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Making a Superhero Movie Teaser Poster

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 07:51:00 -0800

In this tutorial I will give you an example of how to create a movie teaser poster. It will show you how to draw a mask for your character using the pen tool , blend modes and textures.

Also, I will be talking about usage of color for your environment, how to make your images sharper and I will give some tips on how to add more detail to your work.

Preview

Share your tutorial results on our facebook page! The work with the most likes will win a Premium WeGraphics Account. If you are already a member, you will win $14 in cash (2 months of premium membership).

Step 1

Start out with a dark canvas #080808 of 1600×2300 pixels (300dpi). I like to work on a high resolution so you keep your images sharper, more flexible and optimal for printing purposes if needed.

Step 2

To make the background a little more interesting and give it some “body” I used this free stained paper texture. Desaturate the texture, set your blending mode to hard light and pull the opacity down to 30%.

Step 3

Add the Nebula image in a new layer on top of the texture, flip it and use Hue Saturation (192, 26, 0). It should give a blue color as shown. Now use your mask tool to blend the image in the background. Only left, right and bottom should be masked (see image).

Step 4

Next up is adding the horizon image. Just like the steps before, desaturate the image and use soft light on your blending mode. I duplicated the image to make it show a little more detail. Use your gradient tool to mask the image from the top. We only need to see the mountain / rocks and a small piece of the sky.

Step 5

Pentool out the woman stock and place it on the nebula. Use a soft brush with 30% opacity to make the marked parts softer and blend them a little more into the background. The lower part of the woman has to be removed. I also used the smudge tool 30% strength) to retouch the face and arm.

Step 6

Use your pentool to draw the shape on the cheek of the woman. Colors used and layer styles are shown in the image. The only thing left to do is give the shape a soft light blending mode and a drop shadow on the top with an opacity of 25%. To make the shape blend more you can make a mask and use a soft brush on the left side of the shape.

Step 7

Let’s add some more detail. In a new layer use a soft white brush (20%) to make the space marked in the red circle a little lighter. This gives more depth and makes the shape more shiny. Also add a brush stroke with your pentool to the top of the shape.

Use the scratched metallic texture pack to add some scratches to the shape. Place the texture in the canvas, desaturate it and clip it on the shape as shown in the image. Set the opacity between 20-40%.

Step 8

Now we added the metallic scratch texture we are going to add extra detail to the shape. Make a selection of the computer chips stock and place it on the shape (opacity 85%, blending mode: soft light). Use your mask tool to mask it in the shape. I usually use a soft brush around the hard edges to blend it in. Finally, I also added two layers where I drew blue strokes and sparkles to give it more depth. To make the stroke on the top of the shape even more shiny you can add a white radial gradient.

Step 9

Make new layers and draw two shapes with your pentool as shown in the image. As we did before again use a soft white brush to highlight some parts of the shape. Only the top shape needs a drop shadow on the bottom. You can make a mask on your shape and brush out the hard edges of your pentooled shape. The next texture based steps are the same as used on the blue shape.

Step 10

If you followed the steps of texture usage and detail placement again, you we have a similar result as shown in the picture. To make the character more “superhero like” I added a glow to her eyes. Just use a radial gradient on top of the eyes (color: #10bdee) and set your opacity to 50% and layer style to screen.

Step 11

Create a folder called color adjustments and place it on the top of all your layers. That way it will effect all the layers below it.

Color fill:
color: #020317, set layer style to screen

Selective color:
Reds: +37, -10, -33. +30
Yellow: +25, 0, -15, 0
Neutrals: +5, 0, +2, +2
Blacks: +20, 0, 0, 0

Brightness / contrast:
Brightness: 11
Contrast: 7

Finally add a level layer. This really depends on how dark or light you want the image to be.

Step 12

Select the layer of the woman. Use your marque or lasso tool to make a selection of the part you want to make a cut from. Copy the selection and paste it in the exact same place. Use inner shadow and you get results as shown in the picture. For the arm part I did it a little different. I made a selection and filled it with color: #705e53. Then gave it an inner shadow.

Step 13

For the arm part you can use the steps I explained for the head shapes. Only thing added here is the placement of an electric symbol. Draw this with your pentool and fill it with color: #FFFFC1. You can make it fall in the shape with a subtle inner shadow.

Step 14

The rest of this tutorial is really up to your imagination. For this piece, I added helicoptersand used dazzling lightings vector set for example. Just let your creativity run free and add anything you like to the piece until you are satisfied with your result.

Step 15

To finish it up add the the text. I used lightning beams covering the text. To do this, just copy a beam on the canvas, put it on top of the text and set blending mode to overlay. I used a soft brush to mask bits of the text. The font I used it called “The Sans”.

To finalize the image and make it more crisp I used smart sharpen (filter -> sharpen). Set it to about 30%. Don’t overdue it.

Finished

Quick Tip: Create a Realistic Broken Glass Effect in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 07:40:00 -0800

In this brief tutorial I will explain how to apply a realistic broken glass effect to a background image using Photoshop brushes. After publishing our last PS brush set I received a couple of tutorial requests via email about how to create the preview image. Let’s discover it together!

Step 1

The process behind this tutorial is very easy and quick. All we need is a background image and one of our shattered glass brushes. You can download the free sample if you’re not a member.

For a background image, I downloaded this beautiful panoramic shot and opened it in Photoshop.

Step 2

Reduce the saturation by going to Image>Adjustments>Vibrance. Enter a saturation value around -70 and +15 for vibrance.

Step 3

Just to add a nice detail to the scene, let’s write something with a sans serif font. I usedPirulen, which is a clean and crisp free font.

Font color is #56767d.

Step 4

In order to merge the text with the background, grab the eraser tool, select a grunge brushand eliminate some parts of the text. You need to rasterize the text first (right-click on the text layer thumbnail>Rasterize type). Use the eraser tool especially on the bottom area of the text, along the horizon.

Layer opacity is too high in my opinion. Reduce it to 40%. This is my result:

Step 5

At this point we can add the never-boring lens flare! Create a new layer and fill it with black. Then go to filter>Render>Lens flare.

Set the layer blending mode to screen to eliminate the black areas. Done!

Step 6

We can now create the broken glass effect. Download our shattered glass brushes, select a brush and click once on a new layer. Foreground color is black.

Note that you could obtain the same effect with a broken glass image, however using a Photoshop brush is easiest.

Step 7

To make the effect realistic, we need to blur the background area which is covered by the glass. From the layers window select all the layers except the one with the brush, and click alt+ctrl+E (option+cmd+E for Mac) to merge them into a new layer. Then apply the blur filter (Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur) with a radius around 3px.

Step 8

With the blurred layer still active, add a layer mask by pressing the apposite button at the bottom of the layers window.

Now you can use a black round brush to eliminate some areas from the blurred background. Basically with the layer masks you can use black brushes to eliminate areas, and white brushes to replace them, without ever losing pixels.

Step 9

After all the “broken area” has been deleted, the crisp original background will be visible and you’ll get a realistic broken glass effect:

Step 10

To finalize the work, just play with a couple of adjustment layers. Start by radically modifying the color combination with a gradient map layer (Layer>New adjustment layer>Gradient map). Select the default gradient going from purple (#6f156c) to green (#00601b) to orange (fd7c00). Set the layer blend mode to screen, with opacity around 70%.

Step 11

To make the style even more vintage, let’s play a bit with a color balance layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Color Balance). I just modified the midtones until I was satisfied:

Finito!

Here is my final result! I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial.

Vectorize a Landscape Photo Into a Watercolor Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 07:34:00 -0800

I live in Turin (Italy) and the Mole is the symbol of this city. Rome has Colosseo, London the Big Ben whereas Turin has the Mole. It is a very good subject to use, vectorized, to decorate this city’s merchandising items. A city skyscraper is a must to do as merchandising subject for mug and t-shirt. The image may need several sizes and needs to retain it’s detail so a vector is the most suitable kind of file to use.

Follow this walkthrough on how to turn a landscape photo in an elegant watercolor painting like vector. The procedure, as usual, is just one of the thousand applications that you may found for the same technique. Weíll start by adjusting in a suitable way the photo in Photoshop and we will go ahead to get a sketchy figure skyline, fully detailed vector. For this purpose we will be using Adobe Illustrator.

Lets begin!

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Illustrator CS4
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 3-4 hours

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Introduction: the easiest way

There are several interesting and creative ways to create vector illustrations. The technique obviously depend on the final work you want to get, the kind of image you have (if you have one), and your experience to do the job.

The most common way are three, you can start from a blank canvas, from a sketch, or use a photo.

Starting from a blank canvas is the most difficult way. You have no lines to follow and you are alone with your creativity. The bad side of the technique is that you need to be really able and having strong hand-drawing skill.

The second option is hand-drawing a sketch of what you want first. Even to do this step you need to be able with hand-drawing but, once scanned the image, youíll have a template to work to.

The last way is the easiest one and that is the one we are going to use with this tutorial. You start from a photo of the thing you want to vectorize and use it as template building it up level by level.

Choosing the Right Photo

Once chosen the procedure the next extremely important step is choosing the right photo. Not anyone is good to start with. The right photo has to be well contrasted and not too dark but with definite distinction between light and shadow areas. This will help you in identifying the contours.

If you are not comfortable with taking picture than you can purchase images, from a stock photo service, which are suitable for your upcoming creation. Anyway the best thing to do is using shots from your own so that you are not occurring in copyright problems.

Preparing the Image in Photoshop

Step 1

Once identified the technique and chosen the image there are still few steps to accomplish. Before we get started are a few basics need to be covered. To make the vectorization working better once within Illustrator platform we need to prepare it by adjusting lights and levels, turning the image in w/b and deleting some areas of the picture.

As suggested, I prefer taking the picture which I use by myself. Last weekend, having a walk around Iive taken several pictures of the Turinís Mole Antonelliana. Among the various shots Iíve selected this nice and clear pic of the historical monument:

It contains several typical city elements: the Mole, the characteristic dormer windows, a beautiful streetlamp and an old-style tram recently restored. I think it well represent Turin and its beautiful elegance.

Open up the image in Photoshop. Adjust contrast and lights as you like and turn the image w/b by going to Image > Mode > Grayscale.

This is what you get:

Duplicate the level as backup and go ahead.

Step 2

Click CTRL + L (or CMD + L) to open the Level panel.

Adjust levels so that the gray in the sky disappears and leaves all around the main subject clean. Move the handles so that you clean the borders from exceeding gray or black shadows. Move the white handle toward the right side and the black handle toward left has shown below.

Step 3

Go then to Filter > Stylize > Trace Contour

This feature traces the areas in the picture that have the most contrast in value to each other.

Set Upper Edge and a tracing level high to better outline the image. Experiment with the options. These are the value and setting which Iíve used.

Step 4

Once that the photo has been stylized we need to make the lines darker. Duplicate the level, and apply a Multiply blending.

This is what we get.

Step 5

Select the white color by using the magic wand tool and refine the selection by going to Select > Similar.

Delete the white color and leave the image in a transparent level.

Step 6

Select the Rubber Tool. From the Rubber option panel select a dry brush, increase the size and delete part of the artwork. Consider that too many details will make the Illustrator file heavy to manage once vectorized. The cleaning up of the image will avoid a useless proliferation of anchor points.

In the example Iíve removed branches from the trees. In addition Iíve removed the border making the image suitable to fit different shapes without the need of constraining it in a frame.

Have you reminded yourself to save? If not (bad boy/girl!) than do it now.

Polished and with its undefined silhouette the image is now ready to be managed in Illustrator and turned in a vector.

Vectorizing the Image

Step 7

Create a new document by going to File > New.

The document size depending on what your artwork you are going to use for. Iíve selected a 15 x 25 cm size to be sure I can use it as design for a merchandising t-shirt.

In the advanced options choose CMYK as color mode because it has printing use, and High Resolution Raster Effect.

Step 8

Take your photo already managed with Photoshop and import it into Illustrator. To do that go to File > Place and choose the .psd file which you have previously saved.

Place it inside your artwork area.

Step 9

Keep the object selected and go to Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options

Step 10

This step is extremely important. The Tracing Option Panel contains a lot of parameters which are going to affect the vectorizing result. Let’s have a close reading to them.

Preset Specifies a tracing preset.

This change between different presets that Illustrator offers.

Mode

Specifies a color mode for the tracing result.

It allows to switch from black and white, grayscale, or color mode.

Threshold

Specifies a value for generating a black and white tracing result from the original image. All pixels lighter than the Threshold value are converted to white; all pixels darker than the Threshold value are converted to black. (This option is available only when Mode is set to Black and White.).

Palette

Specifies a palette for generating a color or grayscale tracing from the original image. (This option is available only when Mode is set to Color or Grayscale.)

To let Illustrator determine the colors in the tracing, select Automatic. To use a custom palette for the tracing, select a swatch library name. (The swatch library must be open in order for it to appear in the Palette menu.).

This allows you to specify your own color.

Max Colors

Specifies a maximum number of colors to use in a color or grayscale tracing result. (This option is available only when Mode is set to Color or Grayscale and when panel is set to Automatic.).

Obviously the more are the color the heavier is the file.

Output To Swatches

Creates a new swatch in the Swatches panel for each color in the tracing result.
This will give you a control on the colors automatically picked up from the image so that you may change them later.

Blur

Blurs the original image before generating the tracing result. Select this option to reduce small artifacts and smooth jagged edges in the tracing result.

Resample

Resamples the original image to the specified resolution before generating the tracing result. This option is useful for speeding up the tracing process for large images but can yield degraded results.

Fills

Creates filled regions in the tracing result.

Strokes

Creates stroked paths in the tracing result.

Max Stroke Weight

Specifies the maximum width of features in the original image that can be stroked. Features larger than the maximum width become outlined areas in the tracing result.

Min Stroke Length

Specifies the minimum length of features in the original image that can be stroked. Features smaller than the minimum length are omitted from the tracing result.

Path Fitting

Controls the distance between the traced shape and the original pixel shape. Lower values create a tighter path fitting; higher values create a looser path fitting.

Minimum Area

Specifies the smallest feature in the original image that will be traced. For example, a value of 4 specifies that features smaller than 2 pixels wide by 2 pixels high will be omitted from the tracing result.

Corner Angle

Specifies the sharpness of a turn in the original image that is considered a corner anchor point in the tracing result.

Raster

Specifies how to display the bitmap component of the tracing object.

Vector

Specifies how to display the tracing result.

[Italic text from Adobe Illustrator CS4 Help http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/14.0/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-6226a.html]

Not cited from the Adobe Help we still have:

Ignore White

It omits white from the vectorization. This means that all white areas will be empty and left transparent.

Preview

Le t you see what you have to expect from your settings. Pay attention that depending on the inserted values the preview may slow your computer in the image calculation process.

Info

The shown details hereby listed are the result in terms of anchor points, colors, etc, which coming from your chosen options.

Step 11

Go to Object > Live Trace > Expand the image shows the paths and you can edit whatever you like. This will give you a great flexibility if you need to modify shapes or anchor points.
Once finished lock the level and save.

Step 12

Once you have accomplished this step the main part of the work is completed. At this point the only thing to do is making it better by adding some creative elements. In the example, Iíve decided that my Mole Antonelliana artwork have to look like a watercolor painting. Thatís why I need now is the right tool for the job: a watercolor brush for Illustrator.

You can produce by yourself watercolor brushes or, otherwise, you can use free resources from the web to provide you with the elements you need to finish your artwork. Please, always pay attention to copyright and license of use for any resource you get. Respect your fellows work!

In the example Iíve downloaded the nice Vectips Watercolor Brushes from Vectips.com http://vtfreebi.es/65MP).

Download the resource and load the brush by going in the brush palette. Select the drop down menu and choose Open Brush Library > Other Library. Load the brush from the folder where you have saved it

Step 13

Letís start to paint our artwork to make it more attractive.

Create a new level. Choose brush number 5 and draw a line onto the tram. Change the color with a bright green one.

Step 14

Select brush number 1, pick a bright yellow color and draw few lines around the city lamp.

Step 15

Select brush number 6 and a dark green color. Make irregular circle in the branches area.

Step 16

Select brush number 5 again and with a gray color paint the city lamp pole.

Step 17

Choose cyan color and select brush number one. Make a circle in a new layer and move this layer behind that one which contains the Mole outline.

Step 18

We still can add a touch of color to the Mole by selecting brush n. 4 and red and drawing a single vertical line.

Step 19

Do not forget you sign! Otherwise how can people recognize your work? Sign in a new layer by using your tablet or, otherwise, scan your sign and follow a similar workflow as that one just accomplished to vectorize it well. To stick with the general style of the artwork Iíve handwritten it with my tablet.

And We’re Done!

Here below you can see the final image we get. The subtle and elegant watercolor effect matches perfectly with the general elegance of Turin as city. The outline is clear but detailed, really different form a cartoon style or a simple black silhouette skyline.

As said I think it is a perfect artwork to be printed on city merchandise. Here below Iíve mounted it on a t-shirt to let you see what I mean.
What do you think about?

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Create a Bright Retro Grunge Vector Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 23:06:00 -0800

Follow these steps in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create a range of vector shapes and graphics that can be combined into a great looking vector collage illustration. We’ll then finish off the illustration with some subtle touches of depth and detail, giving a polished graphic with hints of a retro-grunge style.

The header design here on Blog.SpoonGraphics has received many comments of praise and has been the subject of a good few questions and tutorial requests over the past year. So, I thought it was about time I created something which covers some of the processes of creating a similar graphic style. We’ll be using many of the same techniques I originally used in the website design, combined with some additional steps to create this neu-retro clean-grunge pop culture vector illustration.

