Inspired by the Book of Mormon scripture Alma 32:30.

This is my first shot Illustrator CS4. I think I’m liking it!

This one covers several drawing tools and requests, all listed below the videos. It’s all about giving us options to work the way we like to work, not the way Illustrator tells us to.

Part 1

Part 2

Feature requests: 

• The ability to place several scans/bitmap images at a time
• The ability to move an item to another layer just by clicking on the desired layer
• Line preview with the pen tool (make it an option)
• The ability to toggle between the pen tool, the selection tool, and the subselection tool on the fly
• Somehow indicate that a path is closed or open
• The option to have the fill color show, or not until the path is closed
• Bezigon-like tool
• Deleting a point with the delete key only deletes the point, doesn’t break the path (make it an option!)
• The option to highlight selected path, or not

This has slowed me down since the beginning.

See it here!

I have to share, while I’m on a roll, an open letter from the very talented Von Glitschka. He’s asking all Illustrator users who have features they would like to see added or changed in Illustrator to do something about it and tell Adobe. The more a feature is requested, the better chance you’ll see it in a future version! See the letter here! Iconfactory has a few things to say about Illustrator as well here. Do you agree with any of them? Tell Adobe!Let’s start a revolution and love Illustrator again!

Here’s another feature I’d like to see improved in Illustrator.

See it here!

As promised, here is the first of hopefully many such videos showcasing features that I hope Adobe will add to future versions of Illustrator.

See it here!

Freehand is dead. It’s a painful truth which has forced many of us illustrators to migrate to Adobe Illustrator to earn our living. Although I have acclimated pretty good, it hasn’t been the smoothest transition as many of my Twitter friends can attest. When I learned Freehand 13 years ago, I was surrounded by many other more experienced Freehand users who trained me in the efficient ways to draw, since our employee reviews were largely based on production.Flash forward to the present. I work alone at home, training myself and stumbling through the quirks of Illustrator. I know there are ways that Illustrator can be more efficient, and I know efficient ;). But when I verbally explain to friend or forum members how things can be improved in Illustrator, I usually get one or more of the following responses:

• a blank stare
• a rolling of the eyes
• accusations that I just can’t let Freehand die, and that I should quit being a baby

The truth is, I want very badly to love Illustrator. I use it more hours than I see my own family each day.So, I’m going to start making Illustrator videos for the following reasons:

• To share with Adobe Illustrator Developers when I make feature requests. A picture is worth a thousand words.
• To share with friends, so either they stop rolling their eyes, or they can share a better way of doing things with me.
• To share with everyone, so maybe someone else can learn either from my techniques, or my mistakes.

Let it be known that this will not be a Illustrator bashing session. I really want to learn the best way to do things, and I want Illustrator to step up. Adobe killed Freehand, it’s high time they brought back efficiency that they took away. It’s an Illustrator Call to Duty.