Vectordiary

Vector Freebies: Tropical Jungle Pack

Jessica Martinez — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:55:34 +0000

Jessica from Vector Jungle has created this exclusive free jungle vectors for Vector Diary. It is a great design element to include for your adventure or tropical island themes. Still not enough? Visit Vector Jungle for more great jungle vector art.

Download is only available for registered members. So join now and download this great vector freebie!

Items: jungle wooden board, umbrella, cocktail drink, jungle trees, mask, notice board
Vector License: Free for personal and commercial projects
File: EPS
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Premium Tutorials: Issues 1-5 Bundle Offer! (Free Giveaways)

Tony Soh — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:45:59 +0000

Download 5 great illustrator premium tutorials for $15. Now, you can learn and save more when you purchase the bundle offer! Take your illustrator skills to a new level by learning all the secret techniques today!

Bundle Pack 1 Contents:

Seamless Patterns - Secrets of making complicated patterns tile seamlessly.
Rope Brush - Create your own custom rope brush!
Certificate Design - How to draw a certificate.
3D Peeled Apple Skin - Super cool apple peeled skin effect.
Jigsaw Puzzle - Create jigsaw puzzle effect for your artwork.

Free Giveaways to 3 Lucky Readers!

Vectordiary.com will be giving away the bundle pack to 3 lucky readers. Simply leave a comment and tell us which premium tutorial you are most interested in and how it can help you for your project. And you will stand a chance to receive this bundle pack for FREE! Remember to put in a valid email so that we can contact you back! Good luck to all!

End Date: 6 July 2009

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Draw a Vector Kiwi

Diana Toma — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:38:56 +0000

Ever wonder how to make a vector kiwi in illustrator? Well I did and here is what I came up with. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to do it using 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.

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Huge Collection of High Quality Patterns

Sonali Vora — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:46:15 +0000

The use of patterns in art and design projects are varied and well known. There are many sources from where you can find free raster or bitmap patterns, but there are not much when it comes to good high quality free vector patterns. So, in this post, we have listed a compilation of good quality and useful free illustrator vector patterns for download.

To edit the patterns in Adobe Illustrator, you can access the Patterns in the Swatches panel.You can customize existing patterns and design patterns from scratch with any of the Illustrator tools. There are many advantages of using seamless vector patterns. It is scalable to any sizes without any loss of resolution and you can change the colors, fill, stroke to suit your project. Thus, making it completely editable, modifiable and flexible.

1. Floral Vector Pattern

2. Redmillion Dotted Pattern

3. Royalty-Free Illustrator Vector Swatch Patterns

This is a free set of 8 Adobe Illustrator Swatch Patterns.

4. Monochrome Geometric Patterns

100 free seamless vector pattern swatches (also as symbols) for Adobe Illustrator CS and higher.

5. Seamless Retro Vectors

6. Summer Floral Wallpaper Vector

7. Free Photoshop and Illustrator Patterns

8. Free Vector and Pixel Repeat Patterns - Leafy Set 1

9. Fifties Wallpaper Pattern

10. Batik is Beautiful - Free Vector Swatches

11. Green Floral

12. Swatch-free-vector

13. Free Vector and Pixel Pattern - Antique Engraved

14. 13 Free Vector Grunge Patterns

15. 5 Free Seamless Vector Patterns

16. Free Vector Repeat Patterns - Retro Set 2

17. Victorian Scrapbooking Seamless Pattern Swatches for Illustrator

18. Free Vector and Pixel Patterns - Grungy Circles Set 1

19. Ornate Flourish & Pattern

20. 25 Free Vector Grunge Patterns

21. Swirly Summer Floral Pattern Vector

22.Scandinavian-style simple patterns

23. Pattern Set 2

20 seamless pattern swatch for Illustrator.