Get started by opening up Adobe Illustrator, create a bunch of simple shapes as resources for future use. Graphics that fit into this pop culture style include overlapping circles, lightning bolts, stripy lines and swirls. A fitting colour scheme would be to limit the artwork to Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.

Create a bunch of concentric circles by copying (CMD+C), pasting in front (CMD+F), then scaling down while holding the Shift and Alt keys. Alternate the colours of the circles.

Group the individual group of circles and duplicate multiple times. Scale and position each group to form a stack of shapes.

Create a swirl by drawing two circles, one large, one small. Select both and head to Object > Blend > Make. Alter the Blend Options to the minimum spacing in the Specific Distance option.

Draw a separate curved line, then with the blend and the line selected, go to Object > Blend > Replace Spine.

Repeat the process to develop a bunch of swirls with various curves and directions.

Create a collection of overlapping circles with the Circle Tool, holding shift to keep the shapes proportional. With a bunch of shapes selected use the Add to Shape Area option from the Pathfinder window to merge them all together.

A variation of the circles would be to simply swap the fill for a thick stroke.

Draw a long, thin rectangle on the artboard, duplicate and move to one side. Use the Blend tool to create a range of stripes. Go to Object > Expand to convert the effect into a shape.

Rotate and overlap the collection of stripes onto a merged group of circles. Use the Subtract from Shape Area Tool from the Pathfinder to cut stripes into the underlying object.

Draw a couple of curved lines with the Pen Tool, add a stroke and select the Dashed Line option.

These few simple steps soon generate a little toolbox of resources to use in the illustration. We can use these elements in various colours to build up the collage.

Open up a paper texture in Adobe Photoshop, you can find this one from the collection of 5 brown paper textures post here on Blog.SpoonGraphics.

Paste in a selection of paper into a new document, adjust the colours and saturation to give a subtle paper texture. Use the Warp option in the Transform command to add a little curl to the corner.

Begin pasting in the vector elements from Illustrator into Photoshop, position the shapes below the paper layer to give the impression that they’re creeping from behind.

Continue pasting in various elements, alternating between Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. (Photoshop Tip: Use the Auto Select Layer option for the Move Tool to easily select and move elements without the need to find the appropriate layer in the layers palette)

Add some interest by pasting in elements so that they interact with the orientation of the artwork, so for instance add elements that appear to be falling or dripping vertically down the page.

After a while the shapes will begin to fill out the background area and produce a layered effect as they span further outwards.

Using the same shape, but in various positions can help flesh out the illustration. Use the rotate and flip-horizontaly options to give variation to the same element.

Finish off the composition with some tiny details and check over the layout for any elements that interfere with each other.

So far the vector elements add plenty of detail and dynamism to the illustration, but they do tend to look a little flat. Use the Burn Tool to draw in some subtle shadows. Set the tool to target Midtones, at a very low exposure (20%).

These little additions really start to bring the illustration to life and lift it from the screen.

Repeat the process, but this time with the Dodge tool to add some very subtle highlights to the elements.

Select the main central paper area, and add a soft drop shadow. Use a large size, but low opacity to give the most realism.

Paste in a couple more vector elements, this time above the paper area.

CMD-Click on the paper layer’s thumbnail to make a selection, CMD-SHIFT-I to inverse and delete out the excess from the vector shape.

Set the blending mode to Multiply to bring through the paper texture, and touch up with a brush of the Burn Tool.

The main collage portion of the illustration is now complete. Let’s move on to adding some content to the central page area.

Add some type to the design, here I’ve used the word ‘design’, split over two lines and set in a heavy, rounded font.

Continue adding various elements to the central design to fill out the space. Rotate the elements to match the orientation of the direction of the paper.

A few tweaks later and the design is taking shape. I made some decisions to continue the colour scheme into the main elements, but reduce the opacity to avoid them taking too much focus.

Paste in a high resolution texture into the background of the document. This one is from the highly useful Lost and Taken website.

How to Create an Abstract Vector Design in Illustrator How to Create an Abstract Vector Design in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 23:00:00 -0800

A great looking abstract design can be created from the simplest of shapes. Let’s take a look at compiling various geometric shapes and objects to form a dynamic composition in Illustrator, then polishing it all up with some transparency effects to create a trendy vector illustration.

Start work sketching out a rough plan for the design, taking into consideration the composition and general style of the illustration.

Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. Choose a generic size such as A4, and set the Color Mode to RGB for a choice of nice, vibrant colours.

Draw a 210x297mm rectangle onto the Artboard, align it centrally then add a soft grey to white radial gradient. This subtle addition gives a little depth to the design, rather than a boring flat white background.

Pick out a colour scheme of your choice. Here I’ve used an ice-cream inspired mix of baby blues, pinks and a couple of complementing greys. Draw a square at 7x7mm, copy (CMD+C) and paste in place (CMD+F). Then, press the ENTER key to Move the square a set distance horizontally, enter 7mm into the options.
Tip: Use CMD+D after pasting a new object to repeat the last transform command.

With all the coloured squares selected, click the New Brush icon in the Brushes palette. Select New Art Brush from the list.

In the options panel, ensure the direction of the brush is correct. Click the small arrow buttons to alter the orientation of the brush flow.

With the Pen Tool, draw a smooth flowing line spanning from the bottom left corner to the upper third of the document.

With the path selected, click the recently created brush in the Brushes Palette to give a cool stripe effect.

Go to Object > Expand Appearance to convert the path to a shape, then right click and Ungroup the objects.

Rather than have all the coloured stripes end abruptly, we want to tweak them to different lengths. Draw a temporary shape that crops off one of the stripes. With the shape and stripe selected choose the Subtract from Shape Area option in the Pathfinder.

Repeat this process with the remaining stripes at different positions, giving varied lengths to the lines.

Add some depth to the stripes by changing the flat colour to a gradient. Add a couple of extra swatches that add lighter and darker tones. It’s handy to keep a copy of the original swatches to one side to allow quick and easy colour picking.

Begin to add some secondary elements to the design, such as a bunch of grey circles. Draw each shape at a different size to fill out the empty space.

Overlap this area with another collection of circles, this time choose a different colour from the palette. Add a subtle gradient to give some depth to these new shapes.

Spice up the design with a touch of transparency. Draw a couple of new circles using the pink and blue colours, then change their blending mode to Overlay to react with the colours underneath, giving a vibrant theme to the design.

With circles being a prominent theme in the design, a set of halftone style elements would fit in well. Download a copy of the Vector Halftones from Think Design.

Add a few objects to fill out the space either side of the main flowing lines. Use the Overlay blending mode, or simply reduce the opacity to tone down the elements.

A variation of the circular shapes is a circle with a stroke, giving a ring shape that still fits in with the overall theme. Continue drawing lots of tiny shapes that give plenty of detail to the design.

Draw a separate circle elsewhere on the Artboard. Use the Direct Selection Tool to select two of the points. Hit delete to crop the circle down to a quarter.

Add a thick stroke to the line, the idea is to match the width of the main flowing lines, so a little trial and error is in order to match them exactly.

Position the new curved line accurately on the end of the blue stripe.

Overlap some large circle elements using the Overlay blending mode to break up the flow of the lines slightly.

Continue adding lots of little elements to the design. The key is to place the objects so that they span outwards from the central flowing lines.

Also place objects so that they interact with each other, which helps give variety to the shapes.

Spice up the overall background with some very large, faint circles.

The vector design is just about complete. The clean lines of vector work always looks pretty cool, but I always enjoy roughing up my designs a little in Photoshop to add some interesting texture and detail.

Copy the whole illustration, then open up Adobe Photoshop. Create a new layer in proportion to the design.

Paste in the vector elements and scale to the document boundaries. Being vector graphics they can be scaled to any size until they are rendered as pixels.

Head over to SXC to find a nice canvas texture. Copy the design into Photoshop and desaturate to remove the original colour cast.

Paste and scale the texture into place in the main document. Set the blending mode to Multiply and drop the opacity down to suit.

Duplicate the vector artwork layer then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Choose a low setting that just adds some grainy detail to the colours. Change the blending mode to Multiply and drop the opacity right down.

The illustration now has a nice grainy feel to it that contrasts against the clean and crisp line of the vector graphics.

Make any last tweaks such as a touch of Curves adjustment to bring out the darks and lights for more contrast.

The abstract vector illustration is now complete. The great thing is this type of work fits right into any type of design for print and web, or could be left as a design showcased on its own.

How to Create a Gearbox Settings Icon Using Simple Shapes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 22:56:00 -0800

Step 1

Begin by creating a new document of any size you’d like, I’ve used 600px by 400px, as that’s the size used for the tutorial images.

We’ll start with drawing the gear. First, draw a circle and center it relative to the artboard (by doing this we can easily align all of the shapes we’ll need to draw). Then draw three more circles that get progressively smaller toward the center (and center them in the artboard). Also, add a light gray fill to the circles, which will make it easier to work with the Pathfinder pallet when we cut out pieces of the circles.

Step 2

Next, select the largest and second largest circles, then open the Pathfinder palette and click the Minus Front button to subtract the smaller circle from the larger one.

Now select the other two smaller circles, and do the same.

Step 3

Next, draw a rectangle, center it vertically in the artboard, and place it over the top half of the circles.

Select it, and click the Rotate Tool in the toolbox. Hold down Alt and click the very center of the circles to place the light blue origin point there, and a dialog box will appear. We can now rotate the rectangle relative to the center of the circles. Since we want six of these spokes on the gear, enter 60 for the angle in degrees (360 / 6 = 60).

Then, click copy to make a copy of the rectangle rotated.

Finally, with the new rectangle still selected, press Command + D to repeat the transformation three more times, until you have five evenly spaced rectangles.

Step 4

Select all of the shapes, then in the Pathfinder palette click the Unite button to merge them into a single shape.

Finally, select the new shape and rotate it 30 degrees by selecting Object > Transform > Rotate from the menu.

Step 5

Now we’ve got the basis for our gear, but it’s lacking the critical attribute that makes a gear a gear – the teeth! So, draw a small rectangle as shown below.

Select the rectangle, and then go to Effect > Warp > Arc… enter -6 for Bend, and leave Horizontal and Vertical Distortion at 0, and click OK.

Then, select Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners…, enter 6 for the Radius in pixels, and click OK.

Step 6

Now that we’ve got our tooth, center it vertically in the artboard, and place it over the gear so that the outer edge of the gear meets just where the bottom corners of the tooth begin to curve.

Then, select the tooth and select Object > Expand Appearance to trace out the effects we added into a path.

Step 7

We now need to rotate the tooth around the rest of the gear, and we’ll do it the same way we did earlier with the spokes. Start by selecting the tooth and then the Rotate Tool from the toolbar. Then, Alt-click the very center of the gear. Since we want 18 teeth, enter a value of 20 for the angle in degrees (360 / 18 = 20).

And click copy to rotate a copy of the tooth.

With the second tooth still selected, press Command + D 16 more times, for a total of 18 teeth.

And finally, select all of the shapes and again click Unite in the Pathfinder palette to merge everything into a single shape.

Step 8

At this point we can remove the stroke from the gear and fill it with a slightly darker shade of gray (I used #C6C8CA).

Select the gear and copy it (Command + C), and paste it directly behind the original (Command + B). Then, fill it with a dark gray and nudge it down a few pixels.

And do the same thing again (copying the original gear and pasting it in back), but this time fill it with white and nudge it up a number of pixels (you might not see it unless you change your background color).

Now we can group all three shapes together, but before we do, make a copy of the top, light gray gear and move it off to the side – we’ll need it later.

Step 9

Draw a circle slightly larger than the smallest opening at the center of the gear, and add a thin stroke to it (enough to overlap both sides of the inner edge of the opening – I used 15px).

Select Object > Path > Outline Stroke to trace out the stroke.

Fill the new shape with a dark to light gray gradient (from top to bottom).

And finally select the shape and send it to the back (Command + Left Bracket key , or right-click and select Arrange > Send to Back).

Step 10

Now repeat the same process as in the last step, but overlap the second largest circular edge as shown below. Fill this circle with a dark to light gray radial gradient, going from dark in the center to light toward the edges.

Step 11

Now, select this shape, copy it (Command + C) and paste it directly in front (Command + F). Now change its gradient from radial to linear.

Then, change its blending mode (in the Transparency palette) to Overlay and lower its Opacity to 50%.

And finally, select both of the ring shapes and send them to the very back (Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 12

We’ve almost finished the gear. The last step is to add a bit of a metallic texture to it. Alright, so we do have to use the Pen Tool, but this is the only time, and it’s easy – promise.

Draw a few oddly shaped triangles (some distortion is good, we don’t want them perfectly equilateral), and have their points all converging in the center. Now fill them with varying shades of gray.

Select all of the shapes and group them (Command +G). Then, select Effect > Blur > Radial Blur…

Enter 50 for the amount, and set the method to Spin.

Note: the radial blur effect is quite processor-intensive, so if you’re working on a slower computer, you can set the quality to Draft for now. This will greatly speed up rendering of the effect, and you can easily go back and change it to Good or Best before you save the final product as a graphic or print it.

Step 13

Still have that copy of the original gear shape we made way back a while ago? Good, because now it’s time to use it (and just in case, in your infinite wisdom, you decided not to follow my advice to make a copy, you can just make a copy of it now. Once you’ve got the shape, move it over the top of the metal texture, and center them with each other.

Select both objects, and then select Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Command + 7).

And finally, center the shape horizontally and vertically in the artboard, and group all of the shapes together that compose the gear. And we’re finished with that!

Step 14

Now it’s time to create the box that will contain our gears (and form the boundaries and shape of our icon). Start be creating a rectangle that covers about 2/3 of the gear. Fill it with a light to medium gray gradient.

Next, select Effect > Stylize > Round Corners…, enter 20px for the radius, and click OK.

Then, select Object > Expand Appearance to convert the rounded corners into a path.

Step 15

Continue by drawing a smaller rectangle above the first. This will designate our window through which we’ll see the gears. Center it with the first rectangle.

Select both rectangles…

…and click the Minus Front button in the Pathfinder palette to cut the smaller rectangle out of the larger one.

Step 16

We’ll now repeat the process again that we did earlier with the gear, to create the inner bevel around the window. Start by drawing a rectangle a bit larger than the window opening.

Change it’s stroke to something fairly thick, enough to overlap the window edge (I used 20px).

Send it to the back (Command + Left Bracket key).

Select Object > Path > Outline Stroke to trace out the path into a shape.

And fill it with a black to white gradient (top to bottom).

Step 17

We’ll repeat the same process one last time to create the bevel around the outer edge. Draw the slightly smaller rectangle and change it to a thick stroke.

But this time before we outline it, we’ll round the corners to match the box.

Now outline the stroke and send it to the back.

And finally, fill it with a gray to white gradient (bottom to top this time).

Step 18

Now we need to add the perforated metal backing to the box. Start by drawing a rectangle slightly larger than the window opening, and fill it with a dark gray.

To add the perforated holes, draw two small circles, one smaller than the other, and place them in the top-left corner of the rectangle. Fill the smaller one in front with black and the larger one behind with a dark gray to white gradient (top to bottom).

Group the two circles together and select Object > Transform > Move… Enter 40px for horizontal and 0px for vertical, and click Copy.

Now with the second hole still selected, press Command + D to repeat the transformation. Keep repeating until you have a row about the same width as the rectangle. Then, group the row of holes together.

Step 19

Select the row and go to Object > Transform > Move… again. This time, enter 0px for horizontal and -40px for vertical and click Copy.

Now press Command + D again to repeat the transformation. Once you’ve filled the rectangle, select all of the rows, and group them into a single object.

Step 20

Select the grouped holes and again, and select Object > Transform > Move… and this time enter 20px for horizontal and -20px for vertical.

Click Copy, and then select all of the holes and group them one more time.

And finally, select the grouped holes and the rectangle and center them relative to each other.

Step 21

To complete the box, group the holes and rectangle and move them behind the frame we created earlier.

Select the inner bevel shape of the frame, and add a drop shadow to it.

Then, add a drop shadow to the outer bevel shape as well.

Step 22

Now that we’ve got the main components done, all that’s left to do is assemble them!

Start by making two copies of the gear (make sure to group all of the shapes first) and place them in the bottom corners of the main one.

Add a drop shadow to each of the gears, and then group all three. You can also rearrange them however you’d like (I move the two front gears a bit farther up, so they’ll be more visible through the window).

Now, draw a rectangle the same size as the window opening (or it can be a bit larger, just not smaller), and place it over the gears. You can position it however you’d like, as whatever is covered by the rectangle is all that will show through in the final image.

Once you’ve positioned it how you want, select both the gear group and the rectangle, and then select Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

Step 23

Drag the gears into the box and center the box and gears with each other. Then, send the gears to the back and bring them forward until they’re directly above the perforated backing, but behind the frame.

And finally, the last step is to add the reflection to simulate a glass window over the opening. Create a rectangle the width of the opening and about 1/2 the height.

Then draw a large ellipse above the rectangle. We’re only really interested in the arc it creates over the bottom of the rectangle, so make sure it completely covers the rest.

Select both the ellipse and the rectangle, and then select Intersect in the Pathfinder palette. Then delete the excess shapes.

Step 24

Now, add a transparent gradient to the shape (from top to bottom, with the top being more opaque and the bottom being more transparent). This can be done in Illustrator CS4 with the transparent gradients, or in earlier versions with an opacity mask.

For Illustrator CS4

In the gradient palette, add two white color stops, one at each end. Set mode to Linear and the angle to -90 degrees. Then, set the transparency of the left stop to 100% and the right stop to 50%.

Then, set the overall transparency of the shape to 50% (in the Transparency palette). In addition, send the shape backwards until it is above the gears and backing, but behind the outer frame (so that the shadow is visible over it).

For Illustrator CS3 and Earlier

Fill the object with solid white, and then copy it (Command +C) and paste the copy in front (Command + F).

