آموزش های کاربردی برنامه Illustrator

[Borna66]

سلام دوستان.

در این تاپیک قصد دارم آموزشهای مشترک بین دو برنامه ی فوتوشاپ و Illustrator را که با هم مرتبط هستند قرار بدهم.

امیدوارم از آموزشهای ما لذت ببرید.

موفق باشید.طه

روزگار خوش.

[Borna66]

In this tutorial you will be learning the techniques in illustrating your own colorful cartoon drawings using Adobe Illustrator. This is a simple step by step procedure, and can be applied to any drawings that you have done.

I am assuming you already know how to use the pen tool, so if you have know idea how to operate the pen tool then this tutorial is not for you. ( I’ve been told that Google is a great place to find things out. )

Have your drawing finished and scanned

1. Open a new document on Illustrator and go to File>Place and find your drawing that you have scanned. After uploading your image, place it somewhere within your canvas. If you don’t have a drawing and wish to follow on the tutorial, you can use the sketch that I have made. Simply right click and save.

2. Set your Fill to Blank, and set your stroke to 1pt black, we will be changing this later as we apply color. Using the Ellipse tool, drag a perfect circle while holding shift-key to keep the dimensions even.

3. Now select your Pen tool and start to trace the body of your character.

4. Now using the Pen tool and Ellipse Tool, trace the facial features of the drawing where it is necessary.

5. Now using the Pen tool trace the ears. Now begin tracing all of the shadows that you have sketched out earlier, this will give your drawing more dimension.

6. Now the last step is to color your illustration, this is the part where you make your drawing come alive. I chose to use soft colors. Using #9BD6C8 soft green for the body, and #78A397 a darker green but within the same color range for the shadows and facial features.

You are finished! Now you can duplicate the drawing and multiply them into different colors. Here is what i ended up with. Play around you might end up with something fun.

__________________

[Borna66]

Below is the final image we will be working towards.

Step 1

First of all open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document (Command + N) at 600px by 600px.

Step 2

In this example we are using Helvetica Neue Bold, but you can try it with any type you like.

Step 3

Select the Type Tool (T), type down the whole type case (all the upper and lower case plus its numbers and signs), go to Type > Create outlines (Command + Shift + O) and then select the elements you are going to work with to create a typographical creature.

Step 4

In this occasion we are going to select the "a," "i," "?" "0," and ">" characters.

Step 5

Once you've got the type forms you are going to work with select the lower case "a." Then copy (Command + C) it, paste in front (Command + F) and use the Reflect Tool (O) to flip your second "a" on by its vertical axis at 90 degrees.

Step 6

Move it to the left until you get the form you can see in the image below.

Step 7

Now select both figures, click Add to shape area in the Pathfinder tab and then hit Expand.

Step 8

Select your new figure and right-click on it, then hit Release Compound Path in order to delete the low section of your figure. Paint the upper section with white. This is going to be the body of our character.

Step 9

Now leave aside the body of our character and get ready to build its mouth and teeth. Take the ">" character and use the Rotate Tool (R) to flip it 90 degrees.

Step 10

Select the ">" character, then hit Shift + Alt and move it to your right in order to make a copy of the element, and constrain the horizontal movement.

Step 11

Using duplicate (Command + D), create six more ">" characters in order to have seven of them in total. Arrange them as you can see in the example below.

Step 12

Now select the seven signs, click Add to Shape Area in the Pathfinder tab and then hit Expand.

Step 13

As soon as you are done, copy (Command + C), then paste in front (Command + F) the new figure. Use the Reflect Tool (O) in order to flip the new copy of the figure on its Horizontal axis.

Step 14

Arrange them as you see in the example image below to get the teeth of the character.

Step 15

Finally select the "i," right-click and hit Release Compound Path. Delete the dot of the "i" and rotate the body of the letterform 90 degrees.

Step 16

Now stretch and copy (Command + C) it, paste front (Command + F), and arrange the upper and lower lip.

Step 17

Select Teeth and Lips and click on Add to Shape Area in the Pathfinder tab and then hit Expand. Now you have a beautiful mouth!

Step 18

Move the mouth (white fill) over the body and distribute the elements as in the example below.

Step 19

Make a copy of the body (Command + C), paste front (Command + F) and go to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front (Command + Shift + Right Bracket key).

Step 20

Now hold Shift and select both the body and teeth, then Right-click and select Make Clipping Mask. Then go to the Pathfinder Tab and click Crop.

Step 21

Select the "0," Right-click over the selected element and select Release Compound Path.

Step 22

Move the inner section of the "0" aside and duplicate the item. Then arrange both figures as the Eyes of our creature.

Step 23

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the lower half section of the "0," then hit delete on your Keyboard. When you are done selecting both ends of the new figure apply Join (Command + J) and you have a foot.

Step 24

Select the foot and use Shift + Alt to move it to your right in order to make a copy of the element. Arrange both feet as in the example below.

Step 25

Take the question mark "?" and make two copies of it.

Step 26

Select the three elements and Right-click to Release Compound Path.

Step 27

Delete the two question mark dots and arrange the rest of the elements through Rotations (R) and Reflections (O) until you arrive at the image below.

