Illustrator Design House

Retouch a lady with Photoshop

2010-11-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Take a picture you want, a portrait may be the best. If you feel lazy, you can use the picture below:

Step 2: Duplicate your image (hit Ctrl-J) and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Fill in 6.1 for the radius and hit OK. By blurring this layer, we can make her skin smoother and brighter

Step 3: Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to turn this layer into a black-and-white image, this will greatly increase the contrast on the lady. Change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay. The Overlay mode just leaves bright and dark colors get through, so the colors are greatly enhanced.

Step 4: Hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E to create a new flatten layer, which is the result of all visible layers below. On this new layer, apply a gradient map on it

Set your settings as following:

Step 5: Once you finished, change the blending mode of this gradient map to Soft Light. Your photo now become brighter and "softer"

Step 6: If you see your photo a bit too bright then reduce the Opacity of this map to 50%

It looks better, doesn't it?
Step 7: We just have to make some subtle changes on her lips. Press Ctrl-Shift-Alt-E again to make another flatten layer. Create a new layer and go to Edit>Fill and fill it with 50% gray option. Change the blending mode to Overlay. As you see, this layer seems transparent because Overlay does not let gray get through. Why do we do it? Because we can retouch on this separate layer without destroying the original one!
Use the Burn tool to trace along her lips. As you see, they are now pinker. Remember you should work with a small, soft brush

Step 8: Repeat step 7 with her eyebrows. Reduce the Exposure parameter of the Burn tool to make it look realistic. You can see my result below:

(for the text, I just used Outer Glow)

Some Corporate Logo and its change in time

2010-08-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

Adobe Logo Designs

AEG Logo Designs

Animal Planet Logo Designs

Apple Logo Designs

Pepsi Logo Designs

KFC Logo Designs

Kodak Logo Designs

SONY Logo Designs

IBM Logo Designs

Starbucks

AT&T

Burger King

Bosch Logo Designs

Microsoft Logo Designs

MTV Logo Designs

Xerox Logo Designs

Ford Logo Designs

Fiat Logo Designs

FedEx Logo Designs

Harley Davidson Logo Designs

Philips Logo Designs

Valiant Comics Logo Designs

Bugatti Logo Designs

Texaco Logo Designs

Three M Logo Designs

Mitsubishi Logo Designs

Yahoo Logo Designs

BBC Logo Designs

Lego Logo Designs

Minol Logo Designs

Adidas Logo Designs

Some Simple but elegant Business card designed in Illustrator

2010-08-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Uno Design

Clint Shuttlesworth

Cross Section Studio

PataPri

Thought & Theory

Business Card for: Running Doves Press

Business Card for: Erich Hartmann

Business Card for: Dan Springer

Business Card for: Paul Wilson

Yunikon Design

Santaclara Business Cards

Erik Merkow

wildlabs

MacLife Business Card

Fenson Jeremy

Uses of Blend Tools : A simple Techniques

2010-08-14T03:16:00.001-07:00

The Blend tool

Draw 2 lines that cross each other

Start by drawing 2 curving lines using the pen tool. Make sure these 2 lines cross each other at least once. This will create this rather cool effect once we apply the Blend tool. Give the lines a stroke color.

Apply the blend

Select both lines using the Selection Tool (black arrow). Now double click the Blend tool in the Toolbox to get the Blend Options box. Enter 20 for the amount of steps and select the 2nd orientation option. Click OK. Now with the tool and both lines still selected, click in the starting point of the first line and then click in the starting point of the second line.

Edit the path or color if needed

You should get a blending effect of different lines in between as shown in the above image. With the Direct Selection tool you can select one of the lines you've originally drawn. The lines in between are not visible in outline mode. Yu can't select or edit them, but you can still modify the color of both lines you've drawn and you can change the shape or even add points if you like.
You can use the Blend tool on any shape. You can blend from a star to a circle, a line to a rectangle, etc. If I'm my memory serves me right I use to create gradients like this using this same technique back in older Illustrator versions. You can still do this but Illustrator offers you far more easier ways and the Blend tool is more likely used for special effects like for instance this line effect described here.

Distort Zig Zag Effect

Another way to achieve interesting line effects starting from a simple shape, is by using the Distort Zig Zag Effect. I'm choosing the Zig Zag effect because this effect will give a rather symmetrical end result compared to the other Distort effects. They can be interesting to experiment with if you're after a more random or even chaotic end result. Also one advice if I may, choose Effects over Filters if possible. Effects are adjustable at any time using the Appearance palette. Filters on the other hand don't give you that flexibility and freedom. Once applied, you need to use the undo to change the result and start over. So keep that in mind ;)

Draw a circle (hold down shift key). Give the circle a stroke or line filling. Go to the Effects menu and choose Zig Zag from the Distort submenu. Check the preview option and play with the sliders.

