The Alphabet: Part 2 - Introduction to Adobe Illustrator

Students will reillustrate their completed alphabets in the digital world, using industry standard software (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop) to immortalize their new languages in wood, stone, steel, or whatever material they so choose. This exercise is to familiarize students with the tools and terrain of software and how it is used to augment communications, in a visual manner, while bolstering their appreciation for the analogous, and age-old, means of communicating.

In order to complete this assignment, the student must provide the following:

1. You will have one week (5 days) to complete this portion of the assignment
   
2. Bring your alphabet to me to have it scanned in.
   
3. Once your alphabet is scanned, open Adobe Illustrator. (Go to Start - All Programs- Adobe Design Standard CS3 - Adobe Illustrator)
   
4. In Illustrator, go to "File" and then "New" and create a new document. Make sure that the document is "Letter" sized.
   
5. Next, "Place" . This will open a box that you will use to navigate to your scanned alphabet.
   
6. In Illustrator, go to the Windows tab and select "Layers" in order to show the "Layers" pallette.
   • Read the section titled "About Layers"
   • Read the section titled "Create a new layer"
   • Read the section titled "Layers Panel Overview"
   • Read the section titled "Delete objects"
     
     
     
7. Use the pen tool to re-create your letters in Illustrator.

1. The Pen Tool allows you to create custom shapes.
   In order to use the pen tool effectively, go to "Help" in Illustrator and type in "Pen Tool" in the "Search" box.
   • Read the section titled "Drawing Curves with the Pen Tool"
   • Read the section titled 'Draw straight line segments with the Pen tool"
     
2. Do not simply draw your letter, but trace around it.
   
3. Use the Fill/Stroke box to make your letters Black
   In order to use the pen tool effectively, go to "Help" in Illustrator and type in "Pen Tool" in the "Search" box.
   • Read the section titled "Fill and Stroke controls"
   • Read the section titled "Apply a fill color to an object"
   • Make sure that your "fill" is black and your stroke is "empty"
     
4. In order to add type, like A, B, C, to your image, use the "Type" tool on the Illustrator ToolBox
   
5. Save your file as an Adobe Illustrator (AI) file in your folder (on the shared drive), in a new folder titled "My Alphabet. Name it "Alphabet.AI"
   
6. Export your file as an Adobe Photoshop Document (on the shared drive), in "My Alphabet" folder. Name it "Alphabet.PSD"