Step 28

After that take another question mark and make two copies of it. Select the three elements and Right-click, then choose Release Compound Path.

Step 29

Delete two question mark dots and arrange the rest of the elements through Rotations (R) and Reflections (O) until you arrive at the sample image below.

Step 30

Now you've got the tentacles of our Type Creature. Arrange them in the body.

Step 31

Once you are done, select all tentacles and Right-click over the selection to Group.

Step 32

Copy (Command + C), paste in front (Command + F), and use the Reflection Tool (O) to flip the copy on its Vertical Axe at 90 degrees.

Step 33

Arrange them as shown below.

Step 34

Finally take de dot of the question mark, make a 45 degree Rotation (R) and use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the top point of the square. Now stretch it as you can see in the figure. You are ready to enjoy your Type based monster!

Conclusion

For the final image below, I added a simple background effect. Go ahead and create your own. You can also take this into Photoshop now and add some texture. For some inspiration visit Typefaces and have fun! You can learn more about the typefaces project in my interview on Vectortuts+.

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[Borna66]

Here is the illustration I'll be creating.

Step 1

Start by using the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw a perfect circle. Hold down the Shift key to accomplish this.

Step 2

Add a radial gradient with light green colors. Ensure that the center and outer edges are lighter.

Step 3

Using the Direct Select Tool (V) distort the circle down to an oval shape.

Step 4

Duplicate the oval lower on the page. Make sure to keep it perfectly in alignment with the first shape. The distance that the shapes are away from each other will be the height of your roll of money.

Step 5

Using the Rectangle Tool (M) draw a rectangle that is exactly the width of the ovals. The rectangle should start and end at the halfway points of both ovals.

Step 6

Select the rectangle and the bottom oval. In the Pathfinder Palette select Unite. The two shapes should now be one.

Step 7

Give the roll of money a linear gradient. Observe that the right edge has a bit of highlight to it. This is called reflective lighting and is important in the overall effectiveness of the icon's look. Spend a little time getting your gradient right before you move on. Note, if the oval on top is not in front simply select it and go to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.

Step 8

IMPORTANT: Duplicate all your shapes and keep the original off to the side.
Using the new copy, make sure the oval is on top of the dark green gradient shape (Object > Arrange > Bring to Front), then select both shapes and in the Pathfinder Palette click Minus Front.

Step 9

This is what you should be left with.

Step 10

Select the shape and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a negative value for the Offset. Note, your value will be determined by how big your artwork is created so enter a number that looks good to you.

Step 11

Before you can color the new shape individually, you will need to ungroup the object. Go to Object > Ungroup. Using the Direct Selection Tool, select the center shape and give it a black fill. In the Transparency Palette select Multiply, then adjust the Opacity to about 25%. Now, you can position the new smaller shape on top of the roll of money you set off to the side and get rid of the larger shape.

Step 12

Create the hole through the top of the roll by copying the oval on top and then pasting directly in place by pressing Command + F. Scale the oval down using the Direct Select Tool. Hold Shift + Option and drag the object down until its smaller.

Step 13

Fill the shape with a black to white radial gradient, set the mode to Multiply in the Transparency Palette and bring the Opacity down to about 42%.

Step 14

Create a more arbitrary shape on the face of the roll by using the Pencil Tool (N) to draw the shape. Tip: hold down the Option key to easily close the shape when you are drawing it.

Step 15

To create the illusion of folds or creases on top of the roll is easy to do. Use two overlapping ellipses to start.

Step 16

In the Pathfinder Palette select Minus Front. This will leave you with a crescent shape. Duplicate the shape and change the scale and color to add a variety of folds and creases.

Step 17

This is what your artwork should look like right now.

Step 18

To create the band around the roll use a process similar to the one for creating the creases on top. Again, start by overlapping two ellipses.

Step 19

Click Minus Front in the Pathfinder Palette.

Step 20

If you zoom in you'll see that there is now a sharp point on the edge of the band. You'll need to use the Pen Tool to correct it.

Step 21

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw a shape that covers the pointed edge. Use Minus Front in the Pathfinder to modify the shape of the band.

Step 22

Give the band a rich red to dark red gradient. Observe how I'm still using reflective lighting on this element too. Keep in mind your light source. For this illustration, the light is coming from the upper left side.

Step 23

Give the band a little more detail by adding a darker edge around it. Go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Select Multiply and use a dark color like black. Adjust the Opacity and Blur, then click OK.

Step 24

Give the band a shadow by first using the Pencil Tool to draw a shape similar to below.

Step 25

Blur the shape by going to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. In the Transparency Palette select Multiply so the shadow blends well with the green color behind it.

Step 26

Enhance the detail of the band by using the Pen Tool to draw a slight highlight on its edge.

Step 27

Create the coins by first drawing an ellipse and filling it with a linear gradient.

Step 28

I've added a subtle inner shape that is slightly darker than the shape behind it. This creates the impression of a ridge or lip within the surface of the coin. Again, use the copy and paste in place technique (used in Step 12) to be certain your new shape is in the middle of the shape behind it.

