Home > Adobe Illustrator > The Basics and Getting Started
The Basics
To open Illustrator, select it from the Start Menu. If you are working on a computer within the school, it should be found under Adobe Creative Suite, or Adobe Master Collection.
The program will load, and you should see this start up screen.
Opening a previous document
The column on the right will enable you to load the most recently edited documents. This can be helpful when working on a project over several days or weeks.
Remember however, that on a shared computer, many people may have used Illustrator since you last did. If you work is not in the list, simple select OPEN from the bottom of the list. Alternatively you can go to File > Open and browse to your work, or press Ctrl + O on your keyboard.
Creating a new Document
If you are using Illustrator for the first time, you will need to create a new document, which will give you access to your canvas, or work area.
To create a new document, you can use the file menu to select File > New, or press Ctrl + N on your keyboard. Or from the above menu you can use the right hand column, that has several options.
In terms of this assessment, you will probably be using Illustrator to create print documents, so selecting Create New, Print Document is the only option from this right hand column that you need to work about at this stage.
You will then be presented with another menu, which is the New Document Window.
New Document Profiles
From this menu, you will be able to select the size and shape of the document you are going to create.
For example, from the drop-down menu called SIZE, you will be able to select some commonly recognised paper sizes, such as A3, and A4. The dimensions of these paper sizes are pre-determined and shown below.
(You can alter these dimensions yourself if you wish, but bare in mind you may have to alter your printer settings if you deal with unconventional paper sizes. Some printers may not recognise them and not print your work)
Clicking one of the two icons labels ORIENTATION will enable you to chose a landscape or portrait canvas.
Colour Mode
Have you ever printed an image prom the web on your desktop printer, and it has appeared slightly darker or duller than the image on your screen? This is due to the two different colour modes available when dealing with screen based and print based imagery.
You may not be aware of this, but computer screens and paper render colours differently to each other. Quite differently in fact.
Digital images you might see on screen, will probably be images created by scanners or digital cameras. They create images using combinations of just three colours: Red, Green and Blue (called "RGB"). These are the primary colours of LIGHT, which computers use to display images on your screen.
However, printing presses print full colour pictures using a different set of colours, the primary colours of PIGMENT (or ink): Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black (called "CMYK"). This is "4-color process" or "full-colour" printing that comprises the majority of magazines and marketing materials you see every day.
The difference comes from the computer screen’s ability to emit light, and the paper’s ability to absorb and reflect.
As we will only be using Illustrator for print based work (and not web based) we need CMYK mode.
Raster Effects
Raster Effects determines the degree of screen resolution used when displaying certain elements.
Screen resolution or Pixel dimension is the amount of individual pixels a screen can display. Typically the smallest screen size will be 800 pixels x 600 pixels. A standard monitor these days would probably be 1024 x 768.
This should be set at 300ppi or pixels per inch. This is to ensure you get as higher quality print as possible. More pixels means more detail, and you will want as high quality prints as possible (particularly for photos.) Therefore 300 pixels per inch is the minimum you should set for a document you intend to print.
Once you have determined which of these options are best suited to your purpose, you can press OK.
Further Illustrator Resources
About Adobe Illustrator
The Basics - Getting Started
Illustrator Interface
Keyboard Shortcuts
Tool by Tool
Using Filters and Effects
Download
Download the full Illustrator Help File as a PDF
