Archive for the Illustrator Category
Hi all, I just got back from 4 days away from home, so here is something to chew on while I get back into the swing of things. If you have ever downloaded (or not) one of my free sets of buttons or webpage elements, you might notice that I use a lot of opacity masks in my Illustrator files. I do this for a number of reasons, some of which may be obvious, but I would like to clarify a little better on how to use these (opacity masks), and why.
In my last post I gave away some seamless vector patterns, and one in this post. Many of you have questioned how to put these to use, and the answer is: Lots of ways. I’m going to illuminate a few different ways to take a seamless vector pattern and put it to use. And believe me, these are not the only ways. Hopefully you can take these tips and find some unique uses for your own personal designs.
It’s often a challenge to really play with typography as a design element itself. It’s no secret that type plays a significant role in a lot of the design world, both print, web, and beyond. But typography itself is a nice easy way to experiment with your design to see what you can come up with, given the circumstances allow for it. I have to sometimes force myself to do this, but it’s a really nice way to add a little extra if done right. Typography, especially scaled way up, can be a powerful addition to your design, and even a texture layer at times. I will use the font Sidewalk from a previous post as an example.
After my “50 Free Vector Grunge Corners” post, I got a lot of responses asking how to make vector grunge. Well, I’m going to show you exactly how, and trust me, anyone can do it. It’s not as hard as you might think, thanks to InkScape (free).
If you aren’t familiar with Illustrator’s extremely handy “Pathfinder” palette, you might sit down for a few moments to play with it, because it is a true time saver, and an excellent tool for manipulating paths. First, of all let me say that “Pathfinder” is a horrible name for this palette. It doesn’t actually “find” paths. It makes it easy to combine paths, divide objects, subtract shapes, etc.
Believe it or not, Illustrator is capable of some amazing effects similar to those in Photoshop, all waiting at the tip of your finger in the Tools palette. These are NOT filters, but some lesser known Basic Illustrator Tools that , if harnessed right, can transform a single path into a work of art. I’ll show you some simple examples, but I invite you to explore these really, really easy tools a little further using your imagination.
These effects may or may not be new to you, but I’ve been using Illustrator for over half a decade, and I felt like a kid at a candy store once I started playing around with them! Here is an example of what you can do in a matter of seconds (literally):
You will probably find dozens, if not hundreds of tutorials on how to do this in Photoshop, but I’m going to show you how to do it in Illustrator (vector). The advantage? You can scale it up for a roadside billboard if you like. That’s the power of vector graphics. All you have to do is make it once and you can change the size as many times as you like, without losing quality. I’m tempted to say that this (logo reflection) effect might actually be easier to do in Illustrator in the first place. Man, the web is definitely a creature that likes to follow trends. Let’s break one shall we? . . .
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