I’m very pleased to announce that my new workshop – Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Learn by Video – is now available to buy directly from the web store on my videos page. I’m also featuring some free example movies from this workshop right here so you can try before you buy.
Newsletter subscribers can also benefit from a 20% discount code off the price of the entire workshop so if you haven’t already subscribed you can do so now to take advantage of this and other special offers only available to my subscribers.
This Learn by Video course offers in-depth training on the interface, workflow, and features of Adobe Illustrator CS6. Amongst other things you’ll learn my own techniques for drawing characters including my “Illustrator” superhero. Here’s the intro movie where I tell you more about the course.
The contents of this course include:
Introducing Illustrator CS6
In this chapter you’ll be introduced to Adobe Illustrator — what it is and what it does — and get an overview of what will be covered in this course. You’ll also be taken on a tour of the new features in Illustrator CS6.
Illustrator Fundamentals
This chapter explores two concepts that are crucial to an understanding of how Illustrator works: the difference between bitmap (or raster) images and vector images, and the concept of paths.
Exploring the Illustrator Interface
In this chapter you’ll learn how to work with important elements of the Illustrator interface like panels, the Application bar and frame, artboards, and workspaces.
Navigating and Using Views in Illustrator
Being able to easily move around your documents and see them in different ways can be a big help in your work. This chapter will explain how to navigate in Illustrator CS6 and use the different viewing and screen modes.
Working with Documents
This chapter shows you how to efficiently create, modify, and view documents. You’ll learn how to use templates, guides, grids, Adobe Bridge, and more.
Creating and Working with Shapes
Shapes are a very important part of Illustrator, and in this chapter you’ll learn about the various tools available for creating and modifying shapes.
Transformations
You can transform objects in a variety of different ways in Illustrator CS6. This chapter shows you the various methods that can be used to transform and modify objects, including how to use the Transform panel.
Understanding Objects and Layers
This chapter shows you how to select and modify objects in Illustrator CS6 and explores the multitude of options you can use to create artwork. We’ll look at saving selections, grouping items, layers and stacking order, and Isolation mode.
Drawing
Drawing is at the heart of the work you’ll do in Illustrator. In this chapter you’ll learn all about the tools, techniques, and features related to drawing in Illustrator CS6.
Using Symbols
Symbols are a handy feature in Illustrator, and in this chapter you’ll learn how to create them, move and rotate them, adjust their size and color, and apply graphic styles.
Color
Color makes a big difference to the appearance of your artwork. In this chapter you’ll learn how to work with color-related features in Illustrator like the Colors panel, swatches, gradients, Live Paint, and more.
Typography
In this chapter you’ll learn how to add text to your documents, format that text, create styles, and more.
Working with Images
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to place graphics and see all the tools Illustrator offers once they are there to help you get great results in your designs.
Working with Effects
With effects, you can apply a look to a path that doesn’t alter the path at all. It will print like what you see on your monitor, but in reality, it’s all just an illusion…a very powerful, editable, printable illusion that can be saved as a PDF, placed in Photoshop and InDesign, and more. You’ll learn all about this incredible technology in this chapter.
Graphs
If you have information you want to convey as a graph or chart, Illustrator has the tool. The chart and graph tools in Illustrator aren’t new, but they are very powerful and allow you to present data in a more interesting way, as you’ll see in this chapter.
Beyond Illustrator
Eventually there will come a time when you want to save your Illustrator work as a PDF or in one of the common web file formats, or output it for use in an animation. The videos in this chapter will show you how.
Project Explorations
In this chapter you’ll apply the skills you’ve learned in this course to some projects that give you an idea of just what Illustrator is capable of.
Closing Thoughts
In this chapter you’ll get a brief recap of what’s been covered in the course and a few final thoughts from the author.
The lessons are wrapped in a feature-rich interface that lets you jump to any topic and bookmark individual sections for later review. Full-Screen mode provides a hi-def, immersive experience, and Watch-and-Work mode shrinks the video into a small window so you can play the videos alongside your application. Also included are exercise files that give you an easy way to try out the techniques you learn and a 48-page guide containing supplemental material.
