Graphics Illustrators Books

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

I bought this book because it was required for a graphic art class. We went through the first 5 chapters, and now we are going to learn Photoshop. It is not good as a reference book, but more as a step-by-step "cookbook". The accompanying CD was very helpful in learning techniques. Anyone want to buy it from me?

I've been working with Illustrator over the past months, and this book helps me to understand some quite useful topics. The books is writen in a easy-to-follow way, so you can go chapter by chapter, or just jump to a desired function. Also, the book is full of highlighted items, so its easy to follow one example that leads you to new and useful tips and tricks.

Two different orders made on same day, Amazon charged me for product twice and sent me two copies of the book I had ordered. I despise overseas customer service! Could not understand them, period! Website said they would not need verification of my account since I had contacted them through the website, Wrong! I am curious I they were dinking around or if the website is wrong. I do not trust them now with my information. Second attempt got english speaking person, maybe American, but seemed the be standoff-ish as if they could tell I had called before. Said my problem could have been a cookie that was on my computer from the Amazon website and this was why the item was sent twice. Given a couple of drawn out solutions. Very frustrating! Found link to send book back to Amazon as a wrong ordered item. I was not given this option on the phone. I want them to have their property back and I want it done quick so I don't have to pay interest on the charge on my account for this item. Absolute nightmare! I could have bought local, saved money and my time! I'll go elsewhere!!!!

Generally a good book and handy tutorial. The CD is helpful and the books give users a quick aptitude for the programs. Which is what we want. I give this three stars for the one big problem I have with this and the rest of the Classroom in a Book series: they are often inaccurate! There are a lot of frustrating little inaccuracies that make the user wonder if he has gone crazy or is doing something wrong. Please, Adobe, edit these books a little more carefully!

Good book if you want to know the abc's of Illustrator. Well explained.

I've been using Illustrator lightly for years and always wanted to learn more about it but was studying other stuff. I'm an Internet consultant usually working around programmers and network engineers but sometimes, I need a fresh graphical look when we do not have anybody to do it.

This book definitely gave me a great insight of a lot of "How-to" with Illustrator. If you look at an image and wonder "How did they do that?". Well the answer could most likely reside in Illustrator and this book will explain how.

I would recommend this book to any Internet beginners that wants to know how to design nice design without taking a one-way trip to hell.

Adobe's In A Classroom series is definally a good line of books. They are not perfect though.

Before I read this book, I really didn't know much about Illustrator but I am a Photoshop professional. I had no problem getting into the software but this book helped out a great deal.

The tutorials in this book are simple and easy to follow. The only problem I have with the tutorials is that in fact they are too simple and do not go into more advance techniques that can be done with Illustrator. For example, the chapter on the uses of using the Gradient Mesh tool could of went into more about that tool. I found when using it, I can create detailed illustrations like a face for example. Also, I found myself skipping chapters because I was already familar with the tool since I knew how to use it in Photoshop. Some chapters I just skimmed and worked at a faster pace. Some of these tutorials read very slow and if your the kind of person that just likes to see what the tool is used for and then you use it the way you need to, you'll be skimming chapters as well.

This book also has a whole chapter on using Illustrator to create websites, buttons, rollovers, and links via using Illustrator. The sample website the book goes over is what anyone will need if you're interested in using vector art on the web. What is sad is this book never covered using Illustrator and Macromedia Flash together, which is very possible.

The CD included comes packed with very nice vector art which is used in all the chapters. Nicely organized too and shows off what you can do with Illustrator.

Overall, this book definally helped me out since I never used Illustrator before I purchased the book. If you're an advanced Illustrator user, you don't need this book at all. If you're a beginner, I definally recommend this book. It helped me become for familar with drawing vector graphics, the difference between raster and vector art, and printing issues using CMYK and RGB palettes.

Don't buy this tutorial if you have a previous version of Illustrator. I have Illustrator 7, but this tutorial is constructed so that previous versions of Adobe Illustrator will not open the files on the tutorial CD. So you can't use it with anything except Adobe 8 or more. I looked on Adobe's website for technical support on this issue and could find nothing. It might be a wonderful tutorial, but if you have anything less that 8.0, you will need to find something else.

I have been using Photoshop for a while and wanted to get a good overview of Illustrator. This book did a great job of going over all the basics. Each lesson provided good examples that were easy to understand.

I am still learning and working in 9.0 and I use this book daily to really accelerate my learning curve. I have other books that show me pretty pictures for inspiration, but this book has worked very well for me.

