Archive for the 'Illustrator' Category
Illustrator: How to Make Custom Swooshes, Swirls, and Curls
I’ve gotten a lot of responses to this post about how I made the intricate designs in those headers. Swirls, and swooshes, or whatever you want to call them, are pretty hard to come by as a freebie (except here on BittBox), and they are even more rare in vector format. Part of the reason is that most people, even avid Illustrator users, don’t realize how easy it is to create these shapes. All it takes is a few simple, yet not highly utilized Illustrator tips. This tutorial will show you how to create your own curlies, and swooshes easily, in Illustrator. It’s not nearly as difficult as you might think. . .
Illustrator Tutorial: How to make a Vector Glass Button
If you are a regular BittBox reader, this is the post you’ve been waiting for! Not only will this tutorial help you make your own vector glass buttons, bars and who knows what else; it will help you to understand the structure of my free files a little better, and how to customize them easier. This tutorial covers how to create a basic vector glass style button in illustrator CS. Basic knowledge of Illustrator is required, but I tried to make it as strait-forward as possible.
Illustrator: Using Swift as a powerful 3D Illustration Tool
If you don’t know what Swift is, it’s a relatively new software by Electric Rain that specializes in rendering 3D vector animations. For the most part, Swift3D is intended to be used in conjunction with Flash, to allow you to model and animate in 3d, and import your Swift animations into the Flash environment. It works fine for that, but I think it’s even better for Illustrating in 3D. Bear with me on the lingo here. . . If you are an illustrator, and you use Illustrator, Swift3D (Currently USD $229) could be a nice investment for you to look into. A year ago this time, it was about $129, so I think the sooner you buy, the better. I’m predicting some major improvements in the next release. Swift is very versatile and supports most platforms, including Intel Macs, and they provide free updates for registered accounts.
Wicked Illustrator Brush Effect
This Adobe Illustrator bitt will show you how to make a funky custom brush for a fast and easy grunge-like effect.
1. Open a new new Illustrator document and make a few simple shapes on the artboard. Put a black stroke on the shapes, but no fill.
2. With your shapes selected, open the brushes palette, and apply an organic-looking brush stroke to your shapes.
I used “rough charcoal,” but choose whatever you like.