Step 29

Give the coin depth by duplicating the oval and placing it lower than the first oval. Draw a rectangle that is the width of the oval and starts and ends at the horizontal halfway point of both the top and bottom oval. Use the Pathfinder Palette to Unite the bottom oval and rectangle shape. In a nutshell, create this shape the same way that you created the shape of the roll of money.

Step 30

Use the Pen Tool to draw some of the small details like rivets on the side and reflections on the edges.

Step 31

Draw a few other coins, rotate and stack them on top of each other. Group each coin as you draw it to make selecting one coin at a time easier.

Step 32

Give each coin its own shadow using the Gaussian Blur technique. Observe how the center shadow is darker since more coins cover this area.

Step 33

Place the coins next to the roll of money. Add another blurred shadow in the area where the coins touch the roll.

Step 34

Add a shadow under the roll of money too.

Step 35

To create the reflection start by grouping the roll of money and all the elements that comprise it. Duplicate it and send it to the back by going to Object > Arrange > Send to back.

Step 36

Select the bottom roll and in the Transparency Palette double click the blank area highlighted in yellow.

Step 37

Your bottom roll shape should now be invisible.

Step 38

Using the Rectangle Tool, draw a rectangle (that has a white fill) on top of the area where the bottom roll should be. Now, your bottom roll should be visible again.

Step 39

Still working on the mask side of the Transparency Palette (the right-hand side,) give the "white" shape you just drew a black to white radial gradient. This gradient is gradually masked out to give the impression of the reflection fading out. Ensure that your black is made up of all 0 values and your white is made up of all 255 values. Neglecting this step will render your reflection unable to fade out or in completely.

Step 40

Note that Steps 36-39 should be completed on the mask side of the Transparency Palette (the right-hand side.) Switch back to the left-hand side of the Transparency Palette by double-clicking the yellow area. Now, in the Transparency Palette you can select the bottom roll shape and adjust the Opacity to something lower, like approximately 60%.

Step 41

This is what your artwork should look like right now.

Step 42

Creating a logical reflection for the coins is usually where most people have trouble visualizing the correct execution. In the first example, the coins have simply been copied and pasted upside down. This is incorrect. The correct look that the coins should have is that of a true reflection.

Step 43

It's easy to make the reflection look believable. I've broken the process down into 3 images. First, copy the coin on the left. Rotate it and send it to the back of all the other objects. Second, duplicate the edge of the center coin and paste it directly below. Third, duplicate the right coin a send that behind all the other objects too.
Now, the coins are stacked in a more realistic manner than simply copying and pasting the entire thing.

Step 44

Fade the coins out by using the same masking technique used for the roll of money.

Step 45

Draw a Rounded Corner Rectangle. Note, you can adjust the radius of the corners by holding the up or down arrow while you draw the shape.

Step 46

Fill it with a cool blue gradient.

Step 47

Make the edges darker by going to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow.

Step 48

Add a bit of atmosphere by drawing some random wave shapes and giving them a white to transparent gradient.

Step 49

Add the text at the bottom. I've used a font called ITC Franklin Gothic.

Step 50

To give the text a gradient fill, first select the text, then in the Appearance Palette select the flyout triangle and click Add New Fill. Adjust the gradient to your liking.

Step 51

To give the text a shadow, I've simply burred a square shape using Gaussian Blur.

Step 52

Last, give the text a reflection as was done for the roll of money and coins.

Final Image

This is what the final icon looks like!

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[Borna66]

Below is the final image we will be working towards.

Step 1

Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw the following path. You will need it for the marker itself as well as for its cap. Set the Width to approximately 5 mm and the Height to approximately 12 mm.

Step 2

Use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C) to round the two corners as seen below.

Step 3

Duplicate your path (drag it to the side while pressing the Alt key). Then use the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the two lower Anchor Points of the duplicated path and stretch the shape to a Length of approximately 70 mm.

Step 4

Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw the tip of the marker. The Height is approximately 20 mm. Select both elements of the marker and group them (Command + G).

Step 5

Select the cap (the first path), place it next to the tip of the marker and flip it horizontally (Object > Transform > Mirror).

Step 6

Select the Add Anchor Points Tool (+) and add two new Anchor Points to the path: one at the left side and one at the top. Then use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the upper-left Anchor Point as seen below.

Step 7

Remove all outlines and fill the shaft of your marker with a light gray (K=10) and the tip and cap with red.

Step 8

Use a black and bold Sans-serif font for the text of the imprint. You could even add additional elements like a barcode if you want. Placing it vertically and adjusting its size at this stage is useful.

Step 9

Group (Command + G) all elements of the imprint and drag and drop it into the Symbols Palette to create a new symbol.

Step 10

Select the cap of your marker and revolve it (Effects > 3D > Revolve). Activate the preview and rotate it.

Step 11

Now select your marker and revolve it too (Effects > 3D > Revolve). After you rotated the marker press the Map Art Button. This will open a new window.
Activate the preview and click through the surfaces. Once the red grid of the desired surface is shown, select the imprint symbol from the left drop-down menu. Click the OK buttons to close the windows again.