Add a linear gradient to it, with a -90 degree angle. Drag a color stop to each end, and make the left one white and the right one 50% gray.

Then, select both reflection shapes and click the small menu icon in the top right corner of the Transparency palette. In the menu that pops up, select Make Opacity Mask.

And finally, lower the overall transparency of the shape to 60%. In addition, send the shape backwards until it is above the gears and backing, but behind the outer frame (so that the shadow is visible over it).

Conclusion

We’re finished! Hopefully this tutorial has demonstrated some of the power of simple shapes, transformations, and tools like the Pathfinder, and how they can be used to produce quality illustrations and graphics. Good luck with your own work!

Create a Realistic Candy Bar in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:24:00 -0800

Realistic renderings can be done easily in Adobe Illustrator.
With vector shapes, the objects can be preserved and edited infinitely which is a great advantage over raster objects.
A few simple tweaks from the Effects menu and an understanding of basic object rendering can create a bold and stunning finish.
In this tutorial, created exclusively for WDD by Wendy Ding, she’ll be guiding you step by step through the stages required to create a realistic candy bar using Illustrator.

18 Jun

Create a Realistic Candy Bar in Illustrator

Illustrations, Illustrator, Tutorials

53 comments

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1. Sketch

Start by sketching the overall shape complete with linear guides, which will be used to show how to define the vector shapes that we’ll be drawing on top. Define the main shape, wrinkles, highlights and shadow areas. It helps to use an actual candy bar or an image of one for reference.

2. Import to Illustrator

Scan the sketch into Photoshop and adjust Image > Adjust > Brightness / Contrast until the lines are clearly visible. Open Illustrator and import the sketch using File > Place.
In the Layers panel, double click on the sketch layer to bring up the layer options pop-up window and check Template. For tracing purposes, the sketch can be dimmed to be less visible if preferred.

3. Stacking Order

It is crucial in vector files to have a logical stacking order of the layers. The elements all work together cumulatively, so be sure to arrange separate elements accordingly.
For example, the main wrapper, highlights, shadows and text all have their own respective layer. It also helps to name the layers appropriately.

4. Tracing Technique

An efficient way to trace and color in Illustrator is to first create the shape using the Pen tool with a default white fill and black stroke (or no fill, depending on your preference).

Then, when the shape is finalized, select a color or gradient and apply it.

5. Main Shape

Create a new layer on top of the sketch template layer, so as to use the sketch template layer a guide. Trace along the main wrapper shape with the Pen tool, taking care to add details such as the zig-zagged ends.
Omit the bottom portion and top right corner of the wrapper for now, as this will be dealt with separately. Fill the shape with a very subtle yellow gradient of #F7EC94 to #F6E22C at an angle of -104.25.

6. Bottom Portion

On a new layer above the main wrapper layer, trace along the sketch to create the bottom portion. Apply a tan-hued gradient of #C8C26A to #A9A574 at an angle of -105.59.

7. Top Corner

Create a new layer on top and trace the top right corner of the wrapper. To make the top corner look creased, draw a new black stroke with no fill across the bottom corner – this will be the dividing line.

With both the corner shape and the black line selected, click the Divide button in the Pathfinder panel to separate the shapes. Right click (ctrl-click) and select Ungroup.

Now, apply a gradient of #FAEE8A to #E5D64B at an angle of -107.48 to the bigger shape, and #5A530B to #F6E775 at an angle of 91.66 to the smaller piece.
Last, change the Opacity of the smaller piece under the Transparency panel to 35% Color Burn.

8. Candy Bar Name

On a new layer, trace the shape of the candy bar name. Try to trace the letters slightly skewed and wrinkled to make it appear more realistic. Use the Divide method from the last step to create hollow letters like “O” or “e”, except instead of a line, use a shape as the divider.

The colors can be set to various gradients, as long as they give the letters the appropriate contouring of the form beneath them. Notice how this application gives the illusion of highlights.

Next, make a new layer underneath the name layer and trace a slightly bigger outline around the letters in a white fill and no stroke.

9. Main Shadows

For best results, use an actual candy bar or image of one for reference as this makes it easier to plot out the shadow areas.
A general rule regarding shadows: for direct folds, the shadows are crisp and darker; for slight creases, the shadows are lighter and blurrier. Also, shadows can differ in size and shape: some are large and rounded, while others are small and linear.
Use the Pen tool to first create the various shadow areas.

With a combination of experimentation and using actual reference, set the color and value of each shadow to match the amount that you see in the folds in your reference candy bar. Gradients can also be applied to get the look right.
There are two ways to blur a shape: 1) select it and click Effect > Stylize > Feather. With Preview turned on, toggle the amount till satisfied. 2) Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Another tip is to play with the Opacity to tone some shadows down. This may take some patience to get the results right.

10. Gradient Mesh

For tricky shadows, use the Gradient Mesh tool from the Tools panel. With this, the way the gradients bend and move can be custom-controlled, curved and angled.
Make the grid fuller by adding points with the Pen tool and take them away by selecting and deleting each point. Drag and position the anchor points with the Direct Select Cursor (A). Experiment with it to produce a look that feels right.

11. Highlights

Generally, candy bar wrappers are shiny and give off a sheen. On a new layer with the Pen tool, create a large shape that encompasses the main highlighted area. Create a few more smaller areas for secondary highlights.

Change the fill for the highlights to white with no stroke. Now, similar to the shadows, experiment with Blur and Opacity to determine the right look.
It is important to tone down the highlights so that it looks like a slight wash over the other objects instead of a patch of white. This is what makes highlights natural and realistic.

12. Shadows 2

Now the topmost portion needs a bit more shadow. On a new layer, create shapes with the Pen tool similar to the first set of shadows, but smaller in size and less in quantity.
These shadows are different because they are not the main ones. They are also subtler.

Instead of darker colors, apply gradients in a tan or light brown to pale yellow, which gently add hints of folding and creases.

13. Cast Shadow

The cast shadow falls on the opposite side of the light source, which in this case is along the bottom and right side of the wrapper.
On a new layer, underneath all the other layers, first trace along the bottom of the wrapper to make the bottom shadow. Then, trace along the right side of the wrapper for the right shadow.
Do not trace it in the same exact shape as the wrapper since this is a shadow, which should look different.

Select both shapes and move them so that they sit slightly below and to the right of the wrapper. Now, set the fill to a gradient of 70% grey to 37% grey with no stroke.
Last, add Gaussian blur (Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to both shapes: the bottom shape at 2.8 pixels, and the right shape at 1.6 pixels. This is the final step in making the candy bar realistic because it grounds the object.

How to Create a Smokin’ Western Type Treatment in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:21:00 -0800

In this easy tutorial, I will show you how to create a western type treatment primary using Illustrator’s Effects. Using the effects from this tutorial, you can easily apply them to other type treatment and logos. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Step 1

Create a new document. Now with the Text Tool (T), type out the appropriate text. For this tutorial I typed “Western,” but you can type whatever you like. I used the font Country Store from the County Fair Picnic set through Font diner. Even though it cost $28 for 12 fonts, you can download something similar for free, like the Western font from Dafont.

Step 2

With the text selected, go Effect > Warp > Arc Lower. In the Warp Options dialog, change the Bend to -20, keep the Horizontal and Vertical Distortion at 0, and press OK.

Step 3

Use the Text Tool (T) and type some more text below “Western.” In the tutorial example I typed out “Bar and Grill,” but again, you can type whatever you like. In the Type panel, change the font to Glypha (or similar Slab Serif font), change the font size and adjust the Tracking so there is more space between the letters.

Step 4

With the Star Tool (the Star Tool is grouped under the shape tools in the Tools panel) create a star in-between the “Bar” and “And” text. Make the star’s height about half the size of the text. Next, create another star, the same size, and in-between the “And” and “Grill” text.

Step 5

Select the “Bar And Grill” text, the stars, and Group them (Command + G). With the new group selected, go Effect > Warp > Arch. In the Warp Options dialog, change the Bend to 20, keep the Horizontal and Vertical Distortion at 0, and press OK.

Step 6

Type “The” with the Type Tool (T), change the font to Glypha Bold, make sure the Tracking is set to zero, and place it directly above the “Western” text.

Step 7

Select the two warped areas and go Object > Expand Appearance. Next select “The” and go to Type Create Outlines (Command + Shift + O).

Step 8

With the Pen Tool, create an uneven shape extending from the left of the “W” in “West” to the right side of “The.” Don’t worry about making the shape very consistent, you want the shape to have some unevenness and jagged edges.

Step 9

Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the new shape. Next, go Object > Transform > Reflect and choose Vertical from the Reflect dialog. Now, move the copied shape to the other side of the “The” word.

Step 10

Create a rectangle the size of your document with the Rectangle Tool (M) and place it behind the text and other shapes by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back (Command + Shift + Left Bracket key).

Step 11

Fill the rectangle with a linear gradient from the Gradient panel. For this gradient we are going to add an extra Color Stop to the gradient. To do this, click in the middle right below the Gradient Slider in the Gradient panel. Change the first Color Stop to a khaki color, the second to a light khaki color, and the last Color Stop to a darker khaki color than the first.

Step 12

With the Gradient Tool (G), adjust the gradient by clicking at the top of the rectangle and dragging to the bottom.

Step 13

With the Rectangle Tool (M), create a rectangle that is very small in comparison to the gradient rectangle just created. Make sure the rectangle is taller than it is wide. The one I created is roughly 13 px wide by 90 px tall. Your measurements might vary depending on the size of your text and document. Place the rectangle towards the bottom-left of the document.

Step 14

Fill the rectangle with a 40 percent gray and then go Effect > Sketch > Graphic Pen. Once in the Graphic Pen dialog, change the Stroke Length to 15, the Light/Dark Balance to 100, and the Stroke Direction to Horizontal.

Step 15

With the Graphic Pen rectangle selected, go Object > Expand Appearance. Once expanded, the Control panel defaults to the Live Trace Option. In the Control panel, press the Tracing Presets and Options button (the small arrow button in-between the Live Trace and Mask button) and chose One Color Logo from the list. Next, press the Expand button in the Control Panel.

Step 16

With the texture selected, use the Selection Tool (V) and scale the texture vertically and horizontally until it is slightly bigger than the gradient rectangle.

Step 17

Select both the texture and the gradient rectangle, then Send them to the back (Command + Shift + Left Bracket key). Next, select the gradient rectangle, Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F).
Select the copied rectangle and the texture, then press the Intersect button in the Pathfinder panel. Now, change the fill of the texture to a khaki color and change the Blending mode to Multiply from the Transparency panel.

Step 18

Select the “The Text” and fill it with a Radial Gradient from the Gradient panel. Change the first Color Stop to red and the second to a darker red. Next, change the blending mode to Multiply from the Transparency panel.

Step 19

With the “The” text selected, Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) twice. Select the top copy and move it to the left and down slightly.
Select the moved copy and the copy underneath, then press the Minus Front button in the Pathfinder panel. Change the fill on the new shape to a light brown and set the blending mode to Multiply from the Transparency panel.

Step 20

If you zoom into some of the “The” text you will see little areas where the Minus pathfinder command went into the next letter. To clean some of this up, use the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-), and selectively delete some point to create a more consistent shape.

Step 21

Repeat Steps 18 through 20 with the “Bar and Grill” text. Make sure to Ungroup (Command + Shift + G) the star shape from the text before you start the steps.

Step 22

Select the “Western” text, the shapes above “Western,” the star shapes, then fill them with a light brown color, and set the blending mode to Multiply.

Step 23

Repeat Steps 19 through 20 for each of the “Western” text, shapes above “Western,” and the star shapes.

Step 24

Select the “Western” text and the shapes above it, then go Object > Path > Offset. In the Offset dialog change the Offset to -5 px (this measurement might actually be different depending on the size of you text, basically you want the offset to inset the original shape slightly).

Step 25

Fill the Offset shapes with a 20 percent gray and change the blending mode to Soft Light from the Transparency panel.

Step 26

With the offset shapes still selected, go Effect > Stylize > Feather, then in the Feather dialog change the Feather Radius to 8 px (again, depending on the size of your text, the Feather Radius might be larger or smaller).

Step 27

Now that the text is done, we can dress it up with some bullet holes! First, pick a spot for your first bullet hole. With the Pencil Tool (N), draw small uneven ellipse shape. Fill the shape with a light brown and set it to Multiply.

Step 28

Draw another smaller ellipse shape with the Pencil Tool (N) and fill it with black. Also, draw some black ripple like shapes around the black ellipse with the Pencil Tool (N).

Step 29

With the Pencil Tool (N), draw a smoke shape coming out of the bullet hole. Fill the Shape with a 10 percent black and set the Opacity to 0 from the Transparency panel.

Step 30

Draw another smoke shape within the first, fill it with white, and change the Opacity to 50 percent.

Step 31

Select both smoke shapes and go Object > Blend > Make.

Step 32

Create as many bullet holes throughout the piece as you want. All done!

Final Image

Again below is a final image of the text treatment.

How to Create a Rainy Window Vector Background

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:16:00 -0800

Using the Symbolism Tools, plus a bit of Gradient Mesh, learn to make a realistic window covered with raindrops. This is an advanced tutorial that assumes a fair amount of Illustrator experience, but everyone should be able to follow along. It can be done with earlier versions of Illustrator, but takes full advantage of newer features in CS4. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4
Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Step 1

Create a new document 11 inches by 8.5 inches. It can be CMYK or RGB, whichever you prefer. Before beginning, set up a color group of about eight different blues. I will refer to these colors as “1″ for the lightest, “8″ for the darkest, and the others numbered accordingly.

Step 2

Draw a square the same dimensions as your artboard, and fill it with a medium blue from your color group. Go to Object > Create Gradient Mesh, then enter 6 rows and 6 columns.

Step 3

Now manipulate the mesh points to create an amorphous, abstract background. Click individual mesh points and color them with different blues from the color group. It doesn’t have to be complicated. This will serve as an out-of-focus landscape or cityscape in the distance.

Step 4

Lock the layer with the background on it, and create a new one above it. Draw several circles of various sizes, and place them randomly above the background. Fill the circles with some of the lighter blues, and change the Opacity to 60% – 80%. These circles are meant to look like lights in the background.
Place lighter circles over the lighter areas of the mesh, and more transparent ones over the darker areas. Select all the circles and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter 4 pixels. Select a few circles and change the blur to 6 pixels.
This will give more depth to the “lights.” It’s okay if some of the circles fall off the artboard &mdash you can trim those later. The illustration should look like the image below.

Step 5

Lock the circles layer and create a new one above it. Draw an ellipse, and fill it with a four-stop radial gradient like the one below. Adjust the gradient so that the white is at the bottom edge of the ellipse. The Gradient Annotator in Illustrator CS4 makes this somewhat easier, but you can achieve the same result with earlier versions.

Step 6

Apply an Inner Glow to the ellipse, as below. Note: This step is optional. Raster effects may use more processing power, and thus slow things down. Proceed according to the speed of your computer.

Step 7

Draw a long, somewhat thin ellipse, and fill it with the lightest blue (Blue #1). Go to Effect > Warp > Arc, and enter the values below. This will be the highlight of the raindrop. Place the warped ellipse over the gradient-filled ellipse you just created.
Arrange it at the top and rotate it off-center. Enlarge or reduce it to fit the raindrop. When it looks good, go to Object > Expand Appearance. Apply a radial gradient to the highlight, as below, and change the Blending Mode to Screen.

Step 8

Duplicate the original ellipse, send it behind, and fill it with a subtle, dark linear gradient. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 80%. This will be the shadow of the raindrop.

Step 9

Duplicate the raindrop twice. Adjust the gradients on each; One will be a lighter version of the original, the other will be a darker version.

Step 10

Drag each drop into the Symbols panel. Choose Graphic as the Type, and name each new symbol if you like. I named mine “Droplet Light,” “Droplet Medium” and “Droplet Dark.”

Step 11

Now that you have the symbols created, tear of the Symbolism Tools by clicking and holding the Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift + S). Move your mouse over the vertical tearoff bar, then release. This will make it easier to use the various symbol tools. Trivia: All the Symbolism tools start with the letter ‘S.’

Step 12

Select the Symbol Sprayer Tool, click on the lighter droplet symbol, and drag the cursor across the top third of the illustration. Spray a few symbols, then Command-click to deselect and start another group.
Loosely cover the top third with droplets. Do the same thing for the middle third, and the bottom third, using the respective droplet symbols for those sections (medium and dark).
Change the diameter of the tool, if necessary, by pressing the right and left brackets. You will end up with several symbol instances, and your illustrations should look something like the image below.

Step 13

Now select the Symbol Sizer Tool. Randomly click on the symbols to change their size. Hold down the Alt key to reduce the size. You want to end up with lots of different sizes of raindrops. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it. Try clicking directly on top of a droplet to change its size. To further randomize the symbols, use the Symbol Shifter Tool to move them around.

Step 14

You can duplicate individual symbol instances, and re-size them as a group. Try squishing some of the drops so they are longer than they are wide. It’s up to you how wet you want your window to be, so make as many copies of the symbol instances as you like, then rearrange them to look random and natural.
Once you’re satisfied with the raindrops, expand the Symbols by going to Object > Expand. This will result in individual symbols, so go to Object > Expand again to release the symbols to objects.

Step 15

You can now make final tweaks to the raindrops. Randomize the size and placement, and separate drops that overlap. Your illustration should look something like the image below.

Step 16

Now for some finishing touches. Make a new layer above the “circles” layer, and below the “drops” layer. Use the Blob Brush Tool (Shift + B) and draw a few loose drips, starting at the top of the page.
Fill the shapes with a dark gradient (Blue 8 to Blue 6), and change the blending mode in the Transparency panel to Soft Light. Adjust the gradients so that the drips fade into the window pane.