Or draw a star (using the Star tool, hidden under the Rectangle tool). I chose to give the star a dashed line. Go to the same Effect again and play with the sliders. Again, don't forget to check the preview option to see the end result.

My end result, just lines

How to draw a beveled star ?

2010-08-14T03:10:00.001-07:00

Follow the steps to draw a beveled Star

Step 1: Draw a vertical path.

Step 2: With the path selected, go to Effect>Transform. Enter a roation angle of 36° and 4 copies. Click OK.

Step 3: Go to Object>Expand Appearance, which will result in 5 paths, grouped.

Step 4: Draw a star (hold down Shift and Option to constrain it to a right-side-up, 5-pointed star).

Step 5: Center-align the star and the line group horizontally. You may have to move the star up or down so that each line bisects the star’s points.

Step 6: Select the star and the lines and go to Pathfinder>Divide.

Step 7: Take the Live Paint bucket and color every other shape for the beveled look.

Yum! You’re done!

Pencil tool have hidden preferance

2010-08-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

Lot of tools have hidden feature, which will let you set a whole host of options to make Illustrator work the way you want it to.

How to create a Perfect 3-D Cube ?

2010-08-14T03:01:00.000-07:00

Change your measurement units to points (see previous tip!) and enter the point size of your square in the Extrude Depth field. That’s it!

How to impose Outer Glow Effect in Illustrator Design

2010-08-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

Since the default Blending Mode for the Outer Glow effect is Screen, whatever is underneath the glowing object affects the appearance of the Glow. In mathematical terms, Screen mode inverts the foreground and multiplies it by the background, then adds the foreground on top.

Below are two examples of the effect, on various CMYK and RGB swatches. You can see that RGB works a little better with this effect. If you’re working in CMYK, a rich black (I use C=58, M=50, Y=53, K=100) works better because there is more color information for the Screen mode to “pick up.”

How to duplicate Gredient with Gredient Mash

2010-08-14T02:57:00.000-07:00

Do you laboriously start from scratch and fill in every single point on the mesh?

No! Simply rasterize the object (Object>Rasterize), then choose Object>Create Gradient Mesh…
Make sure to choose “Flat” in the Mesh dialog box, and enter the number of rows and columns suitable for your object.

You may have to do a little touch-up around the edges, but it’s way better than doing the whole thing, one point at a time.

High Quality Grunge Vectors

2010-08-14T02:54:00.000-07:00

I got some high quality grunge vector for Illustrator. Here sharing all for u friends.

Discount X-Ray and its logo design

2010-08-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

More works on Digital Distribution

2010-08-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Amyris : Certified Organic Beauty

2010-08-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

110 Productions Logo Design Contest at 99 Desings

2010-08-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Digital Distributions

2010-08-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Illustrator Beginner’s Series 1: Layers & Placing Images

2010-07-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

Layers & Placing Images

By Cory

The first thing you need to do is open a New document. Go to File > New… or use the keyboard shortcut, Command (the Apple key) and N on a Mac or Control and N on a PC.

Next, you’ll want to place your pencil sketch. Go to File > Place. A dialogue box will pop up and just find your sketch file on your hard drive. I usually scan my sketches as grayscale jpegs at 72 dpi.

Here’s my leaf guy that I’m working on for the series.

Now you’ll need to open your Layers palette. Go to Window > Layers. If it has check mark by it on your drop down menu, that means it is already open.

Here’s what the Layers palette looks like.
On a side note, you’ll notice that the Links palette tab is also attached to the Layers palette. You can drag and drop the different tabs to different palettes to organize the palettes the way you want.

Double click on the Layer name. I think the default name is Layer 1. A dialogue box will pop up. Here you can change some of the Layer preferences like the name. This is my sketch layer, so I changed the name to sketch.

Next, I want to lock my sketch layer, so I don’t draw on it. To lock a layer, click on the area to the left of the layer name. A lock will appear. This isn’t permanent, so you can always unlock it by clicking it again.
FYI, to the left of the Lock is the Visibility. This makes the layer visible or invisible.

Finally, you want to create a second layer to draw on. Click on the icon at the bottom that looks like a sheet of paper. A new layer appears. You can click on the name to change the name or other preferences.

Now, you are ready to draw. Feel free to post any comments or questions below.

