Sessions

Get Up to Speed with Adobe Illustrator

Are you an InDesign or Photoshop user, but you wish you knew Illustrator better? Join us for a fast-paced, fun session that will get you up to speed quickly with the world’s best vector drawing tool!

Topics include:

  • Making the mental shift from pixels to vectors
  • Everything is shapes!
  • Drawing skills not required
  • The Pen tool is not as bad as you think

Working Happier Not Harder with Photoshop and Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are incredibly rich and deep apps, with a 25+ year history behind them. Many people still use them the way they were taught 10 or 20 years ago. Stop it! Get up to speed with the amazing new features that have appeared over the past few years, so that you can become more productive, more efficient, and more creative with these amazing tools.

You’re Just Not Efficient Without Adobe Bridge

Most people think Adobe Bridge is just for photographers, but no! If you use InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, you owe it to yourself to learn how this digital asset manager can make your life so much easier.

Adobe Bridge is just waiting for its chance to save you time by cutting through the clutter of files and applications. In this session, you’ll learn how to use Bridge to streamline graphics production workflows.

This session includes:

  • Using Bridge to inspect InDesign documents
  • How anyone can use Bridge for free
  • Use Bridge shortcuts to process many files rapidly
  • Hunt and gather project files and folders more quickly
  • Metadata: your key to smooth workflows
  • Batch processing the easy way

Spectacular and Easy Type Effects

The human eye responds to seeing typography almost as powerfully as it recognizes human faces — but how you set the type, and what kinds of effects you apply can matter a huge amount. Let’s look at a number of awesome type effects you can create using Illustrator and Photoshop that will enhance your ability to capture eyeballs and attention.

Logos and Icons, Part 2: Distilling Your Message in Illustrator

In Part 1 of this two-part session, we explored the creative act of building logos and icons, from ideation to final design. Now, let’s explore the construction and critical fine-tuning work that must be done to deliver the final artwork.

From Sketch to Mockup: Designing in a Cross-App World

Stop thinking about using “an app” and start thinking about using “the app ecosystem”! Join us for a fun and wild ride through the “cross-app world,” where you’ll get to see how to implement the power of working with Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign together in a practical and productive way.  Keep your focus on the design by quickly changing apps and managing assets with the power of the CC Libraries! Are you ready to empower your workflow? Let’s get started!

Topics include:

  • Building vector sketches in Illustrator
  • Creating dedicated libraries to store all your project’s assets in one place
  • Launching your favourite apps directly from the CC Libraries panel
  • Implementing the power of working with the Creative Cloud apps  together in your everyday workflow!
  • Creating a product mockup to professionally present your InDesign art

Logos and Icons, Part 1: From Ideation to Construction

In this focused and inspirational talk, you’ll walk you through the creative process — from ideation to color exploration, art direction, rejection, and ultimate usage of iconic brand designs.

This is Part 1 of a two-part session. See Part 2 here.

Three Minutes Max: Illustrator

We can’t get enough tips and tricks! Come watch our favorite Illustrator experts compete in an epic battle for the title of “Best Tipster of 2021!” Remember: each tip can be no longer than 3 minutes long, and you — the audience — will be voting.

Three Minutes Max is always fun, often funny, and definitely full of useful and fantastic techniques you can use.

Textile and Fashion Design with Photoshop and Illustrator

Do you need to design for fabric? Trying to create realistic textile or clothing? This session will act as a quick overview of the tools and skills you need to understand to be successful. Topics include:

  • Scanning, coloring, and rendering hand-drawn illustrations
  • Using filters and brushes to simulate textures such as linen, flannel, wool, denim, or fur
  • Manipulating patterns and textures with the Transform and Puppet Warp tools
  • Using Symbols for maximum flexibility

Advanced Pattern and Tessellation Tricks

In Part 1 of this tutorial, you learned how to make basic patterns in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Capture. Now, it’s time to take it to the next level with tessellations (regularly repeating patterns)! Learn tricks of the trade by a professional with years of pattern-making experience!

  • Making seamless repeating patterns
  • Patterns that appear 3D
  • The 17 core patterns of the Alhambra palace
  • Random vs regular patterns