24. 54 Pattern Swatches

25. 25 Woven Plaid Swatches

26. Paisley Seamless Pattern

27. Free Vector and Pixel Repeat Patterns - Modern Floral Set 3

28. 10 Lovely Valentine’s Day Heart Patterns

29. Free Vector and Pixel Pattern - Hand-Drawn Scrolls

30. Patternlicious Polka Dots Pattern

31. Free Vector and Pixel Repeat Patterns - Organic Set 1

32. Swirl-pattern-free-vector

33. Seamless Swirls Vector Freebies & Micro Tutorial

34. Wire Mesh Pattern

35. Classic pattern

36. Basketweave

37. Seamless-flower-pattern

38. 52 Halftone Patterns

39. Free Vector Repeat Patterns - Modern Floral Set 2

40. Waves and Ridges Illustrator Swatches

41. W Morris Thistle Weave

42. Free Vector and Pixel Repeat Patterns - Ornate Set 1

43. Seamless-pattern-free-vector

44. Pattern

45. Red-floral-pattern

46. Floral Vector Pattern in ai

47. Free Seamless Patterns & Illustrator Swatches

48. Jungle Wallpaper Pattern Vector

49. Very flowery PS and Ai free patterns

50. Seamless Vector Pattern

If you found anymore great vector patterns, feel free to share!

Premium Tutorial: Jigsaw Puzzle

Tony Soh — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:36:22 +0000

Create an Eye-Catching Jigsaw Puzzle Effect In Illustrator From Scratch!

Having trouble creating a jigsaw puzzle effect? Look no further, this tutorial will show you how you can create your own jigsaw pieces step by step. No expensive and fancy plugins needed! Just using some simple tools and filters in illustrator. I will also show you how you can map your vector illustration or jpeg photo onto the jigsaw puzzle. After learning this tutorial, you will be able to turn any photo/illustration into jigsaw pieces with ease.

Difficulty: Beginner - Intermediate tutorial
Requirements: Illustrator 10, CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4

What will you get?

Instant download of PDF e-book (16 pages)
Step by step tutorial to create a jigsaw puzzle from scratch
Learn how to turn a photo/illustration into a jigsaw puzzle
Extra quick tip on how to create a scattered jigsaw puzzle effect
Easy to follow with screenshot for every step
Complete the tutorial easily in 21 steps
Comes with source file for easy reference
30 days money back guarantee if not satisfied

Price: $7.00 only

Some pattern tiles done using this technique:

Illustrator Tutorial: Perfect Silhouette with Live Trace

Tony Soh — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:47:44 +0000

Drawing silhouette figures using the pen tool is a long and painful process. However, with Illustrator’s Live Trace, you can now create silhouettes with ease. In this tutorial, I am going to teach you how to prepare your images in Photoshop for Live Trace. Then, we will experiment with various Live Trace settings to create our silhouette. After reading this, you will be able to create better looking silhouette figures.

1. Tracing With Live Trace

To begin tracing using auto trace, we will need to have a high resolution photo. This gives a better and more detailed trace than a low resolution photo. Also, you will need to choose photos that have a white background or strong contrast with the background for auto trace to work. For this tutorial, I have download this free stock photo from stock.xgn which can be found here.

Go File>Place and place the photo on the artboard. Select the photo and click Live Trace. Simple Trace will be selected as default for the trace. You will notice that there are 2 problems with the trace. First, the darker tones of background sky is being traced and secondly, the hands of the girls are missing. Click the Options icon beside Preset and try adjusting the Threshold settings. You will realise that this can’t be fixed with it.

1. Isolate the Background to White

The way to solve this is to make the background white. This will will give you a better trace. Open up the photo in Photoshop and select the Magic Wand. Set the Tolerance of the Magic Wand to 32 and select the background.

Fill the bacgkournd with white.

We will need to darken to photo to remove all the details on th tshirt to get a perfect black silhouette. Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels and drag the midtone color to the far right.

This is our final image after we have adjusted. It looks ugly right now, but trust me that the silhouette is going to be fine. Save the photo as jpg again and replace it in illustrator again.

Now, select Live Trace again for the photo and you can instantly see the difference.

Open up the Tracing Options again to tweak the trace. Increase the Threshold to 200 to remove the white areas on the girl. I have also increased the blur to 0.2px to smooth the edges. Also check Ignore White to remove the white background from the trace. Experiment with other settings to see which settings give the best results. Below is an explanation of each features for Live Trace.

Preset – Preset contains a set of settings for some common traced effect. It is a good place to start to see which settings gives you the best effect before you tweak the others.

Mode – Choose you color settings (black and white, grayscale or color)

Threshold – The value to separate black to white. Lighter pixels are converted to white and darker pixels are converted to black.

Palette – Choose automatic color selection or you can define your own color palette.

Max Colors – Maximum amount of colors used to define the palette.

Output to Swatches – Save your color palette to swatches.

Blur – Amount of gaussian blur applied to your image. Higher value will smooth out edges.