Conclusion

Press the right bracket key to enlarge the diameter of the Blob Brush and, if you like, draw other shapes or words on the window, as if you are making marks with your finger on a wet window. Finally, trim off the circles and drips that extend beyond the artboard, and you’re done!

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Make an Icy Cocktail

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:12:00 -0800

Do you desire to drink an icy refreshing cocktail on a sunny day? I know I am, so in this Illustrator tutorial, I will explain how I draw a refreshing cocktail drink in Adobe illustrator. Hope you will find this useful and inspiring to make other kinds of drinks or cocktails.

Drawing the Glass Shape

Open a new document, any size, RGB mode. Take the Pen tool and draw the shape that you see in the image below or just draw half of it and then reflect it to be symmetrical, like I did. Fill it with the linear gradient shown. Colors are: (230,230,230) or 10% black; white (255,255,255) and (204,204,204) 20% black.

Now copy and paste in front this shape. Take the Direct Selection tool and select the upper point of the shape and drag it a bit down like in the image. Make the same with the lower point of the shape. Then fill it with the linear gradient shown using the colors: (191,191,191) or 25% black; white (255,255,255) and (230,230,230) 10% black.

Next, copy and paste in front of the shape again and make it a little smaller. Fill it with the linear gradient using the colors: (77,77,77) 70% black; white and (51,51,51) 80% black, then set it to Color Burn. We will use this shape again later to make the liquid inside the glass. You should get something like in the image below:

Drawing the Glass Legs

Now let’s make the ‘leg’ of the glass. Draw the shape from the image below or just half of it and reflect it, then fill it with the gradient shown: (204,204,204) 20% black; (230,230,230) 10% black; white; (242,242,242) 5% black and (153,159,164).

Drawing the Glass Foot

For the ‘foot’ of the glass take the Ellipse tool and draw the shape that you see in the image and fill it with the linear gradient. Colors I’ve used are: (230,230,230) 10% black; white and (178,178,178) 30% black. To create more depth, copy and paste the shape that we just made, fill it with a darker gray and place it like in the image below. Now, the glass should look like this:

Coloring the Drink

It’s time to color the drink. Copy the shape that I said we will use it for this part and fill it the gradient using the colors: (63,98,46); (85,124,62); (168,194,88); (248,211,103) and (251,232,191) or any other colors that you prefer. The original shape, set to Color Burn that we made, has to be on top of this one not the other way.

Next, draw a simple shape like the one below and fill it with a linear gradient using the orange from above and a darker one. This way we will get the surface of the liquid inside and a more realistic look for the cocktail.

Drawing the Ice Cubes

Now, we will make the ice cubes. Take the Pencil tool and draw some shapes like the ones below. Fill them with a radial gradient from white to black, set the mode to Screen and lower the opacity for each one of them. You can adjust this later also till you like what you see.

Now place them all on top of the glass shape and you should have now something like this:

Adding in Details for Ice Cubes

We will continue to add some details to the ice cubes. Take the Pencil tool, draw some random shapes and fill them using different shades of orange. If necessary, lower the opacity for each one of them.

Creating Reflections

We will add some reflections in this step. With the Pen tool draw the shapes from the image below, fill them with a linear gradient using white and a similar green color to the one used for the liquid, then set the mode to multiply and lower the opacity.

Water Fizzles

To make the cocktail look more realistic, I decided to draw some water fizzles on the glass. With the Pen tool draw a shape like the one below or any other shape that will fit on top of the glass later. Copy and paste the shape and fill it with the linear gradient shown using black, white and gray. Place the second shape on top of the first one and go to Transparency panel and select Make opacity mask.

Now go to Effects/Pixelate/Mezzotint and select Fine Dots. Place the shape on top of the glass, set the mode to Screen and reduce the opacity till you get the icy effect that you like.

Water Droplets Dripping Effect

Take the Pen tool and draw a shape like the next one to make the water drop flow. Fill it with a linear gradient using the same colors like the drink inside the glass. Next, go to Effects/Pixelate/Crystallize and set the Cell size to 4, this will make the flow look more natural.

Now, place the shape on top of the water fizzles shape made earlier. Set the mode to multiply and lower the opacity.

Water Droplets

For the water droplets, take the Ellipse tool, draw 3 shapes, color them with (63,98,46) dark green; (179,202,109) light green and white, then place them on top of each other like in the image below. Go to Effects/Stylize/Drop Shadow and set the values like you see in the image and then group them all.

Placing the Water Droplets

Place the water drop like in the image and reduce the opacity to 25%. Copy one more water droplet and made it smaller to get a more realistic look.

We are done with this part and the cocktail should now look like the image below.

Drawing the Straw

It’s time to draw the cocktail accessories. With the Pen tool draw a shape like a straw. Fill it with white and a 0.5px light gray stroke.

With the Rectangle tool draw a small rectangle, fill it with green or other color that you prefer and drag it to the Brushes panel. Then I made the orange rectangle, we will need this one later for the second straw.

Next, draw a path with the Pen tool following the straw shape and stroke it using the green brush that we just made. Place it on top of the other one and make an Opacity mask. Copy the straw shape, select the path with the green stroke, double click the black square that you see in the image and paste the straw shape that we copied, then exit the mask mode. You should get something like in the image below.

Now make another Opacity mask so the bottom of the straw looks more transparent when we will place it in the glass. You can adjust the mask later if needed.

Make the second straw like we did the green one. Then place them on top of the glass and adjust the Opacity mask for both of them to look realistic. I got something like this:

Drawing the Umbrella Stem

We will make the little umbrella for our cocktail. Use the brush from the Library that you see in the image, Expand appearance and fill it with a light brown. Copy and paste this shape, then delete the points except the 3 ones from the tip to make the little shape from the image. Copy and make 8 shapes that we will use later.

Drawing the Umbrella

Using the Pen tool draw a shape like the one below and fill it with a linear gradient using 2 green colors or other colors that you prefer. Draw some lines starting from the top and color them using a light and a dark green like in the image below.

Next, place the 8 shapes that we made earlier and draw with the Pen tool the little shape on top. The flower I used is from the Symbols Library and I set it to multiply. The umbrella is ready and should look like this:

Cocktail Stirrer

Next using the Ellipse tool and the Rounded Rectangle tool draw the cocktail stirrer. Fill them with a linear gradient. The colors that I have used are (244,237,203) and (244,187,58).

Final Cocktail

The final cocktail image is done. The final image of the cocktail looks like this:

Hope you have enjoyed this cocktail tutorial and find it useful and refreshing.

How to Create an Energy Saving Bulb in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:09:00 -0800

Here we’re showing how to create an energy saving bulb with the help of the Illustrator’s Mesh Tool. At the beginning it could be quiet hard to work with, but if you get used to it, it’s fairly simple.

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one?

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
Estimated Completion Time: 3-5 hours

Step 1

As the first step you will need a shape of an energy saving bulb to start with. Either you pick a good photograph or you make one on your own in vector graphics as shown here. Here we draw our bulb with the Pen Tool, easy as can be.

Step 2

Now you start making the first glowing rod by placing a rectangle as broad as the rod could be.

Step 3

Now divide the rectangle into four parts by using the Mesh Tool (shown in the toolbar). It’s important that you don’t click in the rectangle, but at the edge on the left or right side of the vertical center of the rectangle.

Step 4

As you see here, you have to repeat Step 3 two more times to have it divided into all four parts.

Step 5

Grab the Direct Selection Tool (A), and use it to select the top 6 anchors of your rod, then rotate these by 90 degrees.

Step 6

Select the outer four anchors of the rotated part and rotate these again by 90 degrees to create an arch.

Step 7

Hide your rod for a moment and draw in four guidelines as shown below. This will help you to position your mesh.

Step 8

Place the rod as shown below and between the guidelines. Make sure you drag the rod parts by the anchors to align them at the guidelines by having the magnetic guidelines active.

Step 9

Now this part is going to get tricky. The shape for our first part is ready and now you have to place further mesh anchors, so later on you can colorize it to get a gradient effect into your rod.
Place the anchors of the mesh by clicking with the Mesh Tool at the bottom edges to get vertical divisions. Also add another two diagonal divisions in the curve as you can see below. This helps to give a more detailed look to the mesh gradient.

Step 10

Now let’s build one of the side rods, which we can later just copy for the other side. Place a rectangle and divide it into three parts like in the picture below. Notice that the main rod in the center is located a bit in the front, so you have to scale this rod a bit up (big red marker).

Step 11

Form the shape to conform your rectangle to the shape of your bulb and divide it again with the Mesh Tool.

Step 12

Now you’re good to go for colorizing your rods to have a smooth light effect. Select an anchor and then you just pick the color in your color palette.

Step 13

This image below shows you how the the final effect should look.

Step 14

Copy your side rod to the other side now.

Step 15

The upper part is done. For the lower body you basically have to do the same thing as you did with the rods, just in another shape, which means forming and dividing the mesh shape. So first you place a rectangle to start with.

Step 16

Now you divide the rectangle with the Mesh Tool. Make sure that you divide the rectangle by looking at the corners of the main shape.

Step 17

Justify the rectangle by using the Direct Select Tool (A) on the main shape, as shown below.

Step 18

Once you’re satisfied with the result of your horizontal divisions, add two vertical mesh lines.

Step 19

Now start adding color to your mesh grid just like in Step 12.

Step 20

Finally it should look like the image below.

Step 21

Like the last two parts you’ll have to do the same procedure. First draw a rectangle, divide it with the Mesh Tool by observing the main shape. This time, add an additional mesh line over the first division where the thread starts (arrow).

Step 22

Select every second anchor on both sides as shown in the screenshot and scale them down to build the thread.

Step 23

Now move the left side down to fit the main shape.

Step 24

Justify the lower left corner to the main shape, add further mesh lines in the thread and divide the shape vertically with seven mesh lines to create a nice metallic effect.

Step 25

When all lines are set, you can start adding color on the vertical divisions. Important: Don’t start coloring horizontally or else you’ll just make it harder for yourself. It should look like the image below after coloring.

Step 26

Add some dark gray on the darker parts of the thread.

Step 27

Finally it’s supposed to look like the image below.

Step 28

Here you just create a simple rectangle, divided it vertically with the Mesh Tool. Afterwards, you scaled the lower part down and formed the curve points into a trapezium.

Step 29

For the last step, this is an easy one. Make a circle, cut it in a half, scale it flat and add a linear gradient on it.

Conclusion

This is the final energy saving bulb. Enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:05:00 -0800

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

There are numerous micro-stock websites that vector designers can design for and make consistent earnings through. Envato runs a few stock sites, such as Graphic River, which you may be interested in participating in. You may find the article on Freelance Switch about making money through selling your work on stock sites enlightening as well. There are some great tips in that article.
I have quite a bit of experience working with Shutterstock and iStockphoto. This tutorial details a professional workflow for creating vector illustrations and prepping the artwork for these sites. I’ve also included a bunch of time-saving tools and tips as well. Let’s get started!

Introduction

The world of vector graphics opened it’s door for me after I discovered the royalty-free micro-stock community and the business possibilities for a start-up digital artist. It’s been more than a year since my first vector uploaded to Shutterstock and then iStockphoto.
During this time I’ve collected some knowledge of how to prepare vector illustrations for sale on micro-stock websites and I would like to share it with you in this tutorial. Now I sell my vector illustrations royalty-free exclusively at iStockphoto, but I’ll tell you some tips for Shutterstock as well.

You Will Learn

How to create a vector illustration from sketch to finish in Adobe Illustrator according to the demands of micro-stock websites.
How to clean up your Adobe Illustrator file before saving it in EPS format.
How to find and close all open paths.
How to save EPS and JPEG files correctly for micro-stock sale.

You Will Need

Paper and pencil
Photo camera or scanner
Adobe Illustrator (I used CS3, but the method works with other versions too)
Drawing tablet
Scripts for Adobe Illustrator (download them using links in this tutorial)

Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Step 1: Making a Sketch

Draw a sketch of your illustration. I made this sketch with an H pencil and played with it until I was satisfied with the result. Your sketch is a reference for forms and composition of your future illustration, so work on it.
Scan your sketch or photograph it. As I do not own any scanner, I took a picture of my drawing with my camera and imported it into Photoshop. Then I clean it up and saved it in usable size for Illustrator (File > Save for Web & Devices). My sketch is 600 pixels by 786 pixels.

Step 2: Importing to Illustrator

Open Adobe Illustrator. Create a new document 700 px by 800 px (File > New). Import your sketch to Illustrator (File > Place).

Check the box Template.

Your sketch will be automatically placed on a separate layer with a lower opacity for your convenience. You could move your sketch on the artboard to find the best position. I placed my sketch a little bit to the right to give more space on the left part of the illustration.

Step 3: Creating Shapes of the Boy

Create a new layer and name it “Boy.” Using the combination of Pen (P) and Shape tools create the shapes of a boy. Try to close all the shapes while you are creating them, as you need all your shapes closed in your final vector illustration for micro-stock sale.

I usually don’t stick to my sketch and try to experiment with the shapes. I also refine my lines and shapes at this stage. For example, I changed the shape of the eyes. After you finish creating your shapes, your boy character should look like the image below.

Step 4: Coloring the Boy Character

Now start selecting the shapes and coloring them. At this stage you can send the parts forward or backward according to each other.
I like to add basic color to a character at this stage so that I have a nice difference. This way it doesn’t get boring if I change the types of work during the process. I don’t have any typical system for choosing colors. Playing around with colors to see what looks better, works for me.

So far we have the basic colored shapes of a boy. The details, shadows and highlights, as well as the map and hands of the boy, will be added after we finish creating and coloring other elements of this illustration.

Step 5: Map

Create a new layer and name it “Map.” Create the shape of the map using the Pen Tool (P). Using the Pencil Tool (N), draw the shapes of a forest and lake. Make sure you close them by holding the Alt key while drawing with the Pencil Tool (N). The shapes that reach the edge of the map should go beyond it.

Using the Pencil Tool (N) with a stroke color, no fill, and set to 1 pt, draw the paths in the forest. The lines should reach beyond the main shape of the map. Select them and expand (Object > Expand), then check Fill and Stroke. Use the Pen Tool (P) and Rectangle Tool (M) to create houses.

Select each shape with the Selection Tool (V) and color the shapes.

Duplicate the base shape of the map and put the copy in front. Lock the base shape (Object > Lock > Selection). Now select all the shapes together with the copy of the main shape and press Crop in the Pathfinder menu. Unlock the base shape. You should have a result similar to the image below.

Now we will be making the folded edges of the map. With the Pen Tool (P) or Line Segment Tool (\), draw the lines where the edges of the folded parts of the map should be. Theses lines should go beyond the main shape.

Next select all the lines together with the map shapes and click Divide in the Pathfinder menu. Ungroup the object.

Your map will be cut into small pieces. Carefully group all the objects of each folded part of the map together.

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to color the darker and the lighter parts of the map. Group the whole map together.

Use the Pencil Tool (N) to draw the shapes of the hands. Color them, group and put them in front of the map.

Step 6: Squirrel

Create a new layer and name it “Squirrel.” Use the Pencil Tool (N) to create a rough shape of the squirrel. Always close the shapes by holding down Alt. Where the shape should close in a corner, use the Pen Tool (P). Use the Ellipse Tool (L) for the eyes. For the whiskers use the Pen (P) or Pencil (N) Tools (0,5 pt, flat brush, white stroke, no fill).

Color the shapes.

Step 7: Road Sign

Create a new layer and name it “Road sign.” Using Shape Tool, create the shapes of the road sign. I used the Rounded Rectangle Tool for the post and the Rectangle Tool (M) for the upper arrow. To make the point of the arrow I added the point with the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) in the center of the right side of the shape and dragged it to the side with the Direct Selection Tool (A).
Copy the shapes, reflect (right-click > Transform > Reflect > Vertical). Make two copies and position the lower arrows in their places on the post. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) for the nails. Color all the shapes.

Step 8: Ground

Create a new layer and name it “Ground.” Use the Pen Tool (P) to create the shape of the grass. Close the shapes carefully. I didn’t follow the sketch precisely and extended the grass a bit to the left.
Use the Pencil Tool (N) for the rough shapes of the flowers and the Ellipse Tool (L) for bright shapes in the center of each flower. Create stems of the flowers using the Pen (P) or Pencil (N) Tools (0,5 pt, flat brush, green stroke, no fill).

Using Pen Tool(P) create the shape of the road. Use Pencil Tool(N) for the stones. Remember to hold Alt while drawing the shapes to close them.

Color the shapes.

Step 9: Sky

Create a new layer and name it “Sky.” With the Rectangle Tool (M), create a big rectangle the size of your artboard (700 px by 800 px). Align it to Artboard using the Align palette.
Make a gradient that goes from a more intensive blue to a lighter blue. I like to select a color, apply it to the gradient on both sides and then adjust each side in the Color palette.
Create shapes of the clouds with the Pen Tool (P) and apply the gradient to them using the same technique as with the sky, but make the colors lighter. Use the Pen Tool (P) to create the shapes of the birds and color them.

Step 10: Details, Shadows, and Highlights

At this point your illustration should look like the image below.

You can create a separate layer to place all the details, shadows and highlights of the illustration, but I will add the details on every layer one by one starting with the boy character.
Create the shapes of the shadows with the Pen Tool (P) and color them darker than the color of the main shape. Repeat this process with the highlights on the hat, hair and the bottle etc., but use lighter colors than the main shapes.

Create shapes for the cheeks and the shadow near the nose with a gradient from skin color to the darker color. I decided to change the cheeks of the boy to smooth round ones at this stage.

Make the lines on the shoe soles by drawing two identical lines and placing them to the left and to the right of the white rectangle. The lines should go beyond the rectangle above and beneath it.