Custom Brushes in Illustrator

2010-07-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

Custom Brushes in Illustrator are an excellent way to add to designs. Here's a short tutorial how they work and how to use them.

This tutorial will focus on scatter brushes.

You can download the Illustrator file here

How to create a custom brush

Creating a custom brush is simple. You draw objects directly onto the canvas. To create the stars I'm cheating and using the Star Tool but you could draw this by hand.
Then select all the shapes using the select tool and bring up the Pathfinder window by going to Window > Pathfinder. Click add to shape area. This joins all the stars together to we can drag them to the brushes window.

Once you are happy with what you have drawn bring up the Brushes window by going to Window > Brushes. Then with the stars selected drag them into the brushes window. Select New Scatter Brush and then give it a name. Your brush is now ready to use. Once you have added the stars into the Brushes window delete the stars on the canvas.

Using the brush

To use the brush just select the brush tool (Shortcut B) and then draw on the canvas. If you draw a curve the stars will scatter around it. This is a very similar effect to the Symbol Scatter Tool but as so often in Illustrator there is more than one way to do things.

Mofifying the brush

Once you have drawn the stars using your brush you may wish to modify the brush slightly. By double clicking the brush in the brush window you can change many options. You are given the option to update the paths you have already drawn on the canvas so this is an excellent way to fine tune the effect you want.

Creating an envelope

2010-07-17T04:06:00.000-07:00

Preview

Step 1

Create a rectangle here i created with the following size. 1.93 X 1.96 cm gave the stroke colour #CCCCCC

Step 2

Fill it up with a gradient shade gray to white and Radial fill. #DEDEDE to white

Step 3

Using Pen tool and snap to Point option enabled through view window draw a line similar to the one shown below.

Step 4

Add two more anchor points as shown below.

Step 5

Delete the middle anchor point. and adjust its angle .

Step 6

Using the same gradient fill give a directional fill that is linear this time.

Step 7

Create a copy of the triangular shape and place it a few pixels down than the original one

Send this copy one step backward ie back of the initial triangle shape.

Step 8

Select the nodes of the copy and adjust them bringing them a bit up and joining the rectangle’s corners.

Step 9

Select the two middle anchor points and pull them a little bit down while pressing shift.

Step 10

Give a .25 point stroke to the upper triangle this will give it a crisp edge.

Step 11

Using line tool draw a line as seen below the stroke weight here is 1.

Step 12

Create a copy of the same line give it a white shade , select both lines and duplicate these for the second side.

Step 13

You will need to bring the open triangular flap of the envelope forward.the shadow as well as the top one.

Step 14

Reduce the font width of the white line to .25

Step 15

Give the lines a rounded corner.

Step 16

We will now create an arrow . here is how it is done i first create a triangle using the pen tool .

Step 17

Create a swoosh kind of shape ( i dont know what else to call it ) as seen below. and adjust its nodes.

Step 18

Select the both shapes and expand it. using pathfinder pallette.

Step 19

Give it a gradient linear fill as seen below

Step 20

Create 2 copies of the arrow shape duplicate it again and ofset it a bit from the first copy .

Step 21

Using Pathfinder subtract the front.

Step 22

Expand the shape

Step 23

Right click the shape and release Compound path .

Step 24

Adjust the shades and transparencies.

Step 25

We will create an oval shape Behind the artwork this is a dark grey colour , use Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur

Step 26

This is what you will get!

Final Preview

You can reduce the size effectively using this icon and will not loose any details!!

Logo Design Project Step by Step Walkthrough, Very useful lesson to draw logo with text

2010-07-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

Logo Design Project Step by Step Walkthrough

A personal project I'm currently working on with a developer friend is a website called myNiteLife. As part of the overall design process one of the first jobs of the project was to develop a logo and brand for the website, follow this step by step documentation of the whole process of the logo design from conception to completion.

Background information:
The whole idea behind myNiteLife is to provide an online organizer and planner for our local city of Sheffield's nightlife, where bars, restaurants and clubs amongst other venues are listed along with user reviews and ratings. Also, the site includes a planner based on a map of the city, where users can plan a route between venues and send out party arrangements to their friends.
With this information in mind, the brand should relate to the audience of 18-40 and express the fun, sexy and nocturnal aspects of city nightlife.

As always, the first stage of the process was to scribble down some ideas and drafts. The original ideas sketched out included the use of spotlights, rounded typefaces, dancing silhouettes, moon shapes and classy serif typfaces.

I then booted up Adobe Illustrator to test out a range of type treatments, ranging from thin and modern sans-serif to sexy and classy serifs.