Resample – Changes the resolution of the image. Set it lower to speed up computer performances.

Fills - Check to render Fill.

Strokes – Check to render stroke.

Max Stroke Weight – Specifies that anything larger than this value will be considered a fill.

Min Stroke Length – The minimum size of a stroke allowed.

Path Fitting – Lower values create tighter paths whereas higher values will create looser paths.

Minimum Area – The smallest details to be traced.

Corner Angle – The sharpness of the turn to be considered as an angle.

Ignore White – Leave white fill as transparent.

Preview – Toggle this to turn on live preview. Always turn it on to see your traced effect.

This is our final traced effect. There are some white areas on the first figure that needs to be cleaned up.

If you are using Illustrator CS4, you can select the Blob Brush and paint over it to cover up the white areas. Or else, you can use the Direction Selection Tool to delete the unwanted paths.

To clean up jagged edges, select the Smooth Tool and retrace the path to smooth it.

Here our fianl silhouette is done. Now you can add in your background effect.

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Vector Freebies: Floral Curves

Vector Lady — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:06:08 +0000

Vector Lady has created an exclusive vector pack of 12 floral ornaments for Vector Diary. Download is only available for registered members. So join now and download this great vector freebie! Also remember to check on her site for more free vectors!

Vector License: Free for personal and commercial projects
File: EPS
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Illustrator Tip #15: How to Make a Beveled Star

Aaron King — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:31:15 +0000

This tutorial will show you how to create a beveled star using adobe illustrator CS4. Using just the star tool, the line segment tool and the live paint bucket you will be able to replicate this 3D looking star.

1. Creating the star

Start by opening a blank artboard and select the star tool (hidden behind the rectangle tool), then click and drag anywhere on the artboard. Hold shift while you draw if you want a perfect looking star. You can change the number of points of the star and the radius by clicking inside the star after it was created.

2. Adding the Lines

Select the line segment tool (\) and start by clicking on the uppermost point of your star and drag down a vertical line down the star to the next point.

Do this for the rest of the points.

3. Preparing to use Live Paint

Select all the lines and the star using the selection tool (V)

4. Adding First Color

Select the live paint bucket (K) once and all the lines will be selected. Chose the first color you want to use ( choose a light color for the highlights).

Use the live paint bucket to fill in a pattern like this.

5. Adding Second Color

Go back to the color window and chose a slightly darker color for the shadow. Fill in the rest of the white space with the new darker color acting as a shadow.

6. Getting Rid Of The Stroke

If you want to get rid of the stroke, select the entire star with the selection tool and go to the color window and set the stroke color to none. You can also change it to any other color you want.

7. You’re Done!

That is how you make a beveled star.

8. Be Creative

With some tweaking and changing of the radius and number if points of the star you will be able to create many different outcomes.

Premium Tutorial: 3D Apple Peeled Skin

Tony Soh — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:51:41 +0000

Create An Apple Peeled Skin Effect In Illustrator

In this premium tutorial, I will be showing you how to create this super cool peeled skin effect from scratch. You will learn how to draw a 3D apple in illustrator and wrap it with a seamless texture. I will also show you how to create the teared skin edges easily!

Difficulty: Beginner - Intermediate tutorial
Requirements: Illustrator 10, CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4

What will you get?

Instant download of PDF e-book (13 pages)
Step by step tutorial to create a 3d apple from scratch
Learn the trick to create seamless skin using 3D effects
Easy to follow with screenshot for every step
Complete the tutorial easily in 26 steps
Comes with source file for easy reference
30 days money back guarantee if not satisfied

Usual Price: $7.00
OFFER Price: $5.00 only

Vector Background Effect #1 - Marine Square Tiles

Tony Soh — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:37:19 +0000

In this first vector background tutorial, I will be teaching you how to create this marine tiles effect. You will learn how to create it effortlessly with the transform tool. So let’s get started…

Drawing The Tiles

For the marine tiles, you will need a harmonic color scheme to match your pattern. Above is a suitable color palette I found from ColourLovers. Copy and paste it to your document. Next, draw a rounded square by holding shift to constrain the proportion. Use the color picker to pick the turquoise color from the color palette.

Go to Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform. Select 15 copies and increase horizontal to 55pt to leave gaps in between the tiles. Click OK when done. This will create a row of horizontal tile.

Now go to Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform again. Select 15 copies and increase vertical to -55pt to tile it vertically.

