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Adobe Illustrator Strokes & Fills

This week we cover the very basics of Illustrator color tools, stroking and filling, as well as building swatches and color palettes. There's also several good downloadable PDF tutorials (see at the end of the list below)
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• Adobe Illustrator- Intro 4 (TechZone)
  This is a good intro site with a substantial section on Strokes and Fills. The beginning of the site covers the material already reviewd. Later on the section on Strokes and Fills goes in depth about how to control the fills and apply the right stroke. By the end of the tutorial you are and expert on stroles and fills. Posted on
• Adobe Illustrator - Introduction
  this site first goes through the functions of all the tools in the tool bar. it offers the picture of the tool and a basic description of it. then the next page goes through the steps needed to set your page up for a poster.the third page is about creating text. the site goes on to describe step by step ways to import graphics, text, make backgrounds and many other features of Illustrator. the site recommends using the trial-and-error methodology to figure out the intricacies of this program Posted on Mon Mar 15 20:32:40
• Adobe Illustrator Tutorial 3 (TechZone)
  This site goes into incredible detail about all of the tools in illustrator. There are different exercises that focus on certain aspects of illustrator such as using the tool box, using the pen tool, and filling objects. The directions are very clear, and it is a very good resource for beginners. Posted on Sun Mar 21 22:58:40
• Adobe Illustrator tutorials 2 (TechZone)
  This site was very thorough with its explanations and gave some keyboard commands. It was a little cheezy but seemed to cover everything with little visuals to go along with it. It explained little, important details such as when you change the stroke size, it advances outward and inward. At the end of every little lesson it has a list of Do's and Don'ts and important keyboard shortcuts- very helpful. It didn't say too much about CMYK versus RGB. Posted on Sun Mar 21 22:06:38
• Adobe Illustrator: Tutorials (TechZone)
  This site has a range of tutorials on all different topics and within the site itself tutorials on other software can be found as well. Basic fills using the pen tool were discussed as well as adding stokes to the borders. It went on with more advanced options. It mentioned which colors are better for saving and importing files, CMYK was recommended for photographs. Posted on Sun Mar 21 17:54:02
• Anatomy of Vector Illustration (Sketchpad)
  This site explains the difference between strokes and fills, with examples of each. Strokes can be solid, dashed, or have a pattern. Fills can have a gradient, pattern, or a solid color. It also describes different paths. Posted on Sun Mar 21 22:57:12
• Create a Logo in Illustrator 8
  This may be a somewhat dated article, however the content is very appropriate. It parallels the excercise in which we made the pencil logo, only this one indroduces the element of color. An effective approach to integrating color into logo design and construction is presented with very good step-by-step images. All in all, its a good follow up, as well as prelude to the next class topic. Posted on Sun Mar 21 23:06:10
• Design Basics Increasing Image Impact
  This sit e is about colorizing, cropping, and sharpening images within Adobe Illustrator to improve the quality of images created within the program. It gives techniques for each and also talks about general photo sense for editing. Posted on Mon Mar 22 01:51:41
• Illustrator Symbol Stainer tool
  The Symbol Stainer tool applies a raster-like colorizing effect to your symbols, and the Screener tool applies eraser-like transparency effects that would make you swear you were working in Photoshop. Plus, you can use the Symbol Styler tool to apply preset or user-created styles in varying amounts to your symbols. Posted on Sun Mar 21 20:14:49
• Illustrator Tips: Organizing Colors and Palettes
  This site says that an organized palette facilitates the creative process. there are three steps. the first is Clearing the Swatches palette of unused swatches; using swatches of printed colors to choose base colors with which to work. you want to start fresh. next, Renaming and reorganizing swatches. Illustrator by default list colors alphabetically by name. the third step is Creating variant colors and making them into swatches. The site recommends 4 lists ranging from light to dark shades. Posted on Sun Mar 21 22:09:14
• Illustrator tutorial 2 (Pinnacle)
  This is a really basic tutorial that illustrates How to create a cartoon character using color. It shows you how to the gradient, transparency and stroke palettes. The mask tool is used to duplicate the shapes you want to shade in. She explains how to use different layers in the piece to inorder to leave certain parts white and others colored. Posted on Mon Mar 22 00:52:34
• Illustrator Tutorial (Pinnacle)
  This site gives instructions on how to use pen tools, the pencil tool, layers and several other tools within Adobe Illustrator. It gives a step by step tutorial to drawing a sample picture within the tutorial as well. Posted on Mon Mar 15 20:24:12
• Introduction to Adobe Illustrator
  When coloring objects you want to use tools such as the paintbrushes, or the paint bucket. The Airbrush tool applies gradual tones including sprays of color to an image, simulating traditional airbrush techniques. The Paintbrush creates soft strokes of color. The Paint Bucket allows you to click on the shape you want to fill and it will fill the whole object. To fill and stroke an object first you Draw an object using the Bezier Pen tool (Remember to close the path). Then making sure your object is selected (Control-click on it if no blue dots are visible), choose a fill color from the Paint Styles palette and fill the object. Colorizing objects seem to be easy, giving you many options to use to fill the shape. Posted on Mon Mar 22 02:10:21