The next stage was to develop various choices of type into draft logo concepts, basing some ideas on the initial thoughts doodled out in the sketches. Planning ahead to the website I knew that a fairly dark colour scheme would be used, therefore I developed the logos on a black background to make sure they looked their best.

Continuous ideas and concepts developed the logo into four possible concepts, these were then sent to a few friends for their thoughts.

The chosen version was the entirely slab-serif based logo, this was then concentrated on and tweaked slightly into two new versions. The first tweak was to test out the logo with tighter kerning making the letters butt into each other and the second was to swap the dot on the letter 'I' for a crescent moon to represent the night time element.

The tight kerning gave the logo a more modern and attractive appearance but made the letter 'I' interfere with the capital 'N'. Combining this with the use of the crescent moon was a perfect solution.
One other issue was the slight interference with the letter 'I' and the letter 't', experiments were made to knock out part of the letter with a flowing curve following the line of the 't'. This helps solve the problem and adds a little designerish touch!
The complete logo design was then complete, shown in it's barebones mono state before being treated to colour and subtle effects.

The Making of the myNiteLife Logo
Now you've seen my personal development thoughts behind the logo, I thought it would be great to show the techniques used in Adobe Illustrator to create the final logo from scratch.

First off, the wording 'my', 'nite' and 'life' were typed out and set in the chosen font of Clarendon, making use of both light and black variations.

The tight kerning was quickly applied by choosing the -75 option from within the character palette.

Additional kerning adjustments were made to individual letters, ensuring that all characters overlapped slightly. This was done by using the ALT key along with the left and right cursor keys.

As mentioned previously, this causes unwanted interference with some characters, the solutions of which were to add the pretty curve along the letter 'I' and swap the dot for a crescent moon.

The line of type was converted to outlines (Type > Create Outlines) to make each letter an editable shape. These were then ungrouped to enable access to the letters individually.

A temporary circle was used as a tool to measure the gap between the letters 'I' and 't'.

The same tool was used to plot a guide at the same distance from the bottom of the letter 't'.

A third guide was added to the lowest most part of the straight edge of the letter 'I'. Using all three guides a larger circle was drawn which resulted in an accurate curve that followed parallel to the outline of the letter 't'.

Using this new circle along with the Subtract from Shape Area option from the Pathfinder tool enabled the excess section of the letter 'I' to be chopped out.

The resulting shape of the letter 'I' I think gives a slightly more unique characteristic to the logo.

The final fix to the logo was to add the crescent moon shape to relate to the night aspect of the brand. To edit the letter 'I' the Compound Path was released to separate the shape into two pieces.

The dot was scaled up to give more of a visual impression, then a temporary circle was used to knock out an area of the shape to give the crescent shape.

The only remaining step was to clean up the logo by combining all the individual letter shapes into one complete object using the Add to Shape Area from the Pathfinder tool.

With the logo being generated in the mono state it could then be given some sprucing up with colour and slight visual effects. The colour purple was chosen for the brand to relate to the sexy and classy image that the myNiteLife site was to portray, and also gives a nice deep colour to represent the colours associated with dusk.
Love it or hate it? I’d be happy to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Using the Blend tool and Distort Zig Zag Effect in Illustrator

2010-07-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

By Veerle Pieters

The Blend tool

Draw 2 lines that cross each other

Apply the blend

Edit the path or color if needed

Distort Zig Zag Effect

Draw a circle (hold down shift key). Give the circle a stroke or line filling. Go to the Effects menu and choose Zig Zag from the Distort submenu. Check the preview option and play with the sliders.

My end result, just lines

It's that simple. Who said Illustrator is difficult? ;) Ok it needs a lot of practice and patience to become a pro, but if you approach things in a creative way you get nice things done in a pretty easy way with limited steps. Hope you enjoyed this one ;)

llustrator Pucker and Bloat Effect and more

2010-07-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

by Veerle Pieters

There are lots of hidden secrets in Illustrator. Even I have the feeling I only use only a part of the application. That’s probably because I’m sometimes stuck in my old habit of doing things. If you’ve been working with the application since version 3 like I do, then you know what I’m talking about. It’s good to explore new and better ways. Ways to do things faster and in a more flexible way. Today I’ll show you how to use the Pucker & Bloat Effect. It’s another cool Distort & Transform Effect.

Use your creativity and imagination

First of all, this is not one of my typical tutorials where I explain things from A till Z. Instead, I'll give you some hints on how I created the illustration above and along the way I give you some tips on how to keep your effects flexible. Let me start with some basic information...