Step 12

Once the marker is finished, select the Brush Tool (B) and draw a red line. Place it behind the marker (Object > Arrange > Send to Back) and open the Brushes Palette (Window > Brushes). Click on the icon for a New Brush and create a Calligraphic Brush. You can experiment with the settings, but I recommend choosing an almost round brush with little random values.

Step 13

If you want to put the cap on the marker, just replace it in the 2D view. Make sure to leave a small gap between the marker and its cap and group all three parts of the marker (shaft, tip and cap) before applying the 3D effect.

Conclusion

The final image is below and have fun creating your own markers.

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[Borna66]

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the GoMediaZine. There has been such a wonderful response on my vector art tutorial “Beautiful Vector Illustration” that I thought I better write another one. If you recall in that tutorial I discussed how to create vector illustrations using photographs as your starting point. A technique of vector illustrating that takes a little bit more skill that I did not cover is starting with a hand drawn sketches. I will focus on that technique of vector illustrating for this tutorial.
For those of you without good sketching ability – please don’t jump ship just yet! I will also discuss a number of tips and techniques to using your pen tool that applies to ALL vector artists – so keep reading. You’ll still learn a thing or two. And who knows – maybe you try to sketch something anyway.
I am going to meander a bit between different sketches, but here is one example of a vector illustration that was based off of a sketch.

This is a design our firm was hired to do for the rock band Mr. Gnome. The theme was straight forward, a gnome with a guitar in a dynamic pose.
The tools you’ll need for this tutorial are:
1. Pencil
2. Paper
3. Scanner
4. Computer (with a monitor)
5. Adobe Illustrator (and Photoshop wouldn’t hurt either)
This tutorial will cover:
1. Sketching – How detailed to get in your sketch?
2. What resolution to scan your sketch.
3. How to set up your Illustrator file.
4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
5. Tips and Techniques to coloring your vector illustration.
Step 1. Sketching.
Ok here we go. Since we will not be using photographs – we’re going to have to rely on our ability to draw. As I mentioned in my tutorial “Comic Book Style Graphic Design” I will not be able to go into the fine details of how to draw here, but I want to try and give you a few tips.
First, I believe that learning how to draw is like learning any other skill. It takes time, practice and it doesn’t hurt if you study a little. So go buy yourself books on drawing, find tutorials online or sign up for classes at your local college. And of course, nothing in the world can replace practice.
This sketching phase of the process should be a fun relaxing part of the process. If you put pressure on yourself you will surely struggle. When I am drawing I try to let go of all expectations. When you sit down to draw tell yourself: “I may draw for the next three hours and may draw nothing good. But I am going to enjoy the process.” Have a pile of paper, a pencil sharpener and an eraser. Always start by sketching as loosely as possible; just work on basic shapes. Get yourself to relax. Turn on some good tunes, have a can of Coke, whatever it takes to get yourself into a good place. I really think this is a big part of getting yourself in the right frame of mind to draw well. It may seem silly – but imagine if you sat down with one sheet of paper, a thirty minute deadline and a rigorous expectation of what you needed to draw. Wow… what pressure! You would be setting yourself up for failure! That’s no fun. So, sit down, relax, let go of any expectations you put on yourself and have some fun.
Also, you need to know that the final sketch will usually be achieved through a process. Many amateur artists don’t truly realize all the “steps” that go into creating a final piece of art like the one I drew. The assumption is that I sat down and in one fell swoop illustrated this final sketch. Frequently there are a lot more steps to this process. Here is a typical process that a professional illustrator might go through to produce a final illustration:
1. Extremely rough “comps” are drawn to show your client what you are intending to draw. Often times there will be several of these so your client has some options. Often times the client will give you feedback on your comps – so you’ll have to modify your composition until they’re happy. Here is a sample of how rough the early “comps” can be:

2. “Studies” are then drawn for a variety of the elements in the image. If, for instance you’ve never drawn a palm tree before you might want to download some pictures of palm trees and sketch them for a while till you get a good handle on how to draw them.
3. The first draft of the final illustration is then done. It always starts with loose light lines to get the composition worked out, then you’ll go over it filling in with “tighter” lines to get your details.
4. Often times some aspect of the illustration looks bad. A professional artist will re-work that part of the illustration on a separate piece of paper until they get it right.
As you can see – this is definitely a process. So, don’t get frustrated if it takes a lot of work to get your final sketch together.
How detailed you get with your sketch is up to you. Personally, I find that it is always easier to decide where I want lines while I am in the sketching phase. So I will get fairly detailed in my drawing before I scan it into the computer. Deciding where to put lines when I’m vectorizing (digitally inking) my sketch is much harder. So I will err on the side of a “tight” sketch (lots of detail) versus a “loose” sketch. Here are two examples of illustrations. This first one is the fairly tight sketch of a demon that I drew for Ozz Fest.

