The second part of my series is here! Tips for using Adobe Illustrator CC. You can check out the first post I made about Tips for using Adobe Photoshop CC here.

Illustrator is another component of Adobe Creative Suite. This is the software you want to use if you are creating art for a single page. For example, if you want to design a flyer or poster, using Illustrator.

1. The Layers panel will become your best friend. In Layers, this allows you to put each individual piece onto it’s own layer, that you can toggle to and from. Make it a habit to put each new piece onto a new layer. It would also be helpful to label each layer so that they are easier to locate when you are trying to delete or edit a layer. 
2. Use shapes! In the tools panel, there are different shaped tools that allow you to create abstract pieces of people, buildings, and other images. Use shapes like triangles, squares, and circles. Below you  can see where I used a triangle to act as an eye shape for my person.

3. When creating shapes and images, use the Group tool to move the piece together as one. Once you finish creating something and want to rotate or move it across the page, press Command+G, which will combine the images into one. You can always ungroup the pieces by pressing, Shift+Command+G.

4. Play around with fonts! This might be my favorite part. Adobe has a pre-set list of fonts that are in the program. But, you are not limited to just these! There are thousands of fonts that are on the internet for free download. A website I frequent is DaFont.com. Once you find a cool font you like, click Download. This will then allow you to Download the font in FontBook (if on a Mac). Once you have the font downloaded in FontBook it will then appear in the Adobe program.

5. Play around will all of the tools. This may be self-explanatory, but once you get familiar with the tools, they become easier to use. For example, the the curvature tool excellent in curving straight lines you make with the line segment tool. Give it a go!

Still lost? Try watching a Lynda Tutorials video. This website has step by step tutorials if you are lost in an Adobe program like Illustrator, After Effects, etc. (If you are a UMD student, you have free access to these tutorials! UMD students also have free download access to Adobe Creative Suite through TERPWare.)

Check back here in January for another part to my series! Happy Holidays!