Create rings using the Pathfinder

If you've followed my previous article, the above image doesn't need much of an explanation since you had some practice already. Just to refresh your memory, here is how you create a ring:

Select the Circle Tool and craw a circle (holding down shift key)
Draw another smaller circle on top
Select both circles using the Selection Tool (black arrow)
Click Horizontal Align Center and then Vertical Align Center from the Align palette or Toolbar at the top
Click the Subtract from shape area option from the Pathfinder palette and click the Expand button

Add Pucker & Bloat Effect

With the ring still selected go to Object > Path and select Add Anchor Points. Now go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Pucker & Bloat.

Move the slider to the left.

Move the slider to the right.

Experiment with the shape of the object. Try a circle, a square or a hexagon etc., add (more) anchor points, then apply the effect.

Good to know tips!

Advantages of Effects versus Filters

Remember when you apply an effect, the Effect can be modified at all time after it has been applied. You can double click the effect in the Appearance palette. If you apply a Filter however, this isn't possible. The path is permanently modified. Make sure to choose Effect > Distort & Transform > Pucker & Bloat. This way you remain this flexibility.

Only if you are 100% you won't change the result of the effect, you can choose to expand it via Object > Expand. This way the path will be adapted to its new shape. Here is what I did to achieve the effect shown in the image:

Controlling Line Weights Using Adobe Illustrator's Pen tool & Stroke Pallet

2010-07-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Line Weight "Stroke" Attributes

In Adobe Illustrator CS drawing line-art is done via the Pen tool and its four attributes shown in Fig. 1. You can also use Illustrator's "Line" tool to drag a line from point to point, but the Pen tool can accomplish the same tasks by clicking point to point making it unnecessary to constantly change between tools.

Pen tool line weights are controlled by the "Stroke" pallet shown in Fig. 2. To make adjustments to the line weight (or line thickness) you would use the pulldown menu labeled "Weight" (Fig. 2). The standard line weights vary in thickness from 0.25 point to 100 point. Most line art used in technical illustration would range from 0.25 points to 2 points. You can manually input smaller line weights for hairlines, centerlines and construction lines.

Illustrator Pen Tool - End Cap Attributes
In our sample illustration of a Crankshaft Journal and Connecting Rod (Fig. 4) your will observe that when we zoom in at various levels, flaws in the line quality begin to appear at each intersecting point between two lines. When we zoom in at 1600% Fig. 5 there are noticeable gaps where lines intersect. One solution might be to simply join each corner together (via Command>J or the Pen Tool) but that would negate the effect of using variable line weights to add readability to the illustration. Once two lines are joined together they take on the same attributes (weight, color, end & miter limit).

Although zooming in on your subject matter to 1600% or even 2400% may seem a bit excessive, flaws such as those shown in Fig 5 can and will translate into unsightly gaps when exported to Photoshop or a printed piece.
Technical Note: If you are going to export the line art from Illustrator to use as a painting template in Photoshop, these gaps can cause leaks when using the Selection (Magic Wand) Tool.

A simple solution is to set the "End Cap" of your lines (strokes) to the "Round Cap" setting in the "Stroke Pallet". Our example in Fig. 6 has the line-art strokes selected and the End Cap is set to the "Butt Cap" or blunt setting. This results in a squared-off ending to the line or stroke. In Fig. 7 we have set the end caps to the "Round Cap" setting and this step has cleaned up the line quality considerably.

Pen Tool - Corner Joint Attributes
If you elect to join two lines together at their intersecting point (using Command>J) you will still need to control the corner effect. This is done through the Stroke Pallet's "Miter Limit" and "Miter Joint" settings.
In Fig. 8 the Miter Limit is set to "4" and the corner is set to "Miter Joint". This creates a corner that is too sharp when two lines intersect at such extreme angles. This type of setting is useful on 90º corners.
In Fig. 9 the Miter Limit now is set to "3" (or lower) but the corner is still set to the "Miter Joint" setting. This creates a corner that is too blunt.
In Fig. 10 the corner is set to "Round Joint". You will notice that the "Miter Limit" setting is deactivated when using the "Round Joint" setting. Using the Round Joint setting on a corner of this type creates a corner that is nicely rounded and visually appealing.

