I wanted to lighten things up for a post and show you my brainstorming method. It may seem a little archaic, but this is honestly how I decide what story to publish next. From emails I get from you all, and various comments, I can tell that some of you are probably curious as to who exactly I am, and how I come up with my ideas. So I’m dedicating this post to answering some of those questions.

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I was thinking to myself that this probably should have been one of my first posts, so I quickly made some glass orbs for you. What kind of Illustrator blog would this be without a free glass orb download? I guess it completely slipped my mind and I apologize, but I’m serious when I say that ANYONE can easily make these on their own in Illustrator. No clipping masks, just 4 shapes, 1 drop shadow, 1 feather, and 1 transparency mask. If you don’t know what a transparency mask is, read this post on how to create a vector glass button in Illustrator, with detailed instructions. AI (including legacy), EPS, SVG and PNG formats available in the download.

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This is a brush set meant for making your own custom swoosh, swirl and curl designs. I have a tutorial on exactly how that process works that you can read here. This isn’t the only way to make swooshes, but it should help you get started, to say the least. I’m continually fascinated as to how confusing vector swoosh creation can be to most people. Along with this brush library, and a quick tutorial read, you should be well on your way to start making your own swooshes in 100% vector format, relatively easily.

The reason I created this brush set is so that (hopefully) it will make it easier for you to try and understand swoosh making and get inspired to set up your own unique brushes to produce some beautiful swooshes and curls on your own. Practice makes perfect in most cases, but these should help you along your way.

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I’ve put together a list of 17 quick tips that will help you save time when using Illustrator, and increase productivity as well. For some of you, this may mean breaking a habit or two, but in the long run it’s well worth exploring the options of the Illustrator interface if it means saving time (measured in clicks and curse phrases, in my case), especially when it comes to “selection” methods. Some of these are obvious, and some may not be, but I want to help enlighten even the most casual of Illustrator jockeys. In no particular order. . .

1. Select all shapes with the same fill or stroke, or both.

If you go to the “Select” menu, and click on “Same,” you can instantly select ALL of the shapes with that same fill color, stroke color, or both, in single click! I love this feature and I find myself using it more and more every day. It comes in handy especially when editing a file received from a client when trying to prepare for printing (color matching to a pantone). Also if you make a last minute color scheme decision, you can easily update all of your shapes at once. Other “select same” options include Blending Mode, Opacity, and Stroke Weight.

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This set has a slightly less noticeable shadow, and a simplified highlight. So in general, they should appear to be more shallow (in a 3D sense of the word) than the previous set, as well as most of my other buttons, in turn making this set easier to customize. The highlight is simply a white fill with a low transparency. File formats included are AI (CS & 8), EPS, and SVG. From what I’ve heard, Inkscpe users who will be wanting to take advantage of these files via SVG format, might have to do a series of “un-grouping” before you see some of the reflections. To customize, you will need a vector graphics editor, such as illustrator, or inkscape.

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