Adobe Illustrator Tutorials for Non Artists.

Installing New Fonts and Designing Logos with Adobe Illustrator on a Macintosh

2012-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

How to install a new Font

Under Mac OS X 10.3 or above (including the FontBook) :

Double-click the font file > "Install font" button at the bottom of the preview.

It is really that simple.

Making cool artwork using Adobe Illustrator is as easy as choosing a cool font/typeface.

You just saw an example of a font. If you would like more, just Google "free fonts" and you'll get a good list.

I use www.dafont.com. They have a nice selection of free fonts that are easy to view and download. If you are going to use the font to make money, you are supposed to pay the people who made the font, or at least donate some money if you're feeling generous.

With a good typeface, you don't need anything else to constitute a logo or brand. Brands are made from good customer service and leadership, not from having the coolest logo. The biggest companies out there have very plain, basic fonts and many times no extra graphics or very simple graphic made of basic shapes.

For example, the Ford logo is a stylized script, nothing too fancy. It has two ovals around it. Although, there are some nice gradients and a 3d curvature thrown in to give it a metallic feel.

Another large company with a simple logo.

Four squares and a fairly plain font.

A good logo really need not be a huge undertaking. It does need to be readable. So keep that in mind when you have huge names that can't be fit on one or two lines easily.

The Amazing Spiderman Logo

2012-07-04T12:37:00.002-07:00

The piece was done in Adobe Illustrator CS5. I was browsing through fonts and saw one based on the Amazing Spiderman, so I decided that it would be cool to make one of my own name in the Spiderman theme.

I was intrigued by the new Spiderman movie, even though I haven't seen it, I am an admirer of the pre-movie Spiderman. I had the pleasure to even work on a Spiderman: The Movie computer game while at Activision.

I downloaded the font the_amazing_spider_man from Dafont.com. The uppercase letters are solid and the lowercase letters have a white fill with a black border. I took the font, aligned it to the right, and added a Warp Envelope Arc with various settings. Then I re-sized it as best I could.

I added a spider from the Nature Symbols palette, re-sized it, rotated it, and then positioned it to the left of the text. I wanted it big, and since it was a nice vector graphic, it would look good no matter what size.

Next I wanted a web, I looked for one in the symbols pallets but I could not find one so I decided to make one myself. I just drew one vertical and one horizontal line, then I grouped and copy and pasted it on top, then rotated it and re-positioned it on the center of the other line. I then drew three circles of increasing sizes.

I then selected and grouped the circles, added a Pucker Effect to it which gave it the curved web look. then I added a Brush Stroke to the web so that it would look more natural.

I had the web and text on separate layers with the text turned off while I worked on the web. Now that the web was done, I turned the text back on. I placed the text layer on the top and realized that the text on top would get lost in the graphics below. So a typical thing I do is to add a white border behind the text to separate it from the graphics below.

The spider was placed on top, so with three different layers of art, I hope it does not appear completely flat, but has some depth without having to try too hard.

When I started out, I mean to do a tutorial, but this ended up being a 30 minute piece. I took the 30 minutes and edited down to about 1 minute and 30 seconds. The edit job was very rough. I am still trying to figure out a good format.

I will redo the video when I have the time. I have a much better understanding how things work now. I will also be adding in sound and voice over with subtitles.

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial 5: Downloading Fonts

2012-06-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the newest link, this one came out the best so far. I wish I had time to mess with the arrow some more.

Click HERE ---> http://screencast.com/t/Rd2Htc80qStI <---Click HERE

I'll start adding the images I make in the tutorials to the blog. ^^^^^ <--arrows pointing up.

If you look around at the logos of major companies, especially older ones, you might notice they are not that complicated.

But, in reality, people have spent millions of dollars on these logos and there is a lot more involved.

And, you'll notice a lot of company logos have nothing but type.

But, if you've ever tried to match up two fonts, you'll find that even if they look the same, there are many differences.

That is why there are tens of thousands of fonts, and many of them are all extremely similar looking to an untrained eye. But if you match the fonts up you'll see there are small variations throughout each font.