Varying or Tapered Line Weights - Copy and Paste Method
I have never found an automated way to create tapered line thickness with any predictability or consistency, and the location of the taper is critical to the overall appearance of the illustration. One way to manually achieve the "appearance" of a "calligraphy style" thick-to-thin line is to select a stoked path, then use the Command>Option>Arrow (move) keys to copy and paste the original line (Fig. 11) multiple times. By using the up-down or left-right keys you can keep one point of the arc small while thickening the other side of the arc (Fig. 12).
You will need to set the "Keyboard Increment" setting (located in Illustrator's "General" Preferences window) to 0.0010 so that each incremental movement is very small. This technique makes a perfect arc (only as perfect as the original) with a "calligraphy style" thick-to-thin appearance.

Conclusion
As with all of the multitude of setting possibilities that exist in Adobe Illustrator, there are usually several ways in which to accomplish the same task or effect. I find that the settings discussed in this Illustrator Tutorial are the one's that I use most often to create the line-art for a technical illustration.

Technical Note: There is a known software bug in Adobe Illustrator CS/CS2 in the way the software "renders" (converts to a raster file) paths when exporting to Photoshop. The rasterizing/export function in CS/CS2 creates very rough line quality with a noticeable stair-stepping effect when converting a vector file to a Photoshop raster file. The problem with rendering (rasterizing) line-work has nothing to do with document resolution - it is a problem with how the software "averages" (smoothes) the stair-step effect when rendering a line that is at a steep angle (ie. 5º, 85º, 95º, etc.) or a gradual arc.
Even if you use a workaround of exporting to a higher resolution (say 600 dpi), then scale the line art back down to 350 dpi in Photoshop, it is still hopelessly inferior to the now-ancient Illustrator 9 which had the ability to render incredibly smooth lines.

How-To Drawing Tutorial - Hex-Head Bolts and Fasteners in Adobe Illustrator

2010-07-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Creating a Hexagon in Illustrator
We will start this Adobe Illustrator tutorial with the creation of a hexagonal shape (hex) by dragging the "Polygon" Tool (no keyboard shortcut) while holding the shift key to constrain it horizontally (Fig. 1). Once the shape has been created we will use the "Free Transform" tool to compress it vertically (Fig. 2). This step will determine the ratio of the perspective that will remain constant throughout this demonstration. In this case I have arbitrarily chosen a 20º ellipse ratio.

Technical Note: Start out with a very thin line thickness or "Weight" of around 0.15 pt. This will need to be manually entered in the "Stroke" dialogue box as the smallest native increment is 0.25 pt or 1/4 of a point.
In (Fig. 3) we will now add an ellipse by changing the Polygon Tool to the "Ellipse" Tool (L). The ellipse should touch all six center points of the hexagon's facets.

The next step will be to cut the hexagon in half along the horizontal centerline (Fig. 4) by using the "Scissors" Tool (C). Once the hexagon has been bisected it is time to add anchor points to the center of all six facets (Fig. 5) using the Pen Tool.

Now we will Option>Drag the lower half of the hexagon in order to copy it to a new location (Fig. 6) using the Selection Tool (V). Use the Shift key to constrain its movement to a vertical plane. Next we will stat to activate each of the center anchor points along the hexagon (Fig. 7).

Once all of the center anchor points have been activated we will use the "Nudge" keyboard command (Arrow keys) to move the activated anchor points upward vertically (Fig. 8). The amount of movement for each keystroke will be determined by the setting you have chosen in Illustrator's "General" Preferences window. The Nudge command is affected by the "Keyboard Increment" box. This setting should be very low in order to make very small movements with each keystroke. I use a setting of .0010, but this is a personal preference.
Now we will smooth out the new corners that have been created by moving up the center anchor points (Fig. 9). For this task we will use the Pen Tool's "Convert Anchor point" Tool (Shif+C). We will click on each anchor point and drag the cursor to create a smooth edge. Pay attention to which way you drag the cursor, as this will effect the arc. This will be dependent on the direction of the stoke you are modifying.
Technical Note: You can speed up the movement by a factor of 10x when using the Nudge keyboard command by holding the shift key while pressing any of the arrow keys.

The next step will be to add the vertical divisions on the nut (Fig. 10). We will use the Pen tool to create a vertical line, and when it is the perfect length we will Option>Drag (duplicate) it to all four corner points along the foreground edge of the hexagon. When you make your first line be sure that it does not connect to the end anchor point of the hex. You can lock a path to prevent this from happening by activating it and pressing Command>2. To unlock all locked paths you can use the Command>Option>2 keyboard command or go to Object>UnlockAll in the menu bar.
Next we will add the washer under the hex head bolt by Option Dragging the upper ellipse to the lower surface of the nut (Fig. 11) and using Command>Shift>Drag to increase the size of the ellipse without changing the center point.