Coloring It With Different Tones

We will need to expand the transformation to recolor the tiles. Go Object>Expand Appearance to expand the pattern. Click Ctrl/command+G 2 times to ungroup the tiles. Select some random tiles and use the color picker to picker a lighter tone.

Repeat the steps above to set different randoms tones to your pattern.

We will now resize the tiles randomly. Go to Object>Transform>Transform Each and set both horizontal and vertical scale to 90%.

Select some random tiles you want to transform and press Ctrl/Command+D to repeat the previous transformation again to the tiles. This will resize it 90% smaller. Press Ctrl/Command+D a few more times to make the tiles smaller. Here is the final tiles pattern I have created using this technique. This might make a pretty interesting background effect for the back of your namecard. Good luck!

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10 Vector Background Effects Tutorial

Tony Soh — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:30:19 +0000

I will be starting a new thread on learning how to create some of the common seen vector background effects. This will give you some inspirations to spice up your white background. If you have any request for the next background effects to be featured, do post it at the forum.

List of tutorials

Marine Square Tiles
Coming next week!

Deadline Approaching: SCION Presents: FRESHLY SQUEEZED Web Design Challenge

Tony Soh — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:32:26 +0000

It’s been a long run, but the deadline for the FRESHLY SQUEEZED Web Design Challenge is almost here. The grand prize-winning designer will win $5000 and have his or her design adapted by J.U.i.C.E. Designers, artists and illustrators have until MAY 8 to submit their designs at http://scionjuice.cutandpaste.com.

J.U.i.C.E. is an afterschool program in Los Angeles that works to develop youth leadership and technical skills, creative expression and self-confidence through the artistic elements of hip hop like break dancing, urban art, deejaying, emceeing and music recording. While they do great work with the kids, their site could use a little help. You can check out the current site here: http://www.rampartjuice.com/.

Submit your design by May 8 to have a shot at the grand prize!

Illustrator Tutorial: Gradient Mesh Flower

Stephen Freeman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:29:03 +0000

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 :).

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Illustrator Tip #14: Converging Points Together Using Average Function

Tony Soh — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:41:34 +0000

This tip will show you how to use the unknown Average function in illustrator to converge points. In this diagram, I have a 3d extrude star drawn using path tool. However, the points doesn’t converge at the end. To solve this problem, select all the points you want to converge using Direct Selection Tools. In this case, I will only select the 3 anchor points at the end. Now go to Object>Path>Average. Select Both and click OK. The ends will now converge perfectly together!

Illustrator Tutorial: Drawing a Piano Keyboard

Sheryl Richardson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:04:59 +0000

This step by step tutorial demonstrates drawing a keyboard illustration using rectangles, grids, move and transform effects.

1. Create a New Document

Create a new document named “keyboard” with a custom size of 500 px width and 120 px height. Press OK.

2. Draw a black rectangle for the keyboard background

Begin with drawing the main background of the keyboard. Select the Rectangle Tool and set the fill to black and stroke to none as shown in the Toolbox below. Click once on the artboard and define a rectangle 500 px wide by 120 px height. Press OK.

With the black rectangle selected, go to the Transform Panel and position the lower left corner at X: 0 px and Y: 0 px, as shown below.

With the black rectangle selected, round the corners by selecting from the menu Effect, Convert to Shape, Rounded Rectangle. Using the same width and height dimensions of the original rectangle for the Absolute values, set the rectangle to Width: 500 px and Height: 120 px, with a corner radius of 9 px. Press OK.

Rename the layer “black background” and lock the layer.

3. Draw 52 white keys

Create a new layer for the white keys by selecting the Create New Layer icon on the Layers panel as shown with the red circle below. Rename the layer “white keys”.

Draw the leftmost key. Select the Rectangle Tool and set the fill to white and stroke to black (1 px) as shown in the Toolbox below. Click once on the artboard and define a rectangle 9 px wide by 50 px height. Press OK.

With the white rectangle selected, go to the Transform Panel and position the lower left corner to X: 16 px and Y: 16 px, as shown below.

Round the edges of the key slightly by selecting from the menu Effect, Convert to Shape, Rounded Rectangle. Using the same width and height dimensions of the original rectangle for the Absolute values, set the rectangle to Width: 9 px and Height: 50 px, with a corner radius of 2 px. Press OK.

