I finally got my hands on CS3 and decided it was time to do some learning exercises. I am kind of embarrassed to admit this but I never really did much in Illustrator even though I am a graphic designer. I have always found a way to accomplish my work in other programs, namely Photoshop and InDesign.

So here's what I made today. I guess you could technically call it my first official true vector artwork in Illustrator. I used the pen tool for the outline. Then primitives for everything else.

This project started out being just a Pen tool exercise. I traced a picture of a guitar and as I finished it, my supervisor asked me if I was going to try to draw the whole thing. I told her that there was no way I'd be able to do that yet.

Well, next thing I know, I'm drawing strings and frets.

I applied gradients and textures to the different pieces to make them look more realistic.

This is not the best piece I've ever made but I'm proud of how it came out considering it was my first deep adventure into Illustrator.

By the way, I love Illustrator now.

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