Illustrator WOW

With the latest incarnation of The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Book, I see a lot of familiar visuals and tutorials — and a whole slew of new ones. Over the years, I’ve spent many hours reading these books. I cannot say how many times I’ve recommended this book and Sharon Steuer’s enlightened training!

Sharon Steuer Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow!I first discovered Sharon Steuer way back around 1989, when she had an article in CA Magazine using a color paint program. I contacted the MacWorld Seminars Director, good buddy Peggy Killburn, to see if we could get Sharon for my “Great Graphics” session at MacWorld. Sure enough she came, and the rest is history. Also on the panel was Bert Monroy, who would become “Mr. Photoshop” a couple of years later with the launch of Photoshop. At the time, we were using Illustrator 88 — in its own right, a fantastic program! Yes, a lot of water under the bridge.

Although I have used Adobe Illustrator since version one-point-oh, I have accumulated every edition of Illustrator WOW! since the beginning — I’m always thrilled when the next edition arrives on my door step. For a while, Ted Alspach’s Illustrator Bible was the key to illustrator. And, I still love those too. But Sharon Steuer’s books are always the ones with the WOW. It’s not just a training book. It could easily be a coffee table book as well. Its design and visual presentation is beautifully reproduced with hundreds of color eye-candy images, making it a joy to thumb through!

Pearl necklace rendered in Adobe Illustrator
Nope, NOT a photo! Drawn in Illustrator! Illustrations here from free PDF chapter linked below

With the latest incarnation of The Adobe Illustrator CS5 WOW! Book, I see a lot of familiar visuals and tutorials — and a whole slew of new ones. Over the years, I’ve spent many hours reading these books. I cannot say how many times I’ve recommended Sharon’s “Finger Dance” section for the most effective teaching aid for using the Pen tool. That was always the first lesson for my “Introduction to Adobe Illustrator” students at JMU — in fact, I required the book for the class, and we worked through it all during the semester. It’s that good. As I’ve said for nearly 20 years, if you’re serious about learning Adobe Illustrator, you need to get this book! And welcome aboard!

Adobe
Awe inspiring technical and commercial illustrations featured in the WOW Gallery, and on the DVD

So, let’s talk about the book for a moment : this is the definitive full-color book on mastering Adobe Illustrator — no question. It has been completely reorganized, fully updated, and created for intermediate through professional Illustrator users. (Actually, so little changed in version CS5, that the book is essential for CS4 and 3 users as well!) For years, Sharon Steuer and her international WOW! team have been showcasing the world’s best artists and designers working in Illustrator. In this latest edition, you’ll find hundreds of tips, tricks, and techniques derived from actual projects from these top Illustrator artists.

Sharon illustrates how to achieve Illustrator stroke variances
Valuable training as in this tutorial on controlling your stroke variances in Illustrator

Using Adobe Illustrator CS5, Sharon shows you how to integrate the new perspective grid, Shape Builder tool, Bristle Brushes, transparency in gradient mesh, new drawing modes, multiple artboards, and more. This edition is loaded with new lessons, galleries, and stunning new artwork that features: * Creating artwork with the dynamic Perspective Grid * Shape Builder tool and drawing modes * painterly and naturalistic Bristle Brushes * Web, Flash, and animation workflow * masking using the Draw Inside mode * Layering transparency * photorealistic gradient mesh * Blob Brush artwork * Live Paint * and dozens upon dozens more

Click NOW and get this. Each hour you delay, is lost.

coverThe Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book
By Sharon Steuer
Published by Peachpit Press; 1 Pap/DVD edition (August 19, 2010) ~ Paperback: 304 pages ~ Language: English ~ Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches ~ Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

READ: Expressive Strokes – Sharon Steuer discusses how to style strokes in Illustrator, including how to use the expanded stroke panel, brushes, and symbols, providing examples of how to use various techniques.
Download Chapter 4, along with sample pages (PDF FILE)

Sharon Steuer
We love Sharon Steuer. Sharon Steuer loves collaborating with other creatives–and working with the Illustrator WOW! team, and the contributing artists to the Illustrator WOW! Books.
      In-between book projects Sharon is a full-time artist. For more than two decades, Sharon has pioneered the merging of traditional and digital art forms. Sharon’s recent work weaves together her oil paintings, drawings, digital paintings, photographs, and personal artifacts to explore and reflect fragmented memory. She has won so many awards, we cannot list them here — but you should definitely take a look at her web site:
Sharon Steuer www.ssteuer.com
Sharon Steuer Sharon’s Illustrator curricula guides for educators
My favorite works by Sharon Steuer My favorite works by Sharon Steuer

thanks for reading

Fred Showker

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