Adobe Illustrator CS2

Getting started
Click Start → All Programs → Adobe Illustrator CS2.  The program will open. 
To create a new project, choose File → New from the menu bar.  Name your project and click OK.  A blank document will appear. 
To open an existing project, choose File → Open from the menu bar.  Find the folder that contains your project, click on the name, and click Open.  The project with appear. 

Work space overview

Toolbox
Here is where you will find the tools you will use to create your project.  Tools include  Selection Arrow,  Direct Selection arrow, ,  Direct Selection Lasso,  Pen,  Text,  Ellipse,  Rectangle,  Paintbrush,  Pencil,    Rotate,  Scale,  Free Transform,  Blend,  Column Graph,  Mesh Tool,  Gradient,  Eyedropper,  Scissors,  Hand, and  Zoom. 

Artboard
This is where you place your artwork.  Objects that appear within the printable area will appear on printouts.  Objects that appear in the scratch area are not printed.    

Floating palettes
When you launch Illustrator, the floating palettes appear stacked in groups on the right side of the screen.  The palettes include Appearance, Navigator, Info, Color, Attributes, Transparency, Stroke, Gradient, Styles, Swatches, Brushes, Layers, Actions, and Links.  To show or hide a palette, choose Window from the menu bar and select one of the Show/Hide commands. 

Toolbox Extras
When you open Adobe Illustrator, you will notice a tools window located on the left hand side of the screen. To select a tool, click on its icon in the toolbox. Notice several of the tool options have small arrows in the lower right hand corner of the button. These tools have hidden tools underneath them. To view these hidden tools, click and hold the mouse button. Different tool options will appear. To display these hidden tools in a different tool box, continue holding down the mouse button and drag to the arrow on the far side of the box and release the mouse button. The box will detach and you are able to freely move it around your screen.

Colors
You will notice that Adobe Illustrator provides you with some basic colors already in the color swatch (if the swatches window is not visible, choose Window → Show swatches from the menu bar). However, it is possible to add more colors to the swatch by using the Color window. You may change the type of color by clicking on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the color window and choosing Grayscale, RGB, HSB, CMYK, or Web Safe RGB. You may then edit the colors by using the sliding bars, changing the numbers in the boxes, or by clicking on the color spectrum at the bottom of the window. Once you have your desired color, click on the New Swatch button on the bottom of the swatches window. The color is now available on the color swatch for you to use throughout your document.

Using paths
Adobe Illustrator gives you several tools to use to draw paths.  The tools are located in the tools window on the left side of the screen.  The tool options for drawing paths are the pen, pencil, paintbrush, rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star, and spiral. 
Once you have selected your tool, you may draw a path on the document.  The shape tools draw paths with either straight or curved sides, depending on the shape.  The pen may be used to draw a straight or a curved path while the pencil and paintbrush draw only curved. 

Adding/Deleting points on a path
You may use the Add Anchor Point Tool or the Delete Anchor Point Tool to add or delete a point from a path.  These tools are hidden under the pen tool in the original tool box. 

Editing paths
You may use the Direct Selection Tool to change a path that is already drawn.  Simply click on a point already on the path and move it, or click on a line segment of the path to move it.  You may also change the type of specific points.  To do this, select the white Convert Anchor Point Tool from the tools window.  This tool is hidden under the pen tool in the original tool window.  Click on the point on the path you wish to change.  The Convert Anchor Point Tool changes curved points to corner points with one click, and corner points to curved points with a click and drag.  The shape of a path can be changed by editing its anchor points.  You can control curves by dragging the direction points at the end of the direction lines that appear at anchor points. 

Adding text to paths
From the tools window, select one of the path type tools (hidden under the type tool in the original tool window).  Click on the path you wish to add text to and a blinking cursor will appear on the path.  You may then begin typing. 

Using layers
Layers make it easier to work with very complex drawings.  They allow you to separate elements of your work and change things you want to change without affecting other parts of your drawing. 
All Illustrator documents contain a single layer to begin with.  You have the ability to add more layers to your document by clicking on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the layers window and clicking New Layer…  Each new layer you create will draw paths in a different color.  Select the color you wish to use and click OK.  To add an object to a layer, click on the name of the layer you wish to modify and draw. 
You may hide layers that you’re not working with by clicking on the eye to the left of the layer.  The images in that layer will disappear.  To bring them back, click on the place where the eye should be. 
It is also possible to expand a layer to see the individual objects that it contains.  To do this, click on the arrow to the left of the layer you wish to expand.  The contents of the layer will be displayed below it. 
You may also lock layers so that they cannot be edited.  Do this by clicking on the lock to the left of the name of the layer you wish to lock.  Now you will be unable to make any accidental changes to that layer. 

Using templates
To avoid design inconsistency, it is possible to create templates for documents that share common design elements.  You can use these templates later for creating new documents. 
Adobe Illustrator allows you to create and use template layers in any projects
To create a template layer in Adobe Illustrator, do one of the following: 1) Click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the layer window and choose New Layer.  When the window appears, name the layer, click on the box next to the word template, and click OK.  2) Double click on the name of the layer you wish to be a template in the layer menu.  When the options box appears, click on the box next to the word template and click OK. 
Once a layer has been made into a template layer, it becomes locked.  You may now make new works of art based on your template layer, either by tracing objects in the template, or simply by drawing over them.  Template layers in Adobe Illustrator are not printed. 

Using styles
Styles are another useful way of maintaining consistency throughout your project.  Adobe Illustrator allows you to create and save different styles to use as part of a template. 
If the styles window is not already showing, choose Window → Graphic Styles from the menu bar.  To create a new style, first select all the attributes (stroke, fill, etc.) you would like the style to have.  This can be done using the appearance window.  When the attributes are as you like, click on the New Graphic Style button on the bottom of the style window.  The style is now available for you to use anywhere in your project.
To apply a style to an object, click on the object and choose the style you wish to apply from the style window.  Keep in mind that after you create an object using a style, any changes you make to that style will also be made to the objects you created.

Saving your work
When finished working, choose File → Save As from the menu bar.  Choose the folder you wish to save in, name your document, and click Save.