Adobe Illustrator only takes the idea of the typewriter and the printing press and made it digital. So the idea of a font has been around for a long time.

Going back even further to branding and other forms of symbolism. It became necessary that things be codified and made uniform in a way that you would know something by the font it used.

And it was a way to keep things secret or to make sure something was legitimate. Fonts were expensive and works of art. Similar to a wax seal, a signature, a fingerprint, or other things used to identify individuals and to protect them from people who wish to steal their identities.

It is no small thing to have your ideas stolen. There needed to be ways to make sure that you knew where something originated from, and you could tell by the quality of the source.

It is a similar process used for American Money. The process in which money is made is so complicated and difficult to copy, that you know that your money is real and not counterfeit.

That is, if you know what to look for and have the proper devices to check the money since it is easy to copy something on a superficial level.

If I photocopied a dollar and gave it to some kid, he wouldn't know. Well, neither would a lot of adults.

But, you'd be surprised how easy it is to spot if you sit there doing it a lot. What may look like a good fake to you probably looks like Monopoly money to a trained cashier.

I want to stand out and be an individual, so I come upon these issues of being copied and counterfeited.

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Art In Under 5 Minutes #4

2012-06-17T21:55:00.002-07:00

http://screencast.com/t/N03ddNOidz2

The above link will take you to a 5 minute tutorial showing how i created the image below.

The above image took under 5 minutes to make in Adobe Illustrator CS5.

Side bar: What is a Font? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font

The above image involved:

1) Choosing a font,

2) Re-sizing the font,

3) Duplicating the font or Copy and Pasting it,

4) Applying a 21% Gaussian Blur to the Black Font,

5) Changing the other font to Blue,

6) Positioning and Arranging the font so that the blurred font is on the bottom and slightly down and to the right of the blue font,

7) Creating a yellow rectangle that is larger than the font,

8) Positioned and Arranged the Yellow Rectangle behind the Fonts,

9) Added a Black Dashed Stroke with Arrowheads to the Yellow Rectangle,

10) Applied a 0% (placeholder) Effect,

11) Added, re-sized, and re-positioned a Red Bow from the Symbols Pallet.

12) Save and Export to Web.

Please view my other tutorials and comment on them. These tutorials are completely new and I am still experimenting with all aspects of the format. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

William Ryan Kus

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial 3: Basic Font Effects, Copy and Pasting

2012-06-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

http://screencast.com/t/m7rf1X20

Here's some better font effects. I did a Gaussian blur. I did a basic Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V which is a Copy + Paste, one of the most basic, useful, and common commands you will use.

Copy and Pasting an image allows you to create a drop shadow, a nice border, or some other three dimensional effect.

When you start seeing these larger three dimensional objects, you'll find many of them are just multiple layers, sometimes hundreds of layers, to create an effect of depth and dimension. You'll see this copied in those new 3d Printers that print in three dimensions.

Copy and Pasting also allows you to save your work on separate layers so that you can have a copy of the original. It may be better to just keep a separate copy of the file, as well as just using the Duplicate Layer command and then locking that layer in the background so that you can't accidentally erase it if you need to go back to the original.

This is sort of fun. I've seen people charge $50 for lessons in Adobe Illustrator.

In class, they may spend a whole day teaching you how to copy and paste.

It really only takes a few seconds to learn, but a lifetime to master!

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial 2: Font Kerning

2012-06-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

http://screencast.com/t/efbisIHoZZh

That is the thing with Illustrator, there are a lot of details and it is very easy to get lost in them.

You see the difference between a normal word and a word that is kerned and positioned correctly.

There are many things to consider, but I will try to be more general.

I will try and fit more stuff into the next one.

Maybe I'll try to do one with more stuff in it.

Illustrator Tutorial 1: Fun with Fonts

2012-06-17T20:41:00.002-07:00

http://screencast.com/t/hZhbSKMjT7Q

The one problem with Jing is that it saves in a Flash format and I can't upload it to YouTube, so you have to click the link above. I'll have to switch programs for video captures.

This is my first Tutorial, well not my first, but my first in this format.