We will use the "Scissors" Tool (C) to cut the lower ellipse along its horizontal centerline (Fig. 12). Once the ellipse is bisected, we will Option>Drag the lower half of the ellipse to duplicate it to a lower position (Fig. 13) using the Selection Tool (V). This lower position will determine the thickness of the washer.

Next we will use the "Scissors" Tool (C) to cut the back side of the ellipse as it goes behind the hex bolt (Fig. 14). Once we have made both cuts, we will select it and use the Delete key to remove it. Now we will add the vertical lines on both sides of the washer (Fig. 15), again making sure that it does not connect to the end anchor point of the ellipse. You may need to lock the ellipse to accomplish this.

With all of the line work done, it is time to alter the line weights to make the nut and washer more readable. Start by selecting all of the outermost paths that surround the bolt/washer combination (Fig. 16). Using the "Stroke" dialogue box we will increase the line thickness of the outermost paths. In this case we have increased this line thickness or "Weight" to 0.5 pt or 1/2 of a point (Fig. 17). We will want a 200% to 300% increase in the thickness of the outermost line weights in relation to the inner line weights.
Technical Note: See the "Controling Line Weights" tutorial for more information on this subject.

Now we will add a centerline to the bolt illustration (Fig. 18). This will be a hairline with a thickness of around 0.05. If you were to print this image this hairline should be very faint in the final printing. Next we will drag across the entire image using the Selection Tool (V) to activate all of the paths (Fig. 19). Make sure there are no paths that remain locked. Group the selection using Object>Group from the menu bar or Command>G on the keyboard.

Now we will use the Object>Transform>Reset Bounding Box command located in the menu bar. This will reset the "Bounding Box" to vertical and horizontal (Fig. 19) for all of the paths. Note: This is a very important step if you are going to rotate the image!

Once we have reset the Bounding Box we can use the "Free Transform" Tool (Fig. 20) or the "Rotate" Tool to rotate the image in any direction.
With the Bounding Box constrained to the same rotational axis as the bolt illustration, we can change the perspective ratio by elongating the Bounding Box along the centerline axis (Fig. 21). This will have the undesirable effect of stretching the height of the nut, so we will need to make a correction. To accomplish this, highlight all of the anchor points on the top surface of the nut. Drag them closer to the washer, keeping the centerline at the same angle.
Using this technique we can make one bolt and use it in several locations with different perspectives. This eliminates the repetitive task of re-drawing the bolt for each new perspective angle.

There will be a complete demonstration on how to draw a threaded bolt or stud in an upcoming tutorial. Please continue checking the Illustration Tutorial section for future updates.

Check out our timesaving Downloadable Vector File - Nuts, Bolts & Screws Template

Basic & Advanced Illustrator Drawing Techniques for Technical Illustrations

2010-07-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Drawing Software: Adobe Illustrator CS CS2

These Adobe Illustrator tutorials will take you step-by-step through beginning, intermediate and advanced drawing techniques that are common to the technical illustrator. You will learn to use Illustrator's tools effectively to create accurate line artwork every time.

Drawing Nuts & Bolts

In this basic drawing tutorial you will learn how to create perfect nuts and bolts for your technical illustration. This is a step-by-step lesson that covers all of the basics.

Illustrator Tutorial - Drawing Nuts & Bolts

Drawing Toothed Gears & Sprockets

In this basic Illustrator drawing tutorial you will learn how to create perfect gears, splined shafts, and sprockets by evenly spacing the teeth around the circumference of the object.

Illustrator Tutorial - Drawing Gears

Drawing Cars

This is an advanced drawing tutorial giving you the step-by-step process for drawing cars, trucks, or any motorized vehicle. You will learn the necessary perspective techniques for how to map out a perspective grid and construct all of the inner and outer workings of the car.

Illustrator Tutorial - Drawing Cars

Drawing a Ship

This is an advanced drawing tutorial will give you a step-by-step process for drawing a large ship using only blueprint as reference. You will learn how to map out a perspective grid and fill in all of the nessessary information deck by deck.

Illustrator Tutorial - Drawing a Ship

Reference Requirements for Technical Illustration

In this tutorial you will learn the various types of reference that you might receive from your client. Each different type of reference presents different challenges. You will learn the difference in time and pricing structure between working with photographic reference, blueprints, engineering drawings, and CAD files.