The second sketch is a much more loose drawing:

Lines are not well defined and there is a lot that you would have to make decisions about once you get the drawing into Illustrator. You have to be extremely skilled in your ability to work through a drawing on-the-fly. If you are, you can take a very rough sketch like this and make inking (vectorizing) decisions as you work. I don’t think most people have this ability, so I would recommend that you try to get a little bit more detail into your sketch before you scan it into Illustrator.
While I am endorsing a “tighter” sketch I want to mention the fact that one of the biggest advantage of creating a vector illustration off of a sketch is that the over-all feeling of it is MUCH looser than what you create when you work off of a photo. When, for instance you are working off of a photograph – you are somewhat bound by the natural laws of nature. But in a sketch you can really go over-board with exaggerated features. When you combine these loose exaggerated features of a sketch with the tight clean lines of vector art you really get a wonderfully unique looking illustration. So, don’t be too tight with your drawing! You don’t want to lose your personality.
Step 2. Scanning your Artwork.
HHmm.. not sure why I made this into a whole section of this tutorial. I guess it’s just an important step – you need to get your sketch into your computer. Here are a few tips to scanning your sketch:
1. Make sure to scan your sketch in “photo” mode at 300dpi or higher. You may want to go as high as 600dpi. It really helps to zoom in on your sketch while you’re vectorizing (digitally inking and coloring) it. At this zoomed in state you might be looking at a part of the sketch 300% – 400% bigger than the size you drew it, so you’ll need that extra resolution to see where to put your lines.
2. If your sketch is bigger than your scanner – you’ll have to scan it in pieces and stitch them together in Photoshop. One little tip that helps make this process easier is to make sure that you butt one side of the paper up against the edge of the scanning surface. Scan it, then slide the paper keeping that same side flush up against the edge of the scanning surface. This process insures that your different parts of the sketch are not rotated differently. It is much easier to piece together two images that don’t need to be rotated. Once your sketch pieces are in Photoshop, open one and enlarge the canvas area to make room for the other pieces. Copy-and-Paste the other pieces so that they are all in one image. Set the properties of each layer to “multiply.” This will allow you to see through each layer and more easily line them up. Once you have them all lined up, change the layer properties back to “normal,” flatten the image, and save it as a .jpeg
Step 3. Setting up your Illustrator file.
I like to create 3 layers in Illustrator when vectorizing a sketch. The bottom layer is where I place my sketch. I will lock this layer so I don’t accidentally select it or move it. The middle layer is my color layer. This is where I will fill in my shapes with colors. I will also lock this layer until I get to the coloring part of the process. The top layer is the inks (the lines) of the drawing.
I should take a moment here to mention that you can illustrate vector art without lines. The artwork can be comprised completely of solid shapes with no “line art.” Here is an example of each:
This is a vector illustration without any lines defining the shapes. It simply uses color and value to define the shapes.

This illustration does have lines to separate the shapes.

Whether you choose to make line art or not is up to you, but we WILL be making the line art first on this project.

Step 4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
Ok.. now we get to drawing our vector lines. I don’t have one set style for creating these lines; in fact I have several. I will discuss each. But before I do, I want to discuss our goals. The goals with these lines are that they have character. And by “character” what I mean to say is: “they look cool.” So, how do we make our lines look cool?
For starters, we need our lines to vary in what is known as “weight.” “Weight” of a line basically means how thick or thin your lines are. A lot of weight is thick a little weight is thin. Making your lines vary in weight adds a LOT of character (makes them look cool.)
And where we put this character into the lines is also important. I use three general rules when making a determination of where to put weight:
1. Most important is how close an object is to you. So, if you have a drawing where the super-hero is punching out towards you, the fist would be the closest thing to you. The closer something is to you, the thicker the lines should be. The further away something is – the thinner the lines should be. The city in the background, for instance, should be illustrated with very thin lines. This creates an illusion of depth.
2. The outer-most line of each separate object I will also tend to make a little thicker than the interior lines. This helps define that object apart from the other objects.
3. I will also pay attention to light source. If, for instance, the sun is just over the right shoulder of a character – I might thin that line so much that it ends… there is actually a gap where the line ends then re-starts. The side of the object opposite of the light source will have thicker lines.
4. Finally – I will tend to thicken a line that dead-ends into another line. This is a hard one to explain, so here is a picture:

Now that we have a clear understanding of what kind of lines we’re trying to make… how do we make them?
My first step is usually to outline my object or a portion of the object and then “knock out” the shapes that are inside it. Using my pen tool I will simply find a starting point and start drawing around a shape. If you are not experienced using the pen tool in Illustrator this may be a bit of a frustrating process. Have faith that in time you will get better and faster. It takes time to learn how to best use this tool. Here are a couple of tips:
1. Place your points at the most extreme spots – at the very top of the peak of a curve or the very bottom of a curve.
2. Fewer points will give you a smoother line, so challenge yourself to eliminate points.
3. If you need to bring a curving line to a sharp turn, click on where the curve will end, click-drag your mouse to create the curve before the sharp turn (don’t worry about the vector line on the far side of the point. When you get the curve before the point where you want it, let up on the button, but before you make your next point – click one time on the point you just made. This will eliminate the bezier handle that runs through the point. When you place your next point, the line from the previous point will come out straight from that point. Here is a little picture sequence of this process. **This is a VERY useful tip. So, if you don’t understand it – read it five more times, study the images below and don’t proceed till you get it. It will be on the S.A.T.!**



