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Adobe Illustrator Blank Canvas Syndrome
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Adobe Illustrator is a widely used vector drawing application with three main areas of functionality. Firstly, it allows the creation of corporate and other graphic artwork for high quality printing. Secondly, it can be used in the web design process, allowing you to build the overall design as well as individual items like icons and buttons. Illustrator is also a basic page layout program suitable for originating single page documents like CD covers, book jackets and posters.
We often find that delegates attending our Adobe Illustrator training courses have difficulty in getting to grips with the program, finding applications for it and incorporating it into their workflows. One of the main reasons for this is what we sometimes refer to as "Blank Canvas Syndrome". The thing is: at first glance, Adobe Illustrator often seems a lot less enticing and inviting than, say, Photoshop. To many new users, Photoshop is like a big city with bright lights and lots of exciting things to do and places to go. By contrast, Illustrator can seem like a wasteland; there's just nothing there when you create a new document; it's up to you to create everything from scratch.
As Illustrator trainers, we take on board the fact that running an Illustrator training course involves more than just tuition of the use to tools and techniques. To get delegates feeling enthusiastic about using the program, we also need to rid them of their fear of the stark blank canvas facing them every time they create a new file. We have identified four main techniques for ridding new users of "Blank Canvas Syndrome". Firstly, it is important to clearly identify the type of artwork you want Illustrator to create for you. Secondly, use Illustrator's Live Trace facility to create vector elements which can become a starting point for your own artwork. Thirdly, use background images as guides as you create your own drawings. And, fourthly, copy, reuse and modify elements that already exist within your own drawings.
The most successful Illustrator training courses that we run are for people who know exactly what they want to use the program for. It could be cartographers, technical illustrators or fabric designers; as long as they have a specific brief, we can show them the best techniques to solve their particular requirement. However, for a lot of delegates, Illustrator is something they feel they could and should be using but they don't really know where to start.
For those users who are not using the program in a very pointed fashion, we always try to emphasise that creating Illustrator artwork doesn't have to mean originating every single stroke from scratch. We show users how they can use imported graphics as a starting point for their own artwork. For example, keeping scanned images on a background layer and drawing over them using the pen tool or converting bitmapped images into vectors with Illustrator's Live Trace utility.
Illustrator's Live Trace function is a powerful built-in utility which converts bitmapped images into editable Illustrator vector images. It contains a series of presets for tracing specific types of image, such as colour or black and white logos, line art, charts or technical drawings. As well as these presets it is also possible to create your own customised settings. The artwork produced by the Live Trace function will almost always need to be cleaned up and modified before becoming useable as Illustrator artwork. However, it can be a huge time saver and can be a welcome alternative to drawing elements from scratch.
Bitmapped images can also provide useful visual reference points as you create your own artwork. You place the image on a background layer and, optionally reduce its opacity down to around 45%, so it doesn't clash with the elements you are creating. As you draw, you can then make constant comparisons between your own art and the content of the background reference images.
Another way of getting past Illustrator Blank Canvas Syndrome is to base new elements that you create on elements that already exist within your drawing. The program has a rich range of tools and techniques for doing this. You can create simple copies of an original element and you can also create transformed copies of the original. Illustrator also has the facility of applying multiple attributes to the same object. For example, you can give the same circle, say, five borders rather than creating five overlapping circles.
The fact of the matter is that "Blank Canvas Syndrome" will just disappear once you formulate a clear idea of what you achieve learn to avoid creating all your elements from scratch. Start using the Live Trace facility to generate useable vector artwork. Use background images as guides to help you draw your own artwork and, wherever possible, reuse and modify elements that you have already created.
About the Author
The The writer of this article is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Illustrator training courses at their central London training centre.
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