Acknowledgments

There are two people who I need to thank first, even though words can't really describe the gratitude I owe for their sincere friendship. Sharon Steuer and Sandee Cohen helped me to establish myself in the Illustrator community, and for that I am eternally grateful. Sharon has also been extremely generous in allowing me to feature an excerpt from her award-winning book, The Adobe Illustrator CS2 Wow! Book.

I've written books before and when I was approached to write this title, I thought it would be an easy task. Months later, I look back and realize how much work has gone into this book, and I have a new appreciation for the team at Peachpit Press. Thanks to Kelly Ryer, Marjorie Baer, Nancy Ruenzel, Nancy Davis, Rebecca Ross, Rachel Tiley, and the folks at Adobe Press. I want to personally thank Rebecca Rider for copyediting this book, Corbin Collins for his proofreading edits, Becky Winter for her work in production, and David Karlins for ensuring that everything I wrote was technically accurate. Most of all, I want to thank my superb editor, Karyn Johnson, for her awesome ideas, endless patience, and demand for excellence. In addition, I'd like to give thanks to James Talmageaffectionately known to many as "JET,"for writing the FreeHand appendix, for being a great friend, and for sharing his passion for excellence.

If you think publishing a book is a huge undertaking, I can assure you that producing an application like Adobe Illustrator is an even greater task. Special thanks go to the entire Illustrator team for their concerted efforts, and specifically to Lydia Varmazis, Leon Brown, Phil Guindi, Teri Pettit, Dave MacLachlan, and Shane Tracy for their personal assistance and advice. I also want to mention a special note of thanks to my friends Ted Alspach and Dave Burkett who brought me into the Adobe family. Thanks also to Thomas Phinney, John Nack, Will Eisley, Lynn Grillo, Julieanne Kost, and the always-entertaining Russell Brown for their continued friendship.

I'm lucky enough to count a number of professional authors and educators among my friends. Thanks to David Blatner, Chris and Jennifer Smith, Ben Willmore, Deke McClelland, Luanne Cohen, Claudia McCue, and Matthew Richmond who continue to share advice, support, and funny anecdotes over the occasional drink.

Thanks to Wow! artists Bert Monroy, Conrad Chavez, Ivan Torres, Yukio Miyamoto, Scott Crouse, Alan James Weimer, Brad Neal, and Steven Gordon for allowing me to feature their spectacular artwork in the color section of this book.

Even though he's a die-hard SF Giants fan (I'm a NY Mets fan), I reserve a personal note of appreciation for my friend Ron Chan who created the wonderful illustration that appears on the cover of this book.

You can't write a book unless you have a clear mind, and nothing clears the mind like the smell of fresh cut grass and the sound of your golf ball dropping into the bottom of a cup early in the morning. Thanks to Jeremy, Eli, and Shimmy for putting up with my writing schedule and for getting me out onto the course. Bethpage Black next week?

Finally, I want to thank my entire family for their encouraging words of support. I appreciate everything that you do for me and hope that I make all of you proud.