Once I have my outline I will simply start drawing the shapes that are inside it that need to be subtracted (or for us old-school designers: “knocked out.”) Be aware that the “lines” you’re creating will be comprised of the outline minus the interior shapes. So, in terms of giving your final lines varying weight, you will have to vary how close your interior shapes are to the outline.
Here is an example of how I will draw an outline, then subtract (or knock-out) the interior with a second shape:


One way to deal with this varying line weight issue is to deal with it in the sketching phase. This way – you don’t have to think about it while vectorizing. You can just follow your sketch lines.
While you are drawing these knock-out shapes you may want to ignore little detail lines that might be hard to draw. If for instance you have some cross-hatching lines that extend from a large black shape – I won’t try to draw them both at the same time. I will start by just drawing the black shape, then will go back and draw the hatch-lines. I can merge these shapes using the Pathfinder tool later if I want to. Here is a sample of that:

Once you have all of your interior shapes in place, you’ll now need to knock them out of your outline. You will do this by
1. Grouping all of the interior shapes.
2. Bringing these grouped interior shapes to the front: Object>Arrange>Bring To Front
3. Selecting both your grouped interior shapes and your outline
4. Clicking on the knock-out (or “subtract”) function of your pathfinder tool.
5. Fill with black! (or whatever color you want your lines.)
Another way to draw lines of varying weight without drawing the inside and then the outside of each line is to just draw a single vector line down the center of your intended line. Then you “stroke” this line with a brush. Specifically you might want to use one of the calligraphy brushes that Illustrator includes.
Here is how using one of these brushes looks when applied to a curving line:

This looks great and is a much easier way to make lines with character – but it is much harder to control where the line is thick and where it’s thin. This is determined by the shape of the brush and the angle of your line. If you have a set of brushes set up at various angles and experiment a bit, you can figure out how to control where the thick and thin parts of your line are, but it takes some work.
If you are using this technique to vectorize (digitally ink) your sketch there is one additional step you have to take. Once you get the line how you want it, you’ll have to: use the Object>Expand Appearance function. This will take your brush stroke and convert it into a solid shape.
You may also experiment making your own brushes in Illustrator. One very useful brush is a simple triangle.
Simply make this triangle shape, select it and then go to the drop-down menu in your brushes window and select “New Brush>New Art Brush. Then draw a curvy line and apply this brush. You will quickly see how useful it will be in inking. Here is a sample of what a triangular brush on your vector path looks like:

I suggest experimenting with brushes like this. I will not reveal all of Go Media’s secrets here – but this should get you started.
Now you have the meticulous job of “inking” your illustration. Depending on how complex your drawing is – this process may take an entire day or more, so settle in and try to enjoy yourself. After all – that’s why we’re here right?
Here is the finished inking I did on this sketch… Pretty sharp if I do say so myself!!
First the pencil sketch:

Now the final inked illustration:

Ok, now to the really fun part – coloring.
Step 5. Tips and Techniques to coloring your vector illustration.
This tutorial is going to cover coloring in Adobe Illustrator. At this point you could also export your line art to Photoshop and color your drawing in it. In fact, most professional coloring you’ll see of illustrations is done in either Photoshop or Painter. Making a vector coloring – as we are in this tutorial is a very different process with a different look and feel to it. In Photoshop for instance, you can much more easily make soft-edged transitions between your various colors. Here in Illustrator your color shapes will have sharp edges.
Now I will make a confession – I don’t think I have a very good sense of color. I think I am a bad colorist. So, hopefully I can give you some tips I use to “fake it.” Remember: “Fake it till you make it!”
Now, you’ll be coloring on your color layer, so lock your inking layer and unlock your color layer.
Usually I will try to pick the colors I’m going to use before I start coloring. I will start with 2-4 main color themes that work well together. For each of these colors I will try to get a range of color values from dark to light. Once I have this palette of colors I try very hard to stick with it. Since I don’t have a good sense of color, I’m afraid to stray too far from a nice color palette once I’ve made one. Here is an example of a color palette I put together:

I will usually assemble my color palettes by opening a Pantone Swatch Library (located in the Swatch window drop-down in the Swatch Libraries drop down). I’ll then see a color I like and grab the entire value range from dark to light of that color.

One “cheat” I use occasionally for finding a good color schemes– is the website: colourlovers.com. It doesn’t give a complete coloring palette and isn’t usually exactly what I’m looking for, but it’s a great resource for inspiration.
In the case of this illustration, he went with a fairly straight-forward coloring scheme. The girl’s skin is flesh color, the skull is grey and the devil-baby is red. For each of these object there is about 3-4 color values; a middle value, one dark color for shadows and one light color for highlights.
While going with a straight-forward coloring scheme is fine, I want to encourage you to really experiment with colors. Explore the space. I got a fever, and the only prescription – is MORE COW BELL… no wait – I mean – MORE COLORS. I think doing a good realistic coloring job is almost passé these days. Using non-traditional colors is the current trend.
To start, lets use this little devil baby sketch that Dave did and start by filling each main shape with a middle value. Here is what the baby looks like with each of his primary shapes filled with the middle-value. You’ll notice the back of the tail is dark. We obviously decided that we were going to have a light source to the upper left. This would place the tail in a shadow.

