10th Grade — Intro to Illustrator: Getting Started

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Recall from Unit 2: what's the difference between a raster image and a vector image?

🎯 Today's Big Question

What is Adobe Illustrator, and how is it different from Photoshop?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Compare Illustrator (vector-based) to Photoshop (raster-based).
Navigate Illustrator's basic workspace and core tools.
Create a simple vector icon or logo using the shape and pen tools.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with Adobe Illustrator

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Meeting Illustrator

Do Now (5 min, above).
Mini-lesson/demo (15 min): raster vs. vector recap, then a tour of Illustrator's workspace and panels.
Guided practice (20 min): follow along building basic shapes on an artboard.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 2: Building an Icon

Do Now (5 min).
Independent build (35 min): create a simple vector icon or logo using the shape and pen tools.
Share (5 min).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

Day 1

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

📚 Key Words

Illustrator: Adobe's vector-based design application, used for logos, icons, and scalable artwork.
Artboard: The word Illustrator uses for a page or canvas.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Vector icon scored with a rubric: built entirely with vector tools, clean shapes, no stray anchor points.

Exit Ticket: Name one thing Illustrator can do that Photoshop can't (or does very differently).

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Intro to Illustrator: Getting Started.” This project asked: “What is Adobe Illustrator, and how is it different from Photoshop?” I used Illustrator by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

🔗 Want to Learn More?

Adobe Illustrator Tutorials

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same precision-tool discipline a Drafting/Engineering class teaches for CAD software.

Career Connection: Illustrator is the required tool for Illustration, Fashion Design flat sketches, and half the ACP curriculum.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Design a simple vector logo concept for a real or invented club, built entirely with the Pen tool. Start here: sketch the shape on paper and trace only its major outlines — a logo built from more than 15-20 anchor points usually means the shape is too complicated for a logo.
Recreate a school mascot or logo as a clean vector file — useful as an actual reusable school asset. Start here: find the highest-resolution photo of the mascot you can and place it on a locked bottom layer to trace over, rather than drawing it from memory.