This week, to celebrate the launch of Adobe’s Creative Suite I’ve released a whole host of new Adobe CS6 software training videos from new and forthcoming workshops produced with video2brain. So now you know why I’ve been relatively quiet for the last couple of months!
The workshops will be out very soon but meanwhile we thought it would be nice for you to get a sneak preview of what you can expect from the full workshops. Here’s a little bit about CS6, from the perspective of the video2brain authors. You can more free example movies from each of my new titles listed below.
Adobe After Effects is an incredibly deep and rich set of tools for creating motion graphics, manipulating movies, adding visual effects, and more. In this Learn by Video course, created in partnership with our friends at Peachpit Press, experts Todd Kopriva and Angie Taylor teach you how to make the most of this powerful software, including the new features in After Affects CS6.
After getting an overview of the workflow and the user interface, you will learn how to bring assets into After Effects and configure the software for optimum performance. You’ll also learn a range of compositing features, including the new variable-width masks and 3D camera tracker features, as well as basic masking and color keying. Tips on everything from troubleshooting and avoiding common problems to creating finished movie files round out this comprehensive training.
I’ve also finished working on two new titles for Adobe Illustrator CS6 which will be out really soon. Below are some taster movies from my Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Getting Started course and my Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Learn by Video course that I created with co-author Chad Chelius.
If you’d like to be kept up to date as soon as new courses become available you can subscribe using your favourite browser or email client.
As you may know I have a video store on my page where you can watch some of my training videos completely free of charge with new upgraded video streaming.
If you like them you can buy entire workshops or sign up for a subscription via this introductory pricing offer. With a subscription you can get access to the entire video2brain library of courses from me and other trainers.
You can check out some of the other trainers profiles here. there’s some phenomenal talent at video2brain, that’s why I love working with them. It’s so inspiring to work amongst a team of people with such a vast selection of skills.
We rolled out some major upgrades to our streaming video servers today. More details will be coming soon, but for now, give our new and improved online experience a spin with this free lesson from my Essential Typography course, on the subject of inspiration. For the most immersive result, be sure to click Full-Screen Mode in the lower-right corner of the player.
Well another year almost over. I’m looking forward to 2012, hoping that it’s a better year for our industry and for all my friends. I have a couple of exciting bits of news to share and more free downloads so here’s my final blog for the year.
Mark Coleran, a good friend of mine and an extremely talented designer is giving away the entire LayerLab collection of After Effects template projects free. Layerlab was a resource for After Effects designers that Mark worked on a few years back. The project was put on hold while Mark pursued other career options. He’s now made a very kind gesture of giving these projects away for free. You can also check out Mark’s blog and portfolio here.
I have a new workshop out in time for the new year. Creative Graphic Design: Essential Typography – Principles and Techniques for Working with Text is a workshop with a difference. Making good decisions in typography — choosing the right typefaces, fonts, sizes, spacing and so on — can have a major impact on the quality of your designs. In this one-of-a-kind workshop I introduce you to the essential principles of typography.
After exploring the terminology, history, and anatomy of traditional and computer-based fonts, I take you all the way up to the present day by looking at how text is formatted in today’s creative applications. You’ll also learn specific software techniques for creating your own lettering from hand-drawn text, animating text on a path, using operators and effects to customize existing fonts, working with 3D text, and more.
There are several free movies you can check out here. If you like what you see, here’s a special discount code for you if you’re interested in buying this course; Coupon Code: ETYP20 Discount: 20% Expires After: 29-Feb. Just enter the code during checkout to get 20% off the advertised price.
In my winter sale there’s 30% off all Wacom workshops in my store.
This offer includes volumes 1, 2, 3 & the Master Collection. To find out more you can read about them here and then check out the courses here and even watch some free preview movies to get a taster of what’s on offer. (Any links highlighted in black are free to watch.) If you decide to buy then just use the Coupon Code WACOM30 when checking out from my video store for 30% off any of the four Wacom courses or the entire Master Collection.
This offer is good through to the end of 2011. With all video2brain courses you now have the option to have them delivered to you on DVD. At the checkout you now have a checkbox option to add a disc for just $6.99 (this price includes manufacturing and shipping costs.)
