What is Illustrator for?

[nyxynyx]

I've quite a bit of experience in photoshop and now just started picking up illustrator. But what is illustrator mainly used for? I only know of cliparts, icons and vexels....

[prewe]

it's used to make vector-graphics. photoshop works with pixels and illustrator with bezier/vector graphic. and it's mainly used for logos and stuff that needs to be resized without losing any quality.

[CatintheHat1]

I use it to lay out book covers because it offers a lot of graphic-type options that InDesign or Quark don't and I often need those for book covers, but it's also great for laying out brochures, ads, etc. You can create you logo, tweak it, etc. right in the file, if you want.

[Eraser Nubbin]

You can always take images from photoshop as well and place them into Illustrator. I personally use Illustrator to start designing web pages as well.

[prewe]

yeah, you can do that. but i prefer fireworks for webdesign, since my computer is so goddamn slow. i somehow imagine fireworks uses less resources then illustrator :)

[balou]

I use Illustrator to create and edit vector graphics to be placed in other layout programs like Quark or InDesign. I also use Illustrator to create logos. As a rule of thumb, I use InDesign or Quark for print layout but I do use Illustrator to layout my package designs or labels only because that seems to be standard practice with the industry.

[firewired]

I use Illustrator mainly for logos. I have fell into the habit if using Photoshop for lots of things. Package designs, websites, pages in books etc. Maybe it's just because I'm very comfortable with the program. Sometimes if necessary, I will do my brainstorming etc in one program and then retrace it in another.

[urstwile]

wot's a vexel? :)

[balou]

I had to google it too urstwile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexel

[urstwile]

Wow! There really is such a thing. Who'd-a-thunk-it? :)

Funny, it's actually what I imagined it would be, if it really was an actual term.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

Vexels are a whole bunch of BS. Vector is a medium, not a STLYE like people seem to think. vexel.net makes me sick - its all a bunch of 'artists' tracing photographs of 'hot' celebrities who are half naked.

A pixel based piece that "looks like a vector work" is inherently impossible - vector artwork does not have a style. A good vector artist can draw in any style their heart desires - because they can draw, rather than trace.

The goal with many of these "vexel artists" is to create hyperrealistic drawings in photoshop. I ask, where is the artistic merit in that? Why TRACE a photograph in order to produce a "drawing" that results in something that looks nearly identical to the original photo? And then on top of that, on nearly every vexel piece, the artist brags about how it took them 14 hours of clicking their mouse to accomplish?!

I'm passionate about this topic, and I'm going to shutup now.

[urstwile]

LOL 1oo. Tell us how you really feel. I had no clue it was even a "thing", although I've been seeing an ad campaign on TV that seems to use the effect. Can't recall who it's for, some 401K company.

[balou]

Deep breaths 100S.T.! ooohhhhmmmm - I am one with my computer - ooohhmmmm ;)

[Ghastly]

The good thing about Adobe is that they give clues to what most of their programs do in their names...take Macromedia Fireworks, hell if I had never heard of it before I might assume it shows people how to actually build fireworks etc... ;) but not Adobe...they named their flagship photo-editing software 'Photoshop'...their page layout and design software 'In Design' and finally...they named their flagship illustration software 'Illustrator'

Photoshop is best suited to manipulating images derived from external sources (be it a photo or an image created in a vector or 3D app requiring certain adjustments)...Illustrator on the other hand is primarily used for constructing vector objects, it allows for much greater degrees of accuracy, control, and precision (though not as much as decent CAD software), but it is beyond the scope of the program to do anything beyond extremely primitive and *global* adjustments to imported imagery. If you want to manipulate on a pixel by pixel level Illustrator is the wrong program.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

although I've been seeing an ad campaign on TV that seems to use the effect

This effect is a little different - it's the same thing Linklater used in "Waking Life" and his upcomming " A Scanner Darkly." While it is at times tracing live footage - he SHOOTS the footage. He then uses 1-12 or however many animators to interpret the scenes and add depth to them (not talking about 3d space here) via the medium - his privately developed software which is simmilar to Flash, but geared towards rotoscoping.

Waking Life is a great movie...I hope an animated Keanu Reeves doesn't ruin 'a scanner darkly' :P

[urstwile]

Whoa, guess that 401K or investment company that does the commercials has a nice budget, as that doesn't sound like a cheap process.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

It's really not that bad - around the same cost as a standard animation I bet. They use handy-cams to record the video.

