My darling dekeIstrators, ready for some up-to-date, cutting-edge (as much as a 25-year-old application can cut edges) training for vector drawing? Welcome to Illustrator CC One-on-One: Advanced (released this week at lynda.com).

(And if you’re not a member and would like to check it out anyway, you can get a free week’s trial at lynda.com/deke. And if you’re not a member of Creative Cloud, you can still watch the CS6 version with the same subscription.)

In this third installation of Deke’s signature Illustrator video training series, Deke delves into some rather sophisticated topics that will help you create equally sophisticated artwork. Here’s an overview of the Table of Contents and some of the hands-on projects Deke uses to demonstrate those high-powered Illustrator tools:

Chapter 22: Shortcuts and Settings

In this chapter, Deke reviews the custom shortcuts (dekeKeys) and color settings that he recommends for efficiently working in Illustrator.

Chapter 23: Blends and Masks

Blends and Masks are some of the oldest features in Illustrator. Blending allows you to create custom gradients and transitions. Masking allows you to place those blends inside the confines of a path outline. Both operate dynamically to allow you edit their outcomes at any time.

Chapter 24: Logos and Specialty Text

Undoubtedly, creating logos and logotypes is an essential skill for working graphic designers. In this chapter, Deke reveals a set of features he feels are essential to creating logos: from putting letters on a path to creating type effects.

Chapter 25: The Color Guide Panel

Illustrator has an entire panel dedicated to helping you color combinations that express the mood you seek to create. In this chapter, Deke takes a look at Illustrator’s harmony rules and color groups.

Chapter 26: Recoloring Artwork

Reassigning color and changing many colors at once are productivity skills you’ll probably need in your graphic design day. Deke reveals the features that make this common task efficient (and fun) in Illustrator.

Chapter 27: Calligraphic, Scatter, and Art Brushes

Illustrator actually allows you to use a path to “brush” outlines, text, and any other path. See how these features can give you creative versatility and creative power.

Chapter 28: Transparency and Blend Modes

The fact that transparency exists in Illustrator means that you can create translucence between your objects and layers. Blend modes let you determine exactly how that interaction works.

Chapter 29: The Appearance Panel

Controlling the attributes of different objects within Illustrator’s Appearance panel can actually give you incredible Illustrator power, all without ever lifting a brush.

Chapter 30: Dynamic Effects

Dynamic effects are just that: effects that you can apply, reapply, and alter at any time. They also have amazing creative power, especially when you repeat a series of transformations to quickly create meticulous copies of a given feature.

Chapter 31: Graphic Styles

Graphic styles allows you to collect fills, strokes, transparency settings, and dynamic effects and save them for application to other objects.

Chapter 32: Combining the Powers of Illustrator and Photoshop

In the Creative Cloud world, knowing how Photoshop and Illustrator can interact is more useful than ever. See how you can take simple paths and turn them into a photorealistic creation by leveraging these two powerhouse applications.

Yeah, I’m not explicitly guaranteeing it, but you can sense that Deke’s new course just might make you a bit of an Illustrator Superhero.