Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Ever since I used Adobe Photoshop CS4 one-on-one for one of my Photoshop classes, I've been hooked ever since. Deke is a great teacher and he knows how to break all of the Adobe programs down to their most fundamental parts. He tells which parts of the programs are the most useful and which ones you can disregard. He speaks in a very down-to-Earth fashion, which makes understanding the inner-workings of each program easier. Every time I've ever used his tutorials to learn anything, it has easily taken me to an intermediate-level user.My one small gripe about his books is that the projects he gives you to work on for each exercise tend to be cheesy-looking. But since this book is intended to teach you techniques and not design skills, that comes with the territory. If you're looking for advanced techniques as well as great artwork, Derek Lea's books are the way to go. But if you're looking simply to understand Illustrator better than you've ever understood it from a guy who knows his stuff, then this is the book for you.

Don't be fooled, many of the works that Deke goes through in his tutorials take time and patience. The tutorials are not always simple and easy but Deke shows you the powers of Illustrator and how to harness the powers effectively and creatively. Take the time to watch and understand both the videos and the tutorials in the book and you will have many new capabilities with Illustrator. An excellent book. Thank you Deke.

I am used to the "...For Dummies" books...I bought this due to Deke's reputation as being the all knowing for Adobe products...if you don't have any experience with any software, I'd go with the "...For Dummies" series...yes, this book is in depth, but there's a lot of things that it assumes that you know..like the terminology of the name of windows, actions, and other things....at time, I found myself staring at the screen trying to figure out what the heck was the book talking about...they assume some things are self explanatory, which it shouldn't, since the book is for beginners...the online videos weren't working for awhile; they either didn't play correctly or weren't able to be downloaded...after I emailed, a few days later, the videos were downloadable...book has a lot of material, you will need some patience to think through some of the vague/hurried sections...I mainly bought this to set myself up for his intermediate and advanced books..

I ordered this book after watching Deke's videos for Photoshop. I wanted to learn Illustrator and it was a no-brainer to go with more Deke. He is an excellent trainer and knows the software inside and out. I like the format of watching the overview video then reading and working the exercises. I got hung up in a few places where a step wasn't exactly as he described it or was incorrectly described but out of the dozens of exercises that only happened 2-3 times, if that. I also never went online to find any errata for the book so I probably should have done that. Most chapters were able to be completed in 2-3 hours and since I worked through them in the evenings after my day job it worked out nicely.

I took this course on Lynda dot com but wanted it for reference purposes and refreshers later. great price was only about $6.00 with upgraded shipping

For beginners wanting to learn Illustrator, this is a great book. If you really catch on to stuff quickly, you will be amazed at all the info there is packed into this book. If you need more time to absorb all the concept, just go at your own pace. Highly recommend.

This is another Deke McClelland's book that well written and has easy to follow steps. The associated videos are also an added benefit for the users of his books.

Access code had expired to online content - book smelled horrible.

This was a great purchase and aside from the whole ordering process which was perfect, this is a very good introduction to illustrator. The Instructor is one of the best known in the field and he makes the whole process very simple to follow.

This book is a must for anybody who enjoys Adobe Illustrator as a hobby or anybody who uses it for their work. Deke is the ultimate tutor and he makes everything so clear and precise, especially his videos which are included with this book. Brilliant.

This book will give you a good introduction to Adobe Illustrator. It has helped me increase my work flow! Make sure to watch the videos that follows this book.