Creating gradations with Adobe Illustrator's Gradients & Blends

2010-07-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Hulsey

In Adobe Illustrator CS, tonal gradations are rendered via the Gradient Mesh tool (U) and the Gradient Tool (G). The Gradient tool is fairly straightforward in its approach to rendering a gradation and blending subtle tonal and color gradations. On the other hand, the Gradient Mesh tool is one of the more labor intensive and frustrating tools in the Illustrator tool pallet, especially for the Illustrator newcomer. Once you become comfortable with this tool you can create seamless blends and gradations that are infinitely scalable in vector format, making the final file far more versatile than a Photoshop raster file.

Gradient Pallet Attributes

The Illustrator Gradient Tool (G) is accessed through Illustrator's Tool pallet (Fig. 1). Once a simple gradation has been created it is controlled through the Gradient Pallet shown in Fig. 2. A gradation is created by selecting a contained shape (square shown in Fig. 3) and dragging across it with the Gradient Tool (G). You will notice that the white-to-black gradation is indicated in the Gradient Pallet shown in Fig. 2.

Gradient Mesh Tool Attributes

Tonal gradations can also be created via Illustrator's Gradient Mesh tool (U). This tool is used to render complex gradations and shapes. It is also accessed through Illustrator's Tool pallet (Fig. 4). Once a gradient "Mesh" has been created (Fig. 5) you will notice a grid pattern overlaying your shape. The grid is controlled in much the same way as you would control Illustrator's Pen Tool. You can drag anchor points and add them just as you would with the Pen tool.

Unlike the Gradient Tool (G), the Gradient Mesh tool does not make use of the Illustrator Gradient Pallet shown in Fig. 6. It is totally controlled by manipulating the anchor points on the grid "mesh". You will notice that the center anchor point in Fig. 5 is active (solid) and that the grey color it is introducing into our black square is shown as the "Fill" color on the Tool Pallet (Fig. 4).

Using the Gradient Tool's Linear & Radial Settings

In this demonstration we will create a matt finished metal tube using only the Illustrator Gradient Tool (G). For this type of gradation we will "Gradient" pallet to "Linear" in the pull-down menu. By clicking on the gradient bar in the Gradient Pallet (Fig. 8), you can add new gradation points. This gives you the multiple banding effect that is necessary to render a reflective metallic surface. You will see that our new gradation is shown as the "Fill" color on the Illustrator Tool Pallet (Fig. 7). You control the color that each new gradation point introduces by double clicking on that point and using the "Color Pallet" to modify its color properties.
In Fig. 9 we have hardened up the gradation to simulate a highly reflective chrome surface. This is achieved by moving the gradation points closer together thereby shortening the span of each gradation step.

In this pallet window you can also adjust the angle of the gradation from 0º to 360º by using the "Angle" setting in the pull-down menu. Inour example above we have set the angle to zero degrees. If you were illustrating a sphere instead of tubing you would set the "Gradient" pallet to "Radial" in the pull-down menu. This would create a radial gradation that emanates from the center of your defined path.

Using the Gradient Mesh Tool

In this next demonstration we will create a convex shape using the Illustrator Gradient Mesh tool (U). We will start out with a simple shape (Fig. 11). Once a gradient "Mesh" has been established to our shape (Fig. 12) you will see our grid pattern overlaying the shape. At this stage all anchor points are active (solid). Now we will click on the center anchor point to activate it and deactivate all of the other surrounding points. Once again you will notice that the center anchor point in Fig. 13 is active (solid) and that the white color it is introducing into our grey shape is shown as the "Fill" color on the Tool Pallet (Fig. 10).

As was stated in the preceding paragraph, you can control the illusion of shape by dragging or adding anchor points to the mesh grid. This will change the location and intensity of the gradation thereby affecting the shape. Remember to control the mesh anchor points in the same way that you would control the anchor points along a Path or Stoke.
In Fig. 14 we see our shape as it is integrated into the final image. All of the anchor points have been selected and the "Fill" color on the Tool Pallet will show a "Question Mark" to indicate that there are multiple colors at work in the selection.

Pushing the Limits of Illustrator's Gradient Mesh

This is a very basic lesson in the use of the Illustrator Gradient Mesh tool and its ability to create smooth gradations and blends. Using the techniques discussed in this tutorial there is no limit to the complexity of the subject matter you can render with these tools. Fro an example of just how far you can take Adobe Illustrator's Gradient Tools, check out the article on Yukio Miyamoto's work in Illustrator (samples below).

Perhaps the single greatest limitation on how far you can go with this tool is the file size, and its ability to drastically slow down screen redraws. This is especially annoying when dragging the file with the Hand Tool while zoomed in to the image. If this is the case, you will want to set the "View" mode to "Outline" which will turn off the tonal color work, thereby speeding up screen redraws.