Interview with Ari Weinstein, Illustrator and Branding Expert
Q&A with illustrator, author, and branding expert Ari Weinstein
As a brand coach and business development expert, Ari Weinstein exemplifies the Pro in CreativePro. He also happens to be a whiz with Illustrator, with over 30 years experience in vector drawing. As a speaker at CreativePro Week, as well as a regular contributor here at CreativePro and in the Illustrator Wow book series, Ari has schooled countless users in the ways of the Pen.
We’re very excited to have Ari as a speaker at The Adobe Illustrator Summit, which takes place September 22-23, 2022.
Leading up to the Summit, we thought it would be fun to get to know Ari better with a little Q&A.
How did you first get into this industry, professionally?
I entered the design industry as a professional while still in college, studying traditional art. I got myself hired to do layout work on the college newspaper, The Queens College Quad. (That’s Queens, the borough of New York City). Later I got a job with a local newspaper, and the rest is history.
What’s the one thing/technique/goal/workflow/process/idea that’s most commonly under appreciated or misunderstood in your design niche?
An approach that is perhaps not appreciated as much today is building Illustrator artwork in Outline mode, or even better, sketching a design on paper first. Very few online tutorials show this step, most jump right into to creating in Preview mode. Seek out artists who sketch first – there is a lot to be learned from that approach, including good composition.
Obscure tip or trick you use all the time?
Press the F key to toggle Illustrator’s screen modes, and you can instantly see your work full-screen. Double-click the Hand tool first to center your artwork. Add Command/Ctrl+Shift+H to hide your artboard edges.
What are you most excited to share in your upcoming session?
I’m excited to share techniques for discovering how amazing artwork is made, and also steps you can take to save creative processes for re-use!
This article was last modified on March 29, 2024
This article was first published on September 6, 2022
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