With the white key selected, make duplicates of the key using the menu option Effect, Distort & Transform, Transform. In the Move section, set the Horizontal to 9 px, make sure the Vertical is set to 0 px, set number of copies to 51, and check the Preview box to confirm that the keys appear as below. Press OK.

Create a rectangle to cover the rounded edges of the top of the keys. With no objects selected, select the Rectangle Tool and set the fill to black and stroke to none as shown in the Toolbox below. Click once on the artboard and define a rectangle 470 px wide by 5 px height. Press OK.

Position the strip above the keys to cover the rounded edges at the top. Using the Transform Panel, set the bottom center position to X: 250 px and Y: 62 px.

Lock this layer and a new layer will be created to draw the black keys in the next step.

4. Draw the black keys

Create a new layer named “black keys” as shown below.

Draw the first black key.

With no objects selected, Select the Rectangle Tool and set the fill to black and stroke to none as shown in the Toolbox below. Click once on the artboard and define a rectangle 5 px wide by 30 px height. Press OK.

Position the black key.

With the black key selected, use the Transform Panel to position it. Set the top center position to X: 25.5 px and Y: 62 px. The next few steps will set up a group of keys that can be duplicated across.

Duplicate the first black key to create the second black key.

With the black key selected, access the Move options by double clicking the Selection Tool in the Toolbox (circled in red below). Check the Preview box to see where the resulting key will be. Set the Horizontal position to 17 px and make sure the Vertical is 0 px. Click copy, and two keys will be positioned as shown below.

Result:

Duplicate the second black key to create the third black key.

With the second black key selected, access the Move options again by double clicking the Selection Tool in the Toolbox (circled in red below). Check the Preview box to see where the resulting key will be. Set the Horizontal position to 10 px and make sure the Vertical is 0 px. Click copy, and three keys will be positioned as shown below.

Result:

Duplicate the third black key to create the fourth black key.

With the third black key selected, access the Move options again by double clicking the Selection Tool in the Toolbox (circled in red below). Check the Preview box to see where the resulting key will be. Set the Horizontal position to 17 px and make sure the Vertical is 0 px. Click copy, and four keys will be positioned as shown below.

Result:

Duplicate the fourth black key to create the fifth black key.

With the fourth black key selected, access the Move options again by double clicking the Selection Tool in the Toolbox (circled in red below). Check the Preview box to see where the resulting key will be. Set the Horizontal position to 9.5 px and make sure the Vertical is 0 px. Click copy, and five keys will be positioned as shown below.

Result:

Duplicate the fifth black key to create the sixth black key.

With the fifth black key selected, repeat the Move from the last step by pressing Cmd+D (Mac) or Ctrl+D (PC). The sixth key is now positioned as shown below. (If you need to access the Move options again to copy the fourth key, the Horizontal is 9.5 px.)

Result:

Now the keys can be selected and duplicated across. Only keys two through six will repeat. Select these five black keys (shown in green below) using the Selection Tool to marquee around them. Because the other layers are locked, you will only select the black keys. From the menu, choose Effect, Transform Effect, Transform. In the Move section, set the Horizontal to 63 px, make sure the Vertical is set to 0 px, set number of copies to 6, and check the Preview box to confirm that the keys appear as below. Press OK.

Lock the “black keys” layer, and all that’s left is adding the staff and musical elements.

5. Draw staff

Create a new layer named “staff” as shown below.

Select the Rectangle Tool, set the fill to none and choose a neutral color of choice for the stroke with the stroke size set to 0.5 px. The color used here is from the Neutrals 3 swatch library that came with CS3. A metallic color might be nice depending on your project. Click once on the artboard and define a rectangle 470 px wide by 20 px height. Press OK.

With the rectangle selected, select from the menu Object, Path, Split into Grid. Set the Number of Rows to 4, with a Gutter of 0 px. You may have to set the Number of Rows to 2 and change the gutter to 0 before you are able to set the Number of Rows to 4. Leave the Number of Columns set to 1. Press OK.

Position the staff with the Transform Panel, setting the center position to X: 250 px and Y: 91 px.

Click on the artboard to deselect the staff.

Lock the “staff” layer, and a new layer will be created for the music elements in the next step.

6. Add music

Now the illustration is ready for the final touches of adding notes and musical elements. You may have clip art or images to use. I found a font from www.fontspace.com named MetDemo that has musical elements, which I used for this exercise.

Create a new layer named “music”.