Then blend them (Object > Blend > Blend Options… > Blend distance > 4 px, then Object > Blend > Make).

Expand the strokes (Object > Expand…) Copy the rectangle of the shoe sole and place it in front of the lines. Select them all and crop (Pathfinder menu > crop).

Use the same technique with the lines on the t-shirt. I made the lines freehand in different directions. Create the shapes of details, shadows and highlights on all the layers one by one. At this point, you should have a finished vector illustration that should look like the image below.

But this vector is not yet ready for the sale on micro-stock website. Now we will prepare this illustration for micro-stock sale.

Step 11: Closing All Open Paths

Create the copy of your vector illustration file and name it “traveler_stock.ai”. Open it in Adobe Illustrator. Delete the layer with your sketch. It is a raster image and we should have only vector in our file.
Your vector illustration should not contain any open paths. The examples of open paths are: broken outlines of shapes, single points, or brush strokes.

Our illustration is rather complex, so it is difficult to find all the open shapes in it at once. For this purpose you can use the Select menu, which is a free plugin for Adobe Illustrator. Download it, install it and use it on your illustration to find all open paths. After you’ve installed it and relaunched Illustrator, you can find the script in Illustrator under Menu > Select > Open Paths Directory.

After that you can close them by hand or use other useful scripts for Adobe Illustrator, like Close Selected Paths and Close All Paths that you can download via this this link (found on iStockphoto forum). These plugins will brilliantly help you with your broken shapes, but they will do you no good with stray points and single strokes.
You should carefully separate these three types of open paths in your illustration and close them with a separate methods. Stray points should be simply deleted and strokes should be expanded (Object > Expand > Fill and Stroke).
After you’ve installed the scripts, you’ll find them in File > Scripts Directory.

Step 12: Check for Transparencies, Hidden and Locked Objects

Now that we have closed all the shapes in our vector illustration, we can check it for transparencies. You can not use any transparencies in your vector for micro-stock sale because as you save it in EPS 8 format all your transparencies will become open shapes. Check carefully for any transparencies that you might have used by mistake.
Also, go to the Object menu to see if there are any hidden or locked objects in your illustration. If yes, unlock them and show them all by pressing Unlock All and Show All.

Step 13: Making Groups

Go to every layer one by one and group all parts of every object together (e.g. all parts of the boy character like basic shapes, details, shadows and highlights should be grouped together). This is important because in the EPS 8 file that you will create later there will be no layers, and without objects grouped together you will have a mess of pieces for your client to download. I also make the sub-groups inside of the bigger groups (e.g. hat is a sub-group and boy is a group).

Step 14: Cleaning Your Palettes

Go to your Swatches palette and click on the drop-down menu. Click on Select All Unused… and as all the swatches that you haven’t used are highlighted, press on the Delete Swatch button. Do the same with your Brushes palette.

Step 15: Saving EPS 8 File

Go to File > Save As, select the location and click on the drop-down menu, then choose Format > Select Illustrator EPS (eps) > Save.

The EPS Options panel appears. From the Version menu select Illustrator 8 EPS. Leave the rest at the defaults and press Save. You should now have an EPS file appropriate for sale on micro-stock website.

Step 16: Saving JPEG File

Go to File and select Save For Web and Devices. When the window appears select JPEG as the type of file.

Go to image size tab below and set the height to 2800 pixels, the width will be automatically set to 2450 pixels. The iStockphoto rule is that you need an image with the sides not smaller than 2800 px by 1900 px or visa verse. Press Apply and Save.

For Shutterstock you need to save a much smaller JPEG file. Use the same directions for that. You can also save ZIP archive for uploading additional files to iStockphoto like AI files or different versions of EPS files.
For the last couple of months I’ve been using a script for saving files for micro-stock website that my husband Alex wrote for me. It is working great and saves me some time. It is called “Save For Stocks”. This script saves an EPS8 file, 2800 px by 1900 px JPEG for iStockphoto and a smaller JPEG for Shutterstock. You can download it for free and read the instructions at my website.

Conclusion

At this point you should have a package of files ready for upload to micro-stock websites and sale.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found the information useful and that it will help you with your micro-stock vector experience. If you have other tips and tricks for preparing your vector illustrations for micro-stock websites, I would be happy to hear from you. Below is another look at the final image.

Reader Tutorial: Geometric Flower Effect Logo in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 02:01:00 -0800

December 14, 2009 from Tomas Varil's blog

In this tutorial I will show you how I made this nice logo for one of my clients in Czech Republic. Feel free to use it as inspiration, but please do not copy it in any form. All copyrights belong to the owner whom I made it for. Last but not least, please excuse Czech language appearing in the dialog boxes on pictures; I use a localized version of illustrator.

The final product will look like this:

Step 1

We'll start by making a new document with 180 mm width and height. If you do not like it you can select whatever dimensions you want. Then we will make one horizontal and one vertical guide positioned directly in the center of the document.
Select the Ellipse tool (L), create the ellipse, fill it with no color, select black outline and put it in the center of the document. I made one 160 mm high and 40 mm wide. So it will look something like this:

Step 2

Now, we are going to copy the ellipse 8 times around the circle. Easiest way to do this is to use Rotate Tool (R). So select the ellipse, click on the Rotate Tool (R), hold down ALT and click on the center of the ellipse, dialog box should appear. Enter 20 in angle and click on copy button. You will get this:

Step 3

Now press CTRL+D 7 times and you get to this point:

Step 4

We can now delete the guide lines; we do not need them later. The easiest part of this tutorial is done, now we are starting with ant work :-) We need to divide the final product in to small pieces. We are going to make it using Pathfinder. So select all ellipses and go to Window>Pathfinder and click on Divide:

Step 5

Now press Shift+CTRL+G to ungroup all objects. We are going to delete all needless objects. It is all 5 inner circles composed of 18 objects. So, 3 outer circles of objects remain as on the picture below.

Step 6

We are going to play with gradients now. It will be quite long but the output will be awesome. So let’s start: select the objects with Direct Selection Tool (A) (press Shift and click on each object) and apply a gradient from C30 M100 Y0 K0 to C30 M100 Y0 K80 like the image below:

Step 7

Then select another group of 6 objects and apply gradient from C80 M100 Y0 K0 to C80 M100 Y0 K80, here we go:

Step 8

Select another following group of 6 objects and apply gradient from C0 M100 Y100 K0 to C0 M100 Y100 K80. You’ll get something like this:

Step 9

For now you have enough information to know how to apply gradients for other groups of 6 objects.

4th group gradient from C0 M50 Y100 K0 to C0 M50 Y100 K80
5th group gradient from C0 M0 Y100 K0 to C0 M0 Y100 K80
6th group gradient from C50 M0 Y100 K0 to C50 M0 Y100 K80
7th group gradient from C100 M0 Y100 K0 to C100 M0 Y100 K80
8th group gradient from C100 M0 Y0 K0 to C100 M0 Y0 K80
9th group gradient from C100 M100 Y0 K0 to C100 M100 Y0 K80

If all went well you will get something like this:

Step 10

Now we are almost done, just remove the black outlines from all objects. And you are done with the output. This output does not correspond to physics. But applying the gradients to specific directions on each object, which our flower consists of, can make for some pretty awesome effects. It can be done by selecting each object, clicking on a Gradient Tool (G) and playing with it. Like these two examples:

Conclusion

First example is a bit complicated I will explain it later. Second example goes out from our output made in this tutorial. It was made only by rotating a gradient in proper direction on each object.
If you were able to make the second example, then change the Blending mode to Darken and copy it. On the copy - you have to make axial symmetry of each object or gradient. You can make it by axial mirroring or just by rotating the gradient to opposite side of object. If you are done with it, just put the copy over the original one and you will get the output like in the first example.

Rad Pattern in Illustrator that Makes you Dizzy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 01:59:00 -0800

Yesterday I was checking a book I have about skateboard decks design called New Skateboard Graphics. It's a super cool book and we have even given a copy away here on Abduzeedo. So while I was flipping through the pages I found this beautiful design that was a crazy pattern. It was a deck from Element, and I decided to try to do that in Illustrator.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a rad pattern in Illustrator that will definitely make you dizzy. We will use basic tools such as Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool and the Blend Tool.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and with the Ellipse Tool (L) create a circle. Use black for the Stroke.

Step 2

With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select and delete 3 segments of the circle, leave just the bottom right one.

Step 3

Duplicate the segment and the rotate it. Use the image below for reference. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the 2 vertices and then click on Connect Selected End Points. Choose Corner for the the Join Points option.

Step 4

Duplicate the object and bring it down a little bit. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) connect the points to create an object. Use the image below for reference.

Step 5

Again with the Direct Selection Tool (A) move the points in the middle of the object. The idea is to make the area of the object a bit thicker.

Step 6

Fill the object with black and remove the stroke. After that duplicate and flip the object horizontally. Position them like in the image below.

Step 7

Duplicate a few times and group them. Then duplicate the group and move it down at the bottom of the page. With the Blend Tool (B) select the first group and then click on the group at the bottom. Double click on the Blend Tool (B) icon to open the Blend Options. Change the Spacing to Specified Steps to 55. You will have the texture done.

Step 8

Create a new document, use 1920x1200 pixels. With the Rectangle Tool (M) create a rectangle and fill it with #394A5F.

Step 9

Copy the Blend objects from the other document and paste in this one. Duplicate it untill you feel the whole screen with the texture. Also fill them with white.

Step 10

Select the Blend objects and go to Objects>Expand. Then with the Direct Selection Tool (A) select some elements and delete them. Use the image below for reference

Step 11

Select all objects except the blue background and to to Effect>Stylize>Drop Shadow... Use Color Burn for the Mode, 40% Opacity, 0 for X Offset, 1px for the Y Offset, 2px for the Blur and Black for the Color.

Step 12

Place an old paper texture in your document. The one used is courtesy of Shutterstock and you can download it here. After that change the Transparency to Multiply.

Conclusion

Using basic tools in Illustrator and an old paper texture we can create very nice patterns with that vintage feel, in this case we have even created a crazy optical illusion. This tutorial as I said was inspired by skateboard deck design from the Element team and It's great to practice with Illustrator.

Click on the image for Full Preview

Illustrator Quick Tips #1 - Complex Symbols with Pathfinder

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 01:57:00 -0800

create those effects in Illustrator, however for most of them you will have to use the Pathfinder tools. Because of that I will show you an example based on a few logos from that list.

References

When I was looking for references for a logo design project that I'm still working on, I selected some awesome logos. Below you can see some of them. You can visit the sites of these logos at:

Step 1

Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. With the Ellipse Tool (L), create a circle.

Step 2

Duplicate the Circle and resize it, but just the width. Align it to the Left. Also change the Blending to Multiply and use cyan for the color.

Step 3

Repeate the same process of the previous step, this time however reduce the height of the new circle. Also use green for the color. Use the image below for reference.

Step 4

Repeat the Step 2 again, this time align to the right and use yellow for the color.

Step 5

Repeat the Step 3 just aligning the new ellipse from the top. Use red for the color.

Step 6

Select all ellipses and go to the Pathfinder panel (Window>Pathfinder). Click on Divide, it's the first option in the Pathfinders. This command will divide all the elements allowing us to use different colors for each one.

Step 7

Playing with the Abduzeedo colors.

Step 8

You can try gradients with the Gradient Tool (G) to create a nice 3D Effect.

Step 9

If you need the logo in one color over light or dark backgrounds, the best thing to do is add a stroke to the elements.

Conclusion

Even though it looks complex, this technique is quite simple and it results in a very nice effect. That's why we've seen more logos using it. Also one of the coolest things is that you can try different shapes and colors that will result in another type of effect. If you seen thee logos I used for reference, Terra, Qwell and South Creative, they use this effect just changing shape sizes and colors, while the Aramova, uses the same technique but forming a triangle instead of a circle.

Creating Editable Letterpress Styled Text

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 00:35:00 -0800

A popular typography trend in web design and print design is letterpress styled text. This text styling is easy to do in Photoshop, but in Illustrator, it is super simple to create letterpress styled text while keeping the text editable. Utilizing the Appearance panel and Graphic Styles, you can quickly and consistently apply this style to any editable text and other vector objects.

Final Image

Below is the final text treatment we will be working towards.

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4
Difficulty: Beginner
Estimated Completion Time: 5-10 minutes

Step 1

Create a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M) and fill it with a color of your choosing. I filled mine with a light blue color. I like having a background color on which the text can be placed to really see the highlights of the letterpress text. Still, you can create this tutorial on a white background.

Step 2

Type out some text with the Text tool (T) and chose a font. I am using the awesome Museo Sans 700 font. With the text still selected, take off any fill or stroke.

Step 3

From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, choose New Fill. Next, press the swatch thumbnail in the Appearance panel of the new fill and change the color to a darker shade of your background color.

Step 4

With the new fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. In the Inner Glow dialog, change the Mode to Normal, the fill color (the swatch thumbnail to the direct right of the Mode drop-down menu) to a color slightly darker than your background color, the Opacity to 90 and the Blur to 2 px. You might have to play around with the Blur value depending on how big your text is. Now when you press the drop-down arrow of the new fill in the Appearance panel you can see the Inner Glow effect listed under it.

Step 5

With the text still selected create a new fill from the Appearance panel like you did before. After you created the new fill it will look like the Inner Glow effect you applied was lost, but it wasn’t. In the Appearance panel we have to be aware of hierarchy. When we created the latest new fill it was placed on top of the first fill. Rearrange the fills by dragging the newest fill below the first one in the Appearance panel.

Step 6

Select the latest new fill in the Apperance panel and change the fill to a darker color than your original text fill color. You won’t be able to see any change because the new fill is behind the first one.

Step 7

With the latest new fill selected, go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform Effect dialog, change the Vertical Move to 1 px. This might need to be increase depending on the size of your text.

Step 8

Create a new fill from the Appearance panel like before and fill it with white. Place the new fill below all the other fills.

Step 9

With the white fill selected in the Apperance panel, go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform Effect dialog, change the Vertical Move to -1 px. Again, this might need to be increased depending on the size of your text.

Step 10

All done! That was pretty easy. Moreover, your text is still editable! To make this technique more useful, we can create a Graphic Style. Select the text and press the New Graphic Style button in the Graphic Style panel. Now you can apply to Graphic Style to other fonts and even to other shapes and objects. Simply select some text or other vector paths and click the thumbnail of the graphic Style you just created.

Illustrator ring shape via overlapping crescents effect

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 00:32:00 -0800

out with Illustrator. This is another request from a reader who asked if I could explain how to draw this ring shape (see image on the left). Looking at this shape I can see it’s made of 2 overlapping crescents which are then rotated at 45 degrees. There is also this interesting overlapping effect which adds a bit of unrealistic depth effect which makes me think of the work of M.C. Escher. This time I thought it would be a good idea to work with screenshots again…

Draw a circle

Select the Ellipse tool and draw a circle holding down the Shift key.

Fill circle with linear gradient

Fill the circle with a linear, vertical gradient (90° corner), going from light green at the bottom (R197, G227, B38) to dark green at the top (R68, G134, B58), with the position of the gradient slider located around 70%.

Add a second circle

Select the Ellipse tool again and draw a smaller circle on top as shown in the image above.

Vertically center the 2 circles

Vertically center the 2 circles by selecting both circles using the Selection tool, hold down the Shift key to select the second circle. Go to the Align palette and choose the Vertical Align Center option.

Minus front

With the 2 circles still selected, go to the Pathfinder palette and choose Minus Front.

Change opacity to Multiply

You should now have a crescent shape as shown in the image above. Make sure it is selected. Go to the Opacity palette and choose Multiply from the dropdown menu.

Duplicate rotate the crescent

Enable Smart Guides: go to View > Smart Guides or hit Cmd/Ctrl + U. We need to find the center of the circle, so we will end up with a circle shape again when we duplicate the crescent. Draw a vertical guide and a horizontal guide as shown in the image above. Use the points of the crescent so the guide will snap to it. Now select the Rotate tool from the toolbox. Alt/Option click exactly on the intersection point for the 2 guides. In the Rotate dialogue box enter 180° and click Copy to duplicate the original crescent shape.

Ring shape

A ring shape with a nice overlapping effect (because we use Multiply) should be the result. We are almost there now...

Rotate the ring 45°

The only thing left to do now it rotate the ring 45°. Select select the Rotate tool from the toolbox again and Alt/Option click exactly on the intersection point for the 2 guides again. In the Rotate dialogue box enter 45° and click OK. That's it! :)

Illustrator diamond flower

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 00:30:00 -0800

Not sure if my title describes exactly what I’ll try to explain in this tutorial, but it in the center of the shape I see a flower and the outside reminds me of a diamond. I’m sure there are a few different ways to create such a shape. It’s all pretty simple really. The hard part is choosing the right colors, right transparency value and transparency mode because you need to experiment a lot to achieve the result you want.

Draw a circle

Start by drawing a circle. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and hold down the Shift key while dragging.

Fill the circle with a color to your liking. My suggestion here is either to use a dark color and tone it back by adjusting the transparency, or you can choose a light color. Change the Transparency mode to Color Burn in the transparency palette (Window > Transparency).
Make sure rulers are visible. If they're not visible, hit cmd/ctrl + R. Drag a horizontal and vertical guide as shown in the image above. To make the guide snap to the points of the circle, turn on Snap to Point: View > Snap to Point. It's also suggested to turn on Smart Guides: View > Smart Guides. To switch them on and off use cmd/ctrl + U.

Select the Selection Tool (V) and select the circle in the middle of the bottom right path segment. Now drag the circle 45° downwards until your pointer curser reaches the intersection point of the guides as shown in the image above. Use the Shift key while dragging the circle.