I spent the last 3 weeks with this book working through it page by page, and agree with readers who both praised the book for its comprehensiveness and how its presentation was at times confusing. I would go so far as to say that some examples were downright frustrating by their lack of clear explanation. But this was the exception rather than the rule. If you're new to Illustrator (Photoshop experience will help), this book will take you to the point where you feel somewhat proficient if you work through the many examples.

I am about half way into this book and it's driving my crazy. Thank god that I already know Photoshop 'cause otherwise I'd be lost. The book is badly organized, making references to tools that aren't introduced until 200 pages later, it lacks illustrations and clear examples and I've found several errors so far. It is repetitive in some ways which makes it boring to read. There has to be a better book out there.

I found this book to be well-constructed and full of informative, helpful and practical examples for the novice and a great reference for the experienced. The book takes the user from a "WHAT IS a vector?" level to the more advanced "JUST GIVE ME THE MEAT" level. From the very minute I opened the book I was able to start drawing. I have created a set of basic drawings that has allowed me to win several new clients. My next step is to design an full color brochure that maximizes my illustration and design effectiveness. This will be a treasured and well-used book in my personal library for a very long time....

While I find this book to be one of the most informative books around on AI9 it has a few shortfalls. For one, it shouldn't use a word to describe itself!! This is one of my biggest peeves with this book in the earlier chapters. AI9 tools should be described in plain english. If your learning this for the first time be prepared to be a bit confused for a while. Second, many of the examples in the book are NOT clearly illustrated (how ironic) and last but certainly not least, some of the "step by step" examples should be made much easier to follow in the beginning of the book. For those that have some knowledge of AI9 or plan on doing this professionally, this is a must own!! Hopefully they will bring back the "disk included" for the next version. It is much easier to learn WITH the disk!! P.S. How about some more color for an illustration book.

I attended Von Glitschka's "Illustrative Design" session at the 2008 HOW Design conference in Boston and was so inspired by his presentation and work that I decided to purchase his book of textures.

The textures provided are manipulated from actual photos that he has taken almost daily. While it is true that he does not provide detailed instruction on how to use the textures in the book, he does provide links to his website where you can find tutorials. The textures are grayscale and not "clip art", but are intended to be incorporated into your own work to create your own illustrations and designs, which is why I suspect he has not provided specific instructions for their use. The 60 sample illustrations included in the book cover a wide range of application and showcase each texture. You also get 60 bonus textures included on the DVD that are not highlighted in the book.

Get this book, get inspired, get creative, and have fun!

I ordered this book thinking it was a paper back and probably not very big. It turned out to be a large hardcover with 60 full page images of projects various artists created using Von's textures, which by the way, are shown on the opposite page in black and white so you really get an idea of how versatile the texture can be. At first I wasn't sure how to use them and wondered how the color was added, but if you just use your noggin it is pretty simple to figure out. (I am a beginning designer/student and believe me if I can do it anyone can...)

I love the book, love the textures and have many ideas of how I am going to use them in future projects. I also think the title is very fitting, I would highly recommend this book because any worthwhile artist/designer is going to appreciate the many creative opportunities the textures provide. Way to go Von !!

An excellent resource for designers - graphic to photographic. The other reviewers have the details. This is my personal thank you to Von for creating an excellent resource for creativity.

Can't say enough about the prepped textures ready to use and the included DVD with all the textures plus more is invaluable. Only downside of the book was the repetitive and elementary examples. Too many vector style examples. Would have enjoyed more photographic to graphic design applications as examples. But, nonetheless, very pleased with the book and DVD. Great buy and timesaver!

This book is a great resource for Designers and Illustrators alike. Although it has been mentioned that the book's textures are in grayscale, it is safe to assume that someone buying a book with textures, either knows how to use them, or is able to search out a tutorial on the internet very easily.

For anyone with knowledge of how to use professional programs (why would you want textures otherwise?) it is not difficult at all to turn these textures to color. And in fact, it would be much more of a pain if they WERE in color, to turn them to grayscale.

This book also features great illustrations in my opinion. It show cases some of Von's great artistic abilities, as well as great inspirational pieces created by other top artists.

Don't hesitate to buy this book, it is just a stepping stone into how to become more creative, as many of us aspire to be half as creative as Von himself.

I only got 2 chapters into this book and closed it with the thought.... Why not give me step by step ways of doing what you show on the page. This book just has a glossy overview of it's features, but the author falls short in giving clear steps in the process of duplicating the book examples.

I returned it and ordered Adobe's book. I'm hoping it's better.

This book was difficult to get information out of due to the constant attempt to make every thing humerous. Found it to be more frustrating than useful.