When I say “We filled each main shape..” what I mean specifically is that we stole the line art and used the vector lines that were already drawn to fill the main shapes.
In order to do this you need to make sure you’ve used your Pathfinder tool to subtract (knock-out) and consolidate all your line art into one complete path, then you will:
1. Unlock your inking layer (if it isn’t already)
2. Select your Inks (lines)
3. Edit>Copy
4. Switch to your color layer (I’ll even re-lock my inking layer)
5. Edit>Paste In Front – this will drop a copy of the inks into the coloring layer in the exact same location that it was taken from – so it lines up perfectly.
6. Select the line art and then Object>Compound Path>Release. This will break all of these shapes back up into their own pieces of art. You can then delete the outline and simply deal with the fill shapes. By selecting them you can fill them with the appropriate color.
Using this technique will save you a lot of time. Here is the single-color initial fill of the devil-baby:
If you are not familiar with the Pathfinder tool in Illustrator, let me just say: please take the time to explore this tool. It is indispensable. I use it constantly.
Once the main color fill is in place, we can start adding shadows and highlights. Since your highlights and shadows will be contained within the area we’ve already established with our fill, you really only need to draw the line that will distinguish the barrier between your middle value and shadow.
In this first image you can see where I drew the dark red shape to define the shadow area. I only concerned myself with where my shape intersected with the red fill of the devil baby’s body.

I then need to make a copy of the devil-baby’s fill shape so I won’t lose it when I use the pathfinder tool. I use the Copy and Paste-In-Front function to create two duplicate shapes that are directly on top of one another. Then I select the main fill shape and the shadow shape as well.

Then, using the Pathfinder tool use the overlap Pathfinder tool. I’m not sure what the technical term is for this function, but it basically takes two shapes and removes any parts of them that do not over-lap. Here’s a pic:

I will go through and use this technique to define each of my shadows, bright spots and any other little details I would like to add.
So there you have it. An insight into my mind as I go from sketch to vector illustration. This is how I do it, but every illustrator has a different technique. So use this article/tutorial as a guide to help you establish your own technique. I hope you learned something useful!
Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. We specialize

[Borna66]

Open Illustrator

1. Lets begin by opening a new Illustrator document. Grab your type tool and type in EcoHaus or any name you prefer, I am using Century Gothic Bold. For my own preferences I am going to set my text on a 1 px black stroke and a black fill. In my examples I have kerned the letters to be closer to one another, you can do this by placing your type tool in between two letters holding alt and moving it using the arrows keys.

2. Now grab your handy pen tool, and start creating the shape of the leaf. If you are struggling with your leaf, you can roughly sketch something or find a stock image to guide you. Also don’t forget to add the stem of the leaf. I’ve arranged the leaf to be roughly centered along the top of the text, leaving just a bit of space.

3. Select your leaf and add the color value of #6F8939 green, do the same for the Eco text. Apply the color value #606161 gray for Haus text to add some contrast to the logo. Now that we have some color, we are going to create a shape and apply a gradient. Select your pen tool and trace roughly against the center of the leaf, leaving a small margin on the edge of the leaf.

4. Now we are going to apply a gradient to the shape that we have just created. Have your shape selected, and apply a gradient by clicking the gradient tool. Set the colors to C=32 Y=1 M=100 K=11 Light Green to C=60 M=29 Y=100 K=11 Green. Adjust the gradient into your liking, keeping in mind that the green should merge into the green of your leaf.

5. Now that we have complete our first leaf, duplicate the leaf two times. We should have 3 leaves in our possession now. Select the leaves and rearrange them using the rotate and scale options.

6. So far so good, now we are going to add some rain drops to give it more life. Select your pen tool and draw rain drops. Keep in mind you can always re-size them.

7. Fill the rain drops with #ffffff white, and lower the opacity to 38%.

You are finished! With what you have learned you can recreate your own logo using the same techniques that I have applied. Here is a different variation of the logo using the same techniques.

__________________

[Borna66]

Create a low-cost, low-tech T-shirt using a digitally designed stencil.When low numbers or high expense prevents you from sourcing professionally screenprinted products, you can easily produce a small run of custom T-shirt designs using a good old fashioned stencil technique!
Advantages include low production cost and quick turnaround, also the low-tech feel to the finished product could help reinforce an urban or distressed brand, especially with a little extra overspray.
You will need:
> T-Shirt(s)
> Sharp Scalpel
> Spray Mount
> Spray Paint

Create the initial design in your chosen application, in this case Illustrator was used with the addition of a free vector resource file from Go Media, where a graphic from the wings collection was modified and combined with the Spoon Graphics logo.

Remember when creating your stencil to plan ahead and think about what areas will be cut out, some areas may need splitting to allow the areas of negative space to connect. If not these areas would simply fall out when the stencil is cut out.

Once your design is complete, print it out onto card at the desired size.