The waking life DVD has some extras of the "real footage" they used to make the animations - it's not exactly hollywood production quality - and once that is done they start tracing..which takes time - but nothing outrageous, tweening lines between frames and such.

Of course - there isn't anything too "interpretive" artistically speaking in those financial advertisements - it could just be video run through a filter :confused:

[urstwile]

That's kinda what it looks like to me.

[firewired]

I do see your point...but at the same time, it is kind of interesting stuff. I think there's a place for anything. I have seen alot worse pieces of "art" out there that people place a large value on. These people that make these vexel illustrations are just a different type of artist than you and me. There is a certain amount of skill involved in running the program and creating an image like that, even if they are working from images. Lots of people start with a photo and work from there.

[Ieatsox]

Well, I would just like to say, that I persoanllly like illustrator than photoshop. Ilustatore is much easier to use, and photo shopp can be used to edit th epictures you made in illustrator.

[Broacher]

I'm actually just getting ready to launch my new concept medium, "prichzels".

A prichzel is actually even more complicated than a vexel. I start with a nice photograph, post it to Flicker, then reshoot it on my digital camera off the monitor after a couple of beers. Then I print it out on my colour laser on soggy grocery bags, and then leave it in the bottom of my budgie's cage for a week.

Then I rescan, and apply all the PShop filters, in alphabetical order, using my the metric measurements of my anatomy for numeric values.

The result is then imported into Adobe Illustrator, via Crayola Card Factory, and traced within an inch of its life. I then save that as a multi-layer PSD from AI and load it back into Pshop. Usually, we're talking about two or three thousand layers at this stage. Then, more beer, a little more stereo volume, and when I feel ready, I just hit 'flatten'. Then I drag the original photo layer on top, flatten the image, and save the file.

Whew! Who would have thought that art was so complicated?

[balou]

LMAO @ Broacher!

[urstwile]

That's too funny! :D

[morea]

http://www.lifeinvector.com/index2.html

doesn't fit the "style", does it? Pretty darned talented, don't you think?

[urstwile]

Yup. I think this stuff is real though. Did you check out the sketchbook?

[1ooScreamingTrees]

Broacher, you forgot your submission to deviantART as the final step of your ultimate masterplan!

Morea - I've been to life in vector a long time ago. Her work is definitely talented.

[senjula]

Vexels are a whole bunch of BS. Vector is a medium, not a STLYE like people seem to think. vexel.net makes me sick - its all a bunch of 'artists' tracing photographs of 'hot' celebrities who are half naked.

A pixel based piece that "looks like a vector work" is inherently impossible - vector artwork does not have a style. A good vector artist can draw in any style their heart desires - because they can draw, rather than trace.

The goal with many of these "vexel artists" is to create hyperrealistic drawings in photoshop. I ask, where is the artistic merit in that? Why TRACE a photograph in order to produce a "drawing" that results in something that looks nearly identical to the original photo? And then on top of that, on nearly every vexel piece, the artist brags about how it took them 14 hours of clicking their mouse to accomplish?!

I'm passionate about this topic, and I'm going to shutup now.


Your passion is a good thing. I just started using illustrator in my last few pieces and all I have to say is I really dont like it...in Photoshop I can draw from scratch and paint and shade and really illustrate my piece. So far the only advantage I have found in using Illustrator is I can get smoothe edges instead of all those littl bumpies...I do my character outlines in them and then bring them over to photoshop to bring to life. I really cant seem to find any other use for it. I keep trying but it just seems so blahhhh...I like my photoshop. And it is really good for drawing from scratch in regardless of what I have been told. It gives me much more creative control.

[lesliegraphics]

Calm down now. . . . to each his own. We creative people need to respect one another. I agree with many of your comments, especially the way someone will say this took 29 hours of "clicking" to create - and I say to my little old self in 29 hours I could have actucally created an orginial piece of artwork that you could hold in ya hands. I guess we all have our own paths to follow, yes?

And yes, you can hold an orginial piece of digital artwork in your hands in the form of a cd-r, or something that was printed out, or walk around with a laptop, lol. . . .but you get my meaning.