The symbols below were created using the Text Tool and the MetDemo font with a Font Size of 16 px. The fill color is the same neutral color as the staff stroke color, and the stroke for the text is None. Type the symbols and notes of your choosing. The letters/symbols : (colon), K, Q, and W in the MetDemo font creates the treble clef, sharp symbol, and quarter and half notes.

Once you have typed your chosen symbols and notes, use the Selection Tool to select all of the text and select from the menu Type, Create Outlines. Still selected, Ungroup the letters with the shortcut Sh+Cmd+G (Mac) or Sh+Ctrl+G (PC), or access from the menu with Object, Ungroup. Now all pieces can be selected, moved and positioned into the staff area individually, using the Selection Tool or selecting them from the layers panel.

My tune is from one of my Phantom of the Opera favorites, simplified and spread out to fill the space above the keys.

Experiment with different color backgrounds, gradients and artistic effects. Scale the image or use portions of the keyboard to suit your print or web project.

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Illustrator Tip #13: Pasting Smart Objects in Photoshop

Sonali Vora — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:18:23 +0000

Using both Photoshop and Illustrator is a common work flow process in many projects. In this small tip, I will show you how you can use Illustrator’s objects, shapes or text as Smart Object in Photoshop and still keep them editable in Illustrator.

In this example, I have created a shape using Star Tool, Pucker and Bloat Effect In Illustrator.

Next, I want to import it into Photoshop, so I select the shape and choose, Edit > Copy (Ctrl+C) to copy the text.

Create a new document in Photoshop and paste the text by choosing, Edit > Paste (Ctrl + V).

In the corresponding dialogue box, select Smart Object radio button and hit OK.

Your text should be pasted as a Smart Object in Photoshop, hit Enter on the num pad or checkmark on the Option Bar to commit it.

Now for some reasons I want to edit the object. For that, just double-click on the Smart Object icon in the Layer Palette. Photoshop will open a dialogue box, hit OK.

The object/shape will automatically open in Illustrator, edit the object or if you have any text or shape do the edit as you want, here I edited it a bit and added a another overlapping shape and also changed the color of the object to red.

After you are satistied with the edit, select File > Save and close the file and voila the changes will be automatically reflected in your Photoshop document.

Create A Stunning Flash Website With Wix In Minutes

Tony Soh — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:46:20 +0000

Building a stunning flash website never get easier with Wix. Anyone can now quickly create a Flash website online in minutes. The Wix offers an online editing interface where users can simply drag and drop audio, images, video, text and animation to their site.

You can choose from thousands of images to add to your design. Creating an interactive slideshow is also easy. Just drag and drop your images and your interactive slideshow will be ready. This makes it a perfect solution for showcasing your portfolio online.

Adding Youtube video, Flickr images and music to your website is also breeze with Wix. When you publish your site, it will automatically be added to the Wix community and indexed in search engines. Unlike most Flash website, it is search engine friendly. Hence, your clients or friends can find your site easily on Google. And the best thing is you don’t have to pay a single cent for hosting or signing up with Wix!

Click here to learn more about Wix.

FRESHLY SQUEEZED Web Design Challenge

Tony Soh — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:57:43 +0000

Cut&Paste is hosting an online web design contest with a grand prize of $5,000. You will be designing a website for J.U.i.C.E., a nonprofit after-school program that allows the underprivileged youth of Los Angeles to express themselves through dance, music, visual arts, and MC skills workshops.

The FRESHLY SQUEEZED Web Design Challenge is accepting entries from February 20 through April 10. Any United States citizens, ages 18 years and older can participate in this contest.

Click here to find out more about the competition.

Illustrator Tutorial: Warp Text Inside A Heart Shape

Sonali Vora — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:30:52 +0000

In this tutorial, we will see how we can warp the text around a shape or a object. This technique will show you how to combine the text wrap and heart shape together to achieve the text wrap effect. This tutorial will concentrate on how to use Envelope Distort feature in Illustrator to achieve this effect. You will also learn some new techniques along the way. For this to work effectively, first we have to decide on a suitable shape. Secondly, we will need to decide what word to warp inside the shape. Normally a short phrase works best. And finally, we need a thick and fancy font to pull the trick.

For this tutorial, we will be using a heart shape since Valentine’s Day is around the corner. We will be using a font Coaster for the words. We will write the words, “Vector Love” to declare out love for vectors. But you can choose any shape, fonts, words etc… Experiment with different shapes and words to see which works best. Also, if you are using more complex shape or curved lines just be careful that the words remain legible.