Rotate and duplicate circle

Select the Rotate Tool (R), hold down the Option/Alt key and click exactly on the guides' intersection point. Enter a value of 90 as degrees and click the copy button.

With the 2nd circle selected, hit cmd/ctrl + D twice to repeat the exact transformation. You should end up with a shape of 4 circles as shown in the image below.

Go to the Layers palette, select the layer with the circles and drag it onto the Create New Layer icon to duplicate this layer.

Duplicate and rotate circles

Lock your original layer, by clicking the empty square next to the eye icon in the Layers palette (see image below).

Select all circles of the duplicated layer and select the Rotate Tool (R), hold down the Option/Alt key and click exactly on the guides' intersection point again. Now enter a value of 45 as degrees and click the OK button.

Adjust colors and transparency mode

With the circles still selected, choose another color fill for the circles and choose Overlay as Transparency mode.

Duplicate layers

Unlock the original layer. Select both layers and drag them onto the Create New Layer icon to duplicate them. Lock the 2 original layers.

Rotate duplicated layers

Makes sure all circles of both new created layers are selected. Select the Rotate Tool (R) hold down the Option/Alt key and click exactly on the guides' intersection point again. Enter a value of 22.5 (or for some of you 22,5) as degrees and click the OK button.

I always check the Preview option to view the result upfront.

Final result

The final result should look similar to the image on the left. Though it all depends on the colors, transparency modes and transparency values you've chosen along the way. Chances are the result of the color combination is not to your satisfaction.

You can adjust the colors, transparency value and mode where needed adjusting circle by circle. On the right side you see my version after some tweaking.

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Draw a Vector Kiwi

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:57:00 -0800

Ever wonder how to make a vector kiwi in Adobe Illustrator? Well I did and here is what I came up with. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to do it using illustrator effects like Texturizer, Pointillize, Grain and Film grain. Hope you can learn some new stuff in this tutorial.

Drawing the Kiwi Shape

Open a new document. Set it at any size that you want in RGB mode. The first step is to find some colors to use in this tutorial. For that, we will go to Windows>Adobe Labs>kuler and type the word kiwi in the search box. I found some interesting color scheme that I like and I saved them in my Swatches panel. If you like other colors feel free to use them.

Next, take the Ellipse tool and draw am oval shape like the one below and rotate it a little so that it looks more natural. Fill it with the gradient that you see in the image. Colors are: (224,238,174); (175,212,34); (137,96,58).

Drawing the Kiwi Fruit Pulp

Now we will start creating the fruit pulp. Go to Brushes Panel and click the Brush Libraries menu or go to Windows>Brush Libraries>Artistic>Artistic_Ink and find the brush that you see in the image below.
Go to Object>Transform>Transform Each. Set the Rotate angle at different angles and press copy to get a random look. Repeat this steps until you have a circle of fruit pulp.
You should have something like this. Go to Object>Expand Appearance and ungroup them by pressing Crl+Shift+G/Command+Shift+G. Continue editing the shape until you are happy with the results, like what I did. This will make our kiwi look more natural later on.
Next, we will add some color. Use the colors: (163,126,78), (192,226,33), (224,238,174) for the gradient and fill the shape with a radial gradient as shown below.

Position the shape in the center of our kiwi. Set it to Multiply and lower the Opacity to 33%.
For a more realistic look, we will create 2 more shapes. Copy and paste the shape that we just created and we will apply some effects to it. Go to Effect>Texture>Texturizer and set the values as shown below.
Next, go to Effect>Stylize>Outer Glow and set the values as shown below.
Now, position the shape on top of the first one. Set the mode to multiply and the opacity to 48%.

To give it more depth, copy and paste the first shape again. Make it half the size and position it on top of the others. Set it to multiply and lower the opacity to 40%. You will end up with something like in the image below.
Now, we will make the heart of the kiwi. Just take the pencil and draw a random shape like the one below and fill it with the radial gradient shown. Colors are: (252,246,218) and (119,137,42). Next, apply the Pucker and Bloat effect. This will make the shape blend better in the midlle of the kiwi.
Next, copy and paste in front this shape and fill it with a radial gradient from white to black. Select both shapes, go to Transparency panel and select Make opacity mask from the dropdown menu. You will end up with something like in the image below.

Drawing the Kiwi Seeds

It’s time to create the kiwi seeds. Take the Ellipse tool and create 3 oval shapes. I colored them one dark brown, one black and one filled with a radial gradient from black to white for a different look. When you are done, group them together and drag them in the Symbols panel.

Now, select the Symbol Sprayer tool and start spraying the seeds. Also use the Symbol Shifter and the Symbol Sizer to get a more random and natural look. For a more detailed look, group the seeds together. Copy and rotate them a little so they don’t overlapp and reduce the opacity to 40%. See the image below.

Drawing the Kiwi Skin

We are done with this part, now let’s draw the outside skin of the kiwi and the little “hair” on top. For that, go to the Symbols panel, click and select the Symbol Libraries Menu>Hair and Fur and select some of the brown hair symbols that you like best. I created something like in the image below. Then drag it to the symbols panel so we can use it further. Now take the brush tool and select our symbol. Start brushing the left side of the kiwi with this ‘hair’. I made some little segments with this brush so I can twist and modify each one to look more natural. Feel free to arrange them until you it looks natural. I got something like in the image below.

It’s time for the outside skin of our kiwi. Take the Ellipse tool and draw a shape of a kiwi and fill it with this color (135,98,57). Now, we will apply some effects on it. Go to Effects>Texture>Grain and set the values shown below.
Go to Effects>Artistic>Film Grain and set the values like below. You will have something like this:

Now, positon this shape in the back of our kiwi and arrange it to look natural. I also added some extra ‘hair’ on top of it with the symbol that we created earlier and with the method explained earlier. Now, we have something like this as shown below.

But our kiwi seems to be missing something and the work is not done yet. It needs more texture to make it look realistic. Copy and paste in front the pulp shape of the fruit (the green one). I have moved the shape away so that you can see the effect. But you can just paste it in front of the original. Go to Effect>Pixelate>Pointillize and set the values below. Then lower the opacity to 20%.

I decided to add a few water drops. To make them, take the Ellipse tool and create the shape from the image below and fill it with a linear gradient using the colors: (192,226,33), (136,175,14).
Create a second shape smaller than the first one and fill it with a radial gradient using the colors: (224,238,174), (175,212,34).
Place the second shape on top of the first one like in the image below and create 3 more shapes to add more glow to the water drop. Use a white fill on one and fill the other two using the same gradient like the second shape we made previously.

Now, arrange all the shapes as shown below. Lower the opacity for the white shape to 40% and group them all. Also reduce the opacity of the group to 25-35% depending on the size of your kiwi.
Go to Effects>Stylize>Drop Shadow and set the values as shown below.

Now, we just have to make more copies in different sizes and place them on top of the kiwi. Adjust the opacity for each of the water drops only if necessary. The illustration is done. Here is the final image of our fresh and tasty kiwi.

Hope you have enjoyed reading it and learnt some useful techniques in illustrator.

Illustrator Tutorial: Gradient Mesh Flower

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:51:00 -0800

Gradient Mesh can be a wonderful tool to master but the learning curve can
bring a bit of frustration to the beginner, I myself found it confusing at first
but with a little practice and a simple plan I was able to get around a few
of the tools weaknesses and avoid snapping Wacom pens in anguish.

Control

When I started illustrating with the mesh tool I would always attempt to draw
a large portion of the image and then force the mesh to conform to what I wanted
it to look like. With this technique, what would happen was when I tried to
manipulate the points I would find myself tasked with forcing the mesh to take
the shape of the image I wanted, which meant that I had to spend quite some
effort “sculpting” the mesh itself. When I say sculpting I’m not talking about
the sexy way it was done in that movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze, I’m talking
about the geeky mouse and Wacom push points around sculpting. Doing it this
way is fine if you are patient and skilled/super art geek, but the door is wide
open for issues to crop up later as the more complex a mesh is the harder it
is to work with.

Break It Down

The solution would be to find the inner shape in the image and illustrate them
instead. Then construct the image as a whole from its smaller parts. By working
with the smallest identifiable shape in the image, and applying the mesh to
it, I am fully in control of the meshes behavior. With simple shapes the mesh
will conform to the contour of the shape as long as you start the mesh near
the edge of the vector.

Working The Curves

The key to good control of the fountain pen tool is to have the disipline of
a Jedi master or just take your time and develop the arc bit by bit. First we
will creat one petal so we get the hang of useing the pen tool. You can download
an Adobe Illustrator file Petal.ai or Petal
Outlined.ai of the petal I did or just follow along these steps to create
your own.

Create A Leaf / Walk Through Fire

There is nothing like practice to hone your ability. This process can be like
walking through fire, painfull but nessesary to complete the journey. You can
download an Adobe Illustrator files Leaf.ai and
Leaf Outlined.ai.

Time

Now that we are breaking the image down to simple shapes we find that it takes
longer to get to a point in the illustration where the image is identifiable.
So many little shapes to illustrate and not much time especially when the PS3
is waiting to be played. There is not always an easy way around this but in
this instance because this illustrations parts are similar I was able to get
around it.

Clone It

Fortunately because the petals on this plant are similar I was able to clone
several of them and reuse them. I copy and paste them down changing the shape
and adjusting the color with the adjust color balance control or going into
the mesh and changing the color at the points.

The Big Finish

Keeping it simple is the best strategy I know of so just follow that rule and
you can’t go wrong. Be sure to invest I good equipment as well. At the time
I did this illustration I had a VERY good color accurate monitor that was calibrated
regularly by people more knowledgeable than I (I call them Supermen you call
them techies). I don’t still have access to such equipment but I have come to
learn with digital art you have to be cognisant of how color shifts from monitor
to monitor and at the final print end.
Well I’m going to finish off the alchemist battle in Prince Of Persia. Good
luck with your projects and I hope this tutorial helps. Cheers .

Design a Cute Hamster Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:42:00 -0800

Final result

Behold the dynamic cuteness this rodent oozes!

Frankly, I have no idea who inflated the hamster.
Ready to start? Not quite. We need a soundtrack first.
Yes, I think Cute Little Factory is the first design blog whose tutorials come with soundtracks. Just a little idea I had recently. Let’s see if you like it.

Soundtrack: The Adventures of Greggery Peccary

I couldn’t find a song related to hamsters in my library. The closest I got is “The Adventures of Greggery Peccary” by the Man Himself, Frank Zappa, from his album “Studio Tan.” This amazing composition tells the story of an entrepreneur peccary and his groundbreaking invention. The peccary is a “nocturnal gregarious wild swine.” Not quite a hamster but close.
Press Play and let’s start the tut!

Step 1: The body

Draw the main body shape with a circle then squash the top a bit.

Fiil the shape with a brown gradient to obtain some roundness.

Step 2: The pot belly

Take a copy of the shape and move it down. Set it to Screen mode.

Now crop it using a clipping mask. Move the gradient up so the bottom is darker.

We are satisfied with the belly now so let’s flatten it to a single object. Select it (it’s a group) then click the first icon in the Pathfinder to get rid of the clipping mask.

Step 3: The tail

The tail is a simple triangle. Place it behind the body and shade it with the appropriate brown gradient. Make sure the darker shade is at the top to simulate a shadow cast from the body.

Step 4: The nose

The nose is a triangle, too, but add a point at its top and move it up. Hit Shift+C to select the Convert Point Tool then click-drag the point to turn it into a smooth node. This time make the bottom darker to simulate light coming from the top.

Step 2: The lips

Draw the right lip with a simple path. Load the Artistic Ink brushes and select the tapered one. It looks too fat!

Click on the Properties icon at the bottom of the Brushes palette. Reduce the Width until the lip is thin enough. When you’re satisfied mirror the other one.

Step 6: The giant teeth

While drawing the teeth I noticed the nose needed a highlight: it’s a white ellipse with some blur applied (Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur). The teeth are made with a simple path. Next draw a vertical line straight down from the lips. Apply the tapered brush to it.

Add a light gray-to-white gradient to the teeth. Offset them to create a smaller copy. Modify the copy’s gradient as in the next image: light gray-white-light gray. Finally go to Effect > Stylize > Feather and blur the copy’s edges to blend it with the main teeth.

Adding a shadow to the teeth is easy. Make a smaller copy and move it behind. Make sure it’s dark brown. Apply a good amount of Blur and reduce the opacity to about 60%.

Step 7: The mouth

Draw the shape for the mouth and fill it with a brown gradient. Fade it out by setting the bottom spot’s opacity to 0%.

Step 8: Adding glow

Simulate ambient reflections by adding an Inner Glow effect to both the nose and the body. You can find it in the Effect menu under the Stylize group.

Step 9: The eyes

Create the right eye with a simple ellipse. Go to Effect > Warp > Arc and bend the eye upward. This is what makes the hamster smile!
When happy with the results go to Edit > Expand. Fill the eye with the same two-tone brown gradient we used before. Mirror the other eye.
If you take a close look at small animals (and their counterparts in comics) you will notice that their facial features are small compared to the head. So the big trick is: scale down all facial features (eyes, nose, lips, mouth and teeth) for extra cuteness.

Step 10: The ears

Create the right ear with a circle filled with a brown gradient. The inside is just a smaller, lighter circle. Mirror both circles over to the left.

Move the outer, daker circles behind the body and select all three objects. Join them by clicking on the first icon in the Pathfinder palette. The body and the ears are now one single shape. Notice how the glow effect correctly surrounds the ears.
Just blur the inner, lighter circles to blend them with the main body.

Step 11: The paws

Using the same method create the paws and attach them to the body. I also rounded the tip of the tail but that’s to your discretion. The hamster is finished.

Conclusion

To complete the avatar create the appropriate background. Mine is a simple three-tone gradient with white soft wakes about the hind paws and tail. I’m sure you can come up with something better. The idea is to make the avatar dynamic. It’s the least you can do after inflating the hamster, don’t you think?

Stay tuned because I’ll release the hamster in an icon set very soon. And if you liked the character and the tutorial please share them. Link love is good for ya!

Easily Create Sticker Text and Graphic Effect in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:39:00 -0800

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create sticker style effect in Adobe Illustrator. Sticker effect is quite common and I am sure, you might have seen it used in various designs. So lets get started and let me tell you, it is quite easy and you can create a sticker style text in no minutes and you can apply the same technique for any graphic illustration as well.

Step 1

Type down the text, make sure to use a little thicker font, I used Arial Rounded MT Bold. Select the text, right click, and choose Create Outline, so that we can apply gradients to the text (I wonder why doesn't Adobe make the text go with gradients without converting the text into outline). If you don't want to use gradients in text, you may choose not to convert your text into outline.

Step 2

Apply gradient to text, I decided to use shiny web 2 style gradient, you can see the values of CMYK in the image below.

Step 3

With the Rectangle Tool (M) create a square or rectangle fill it with any color you like except white and select it, right click and choose Arrange > Send to Back so that you have a background below the text. You could do this at the Step 1 itself.

Now, select the text, Copy it (Ctrl/Comm + C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl/Comm + B). While the text you just pasted is selected, change it's Fill color to white (with no stroke) and go to Object > Path> Offset Path and choose the settings as shown in the image below or any setting that suits your text.

Note: You can also offset the path via, Effect > Path > Offset Path, which is actually a better way because later if you want to edit it, you can always do so from Appearance Panel. Also, if you have not turned your text into outline in Step 1, you will have to offset the path via Effect Menu.

Step 4

While the path you just offset in Step 3 is still selected, open your Pathfinder Panel and hit Add button.

Next, if you wish you may also apply gradient to the offset path. For the Left Slider I choosed the color of gradient as shown in image below and for Right Slider the color is 0% for CMYK.

And, then apply some Drop Shadow (Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow) to the selected path.

That's about it! Quite easy right?!

Also alternatively, instead of applying the drop shadow, you can duplicate the offset path, send it back, offset the path again to around 2 pixels, change it's fill color to black and bring down it's opacity to around 10 or 13%.

In the similar way, you can create the sticker effect on any graphic illustration or shape. But the steps are slightly different.

Take any illustration and give it a background.

Select the illustration with the Selection Tool (V), Copy it (Ctrl/Comm + C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl/Comm + B). While it is still selected, Ungroup it via Object > Ungroup (Ungroup it till it is completely ungrouped, that is till you see the Ungroup button is greyed).

Whilst it is still selected, open your Pathfinder Panel and hit Add button, as shown in the image in Step 4 above. And, change it's Fill color to white (with no stroke) and go to Object > Path> Offset Path and choose the Offset Settings that suits your illustration.

You can see your Offset Path as shown in the image below, if you click on the eye button of your main illustartion in Layer Panel.

Finally apply some Drop Shadow as mentioned above.

Create A Vector Art Twitter Bird Character Icon In Adobe Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:33:00 -0800

Twitter is quite a social media juggernaut as of late. It’s getting to the point that one has to have a Twitter account. And what good is a Twitter account without a link to it? And what better way to link to your Twitter account than with a cool blue bird character illustration? This tutorial will walk you through the steps from sketch to vector in creating an original cartoon-style character vector illustration.
I currently work in Adobe Illustrator CS4, but most of the steps here can be retro-fitted to earlier version of Adobe Illustrator — or to alternate vector art graphics software. This tutorial also assumes you have a working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, the basics of creating vector paths using the pen tool, and the basic vector art tools. What follows is a walkthrough of a method to go about creating cartoon-style illustrations in vector art giving them a clean, yet hand-drawn look. Hold on to your Beziér curves, and let’s get started…

Step 1: Scan Your Sketch

The initial step is to scan your rough sketch in to Photoshop (or your favorite pixel editing software). I am using OS X’s Image Capture here, as the drivers for my scanner don’t play nice with Photoshop CS4.
Typically I scan at 200 or 240 DPI. This gives me plenty of resolution to work on refining the sketch in Photoshop without having the file size being larger than needed for the eventual Illustrator template this sketch will serve as. I scan sketches with the B/W (grayscale) setting as I have no need for the color information, and the “line art” setting will not pick up the nuances of your pencil sketch.
Note that I sketch very roughly in pencil on paper — below I will explain my sketching process in Photoshop, which allows for much more flexibility when refining the drawing. My full sketch process is 25% pencil, 75% Photoshop.

