Archive for April, 2007

25 Reasons You Might Be A Hardcore Graphic/Web Designer

April 14, 2007 | Posted in Rants | 261 Comments »

It’s that time again. I thought I’d let you peer into my head for a post, so I sat down with a notepad, a pen and a 12 pack of Bud Light. After some deep thought, I came up with this list of signs that you might be a hardcore designer. A lot of these signs can overlap other professions too. From my experience, the following list contains mostly truths, mixed in with a little humor.

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How to Make a Custom Illustrator Brush

April 12, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 48 Comments »

It’s really a lot easier than you would expect. This tutorial was requested by many of my readers after I posted this Free set of 35 Abstract Illustrator Brushes. The possibilities are endless as far as brush making goes in illustrator, but I wanted to get you started in the right direction and let you take it from here. (The purpose is to tease you, so you want to try it on your own!)

How to make a custom Illustrator Brush
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35 Free Abstract Illustrator Brushes

April 10, 2007 | Posted in Freebies | 152 Comments »

In my opinion, one of the most underused features of Illustrator is the creation of custom brushes. You can literally make ANY shape into an Illustrator brush to get all kinds of cool effects. I put together a set of 35 abstract brushes for you to play with. The example below was made only with the brushes I provided in the set, and I only used 3 shapes: Mostly circles, a couple starbursts, and a spiral or two. Every bitt of detail in the example is created from the brush strokes alone, on different sized shapes/stroke sizes. (I also played around with blending modes of certain shapes. Download the source file below.)

35 Free Abstract Illustrator Brushes
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Random Free Vectors Part 5 – Butterflies

April 7, 2007 | Posted in Freebies | 31 Comments »

I was playing around with some butterflies this weekend and I have another set of freebies for you. Once again, I haven’t actually had the chance to use these for real, so I think I will just have to start making some designs on my own as case studies to practice. After all, that’s one of the reasons I started BittBox, so I can enjoy designing, without having a client that needs it. Anyway, here are the butterfly vectors I’ve been playing with, maybe you can find a use for them.

Free Vector Butterflies
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Easy Illustrator Trick: Oversized Stroke

April 6, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 35 Comments »

Illustrator comes standard with some default brushes. Most of us probably use these brushes as they were intended to be used, but what happens if you push the limits of stroke size? You get a really easy way to create some cool abstract effects in Illustrator. Check out the example below, made with very simple shapes. The complexity is created by taking the stroke way beyond normal with an artistic brush stroke from the brushes palette.

Easy Illustrator Trick: Oversized Stroke
Easy Illustrator Trick: Oversized Stroke
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