1.02 Adobe Illustrator

What is Illustrator? Unlike Photoshop, which is a raster-based program, Illustrator is vector-based. Everything made in Illustrator is made with mathematical equations, meaning that no matter what size you end up printing your design at, it will always look crisp and high- resolution.

Logic: Objects Everything in Illustrator is termed as an “object”. Objects are defined by paths drawn between points. These paths between points are actually mathematical formulas. No matter how big you make everything, the formulas simply scale with it! Remember the pen tool from last year? It’s essentially the essence of everything in this program.

Points and Paths Every object in the program starts with a point, typically called the origin point. Any point drawn after the origin point will be connected in sequence with a path. Pre-made objects like squares and circles do not have origin points, but pen tool objects do. Paths between points create boundaries that you apply color to. That color is called stroke.

Points Path

Fill and Stroke Color applied to the boundary of an object is called the stroke. Color applied to the inside of an object is called the fill.

Example: No fill, No stroke

Example: Gray fill, No stroke

Example: No fill, Red stroke

Tool recap from Tuesday The following slides are just reminders of what tools we used Tuesday, and what they do.

Fill and Stroke Just so you know where it is. It’ll come in handy later.

Selection Tool This is the tool that allows you to select an entire object at once.

Direct Selection Tool This is the tool that allows you to select just an individual point to move it.

The Pen Tool This is the tool that allows you to make a freehand object in whatever shape you want.