Step 2: Open In Photoshop

Scanned rough sketch opened in Photoshop CS4

Step 3: Sketch Prep

Now that the sketch is in Photoshop, I will run a custom “sketch prep” Photoshop action (which you can download at my blog here). This Photoshop action will reset your color swatches back to the default black/white foreground/background colors, do a “Select All” on your image, then copy to a new layer via the Cut feature (which gives you a nice white background layer) and then reduces the rough sketch layer to 20% opacity. Finally, a new blank layer is created for you to start working on the sketch revisions.
I like to work on transparent layers when working on sketches in Photoshop so parts of the sketch can be easily copied, pasted, or cut without having to worry about the background white. I do however like to have the white background behind all the transparent layers so everything appears normal when sketching.

Step 4: Sketch Prep Results

The result of running the “sketch prep” action. Note the new layers in the Layers palette.

Step 5: Refine The Sketch — Drawing In Photoshop

Next I start working on refining my rough sketch on the new blank layer. I do all my sketching in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet. I highly recommend investing in a professional-quality graphics tablet if you are doing graphics work on your computer. You’ll also note in this screen shot that I have used the Free Rotate feature in Photoshop CS4, which allows you to freely rotate the canvas on the fly while you are working with a document. This makes it very easy to get the right angle while you are working on your drawing.
I always work by using a separate layer for any distinctive part of a drawing, even with a single character. This allows me to resize, distort and reposition elements of the character in Photoshop to get the right proportions and design down.
This is why I do not spend much time with paper on pencil; what I do on paper is just enough to get the basic idea worked out.

Step 6: More Refining Using the Free Transform Tool

Here you can see that I sketched the body of the bird, but decided I didn’t like the head-to-body proportions. Because the body sketch was created on a separate layer, I only need to hit Command-T to enable Free Transform, which allows me to rotate and scale the layer, as well as skew the layer (which I am doing in the screenshot) by holding the Command key while clicking on a control handle while in Free Transform mode.

Step 7: Even More Free Transforming

Again, I use Free Transform mode on the head layer to rotate and move down the head closer to the body.

Step 8: New Sketch

Here we have an entire new body, and an entire new approach to the character. I decided as I was working on this that I wasn’t keen on having the character standing, as I didn’t like how the wings were looking just flat at his sides.
Sketching directly into Photoshop using the Wacom graphics tablet, I quickly worked up a new body, wings and feet. You can see here how much I utilize as many features of Photoshop as I can when working on my sketches. While all of this could be done without graphics software, I like to put my tools to work for me.

Step 9: Group Your Layers

Here I am grouping all the layers of the sketch so far into a Layer Group folder, for easy management. I want to keep the layers separate, but also don’t need them to all be instantly accessible in the Layers palette. Grouping the layers also allows me to reduce the opacity or apply other layer effects to all the layers within the Layer Group as a whole.
Note how many layers I am using, even for this fairly simple character. By keeping all the elements on separate layers,and working on copies of layers, I never have to waste time to go back and re-draw anything. Better safe than sorry. RAM is cheap and if I want I can flatten or delete all the layers once I have my finished sketch.

Step 10: Create The Final Clean Sketch

Here I create a new empty layer outside the previously grouped layer folder, to work on refining the line work in preparation for the vector art stage.

Step 11: Final Sketch

The final cleaned up line art. This artwork will be used as a template in Illustrator when creating the vector art.

Step 12: Create Your Illustrator Document

Now we move over to Adobe Illustrator. Here you see the new document dialog box, and I have some custom starting documents that are set up the way I like to work — CMYK mode with the units of measurement set to “points”. Points work best for me as far as increasing strokes and nudging objects.

Step 13: Place Your Sketch As A Template In Illustrator

Next, the Photoshop sketch will be placed into Illustrator as a template for use as a, well, template. The sketch created in Photoshop will be placed and used to trace the vector paths in Illustrator.
Go to the File menu, and scroll down to the “Place…” command.

Step 14: Check the Template Checkbox

Navigate to the folder where your sketch is saved. Be sure the check the “Template” checkbox. This will place your Placed Image on a new layer, dim it to 50% opacity and lock the layer for you, all automatically. The dark bezel you see around the dialog box is the OS X file and navigation utility Default Folder (highly recommended).

Step 15: Work In Outline Mode

Next, switch to Outline Mode. Outline Mode is like a wireframe mode, where your vector paths will only show up as lines, and no color fills or strokes will appear. This helps in being able to see your sketch template as you work.

Step 16: Create The Vector Paths Using The Pen Tool

Since we worked on the sketch at 200 dpi, we have plenty of resolution to zoom in on the details to create our vector art.
You can see here that the final line art sketch was created with the vector art in mind. Nothing was left to the imagination at the final line art sketch stage, so when the vectors are created you do not have to figure out what needs created. At this stage it’s mostly a matter of tracing the outlines.
I use the Pen tool 99% of the time when working on the line art, and I create all my vector art by hand-no Live Trace is used. Not only does creating the vector art by hand allow you to keep the number of anchor points to the minimum, by doing so it also keeps the lines nice and fluid, allowing curves to flow and blend into each other. This results in a much sleeker final illustration.
You’ll also notice that I do not use the Calligraphic Brush tools. In essence I actually trace the line art as if they were shapes. Primarily this is done to give me much more control of the tapering thickness of the line art, which I just cannot achieve using a uniform tapered calligraphic brush (believe me, I have tried).

Step 17: Quickly Create Smooth Compound Curves

Here is a nice time-saver: if you look closely in the screenshots, you’ll notice I am not dragging out the arcs in the curved areas as I encounter them along the line, but rather adding a central point to the line after the fact.
The key here is that each “corner” is actually a small curve. By making these corners small curves, when I go back and add a central point between two “corners”, that anchor point had control points added and is technically a very, very wide curve.
By switching temporarily to the Direct Selection tool by holding down the Command key (note that the Direct Selection tool must be the last selection tool used before you switch to the Pen tool for this to work), I can then quickly reposition the newly-added anchor point and snug it up to the arc/curve in the line art template sketch. This technique is much easier than dragging it out while you create and trying to approximate the proper length the control handles should be.
This technique is much easier to see than to explain, so I have put together a quick video demonstrating how it’s done.

Step 18: Basic Vector Shapes Complete

Here, most of the line art vectors have been created. Notice the eyes were created as full circles, as was the bulk of the body. It’s much easier to get a consistent, flowing line by creating even the obscured areas, and then erasing those obscured areas later.

Step 19: Switch To Preview Mode

Now switch over to preview mode, so you can see how the artwork is looking with the filled in areas. All the overlapping, obscured line work is more obvious here. At this stage it’s probably a good idea to save a copy of the line art layer for backup, in case you need these full shapes later on.

Step 20: Erase Overlapping Shape Areas

To eliminate the unwanted obscured areas of the rear eyeball, select all the shapes comprising the rear eyeball (outline, pupil and highlight), then switch to the Eraser tool (Illustrator CS3 & CS4 only). If objects are selected, the Eraser tool will handily only affect (erase) the selected objects.

Step 21: Final Line Art Complete

Here the areas of the eye behind the beak were also erased. Continue to do this for all necessary objects.

Step 22: Create The Flat Color

No, we aren’t turning the bird into a flying purple people eater. I never fill in color areas with anything close to the final colors, so I know to choose proper colors and to also make sure all the objects using the same color are using a Global swatch. Using Global swatches allows me to edit the swatch, and have all the colors using that swatch in the artwork updated at once.
All the color areas were created on a new layer, underneath the line art layer. This way, the line art sits on top and the color shapes are underneath and on a separate layer. This allows for more flexibility when adding shading later.
Another method of creating the flat color shapes is by using Illustrator’s Pathfinder -> Unite feature on a copy of the line art, and then releasing the resulting compound path so you can select each interior shape and recolor as desired. Running the Offset Path feature with 1 or 2 pixels for the offset to add a bit of overlap could also be done to ensure there are no gaps where the filled areas meet the line art. Place this layer below your line art layer. It really depends on the illustration — this alternate method works great in some cases and not so great in other situations depending on the structure of your vector art file.

Step 23: Select Same Colors

Here I am consolidating all my “bird body” colors by first selecting the purple head shape, and then going to the Select menu, then to the “Same” submenu, and finally selecting “Fill Color”. What I am doing here is selecting one color, then automatically having Illustrator select all the other objects using the same color.

Step 24: Create Global Colors

I then go to the Swatches panel and click on the “New Swatch” icon, which opens up the above dialog box. For now I leave the color as-is, but the important thing here is to make sure the “Global” checkbox is selected (it will not be selected by default).
Once I have done this for all the colors in the bird, I can then go back and double click on the global swatches in the Swatches panel and tweak the colors to preference.

Step 25: Final Color Complete

The final colors.

Step 26: Prep And Add Shading

Next step is to add the shading. Create a new layer, and then target the layer by clicking the small circle on the right hand side of the layer in the Layers palette. You can tell the layer has been targeted by the outline seen around the circle.
By targeting the layer, we can then apply a Blend Mode to the layer, and this blend mode will affect all the objects on the layer. This saves us time from having to set blend modes and opacities for each object on the layer individually. I am setting the Blend mode via the (new to CS4) Appearance palette.
For the shading, set the blend mode to Multiply, and then also reduce the opacity to 40%.
You’ll notice, if you look back at the Layer target that the circle is now filled in with a dark gray; this indicates a Blend mode has been applied.
Now we can just create flat color shapes on this layer, and let the layer effect give us the desired results. Typically the Multiply blend mode will allow you to use the same exact color you used for the flat color as the shading color. Sometimes however you may need to create a new swatch and darken it up with a bit more K (Black).
Note: if you are using a version of Illustrator without transparency (versions 8 and lower), you’ll need to just create a flat color for the shading and skip the steps above.
Hopefully my thought process behind the separating of the line art and the flat color on separate layers is making more sense now. With the shading layer sandwiched between the two, this allows us to have much more flexibility and also not have to worry as much about precision since the line art layer sits above all the other layers.
Continue to add all your desired shading.

Step 27: Tweak Your Line Art

Now we are going to go back and tweak our line art, which we can see better in the overall final artwork with the color and shading applied.
In the screenshot you’ll see that my earlier tip about hand creating your vectors and keeping your anchor points to a minimum comes into play here, making it much easier to grab just a single anchor point and tweak and refine the line art where necessary.

Step 28: Duplicate Your Art With Multiple Artboards

Typically the artwork would pretty much be done at this point, however while I was looking at this artwork I realized I did not like the size of the bird’s beak in proportion to his head. Just as the name “Twitter” has a bit of a “cute” ring to it, and after looking at the color art I realized a smaller beak on the bird would give it a younger, more cute feel.
Illustrator CS4 now has a “multiple artboards” feature, which I am going to use here so I can work on a copy of the original art on it’s own artboard within the same document.
This is a great example of why I like to create the elements of the artwork as full shapes as opposed to just the visible lines. Making size revisions like this is much easier. Unfortunately, I did not create the artwork this way (or already erased the parts which were full shapes) and I didn’t save a copy of my line art layer as I recommended earlier in this tutorial. I will thus need to go back and edit the line art manually. This is easily done since I hand-created all the vectors in this artwork, as opposed to using the Live Trace feature. Live Trace ends up creating too may stray vector points, and cleaning up and smoothing out the paths takes more time than just hand-creating your vectors from the start.
On a side-note, this is also a good example of being able to step back and look at your artwork objectively, even at the final stages. Ideally, the overall design would be worked out before you reach the vector art stage — but never let that stop you from evaluating your creations and making sure they are achieving the goals they are intended to reach.

Step 29: Beak Tweaking

Here I have selected all the vector objects comprising the beak, and resizing them. Next, I needed to go back and rework the line art for the head to allow for the resized beak. Again, had I created the head shape as a full circle, much of this editing would be unnecessary.

Step 30: The Final Character Art

The final reworked art. I think you’ll agree the smaller beak is working much better.

Step 31: Add The Background Elements

Since the end use for this project is an icon one can use on their website or blog to indicate a person’s Twitter account link, I wanted the mascot to be enclosed in a rectangular icon, and also to distinguish the bird as a Twitter bird, I added the chat bubble to reflect the conversational nature of Twitter.

Voila! The final artwork is complete, and ready for use to tell the world you’re using Twitter. The final artwork is then exported to desired formats for use on the web. The final Twitter bird artwork files can be downloaded here, and the ZIP archive contains a CS4 version, as well as a CS1 version of the Illustrator file. Also included are three sizes of PNG icons for use wherever you need ‘em!

Download Twitter Bird Art

Obviously, there are some extra steps in the tutorial above, especially the parts where I reworked the art at the end. Instead of showing the ideal method, I wanted to give a real-world example, warts and all. I believe by showing the errors, it helps explains why the artwork is created as it is — one can see how easily an illustration can be tweaked at the end of the project if need be, by using a smart process from the start.
I would also encourage you to not use this tutorial as a “bible” for creating character illustrations, but rather use it as a stepping stone. As with any graphics software programs, there are as many ways to do something as there are users. Hopefully this tutorial gave you one way of approaching the creation of a character, which you can then use to expand and enhance with your own methods and techniques.
I look forward to your comments on how this tutorial helped your workflow, as well as any suggestions on how it might be improved. I am always looking for — and open to — new ideas, methods and techniques to improve my workflow and productivity.

Everything You Ever Want to Know About Creating Seamless Patterns in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:26:00 -0800

Adobe Illustrator patterns makes your work process easier and the result prettier. Every vector professional must know the secrets and details about using seamless patterns, as well as many approaches to creating them. In this tutorial I dive into the anatomy of patterns in Adobe Illustrator, analyzing numerous existing methods of creating a seamless pattern fill, from the easiest ones to the most complex ones.

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Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 30 to 60 minutes

Introduction

I believe that most readers know and use patterns in Illustrator, but I also know that there are some users that are only now making their first steps in
this program. This tutorial will be useful for both groups. We will start from the basics, moving to more complex things. This tutorial contains three sections comprised of: pattern basics, saving patterns, and creating seamless patterns. Let’s get started!

Theory: Understanding the Basics

I think it’s a good idea to start with the theoretical part first. This way those of you who are only starting to work in Illustrator will learn the basics
of patterns. Illustrator experts, however, may skip this part and jump right to the practical section on “Saving Patterns” or “Creating Patterns.”

1. What is a Pattern?

In Adobe Illustrator Patterns are one of the powerful tools used to decorate your artwork. It may be applied in the form of Pattern fill – one of three
types of fills, along with Color and Gradient fill. Patterns can serve as one of two types of stroke – along with Color stroke. Besides, pattern is
a base of Pattern brush. These three embodiments of patterns are enough to make them irreplaceable helpers for designers and illustrators.

2. Pattern Anatomy

In a nutshell, patterns are a group of vector objects with rectangular-shaped borders (tile). The source tile is saved as a pattern. To form the seamless pattern texture, the saved source is automatically tiled horizontally and vertically.
The tile direction is guided by rulers in the Illustrator document – usually patterns start from the lower-left corner. Interestingly, when the pattern is applied to a vector object as a fill or stroke, the result is a pixel-based image. However, as the source tile is vector, it is still scaleable, so you don’t need to worry about the quality.

3. Finding Patterns

We will soon be creating our own patterns, but first I want to make sure you try the existing ones. Adobe Illustrator has a plenty of default
libraries for most kinds of elements, such as: color and gradient swatches, symbols, brushes, and graphic styles. Of course, there are built-in patterns as
well, from simple dots to complex crocodile skin. To try them all, navigate to Window > Swatch Libraries > Patterns and select the
library you wish.
It is possible to load other pattern libraries, for example, downloaded from open-source internet sites. To do it, go to Window > Swatch library > Other library and navigate to the saved file on your hard disk (it might have a .ai extension). Usually, when you apply a swatch from an additional library it appears in the main Swatches panel. You may also want your main Swatches panel to show only pattern swatches – for this, choose Show Patterns in the panel View Options icon.

4. Studying Patterns

I recommend you to study the default patterns from inside Illustrator. To do it, simply drag the one you like onto your artboard. It is extremely useful for
understanding how patterns work. You will see the initial tile – the source group of objects that are repeated to form a seamless pattern. It is
especially interesting to find out what complex patterns consist of. This will help teach us how to create these later.

5. Pattern Fill

Pattern fills works in a simple way – it is applied as a fill to selected objects. You can apply multiple fills to any object, combining all types of fills (color, gradient, and pattern) using the Appearance panel (Shift + F6). You can also assign a blending mode and change the pattern fill opacity in the Transparency panel (Shift + Command + F10).
You can transform the pattern fill in any way – moving, scaling, rotating, reflecting it, etc, along with the object itself or separately. To do it, select any transform tool you want, for example Rotate (R), click Enter, and check what exactly you want to transform – either patterns only, or object only, or both.

6. Pattern Stroke

A pattern stroke is one of two types of strokes in Adobe Illustrator. Just like a pattern fill, you can combine pattern strokes with color strokes in the
Appearance panel. You can also change its opacity and blending mode in the Transparency panel.
As for transformation, again you may rotate, move, or scale a pattern applied to a stroke separately or together with the object. If you want all strokes to transform proportionally with the object, simply check Transform Strokes and Effects in the flyout menu of the Transform panel.