It is for people who know how to install a program like Illustrator, but otherwise would not use it.

This is for non-professionals who just want to make a flyer for a Church bulletin, a local club, or anything else that you do.

It's really for people who art Artphobes and refuse to touch Illustrator or anything that has to do with art.

It isn't about drawing better than someone else or drawing the Mona Lisa, it's about having fun and expressing yourself.

I am sure some people would like to be able to make LoLCatz photos. It isn't that hard. It really can be done in a few minutes.

Most of the time is in the uploading and sharing.

These are very basic things you can do. When you can do the simple stuff, you'll find with a little exploration how much there is that can be done.

I hope to help people explore Illustrator.

I want to show people that Illustrator should not be intimidating the way it is, but instead should be inviting and easy to use.

It is really a lot of fun once you see what it can do and how much time it can save.

My favorite part about Illustrator is that it can take someone who isn't an artist and give them something that looks presentable.

Adobe Illustrator and Screen Printing

2012-06-15T15:56:00.004-07:00

One thing I am decent at, it is Adobe Illustrator. I worked professionally at a screen printing shop for decades on and off for my Uncle Al Tokunaga at Tri Arts Screen Printing in North Hollywood, California.

Everyone thinks he is my dad or they think he is me sometimes, because our voices are exactly the same. And, since we worked at the same place, we'd wear the same clothes.

I had the opportunity to separate customer artwork into separations and making sure that the art looked as good as possible.

People may have a ton of "education" but it is another thing to have practical experience in a business that actually earned money and is still in business for 40 years.

So, I want to apply my practical knowledge somehow.

If I can't afford to do it myself or I'm just completely unmotivated, I can at least blog about what I do know and hopefully create some sort of discussion.

I can answer basic questions for people who have no idea how to use Illustrator. My uncle used to charge people $50 an hour for my art services.

I an offering my services for free at the moment, to see if people are willing to pay me to do what they pay other people $25+ to do. You can make $100's depending on your skill level.

I don't keep a portfolio. This was just a part-time side job. I never considered myself an artist.

I just understand a lot of basic stuff on Illustrator. The things I see people teach in College is very basic and simple.

I hope that maybe I can help people who are trying to screen print or design t-shirts or just want tips on how to use Illustrator if they have problems.

I know Illustrator can seem very daunting and intimidating. It is, but it doesn't seem like it to me because I have used it for decades, back when Photoshop and Illustrator were Mac only products and the Windows based machine was a joke for graphics.

Back then, they were using Amigas for Star Trek.

I'll try to add some practical exercises or something later. Right now, I am concentrating on Programming and Math so I can finally get an AA.

Here is one I did recently, it took between 30 and 60 minutes, because it used a lot of different elements, like web art, original vector, and clip art.

You can have a lot of fun, just for personal use. Someone sent an email about a Dungeons and Dragons module called "Wizards of Cockblock Forest" and it inspired this vision in me.

Since a cock is supposed to be a Rooster, I wanted to represent a Rooster blocking something. So it could be a cock block, without showing a penis.

You can really do a lot in a short amount of time. Illustrator makes things very easy once you learn to use it.

Like having a garage full of a tools. You could build a car if you wanted, but unless you are an engineer or carpenter, the tools just sit there.

Illustrator has limitless possibilities, especially when combined with Photoshop and the other Adobe Suites.

I'd wear this on a t-shirt. It makes me laugh.

That's what art is. It is supposed to have meaning to you. And others, if that's what you want. I like it, and that is all that matters. Not that people will insult me or call me names.

Artists are under siege. Creativity is under siege.

I have to constantly fight just to be myself.

By insulting someone they will instantly stop doing anything cultural or creative or artistic because they become embarrassed, especially us artistic types.

It is not a small thing. It is a very serious issue and a major reason why America is in such an intellectual decline that it resonates in every sector.

The depression and housing crash may never recover. It may just be like this forever.

It's only going to get worse unless people learn to start using their brains and not be afraid of things like Adobe Illustrator.

Instead of paying someone like me or my uncle $50 an hour to do, you can do it yourself.