Step 1:

Draw a heart shape with Pen Tool (P). Fill it with red color or any color you wish and set the stroke to None.

Step 2:

Select the heart shape, copy it by clicking Edit > Copy and paste using Edit > Paste in Front. Select one of the heart and in the Layer Palette. Hide and lock it by clicking on eye and lock icon. We will use it at the end of the tutorial again.

Step 3:

Now the next step is to divide the heart shape in three different parts. keep the Fill to None and set Stroke to white color. Adjust the Stroke Weight (Window > Stroke Palette) to about 5 points. With the Pen Tool (P), draw two lines as shown in the figure below. You can also draw a slight curved line as well, but for the purpose of this tutorial, we will keep things simple.

Ensure that the start and end points of the lines is outside the heart shape as indicated by blue circles. After each line press Ctrl/Command and click outside the shape to deselect.

Step 4:

Select both the lines that we drew in Step 3 and choose Object > Path > Outline Stroke.

Step 5:

Then Select All (Ctrl/Command+A) and choose Window > Pathfinder. Click the Subtract from Shape Area button while holding down Alt/Opt Key.

After that, select the shape and click Object > Ungroup to ungroup. Now your heart shape should be divided in three parts.

NOTE: If you are using Illustrator CS3 and above and able to handle the mouse quite well, you can divide the shape with Eraser Tool (Shift + E). Double-click on the Eraser Tool to adjust the Diameter and other parameters. Pen Tool (P) will work better if you want to divide the shape in more complex curves.

Step 6:

Using the Type Tool (T) type “VECTOR”. Press Ctrl/Command and click anywhere on the artboard to exit the text box. Then, type “LOVE”. Keep the font size to around 150 to 190 Points. I use the font Coaster Black in this example as mentioned above.

Step 7:

Select the word, “VECTOR” with Selection Tool(V). Choose Object > Arrange > Send to Back (you can also access that by right clicking on your letters while it is still selected).

Now press Shift Key and with the Selection Tool (V) click on top heart shape and “VECTOR” and choose Object > Envelop Distort > Make with Top Object. Keep the Smart Guides On(Ctrl/Comm + U) to help you see your shape if the letter gets hidden behind the shape.

Step 8:

Repeat the process mentioned in Step 6 with the word “LOVE”, select it Send it to Back, then select (with Selection Tool-V) the bottom heart shape and the letters while holding down Shift key. And choose, Object > Envelop Distort > Make with Top Object.

Step 9:

Now we are almost done. If you wish to change the colors of the text, you can do it by selecting them all (Ctrl/Commmand + A) and then choose Object > Envelop Distort > Edit Contents. I kept the colors same as black.

Finally, just unhide the heart shape that we have hidden and locked in Step 2. Click on the eye button to unhide it. I have changed it’s Fill color to a shade of pink. I also deleted the unwanted shapes left over from the other heart shape as we do not need it. Now it should look something as shown below.

Step 10:

Finally, to make an interesting background, I use a free vector graphics Halftone-Heart (from Qvectors). Open up the file and copy paste it on a new layer in my document. Drag the layer below so that it is behind the heart shape. Fill it with the same pink color and set the stroke to none.

I also deleted the excess paths with Clipping mask. Draw a square shape with Rectangle Tool (M). Select both shapes (pattern and square) then choose, Object > Clipping Mask > Make. Finally, fill it with a Radial Gradient to get the following image.

Here is the another example. I changed the colors and grouped (Object > Group) the entire artwork. Next I apply Effect > Distort > Glass using the following parameters:

And below you will see a another example image I made long time back using the same technique as shown above with the words, “Is That You?”. You can see the finished piece at my dA.

The key is to experiment with different shapes and text, I hope you have learnt something new in this tutorial. I will love to see what you have done using this technique.

Illustrator Tip #13: Cropping Images

Tony Soh — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:43:27 +0000

This is what happens when you try to export your vector art from illustrator. You realise the image exported out isn’t the same as the artboard or there are ugly white spacing around the image. So why does this happen? When you export an image, illustrator will calculate the bounding box of the whole area taken up by your image including the clipping mask and set that as the image area. This normally leaves a lot of white spacing around the image.

The solution to this problem is simple. Draw a box in the canvas and define it as the crop area by going to Object>Crop Area>Make. This will define the crop area. So when you export our the image will show only the crop area.