool is a good tool to learn. Once you get used to using the Bezier curves it becomes pretty quick and natural. The pencil tool and the Brush tool will give you a more natural feel to drawing, but I've found that drawing with them is not exactly like drawing with a pencil, but very close. There are lots of tutorials for Illustrator out there on the web, so you should be able to get going quickly. Also, here's a link to Adobe's own Illustrator forum, which is helpful:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx ... n@.ee6b324

Have fun1

Jack

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:26 pm

Thanks a lot Jack. I'll check out the forum.

JCook · Post by **JCook** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:26 pm

Here's another one, not quite as active as the Adobe one.

http://www.postforum.com/forums/list.php?f=49
Jack

Gnaws · Post by **Gnaws** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:19 pm

Illustrator (shapes!) and AS are awesome together. The fill colors in the AI files get a bit skewed tho when imported into AS. For people like JCook and me who've been using AI since the cow tutorial, it's the quickest way to draw a decent vector image -- IMHO.

BTW - your sketches look great, Burt. Whatcha up to with those?

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:35 pm

I have used AI since... almost the first version. Our bosses many years ago went with Free Hand for a while instead of Illustrator. At the time Freehand actually had more/better features.

My problems with AI compared to AS come in specifically when switching from one program to the other. I wish AI had AS features... I wish AS had AI features.

The main thing that always gets me is connecting "fills". In AS you can have two filled shapes that share a single vector at the join. In AI you have to have two complete shapes right next to each other.

I just have to laugh at myself when I go back to AI after a long time away from it and wonder why I can't connect the end of a line in the middle of a closed shape.

I swear this happened. I spent a while struggling with AI trying to remember how to do this till it suddenly hit me... I can't. I had to laugh as well as cry.

I also switch back to AS and press the space bar to drag the view... then the animation starts to play.

-vern

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:37 pm

Boy, did I miss these -sorry guys have been scrambling like crazy since the final weeks of school.

Thanks for the tips and advice. I have to keep poking at AI as lots of places seem to use it.