Product Description

There's a good chance that anyone who's studied vector-based drawing during the last decade has read an Illustrator Visual QuickStart Guide in one of its many versions. Though this book has become the standard text in many design schools, it has evolved over the years along with the program itself. And with some of the radical changes in Illustrator 10 -- such as live distortion tools, dynamic data-driven graphics, and symbols to create repeating Web graphics and keep file sizes small -- the authors thoroughly revised this popular QuickStart Guide.

Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide includes information on all the latest features, a 24-page color section, and clearly marked locators to both new and improved features that can easily be found by simply flipping through the book. Best of all, it's delivered in a highly readable, entertaining, visual, and easy-to-navigate format. This affordable, task-based book may be the only one users need to create powerful graphics for print or Web.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #695127 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 616 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Illustrator 10 User Guide is shrink-wrapped. If you're looking for a more effective and enjoyable way to master Illustrator 10 leave it that way and get yourself a copy of Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide.

Unlike the User Guide, Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide is heavily populated with pictures. There are pictures of interface elements, toolbars, dialogue boxes and palettes, pictures showing the results of various processes, techniques and commands and diagrams that show you how to manipulate paths and anchor points. This profusion of pictures underpins the Visual Quickstart philosophy which is that it's easier to learn how to do something if you're shown how, rather than just told. If you like words there are plenty of those too and the Quickstart layout divides the page into two columns so that the pictures are there if you need them, without interrupting the flow.

Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide isn't a project-based book, each chapter explores one aspect of Illustrator's feature set using simple examples to demonstrate specific techniques. There's a small colour section in the centre which showcases the work of well-known Illustrator artists and includes examples of Nancy Stahl's beautiful poster art and Mark Stein's superb maps.

Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide will quickly set you on the path to acquiring the skills you need to produce work of a similar standard. You'll need to supply the talent, of course, but for further insight consider Sharon Steuer's Illustrator 10 Wow! Book. --Ken McMahon

From the Back Cover

There's a good chance that anyone who's studied vector-based drawing during the last decade has read an Illustrator Visual QuickStart Guide in one of its many versions. Though this book has become the standard text in many design schools, it has evolved over the years along with the program itself. And with some of the radical changes in Illustrator 10 -- such as live distortion tools, dynamic data-driven graphics, and symbols to create repeating Web graphics and keep file sizes small -- the authors thoroughly revised this popular QuickStart Guide.

Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide includes information on all the latest features, a 24-page color section, and clearly marked locators to both new and improved features that can easily be found by simply flipping through the book. Best of all, it's delivered in a highly readable, entertaining, visual, and easy-to-navigate format. This affordable, task-based book may be the only one users need to create powerful graphics for print or Web.

About the Author

Based in Connecticut, Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas have also written, designed, and illustrated Visual QuickStart Guides to Photoshop, QuarkXPress, LiveMotion, and Painter. Their books have been translated into 12 languages and have sold more than 1,000,000 copies worldwide. They have also taught at Pratt Manhattan, Cooper Union School of Art, the New School Computer Instruction Center, and Parsons School ofDesign.

Customer Reviews

It does what it says on the cover.
I use VQG for quick referencing when I am stuck on something. The index is okay and there are several visual guides which can help you a great deal if you can't be bothered reading long winded explanations of how-to-do things. However, if you are a veteran, you probably won't keep refering back to this as it only skims over each and every subject. Sometimes you will find something and say, oh, I didn't know it did that! but really it is catered more for novice to intermediate level.