Adobe Illustrator CS Wow! Book, The

The latest addition to Sharon's long list of fabulous 'WOW' books has arrived at the Design-Bookshelf.com, and everyone agrees it's not only the BEST of the WOW series, it raises the bar for illustrator how-to books from this day forward.

Agreed: Sharon has retained some of the lessons from past WOW books. These lessons still hold true to the spirit of essential training, and should never be discarded. The pull-out "Finger Dance" card is indispensable, and no one -- read my lips -- no one does a better job of teaching the Pathfinder tools and the Gradient Mesh. Sharon's visual explanation of Clipping Masks and Opacity Masks in just a few pages goes further than 20 pages in the pulp books.

The new content easily offsets the price with glorious color visions of the most striking Illustrator work being created today. And then you get the insider details on how they were done. It's not just about teaching the software. You can lecture on Envelopes and Warps until dark,... Read more

I have been using vector programs as my main graphics tool almost daily since 1991. I have instructed and trained quite a few people in the use of vector graphic programs. I try to get people to think vector rather than just learning techniques of various vector applications; I believe this will help a designer's thinking and execution in both vector and raster work.

Until last week I never looked at any of the Illustrator WOW Books because the title seems to point to the kind of instruction I don't care for. I recently looked through and then purchased Sharon Steuer's latest Illustrator CS Wow Book. I was very impressed with how she teaches the ideas behind vector art while still covering the application techniques. I recommend this book to anyone wanting a better understanding of vector art. This is about as good as it gets.

Sharon Steuer's approach to vector art builds the users knowledge about how to think in vector. This makes the user more aware and understanding of raster... Read more

I'm new to Illustrator, having only experience in Photoshop. This book was not designed with me, a beginner, in mind. The first 40 pages are filled with "new & improved in Illustrator CS" tips, which make little sense at all to a person who's never used the program, even when sitting in front of the PC with the book open. The Zen of the Pen section, designed as a finger exercise to get a person used to clicking with the right hand and using shortcut keys with the left hand, is confusing, and lacks enough step-by-step info for a true beginner to get through it and feel confident.

The accompanying CD has lots of finished art on it, but no tutorials, and seems to be organized in an unusual structure. It's as if the author is using her book to showcase her fellow artists' work and not to show exactly how these things were created. There are a few deconstructing exercises, but again, not very beginner-oriented. I longed for bezier curve exercises, how-to's, etc., but was left... Read more