Product Description

The Illustrator 9 Wow! Book is a beautiful, inspiring showcase of the best techniques using Illustrator 9's latest features, including details on the new Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format, Illustrator's added Flash output capability, and an entire chapter devoted to Illustrator's new Transparency palette. It's packed with lush, four-color images and tips on how the book's featured artists used Illustrator to create them. Clear, helpful instructions and numerous sidebars guide the reader through Illustrator's highlights, from basic to sophisticated techniques. With its layered work environment and its seamless integration with Web and graphics tools such as GoLive, InDesign, Photoshop and LiveMotion, Illustrator is a vital tool for anyone working in the graphics industry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #934108 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
For professional Illustrators, and anyone who wants to achieve professional results The Illustrator WOW! Book is quite simply the best resource that money can buy (aside from Illustrator itself, of course).

Sharon Steuer and her coauthors have managed to produce a book that is an authoritative practical guide to Illustrator 9's tools and features as well as a showcase and guide to the techniques demonstrated by nearly a hundred commercial Illustrators.

To bring new users and upgraders up to speed there are two introductory chapters. Even seasoned users will pick up something from skimming these chapters thanks to the clear layout which places abundant illustrations and tip boxes in the outside columns. The remaining chapters are organised into "techniques" and "galleries". Using commercially created work the techniques focus on a single aspect of how a complex illustration was created. These tutorials pack a great deal into a short space because they don't go into specific detail about every single stage in the process--if you need to know the basics you can go back to the front of the book.

The galleries further demonstrate the techniques covered in the chapters by showcasing illustrations and discussing the processes by which each one was created: why one approach was chosen over another, which tools where used, how a particular type effect was produced, what where the special printing considerations and so on.

As a practical guide to Illustrator techniques, a source of creative ideas, a repository of hints and tips or a quiet lunchtime browse, you'll need to look hard to find a better, more useful book on Illustrator. --Ken McMahon

From the Back Cover

The Illustrator 9 Wow! Book is a beautiful, inspiring showcase of the best techniques using Illustrator 9's latest features, including details on the new Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format, IllustratorÕs added Flash output capability, and an entire chapter devoted to IllustratorÕs new Transparency palette. Updated from the previous, best-selling edition, it's packed with lush, full-color images and tips on how the artists used Illustrator to create them. Clear, helpful instructions and numerous sidebars guide the reader through IllustratorÕs highlights, from the basics to sophisticated, professional techniques. CD contains demos, actions, brushes, stock photos, and other Illustrator add-ons.

About the Author

Sharon Steuer has taught computer imaging in art schools and training centers throughout the country. Her paintings and computer illustrations have appeared in numerous books and magazines and have been exhibited nationally for more than a decade. She is the author of the last two editions of The Illustrator Wow! Book and the award-winning CorelDraw Wow! Book.

Customer Reviews

WOW is wow
I was looking to extend my poor skills in Illustrator, especially my cartographic ones, and I just was not getting anywhere: until The Ilustrator 9 Wow Book!

Provided one knows their way around Illustrator's tools, as the book suggests, there are clear instructions on how to extend the tools' capabilities to match your creative abilities. One of the really strong points about the book are the well placed and excellent examples (in colour) of work done by designers. This provides some wonderful inspiration to make you want to use some of the techniques described in the text. For mapmaking, which I try to do a lot, there are great examples of how to use layers, brushes and so forth to make maps that are both attractive and can be manipulated in many useful ways.

The CDROM supplied with the book has some nice brushes, artwork and lessons on it. It would have been nice to have these integrated into an interactive pdf rather than having to open up all the different files individually in order to discover the contents. This aside, the stuff supplied on the disk is useful.

Overall, this Illustrator book outrates all others I have seen because of the mix of clear techniques and inspirational design. For the lowly Illustrator user wanting to get an instant lift in skills, this is the book to buy.