Assignment Sheets

Adobe Illustrator CS Syllabus and Assignment Sheet

Estimated Completion: 30 hours

Text: Exploring Illustrator CS

Cost: $33.00 - Search to see if you can find this book used

ISBN: 1-4018-4362x

Prerequisites:  Students should have already completed a Photoshop unit prior to beginning Illustrator.

It is recommended that you purchase additional text/reference books on each subject to further enhance your knowledge and meet your individual learning style.  An Amazon store has been setup with recommended books to continue your studies.

The Contents of the CD

Page xviii - Create a new folder on drive O:\ called illustrator.  Copy the Lesson Files folder from the CD to the O:\illustrator folder.  Do not copy the Trials folder to drive O:\.  Save all of your work to the appropriate sub folder in Lesson Files.

Note: If you need a brush up on file management, review the file management handout.

When you copy files from a CD they will be marked as "Read Only".  This means that you cannot make changes to the file.  You can turn off the read only attributes in Windows Explorer or My Computer.  In either of those applications, right click the folder that contains read only files (this would be the Lesson Files folder) and select Properties.  Uncheck the Read-only attribute and click Apply. At the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box select Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files and click OK.  

Backing up Your Student Files

You should periodically back up your student files to CD.  Instructions for creating a data CD are here (Word document format).

General Notes

Access Illustrator in the classroom by clicking Start > All Programs > Web Design > Adobe Illustrator CS.

When working in Illustrator you should increase the resolution on your monitor to 1024 x 768.  To do this, right click the desktop and select Properties.  In the Display Properties click the settings tab and drag the screen area tab to the right until it reads 1024 x 768.

Here is a list of valuable online resources related to Illustrator.

Complete all assignments in the Exploring Illustrator CS including the Exploring On Your Own exercises at the end of each chapter.  Some lessons may also have an extra assignment which is described below in the chapter notes.

Book errors are noted below with the page number and item number.

Errata/Extra Assignments

Chapter 1

Page 5 #2 - I think they may have changed the folder names on the CD after the book was published, so the folder names may differ slightly from the book.

Page 8 #4 - When you clicked on the fill color box the swatches panel probably came into view. If it did, you do not need to click Window > Swatches.

Page 8 #5 - Technically it's a 40% Black swatch you are selecting, but the color is gray.

Extra Assignment:  No extra assignment for this chapter.

Chapter 2

Extra Assignment:  Create your own illustrator image using the different shape options available in the program.

Chapter 3

Select your own photo and practice tracing it with the line and brush tools using the techniques outlined in this chapter.

Chapter 4

Select your own photo and practice tracing it using the techniques outlined in this chapter.

Chapter 5

Extra Assignment:  No extra assignment for this chapter.

Adventure in Design

Be sure to complete the logo project on pages 130-134.

Chapter 6

Create your own illustration utilizing the tools and techniques outlined in this chapter.

Chapter 7

Utilizing the tools and techniques learned in this and prior chapters create your own logo.

Chapter 8

Extra Assignment:  No extra assignment for this chapter.

Adventures in Design

Be sure to complete the wine label project on pages 262-266.

Chapter 9

Extra Assignment:  No extra assignment for this chapter.

Chapter 10

Extra Assignment:  No extra assignment for this chapter.

Chapter 11

Optimize and save the exploring on your own and extra assignment images for the Web.

Additional Illustrator Tutorials

Adobe Studio Illustrator Tutorials

Designer Today Illustrator Tutorials for all Versions

Submitting Your Work

Create a Web page/site to showcase the exploring exercises and extra assignments indicated above.  Upload the page/site for instructor review; email your instructor with your Web address. 

If you do not know how to create a Web page/site, create a folder in your network directory called instructor_review, copy the files that you created into the folder.