DOWNLOAD PDF

• (PDF) Adobe Illustrator 8.0: Painting
  This is a very detailed and lengthy tutorial on all aspects of painting in Adobe Illustrator. It describes how to use swatches, how to name and save your own mixtures. It teaches about using spot and process colors, HSB, CMYK, RGB, using the brushes to apply patterns and gradients, fill and stroke tools and how they relate with paths- and all the adjustments and tool boxes. (PDF File) Posted on Sun Mar 21 23:28:55
• (PDF) Adobe Illustrator quick start
  Adobe Illustrator is a graphic design program that offers tools that an artist can use to work on photoshop projects. Some of the tools are as follows: the move tool, the pen tool, the type tool, the ellipse tool, the draw tool, the gradient tool, the paint bucket, and many, many more. With the move tool an artist can move an image on a layer to different points of your project. With the pen tool, you can draw straight or curved lines in order to achieve the shape of your object. The type tool allows an artist to add text to their work. The ellipse tool makes it possible to draw circles and ovals. With the gradient tool, an artist has the ability to adjust points where there can be a color gradation on your work. And with the paint bucket, an artist has the ability to fill any part of their work with a specific color. These are only a few of the many tools that Adobe Illustrator has to offer a graphic design artist. (PDF File) Posted on Mon Mar 15 10:51:24
• (PDF) Build Color Variation Into Your Brush
  The first thing to do, is to select a multicolor brush from the library to demonstrate the point. Draw your path. Next, chose a brush of a variety of hues, preferably with complementary colors. Set a new stroke color in the color palette. Chose "Tints" from the "Method" menu. Select "Leave Strokes" to keep your first path from being affected. Draw a second path. The new tint applies a single hue to the brush. This method is useful when you have repeating objects that need slight color variation such as bricks on a building. Next chose "Tints and Shades" from the "Method" menu. This gives you a wider range of tone than "Tint" alone. Hue shift is helpful when you want a lot of color diversity among objects. The eye dropper can also be used to pick up colors and change the hue. (PDF FILE) Posted on Sun Mar 21 22:38:14
• (PDF) Creating Posters with Adobe Illustrator
  This site had a little bit of everything, mostly because it is a tutorial on how to create a poster using photographs. It showed the difference between CMYK and RGB, and gave examples of which you should use and when. It briefly discussed changing the color of objects by selecting the object and filling it with a color chosen from the palette, or using the eye-dropper tool to select a color already used in the image and filling a selection with that. It also briefly touched on gradient fills for backgrounds, however, it wasn't as helpful in this area as it had been when it discussed CMYK vs. RGB. (PDF FILE) Posted on Sun Mar 21 23:01:52
• (PDF) illustrator introduction
  the workspace for your document which includes the toolbar, document and tool window is called the artboard. the dotted line signifies the printable area. Illustrator uses many of the same tools as Photoshop. the site goes on to give good descriptions of each tool and the tools in its menu. it explains the fill and stroke color box, the color palate, and the gradient box and how that works Posted on Thu Mar 18 15:03:36
• (PDF) Intro: Illustrator CS and Its Interface
  This site talks about Illustrator CS -- it does mention colors, how to locate the colors needed to fill or stroke objects. This is especially given on the 25th page of the pdf file. It describes where one can observe what desired color will be filled in any object that is selected and the color of the stroked path of the object. There are some icons or objects at the bottom of the tools palette that should be noted in order to be aware of what exactly they want to accomplish. I would have loved to find more on Illustrator 10, but it was difficult to find information. Posted on Sun Mar 21 13:31:39

 

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