I've been using Illustrator 8 for awhile and decided to pick up this book to come up to speed with Version 9. In fact, I bought it because the reviewers on this site recommended it so highly. Unfortunately, I disagree with the other reviewers: this book is a real disappointment.

One thing I expect from a book like this is an overview of the various tools, but the author never summarizes the tools or their icons in one central location. Descriptions are scattered throughout the text. As you go through the various procedures to create artwork, he refers to these tools but forgets to show a picture of the tool he refers to. This forces the user to go through the toolbox until they find the right tool and even then, I am not positive because the tooltips don't always show up. I write user documentation for a living, and while the dummies books don't fall into the same class, I still expect basic information at my fingertips.

The information on paths is poorly explained. Truthfully, it is a difficult topic, but Alspach does nothing to make it easily understood and this concept is the heart and soul of the program!

In good conscience, I cannot recommend this book for beginners. Spend your money on something else.

I purchased this book for my new student worker. He was able to go through the book in about 40 hours and learned the basics of Illustrator 9 in that time. He was able to start from clicking on the icon to finishing a drawing in this time frame. This book has even helped me in learning some of the new features in version 9 and I have been using Illustrator for 13 years.

The day I got this book, I turned to page 1 and started reading. Two hours later, I had made it only to page 80. Why? Because this book is DENSE and FULL of tips and tricks that will expand the horizons of the beginning or intermediate designer. I spent a lot of time studying the numerous examples in order to soak up all the information that was being presented.

I've been using Illustrator since 1992 and now teach it at a community college. And yet with every turn of the page, I learned something new.

Adobe Illustrator CS Classroom in a Book (like the other books in the series) is extremely thorough, providing repeated opportunities to try the features of the software. After finishing the lessons, it's a great resource to have nearby.

The 19 lessons provide step-by-step instructions and screenshots for both Mac and Windows environments, so you don't have to worry about which version of Illustrator you are using. Each lesson also ends with Review Questions (with answers) to help you sum up the main points of each lesson. The attached CD-ROM provides partially finished files to use in the lessons and examples of the finished product, so you can tell if you completed the lesson successfully.

Finally, don't expect to master all of the functions by time you finish the book. You will learn quite a bit, but simply following the steps in the book once will not provide you mastery of this powerful piece of software. Still, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about learning how to use Illustrator.

If you don't have the time or the money to take a lengthy class on Adobe Illustrator, just buy this book. There are a lot of instructional books out there for Illustrator and other Adobe programs, but this is by far the best and most concise. It includes a CD with lessons and images, and if you start at the beginning and plow through it, you'll learn Illustrator competently enough to get you up and running with the program.

This book combined with the CD is fabulous. Immediately you feel like your getting the hang of this very complex software.

This workbook is incredibly useful for gaining a thorough understanding of Adobe Illustrator. Shortcuts are introduced throughout the lessons and extra information is included in grey text boxes in the book along the way. Lessons are outlined well in the table of contents for quick reference.

This books gives you tht basic ins and outs of Illustrator in a comprehensive step by step format.

This book was delivered in a timely manner and was exactly the quality I expected.

This book I found was a great reference book. It gives you good explainations of how to do different stuff. I would have liked it to have a bit more colour and a few more diagrams, but other than that I think it's a great book!

I was a new user of Adobe Illustrator and this book had all the answers and ways to use Illustrator software. You can just go on reading and get a hands on the software or you can find the solutions when you face problems. Its just worth buying.

This is just a great book! It gives you simple ways to learn the program, excellent exercises, and explains everything you'd need to have to make Illustrator spin for you.

I own quite a few of the Visual Quickstart Guide series and this one is no exception. It is a great book. The format this follows allows for quickly finding exactly the help you need. The instructions are precise and clear telling you exactly what to do. Anyone that is pressed for time but needs a bit more know-how should consider this book.

This is an excellent series of books. I started out with Photoshop and went on to study Illustrator and Dreamweaver. Is less then a quarter of the size of all the other instructional books out ther but packs ten times of easy to read and understand knowledge. I highly recommend it!

This a very good book that takes you through the basics and beyond. I think an advanced user may not benefit as much as a beginner or intermediate user. One drawback is that the book ignores charts and graphs altogether, which is one of Illustrator's best features. But they aren't much different, if any different, from version 6 on. I've been using Illustrator since '92 so I used the book to find features exclusive to CS3. As for the charts, punch in charts and graphs for Adobe Illustrator into Google and you'll find some nice step-by-step examples. Good book for the price, especially if you're just getting started.

it's a good book, but it's all in black and white, not like other design books that have magazine paper and color photos explaining the points. there's a lot of text, but not many pictures or diagrams explaining, which in my case helps.