Place a board inside your T-Shirt behind the chest area and fold the material onto the reverse and stick into position with tape. This will help prevent spray painting other areas of the T-Shirt and will stop any paint seeping through to the back of the shirt.


With your scalpel carefully cut out your stencil, then give the rear a coat of spray mount to help stick the stencil down to the T-Shirt preventing overspray. Position the stencil on the T-Shirt.

Using plenty of masking tape and newspaper cover off the surrounding areas, ensure that the tape is firmly stuck around the stencil to prevent overspray. Give your spray paint a thorough shaking to mix the paint and activate the propellent, spray a couple of test sprays to clear the nozzle, then simply build up layers of paint onto the stencil.

Once dry, peel away the stencil and tape to reveal your design transferred onto your T-Shirt.

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[Borna66]

This tutorial will guide you on how to draw creative Arabic fonts in Adobe Illustrator, this type of calligraphy is called "Free Calligraphy" as it is not "restricted" to a strictly set of rules on how the letters should be drawn and connected as with other forms of Arabic Calligraphy. You can learn more about the art of Arabic and Islamic Calligraphy from Wikipedia's page on this topic.

The image above reads "Hajj", which is the Arabic word for "Pilgrimage". We are going to create this word in Illustrator using the "Path Tool". It is possible to follow this tutorial on almost any other vector based drawing program such as Xara X, Freehand, and Corel Draw. Our tutorial will show you an example on how to create an Arabic in a free calligraphy manner, you can apply the same technique to create cool looking text in Arabic or English.


Start off by creating a new Illustrator file. We will start by drawing the "Alef" letter, which is the stick-looking shape on the right side of the word. Unlike English, Arabic is read from right to left. Use the pen tool to draw a single path point that should make the upper left corner of our "Alef" letter, it should look like a little blue square dot on the canvas.

Move your mouse pointer several pixels to the left and then click to create another dot that shall automatically connect to our first one. Create another dot at the lower part of the screen to draw an inverted L shape.

You get the point now, connect the dots to get a shape similar to the image displayed below.

The first letter is now complete, it is time to work on the rest of the word. Start off by drawing the shape that you see below.

We will now rotate this last brick we created using the Rotate Transform tool. Right-click this shape and then choose Transform > Rotate.

The third part of our word is a little bit harder than the previous two as this one has some curves. Start off by drawing the simple line that you see in the image below. Draw your line from left to right.

HOLD the mouse button as you click to create the third dot in our shape. While the mouse button is still held, move it around to create a slightly curved line.

Continue drawing the rest of the shape, make sure to hold the mouse button and create a curved line when creating the selected corner in the image below.

Creating the rest of the shape should not be a problem now. Connect the dots and hold the mouse button to create curvy lines when needed.

The only step left to complete our project here is drawing a circle at the bottom. Your final result should look something similar to what we have below after a little bit of colouring!

This concludes our tutorial, feel free to post at the forum if you needed any more help.
-End of tutorial

[Borna66]

This tutorial will teach you how to make 3D glasses on a carpet using Adobe Illustrator. The making of this same 'model' in 3D Studio Max has been demonstrated in a previous tutorial at Oman3D. You will learn here how easily it is to create a simple 3d model using Adobe Illustrator rather than using any 3D program such as 3D Studio Max. The technique that we will use in this tutorial will involve creating a single slice of the object that we want to create and then using the "Revolve" effect to convert our slice into a 3D object. Read on to learn the exact steps on how to do this.

Create a new Illustrator file using the default settings. We will start by creating our single slice of the object. Use the pen tool to create the object you see in the image below. Use a white stroke colour and a blank fill.

Once you have this object ready select it and use the Revolve effect that is found under Effect>3D>Revolve. Configure the settings as shown in the image above and make sure to set the Surface effect to "Defuse Shading". Click on OK to see the instant result of our work!

It is now time to create the second glass in the scene. First of all, duplicate the glass that we already made, you can simple press and hold ALT while dragging the image using your mouse to get a duplicate copy of it. Open the Appearance Palette from the Window menu above, in the Appearance Palette find the 3D Revolve Effect and double click it. Change the rotation around the x, y, and z axis to -44°, 0° and 100°. Once you click on OK you should see the second glass created.
It is now time to make our carpets. You can use any design you wish for the carpets, I personally created these using the library Decorative Brushes ( Window>Brush Library>Decorative Brush>Celtic - 0.5pt stroke weight ). You can copy and paste the image that I supplied here to use for your own project.

After aligning both carpets at the centre vertically and horizontally, now using the perspective view skew the carpets to get a similar scene to that shown in the image below

Adding the Shadow of the Glasses
Create an ellipse shape in a size similar to the glass. Use a blank stroke and a 25% gray colour for the fill. Using the "Effect Menu" apply the Gaussian Blur to the shape. Once done arrange the shadow to the back of the glasses.
To add a shadow for the second glass lied down. Copy the actual glass and change its 3D Revolve Effect from the Appearance Palette. Here you will have to click on the "More Options" button to make the Light Intensity to Zero. After that you will have to apply the Gaussian Blur effect and arrange it to the back in the same way you did to the first glass.