Illustrator 9 for Windows & Macintosh

I went to "that big book store" and sat down with a small pile of Illusrator books. This was the only one that seemed to fit my style which is that I want to learn tasks only as I need them. I do NOT want to read through any long explanations or background. If right now I want to know how to put type in a circle then that's ALL I want to know and I want to find it very fast. This book does that job for me. I can see how this book may not be in-depth enough for some full time designers but I love it for me, a beginner. I've bought other books in their series since this one and I love them all.

In a new edition featuring an expanded color section, Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas' Illustrator 9 For Windows & Macintosh offers the novice user with an easy, visually oriented approach through the software properties and applications. A straight forward, concise, "reader friendly" text is so well organized that the entire 488-page volume works easily as a practical reference book. Illustrator 9 For Windows & Macintosh is especially recommended for those with a need to learn Illustrator 9 fast, whether working on a Windows or a Macintosh platform.

I learned long ago that the Visual Quick Start books are better as a reference tool than as a tutorial bookl; this book is no different. At 488 pages, it is about twice as thick as the usual Quick Start Guides. This should also give you an indication to the large amount of content the authors put into it. I bought the book to use as a study aide for taking my ACE Exam in Illustrator. It was not very helpful for this. I wasn't totally disappointed however. It is a great book for when I am actively using Illustrator and need to remember some activity that I don't do too often and need to look it up. Think of it like a giant list of organized directions for doing things in Illustrator. As this kind of reference, it is quite useful.In order of (chapter)number, the authors cover: Interface (1), How Illustrator Works (2), Startup (3), Views (4), Objects Basics (5), Select/Copy (6), Transform (7), Reshape (8), Fill & Stroke (9), Pen (10), Layers (11), Create Type (12), Style & Edit Type (13), Acquire (14), Brushes (15), Combine Paths (16), Gradients (17), Appearances (18), Masks/Transparency (19), Filters (20), Precision Tools (21), Actions (22), Preferences (23), Output/Export (24), Separations (25) and Web (26).If you are a beginner, buy something else like Deke McClelland's Real World Illustrator 9. Once you get grounded, buy this as a reference tool when you are trying to remember how to do a particular task. If you are studying for your ACE Exam, buy both Deke's book and the Adobe Classroom in a Book for Illustrator 9.

I like this book - it's very comprehensive and helpful. In contrast, books such as the Illustrator 9 Bible couldn't hold my interest: too much time was spent in the first four chapters describing processes, rather than *showing* them with more practice examples and screen shots (as this book does). In the Illustrator 9 Bible, there was some rather annoying fluff such as the jokey conversation transcripts - and one of the earliest chapters dealt with creating *graphs*, of all things, in Illustrator. By the time I had gotten to Chapter 4 I knew I needed a Visual Quickstart (VQS) Guide.In short, I don't know why this VQS book is getting such a bad rap. I'm surprised that other reviewers rated this book so poorly. I've gotten through 17 chapters already during the past few weekends and am proud of my level of progress. With this book, I feel I am learning Illustrator well enough to pass the Brainbench certification exam (when the exam for version 9 becomes available).I didn't encounter any mistakes (except for a minor one) while following practice examples. Occasionally, one minor thing or another wouldn't work, but then I was able to either figure out a way around it or overlook that. But that could've been because I missed something while reading.I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Illustrator 9 thoroughly.

Being a user of Adobe products, when I upgraded to Illustrator 9 I wanted something to support my previous knoledge. Using Visual QuickStart Guides in the past, I was already sold. For the price it's by far the best. In good order Elaine and Peter use discriptive pictures that wisk you into action, instead of lengthy paragraphs and tired eyes.