The Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques from 100 Top Illustrator Artists 9th Edition

The main reason I updated to Adobe Illustrator CS3 was for the new Color features. I've always had a hard time with color and I love the new color wheel with all the coordinating color options. I've purchased every past edition of the WOW series, for both Photoshop and Illustrator and I am happy to report that this new CS3 edition features an extensie overview of Live Color, Live Paint etc., and for me that was worth the price of the book.The book is approximately 30% new material. There appears to be more samples on the DVD which I appreciate, because although authors suggest using your own work, it is always nice to have an actual file to work with.That's it in a nutshell. If you have the CS2 version and don't plan to upgrade to CS3 don't bother getting this book, keep your old version with the tiger on the cover. If you got CS3 this book will help you learn the new features. All those who have the WOW books, it continues to be a great learning tool. It is geared toward the more advanced Illustrator user. If you are just learning I suggest getting the beginner books and dip into this one as you get more skilled. The section on the Zen of the Pen hasn't changed and remains, to me, the best way to learn the pen tool. If you are willing to patiently go through the Pen excercies both in the book and on the DVD you will be a Master of the Pen and the rest of Illustrator is a piece of cake.

I spend entirely too much money on Adobe training, peripherals and other reading materials. This, however, was a great purchase. I have been using Adobe Illustrator since 3.0, so I have a good foundation in the software. There are always new things to learn about these fantastic programs, but with the apps that are Not Photoshop, decent advanced books can be difficult to come by.While this is not a book that I would recommend to somebody who has never used Illustrator before, neither is it one that is above the average user's head. There are plenty of exercises that cover Illustrator basics, including a "Zen of Illustrator" chapter that presents several methods of creating a single simple shape for the purpose of learning to Think Illustrator.After that are plenty of step-by-step tutorials for how to create nifty effects that most people don't even associate with Illustrator. Even if you never worked through these exercises, the examples alone would make the book worthwhile...on the order of the gourmet "food porn" cookbooks.If you're learning Illustrator from the ground up, I suggest the Classroom In A Book title. If you already know how to work in Illustrator and want to move beyond the basics, however, this book is definitely worth the price.

I've used several successive editions of this book to bring me up to speed on the iterations of Adobe Illustrator. The "CS3" edition continues the tradition, and I was able to find explanations and examples for most of the items that interested me. This edition seems to be a little less lavishly illustrated and certainly doesn't approach the visual delight that the "CS" edition was. That may just reflect the increasing complexity of the software, with a need for more written explanation, or a tighter budget. Still this is a helpful book and I will probably buy the next version as well.

The WOW series for Illustator has been a terrific series. The books are in color, well illustrated and clearly explained even if you're new to the program. I think it's one of the best and quickest ways to get a grasp of the depth of things you can do with Illustrator and become fairly proficient in a short period of time. My only caveat is if you already own WOW for CS2 you may want to think twice about dropping coin on the CS3 version as there is quite a bit of material repeated here. However, compared to a lot of other books out there that are dry, in black and white and more expensive, you could do a lot worse than owning both versions.

I liked how this book was in full color and was easy enough that anyone can pick it up and learn. I also liked that it appealed for the more advanced users at the end with tutorials on integrating Illustrator with Flash, After Effects, etc. It pretty much covers everything and the CD is loaded with goodies and plug-ins that are really awesome as well. I like the WOW! series and would definatley buy another again.

the book does what it says. but it's full of little nice surprises. i've been using adobe illustrator for over 12 years now and it was a nice thing to find out i could still find some new tricks and different ways to use the tools that the ones I'm used to. it is really a great book for both beginners and experienced users, especially the showcase sections, you can learn a lot form that one.

This book is the real deal! I have not upgraded since Illustrator 8 and my job recently upgraded to Illustrator CS3, so I ordered this book to see what's new with Illustrator. I was surprized and pleased with the program and the content of this book to get me up to speed.I recommend this book to anyone wanting to get the latest tips and tricks that Illustrator CS3 provides.

This is a great "how-to" book and liked the fact a companion CD was also included.

Not sure why you need to know that, unless you're looking fro a how to book from scratch, and like me didn't read the blurb properly. It is a book however on how to do all sorts of stuff with case studies of how professional designers have achieved certain effects or used certain functions. So useful but not for the beginner.

Full of useful tricks

Great book and value - thank-you!

Also ich finde als eingefleischt Freehand-Anhängerin, dass dieses Buch sehr hilfreich ist, wenn man bei Adobe Illustrator einsteigen will. Sehr viele Menüpunkte ähneln Freehand, aber natürlich bleibt einem der typische Adobe Stempel nicht erspart, und so entdeckt man vieles, was man bislang nur von Adobe Photoshop kannte! Das Buch ist sehr umfangreich und informativ, für Anfänger denk ich wird das Durchsteigen zu Beginn etwas schwer fallen, aber ohne Fleiß kein Preis;-)! Vom Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis ist es nur zu empfehlen, daher vergeb ich fünf Punkte, sorry an die Kritiker, ich kann leider nichts negatives feststellen. Das Programm Adobe Illustrator ist nun mal auch kein einfaches Unterfangen, aber wenn man sich fleißig damit beschäftigt, steigt man irgendwann auch durch, für Anfänger wäre ein Abendkurs auch nicht verkehrt. In diesem Sinne viel Spaß beim Vektorisieren;-)!

Ich legte mir das Buch als kleine Hilfe für Studium und Privat zu und muss sagen ich bin postiv überrascht worden. Anfangs mag es etwas Langweilig für Fortgeschrittene sein aber spätestens in den hinteren Kapiteln wird auch der Fortgeschrittene Ilustrator User staunen. Aber es lohnt allein schon wegen der zahlreichen Tips von Profis die sich in der Praxis bei mir breitz ausgzahlt haben.Textlich ist es Meiner Meinung sehr gut gemacht. Die Texte wirken professionell aber nicht abgehoben und übertrieben kompliziert, eher so als würde ein Freund etwas erklären und dieser ist numal ein Illustrator-Pro.Pro's:-schön gestaltet-super Praxis Tips-tolle Beispiele von Profis auf CD und gedruckt-Textlich sehr ansprechend-Für MAC User sehr gut geeignet da alle Fenster die gezeigt werden von der Mac Version stammen und immer Mac und Win Shortcuts erklärt werden.Kontra:-manchmal hätte ich mir 1-2 Bilder mehr gewünshct und auch ein paar Erklärungen mehrFazit:In Kombination mit ein Paar Tutorials ist dieses Buch ein sehr guter Werk um sich einige wichtige Funktionen von Adobe Illustrator CS3 anzueignen. Vorallem die Tips sind teils wirklich Hilfreich. Wer also nach einem Nachschlagwerk und einigen netten Übungen sucht ist mit diesem Buch sehr gut bedient und das nah an der Praxis.