7. Pattern Brush

Another pattern embodiment is the pattern brush. There are many default pattern brushes, you can find them in Window > Brush Libraries > Border_Brushes and choose the library. Brushes can be applied as a stroke effect to any path, or you can use the Brush tool (B) to draw directly with chosen type.
Still you can create your own pattern brush using any pattern in the main Swatches panel – simply click the New icon in the Brushes panel (F5), select
Border type, and then select any pattern you like from the list. Adjust other settings, and your brush is ready. You can add other sections like
corner parts or end parts by creating objects you want and Alt-dragging them to the appropriate section of an existing brush. Or, again, you may add
any section choosing from the list of patterns in the main Swatches panel.
Vectortuts+ has plenty of custom pattern brush tutorials, like href="http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/designing/how-to-create-a-climbing-rope-pattern-brush/">How to Create a Climbing Rope Pattern Brush,
or Create a Gold Chain Pattern
Brush with Illustrator, and much more.

Important! Saving Patterns

Well, we’ve found out what patterns are and how to apply them. Still, the most important thing about Illustrator’s seamless patterns is that we can
create and save our own custom pattern swatches. Prior to moving to the main section explaining how to create seamless patterns, I want to make sure you know how to save patterns properly. Below I explain everything you need to know about it. If you already know all about saving patterns you can go to the final section on “Creating Patterns”.

1. Defining a Pattern

To define a pattern in Adobe Illustrator, you should first create the source tile for it that will be then repeated horizontally and vertically to form a seamless texture. Anyway, you will need to create the objects to form your pattern and then save it. To save an object or group of objects as a pattern swatch, simply drag it to the Swatches panel.
It is a good habit to name patterns appropriately, to do it double-click the swatch and rename it. Another option for saving a pattern is to select objects and go to Edit > Define pattern, this way you can name it right away.

2. Restrictions

Actually, it’s possible to create patterns with all kinds of objects, including symbols, gradients, brushes, blends, and mesh. However, you must
not save a tile containing guides. Because we use guides very often when creating a pattern, don’t forget to delete them prior to saving. Patterns
must not include objects with patterns applied to it, unfortunately. Also, try to not use complex effects within a pattern tile, as it may lead to unpredictable results sometimes.

3. Cropping a Tile

Before we learn the process of seamless pattern creation, I think we must remember techniques of cropping the tile. As the objects we create mostly do not form a perfect rectangle or square, there are ways of defining exact pattern borders to avoid incorrect results. There are three main cropping pattern tile methods:
1. Background Rectangle – In this method, the rectangle is placed below all other objects, so that all elements stay within its borders.

2. Dividing Objects – To crop the pattern, create a rectangle on top of all objects to match the tile. Now you have two options: either select all objects and press the Crop button in the Pathfinder panel, or select the top rectangle and go to Object > Path > Divide objects below and delete the leftovers. Now you can save the perfectly cropped pattern.

3. Invisible Borders – This method is the most advanced and popular. Create a rectangle matching the tile borders, make it NO fill and NO stroke (dark rectangle on the image below) and send it to back of the entire stack (Shift + Command+ [). This invisible shape will define the pattern borders, this way you can avoid dividing objects.

4. Transparency and Blending

If you use blending modes or opacity for objects in your tile, the future pattern will inherit them, and the object with such pattern applied will
look good only on particular background color. You may want to leave it as is, if it's the effect you want.
Still, if you want to correct it, I suggest that you either use a solid-colored background included in the pattern itself, or turn all objects to flat-color or 100% opaque ones. To do it, select your tile objects and go to Object > Flatten Transparency and adjust settings.
You may want to check Preserve alpha transparency, converting objects with blending modes to flat-color but preserve their opacity level, or check Preserve Overprints (works for 100% opaque shapes) to keep blending modes intact, converting elements to 100% opaque. This way yo may choose how to handle transparency to convert objects to flat-color or 100% opaque (or both) shapes.

As an example, I will use this option when creating patterns later in this tutorial. You can use whatever objects you like, but I want you to try one nice technique - I'll show it in case you want to recreate it. For the patterns created below I took multiple objects made with the help of the Tilde key (~) and the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + ') option.
To make them, grab any shape tool, from the Rectangle to Star to Spiral, and start drawing an object pressing the Tilde key. This way we get multiple copies, and we can scale and rotate them while drawing. To make the result more pleasant, adjust your grid size by going to Preferences > Guides and Grid (Command + K), turn the Grid on (Command + ') and Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + ') on.
Then select the objects created, reduce their opacity, change the color, and change the blending mode to your liking. You can also try pressing other modifier keys when drawing along with Tilde, like Alt to draw from the center, or Shift to constrain the proportions (or both, if you have enough fingers) to get interesting results. Also, try the Spacebar to move shapes while drawing. You can then combine the resulted shapes in various abstract figures, duplicating and transforming them to your liking.

Practice: Creating Seamless Patterns

There are numerous methods for creating seamless patterns, from the easiest to the most complex ones. The first and foremost rule for correct pattern creation is to make it seamlessness. This means a tile should be constructed in such a way, that elements on its right border perfectly match ones on its left border, and top and bottom borders match as well.
This way, when a pattern is tiled horizontally and vertically it looks seamless. Below I use simple forms just for demonstrative purpose, you can apply these methods to create more complex patterns. I will explain all pattern techniques I know in the practical guide below, starting from the primitive one and moving to complex techniques involving precise calculations.

1. The Easiest Method.

It's obvious that any object or group of objects can be technically saved as a pattern, although it won't necessarily work well seamlessly. Still, we'll start from this primitive (and the least popular) way to create a pattern - drawing any object and dragging it to the Swatches panel. If the object has a rectangular shape, the pattern will be correct, as the pattern tile border will match the rectangle border.
If, however, the object isn't rectangular, the tile borders will be assigned according to the object bounding box. This way, if we simply save a star or circle as a pattern, the tile will still be rectangular with empty space added automatically. Of course, this is not what we usually want, but sometimes this method may produce interesting results.

2. Within the Background

As it follows from the previous step, patterns should be saved with rectangle borders to look correct. One good and simple way of doing it is creating
a background rectangle of the desired color to serve as a tile, and then drawing objects on top of it and position them within its borders.
The program takes the borders of the entire group as a tile, in this case they will match the background rectangle. To make sure the tile is formed correctly and the pattern will be seamless, position all the inner objects within the background. This method is used in the tutorial A Beginners Guide to Digital Textile Printing, demonstrating what nice results may be produced. Save the entire group as a pattern and see the outcome.

Note: if you need no color background for your pattern, you still can position objects to your liking and crop the tile with the Invisible borders
method. This way all elements will stay on a transparent background.

3. Reflection

Another method worth mentioning that produces very nice-looking results is mirroring. The idea of it is creating a symmetric pattern. Symmetry
is a harmonious composition technique, and reflected patterns are usually pleasant to the viewer, that's why we like symmetric ornaments.
To create it, draw a rectangle background tile and put the main objects onto it. Here I used simple shapes to create a digital sound wave just to illustrate the idea. Try to position objects so that they overlap one vertical tile border (in the image below it's the right border). Move and transform elements to get the result you like, then copy the background rectangle (Command + C) and paste it in front (Command + F), then bring it to front (Shift + Command + ]).
Select everything and crop all objects by pressing the Crop button in the Pathfinder panel (Shift + Command+ F9) – and you’ll have one-half of the future pattern. To create a second half, select all elements and choose the Reflect tool (O), now Alt-click on the tile’s right border and enter a Vertical axis, and click Copy. Both parts will perfectly match now (you may want to reflect the pattern again by the horizontal axis).

4. From the End

The methods above are quiet straightforward, and they are not enough at all for making more complex seamless textures. Sometimes you need to start from the end, creating not the only one tile, but rather the entire pattern of many tiles, and find the initial tile later.
To illustrate this, let’s make the pattern made of hexagons. A hexagon, by the way, is a great shape for making seamless patterns with, as the objects perfectly match each others’ borders, as well as an equilateral triangle (actually, most regular polygons form nice seamless patterns, starting from a square).
To create this type of pattern, we have to understand what the initial image is that will be tiled later. To do it, we can simply start building a model of
future patterns with repeated elements. One of the best examples of such technique is a demonstrated in the tutorial How to Create Seamless Watermark Patterns.
First, create the layered hexagon with the help of the Tilde and Snap to Grid option, give it low opacity and Multiply blending mode. You can, however, use a plain flat-color hexagon with stroke, but if you use this technique, you should read a note above about handling transparency and blending.
Now, with the Snap to Point option checked (Command + Alt + “) and Smart Guides turned on (Command + U), duplicate the group several times to form a few columns that exactly touch each other. You can check touching borders by switching to Outline mode (Command + Y). You are ready when you have enough elements to find a tile among them.
Now you must find the tile – the points where elements repeat indicate tile borders. Turn on rulers (Command + R) and drag two vertical guides that precisely intersect shapes in two similar points, now drag two horizontal guides (refer to the image). Smart guides will help find intersections.
Create a rectangle within the guides (see the image below, I’ve made it darker), and assign the tile borders using Divide or the invisible rectangle method. Now you can delete the guides and save the entire stack as a pattern and apply it to any shape.

5. Blending

Here is another modification of previous method. Oftentimes there is a need for patterns to contain a series of the same objects with different positioning, when elements overlap, and tile borders are not obvious at all, pretty much like with the hexagons above.
Still, whenever our elements must form a perfect sequence, there is a tool to help us significantly – the Blend command. Let’s create a pattern similar to a parquetry floor ornament. Create a small rectangle (M) – mine is 50px by 10px. Fill it with any color you like and rotate it 45 degrees.
Now Alt + Shift-drag it to the right to copy and keep the baseline. Now select both shapes and go to Object > Blend > Options, select Specified steps and enter how many steps you want the blend to be. This number depends on the distance between two objects, I entered 10. Now just press Alt + Command + B to make the blend.
Here it is – the series of the same objects. You can modify blend parameters by selecting the blend group and going to the blend options again, or by clicking the Blend tool icon twice in the tools panel.

Now with the blend selected, choose the Reflect Tool (O) and Alt-click in its lower area, choose the Horizontal option and click Copy. You’ll have a reflected copy of the original group. Position it so that it matches the corners of a first row. You can alter its color as well.
Now just copy the first top group and drag it down to match the second one (Alt + Shift-drag). Now it’s time for adjustments – you can easily change blend parameters for all three groups. Select them and click the Blend tool icon twice.
When you are happy with the pattern, find the tile borders. Turn on the rulers (Command + R) and drag two vertical guides that touch the same corners of two neighboring rectangles. Now drag two horizontal guides that touch the same corners of the two rectangles of the top and bottom row. Draw an invisible bottom rectangle, hide your guides, and save the pattern. That is it.

6. Smart Guides

Sometimes, when we create a pattern out of several objects, we need the tile border to lie exactly on some element. Therefore, we need to have two copies of this element on both borders at exact positions. It is not hard to do with the help of guides. First, create a background rectangle for your pattern and fill it with the desired color (if you want a transparent background, create a rectangle and turn it into a guide by pressing Command + 5).
Now, create the objects you want for the pattern, in this case it’s groups of objects. Turn on Smart Guides in the Preview menu or press Command + U. Now move the first object so that it’s center sits exactly on the left rectangle border – smart guides will indicate it. Alt + Shift-drag the object to the right to copy it and keep the baseline until its center touches the right rectangle border. Now do the same with other objects – position them on the rectangle borders and make copies on opposite sides.
You can put the object in the corner, making sure it touches the object’s center point and make three copies in every corner. You can also put some objects randomly within the rectangle. When you like the outcome, you can assign the tile borders.
Copy the background rectangle and paste it to back (Command + C and Command + B), or in this case you used a rectangle guide to turn it into a shape again (Alt + Command + 5). Make sure its on the bottom of the Layers panel, and give it no fill and no stroke. Now you can select all elements and define a pattern.

7. Calculations

Very often all we need from seamless patterns is just randomly scattered objects. Previous methods won’t work for this, as it makes a visible tile because the rectangle borders overlap center points of objects rather than any random points. We can still make random seamless patterns with the help of precise calculations. First, we’ll need a background tile with exact measurements – again, create a rectangle and either fill it with color or turn it into a guide.
You better create it by pressing Enter and inserting the width and height you want the tile to be. Now create the objects for your pattern. When they are ready, place the first objects anywhere on the rectangle’s bottom border. Now select the object with the Move tool (V) and press Enter, now in the Vertical field insert the value for moving the object precisely – the height of your tile, and press Copy. If you forget the tile height or width, simply select the background rectangle and open the Transform panel – you’ll see the numbers in the W and H fields.
Position the second object to another border and again copy it the same way. For the right and left borders, enter the value that equals the tile width in the Horizontal field of the Move window, while for the bottom and top borders enter a tile height in the Vertical field. You’ll need to enter negative numbers (like -200px) while moving left or down. You can place objects in the corner, in this case duplicate it both horizontally and vertically to have 4 copies.
Also put some objects in the middle of the tile if you want. Now you can assign the tile borders using either the Divide objects method or Invisible bottom tile method, and save the pattern. This pattern technique is great for creating scattered elements like in the pattern created in this tutorial How to Make a Foolproof Flowery Wallpaper Pattern.

8. Dynamic Edit

While creating a pattern, we oftentimes lack the possibility to see how the final result will look. However, there is a method allowing not only to model the resulted effect, but also to edit it dynamically.
First of all, create the tile containing the background rectangle (with fixed width and height) and other pattern objects. Position all objects in the desired place, including those that overlap the tile borders (don’t make copies for the opposite borders, however). Now, group all the shapes. With the entire group selected, go to Effects > Distort & Transform > Transform. Here, in the Horizontal move field, enter the rectangle width and for the number of copies enter 2, and apply it.
Again, go to the same Transform effect, you’ll be prompted to apply a new effect – click Apply. This time enter the rectangle height in the Vertical move field (negative number), again enter 2 copies and apply the transformation. What you get now is a 3×3 square modeling a future pattern, with the original group positioned in the upper-left corner. Transform effects can be edited in the Appearance panel.

Now you can easily move or transform any object of the original group to achieve the desired result! To do it, choose the Group Selection tool (White arrow with the plus sign) that is hidden under the Direct Selection arrow, and select every element of the group separately – changes will dynamically apply to all 9 tiles.
If your elements are combined in groups, you might need to click twice with the Group selection. You can now find a perfect position for every object in this pattern, making sure they do not overlap. When you are happy with how the pattern looks, you can define tile borders and save it.
You don’t even have to expand the effect! All you have to do now is create a rectangle the same size as your initial tile, position it somewhere inside your pattern model, send it to back and make it invisible. Save the pattern and apply it to see the result!

9. Random Texture

I want to share another method that can be very helpful for creating a random texture, like concrete, paper, or rock surface. We’ll use raster filters to make this type of pattern.
Create a rectangle with a flat-color or gradient fill, depending on your needs. Select it and go to the Filters menu, choose the raster filter that suits your needs (good effects can be achieved with the Texture section, like Grain or Texturizer filter), adjust the filter settings to your liking and apply it. Now expand it (Object > Expand appearance) and live trace the group (Object > Live trace). Adjust the Live trace parameters and expand it to get a group of vector objects. Now you can ungroup it if you want, or simply assign tile borders with an invisible rectangle and send it to back (Shift + Command + [), and save the pattern.

Conclusion.

In this tutorial we’ve learned all about patterns in Adobe Illustrator – what they consist of, how to save them and assign borders properly, and, more importantly, how to create custom seamless patterns.
We used simple objects to understand all basic methods of pattern creation, but once you know all these techniques, you can try them on more complex images. You can also combine described methods together inventing your own unique techniques!
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Elegant gradient ribbon in Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:23:00 -0800

One of the Duoh! dot com illustrations called Grafiek Grafik Grafico has this special shape which I thought would be ideal for a tutorial.

Draw a circle

Draw a circle using the Ellipse tool holding down the Shift key and apply a linear gradient at 90°.

Cut in half and duplicate

Select the Direct Selection tool (white arrow), select the most right anchor point of the circle and hit delete. Click and drag the 1/2 circle to the right holding down both the Shift key and Option/Alt key. The Option/Alt key is to duplicate the object and the Shift key is to make sure you drag this shape perfectly horizontally.

Join the segments

With the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) still selected, drag a selection over the top most anchor points. Go to Object > Path > Join or hit Cmd/Ctrl + J. Do the same for the bottom anchor points as shown in the image above. The shape should be perfectly closed now.

Rotate duplicate at 180°

Make sure Smart Guides is turned on: View > Smart Guides. Select the Rotate tool and click precisely in the bottom right anchor point. If you hold down the Option/Alt key you get a window. Enter a value of -180° and select Copy. Or you can also click without holding down the Option/Alt key and drag the shape holding down both the Option/Alt key and Shift key as shown in the image above.

Apply gradient

Apply a new gradient by adjusting the bottom color as shown in the example above.

Rotate duplicate at 180° both objects

Now select the Selection tool (black arrow) and select both shapes. Click precisely in the bottom left anchor point. You can do this again holding down the Option/Alt key and enter a value of -180° and hit Copy or drag 'by hand' holding down both the Option/Alt key and Shift key.

Adjust the gradient of both shapes. The bottom color is the same as the top color in the shape that follows. This way we achieve a smooth transition. Next, we make sure our duplicated shapes are both selected and we click in the same spot again holding down the Option/Alt key. Here we enter a value of 125% and we click OK. Repeat this step if need and as long as you want this shape to be.
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It will be one of the last ones for a week or 2 as I'm off on Saturday for San Francisco to visit some of my friends and a few clients. Later in the week I'm on a *jetplane* towards SXSW (Austin, TX) :)