This instruction manual is great! I am someone who has trouble learning new software on my own. I found the organization of this book, however, to be so user friendly I was able to start using Illustrator all by myself! The authors focus on 100 most used tasks in Illustrator. They have excellent step by step instructions. Illustrations are also helpful and informative. This book is easy to follow and well written. It will help you use illustrator in practical ways, and also to create art! I give this 5 stars!

I found the format of this instruction guide to be perfect. The authors have chosen 100 essential techniques, and teach these in easy to follow and accessible lessons. By going through the book I was able to grasp the essential, most used tools in Adobe Illustrator. I found the directions and illustrations extremely user friendly, and they manage to make the software package seem easy to use. In the past I have bought the "Bible" instruction books to learn Adobe software, but this book was much more helpful and user friendly. I always felt bogged down by all the information in other guidebooks, but this one presents the most useful tools so that anyone can get started and start effectively using Adobe Illustrator. I highly recommend this to anyone (at any level) learning Adobe Illustrator. I feel confident using this software now, thanks to this book.

I think all people who use any adobe software should have a book relating to the product.

This book was valuable on a number of fronts. I have never had actual training in Illustrator and as a result have shyed away from it as a tool. Preferring other vector programs, I was intimidated by Illustrator. This book allowed me to get past those feelings and take control of the tool.

This book is well laid out and offers a number of sidebar comments that are important points in each section. There are great full colour examples and indepth text that adds to the learning experience. The Trace Techniques section is, to put it mildly, outstanding. This really shows the power of the tool in gifted hands. I don't plan to be tracing french horn photos any time soon, but have had to do some rotoscoping in the past and have picked up a few new techniques.

The Typography section is indepth and pretty encompassing. Text is such a pain in programs. Does the printer have my font? Do I render to paths. Where is that font? The book guides you through the process of dealing with many type issues.

One of the most valuable areas for me was the appendix entitled - Moving from Freehand to Illustrator. As the books says, it was in place before the aquisition was announced and it won't solve any "which is better" arguments. But it does help you understand the two applications better.

Great value and good for an intro course or self learner for Illustrator. Best that you have some artistic talent as this is a guide to a very big power tool. Wear saftey glasses.

5/5

This book will take the intermediate user to the next level. Very well written and very useful.

Updated review follows:

I initially gave this a 4 out of 5 review, but after also getting the Adobe Illustrator CS2 Wow! book I have to downgrade my rating to 2 out 5. Why?

a. The book is black and white with a small insert of color samples. I don't know about you, but unless you are just drawing a bunch of outlines and b&w sketches, a manual on graphic arts NEEDS to be in color!

b. There was no CD accompanying the book. With all the other Illustrator books out there that include CDs, I really wonder why I bought this one.

End of edits. See original review below.

I got this book because of all the 'raving' reviews on Amazon. However, while I admit the book is useful, I can only give it 4 out of 5. Why?

1. The book is in many ways just a reorganization of the Illustrator help file with short examples. Therefore, if you have a printed version of the Adobe help then you probably don't need this book, unless you need the short examples which the Adobe help is short on.

2. The book is very short on involved or advanced examples. Instead what you get are simple, unconnected demonstrations of Illustrator's more obvious features and as soon as the book gets to something more advanced, e.g. outline strokes, all you get is some brief text. This is all VERY odd in my opinion for a book targeting visual learners.

3. The claim on the cover that the book is 'loaded with expert tips' is simply not true in my opinion. Sure there are a few, here and there scattered about, but the examples are too simple to be of any use in highlighting what I would consider 'best practice insights.'

4. What the book really needs is a methodical tutorial that brings it all together: vectors, text, meshes, 3D, color, etc. Here's a novel idea: a tutorial that walks you through recreating the cover graphic!

OK, that may sound a little harsh even though I am giving it 4 stars. But I think buyers need to know what to expect.

This is a nice book,but if you never try illustrator before do not go for this book it is not for a beginner.
I am new at this kind of work,so this book help me to remember what I forgot and a little more.

If you do graphic art work at all, this is an excellent book.

I learned an awful lot about Photoshop and Painter when using this book. Very helpful.

This is a truly great book; much better than other books I've read on Illustrator alone. The fact that it covers Photoshop (and Painter) as well is a bonus.

The comparisons and charts in this book will give you a thorough understanding of what each program does, and which program is better than others for certain tasks. A great idea, flawlessly executed.

I enjoyed the insightful comparisons between these packages. However, the biggest drawback is that this book doesn't cover the most recent versions of the software, but it a version behind.