If you have ever tried to make a pattern in Illustrator manually, you know how hard it is to make it perfect, if not impossible. Using the Pattern Options Panel you can create any pattern seamlessly and perfectly every time. However, it is not straight forward or intuitive so here is a quick tutorial in making Patterns work for you.

First step in making a pattern is creating artwork that you want to be the basis of you pattern. Any fills, strokes, styles and colors will work. 

Open the Pattern Options Panel from the Window Menu. It will be grayed out and it looks like you cannot do anything with it.

Select your artwork, Group it to make things easier later, and click on the Pattern Option Cheese Grater to get the fly out menu. Click the Make Pattern option. 

This will SAVE the pattern to the Swatches Panel even before you did anything. Yes, it is confusing, but this is not a linear process. Click OK and move along.

The Pattern Options Panel will then show the artwork to be set up in the style of pattern you want. 

You will see the content on screen with a center area that contains your editable original artwork. The area around this will be the repeated pattern that is not editable. It will be dimmed back to show you how the pattern repeats. You can set the Dim copies to any percentage you want at the bottom of the Pattern Options Panel. 

The artwork inside the edit space can be copied, changed, rotated, edited or remove to create the pattern. The dim areas around will reflect any and all changes made to the artwork.  

The layout of the Pattern can be changed by choosing the Tile Type drop down menu. Once you choose an option, you will get further options shown in the next step. 

The Tile Type option will then allow different offsets to become available. Choose the type of offset you want and the pattern will update accordingly. 

If you want to see more or less repeats on the screen, choose the Copies drop down menu to change the repeat. This is for you visually and does not effect the final Pattern, they repeat into infinity regardless of how many copies you choose here.  

Once you are done with your pattern options and layout, click the DONE button at the upper left of your screen. The Pattern was saved when it was created (doesn't make sense but that is how it is) so no need to click Saved a Copy unless you want TWO patterns in your Swatch Panel... which you don't!

To see how your pattern works, create a shape and use the Swatch Panel to choose the new Pattern Fill. 

If you want to Edit your pattern after the fact, select the shape with the pattern fill, choose the Edit Pattern from the Pattern Options Cheese Grater.

Patterns show in the swatch panel for further use. 

One frustrating item with Patterns is that they do NOT scale with the shape by default. To scale the pattern when you scale an object, open the Transform Panel, click on the Cheese Grater and Choose Transform BOTH if you want both the Object and the Pattern to scale together.

You can edit the pattern anytime through the Pattern Options Panel.

If you edit the Pattern and want to keep the original Pattern as well, then Choose the Save a Copy to get your new copy saved to the Swatches Panel. 

When you save a copy of the pattern, both will appear in the Swatches panel for use. 

Two hidden tricks in the Swatches Panel!!
1. If you select your shape, click ONCE on the fill in the swatch panel it will scale the Pattern back to 100% if you have scaled it. 
2. Double click on the Pattern in the swatch panel will open the Pattern Options Panel to edit the pattern. 

This post was a request from a viewer about creating isometric vector patterns. They look cool and they are fun and they can be created using any shapes. 

Start with the Polygon Tool to draw a rectangle. Drag the Diamond on the upper ride side of the bounding box down to create 3 sides. 

Select the triangle, then select the Rotate Tool. OPTION + CLICK just above the top of the triangle. OPTION opens the dialog box, click places the point of rotation.

Here is the dialog box for rotation. TIP! To create the right number of triangles, use the inout field as a calculator! I used 360° divided by 6 and just type that in as 360/6. click the COPY button to copy the shape.

This is the result of the rotate and copy. Use COMMAND + D to redo the rotate/copy command.

Here is the COMMAND + D 4 more times. 

Select all the shapes, and OPTION + DRAG to duplicate the set. 

Use the COMMAND + D to duplicate the shapes several times.

Select each set and add a white stroke to each one progressively. Add the STROKE to the INSIDE of the shape.

Select the shape and click on the Align Stroke to Inside in the stroke panel. 

The white stroke around then shapes will show up if you place this on a colored background.
​ If you are using this on a white background, you can skip these next few steps in removing the white stroke.

This is set to Outline Mode under the View Menu to show the outline and shape.
Select the shape and choose Object>Path>Outline Stroke. This will create a shape out of the path. 

Select the shapes and choose Object>Compound Path>Release. Then delete the outer stroke shape, leaving the middle shape, then ungroup them.
The middle shapes will have lost their color fill, so select them and fill them again. 

Select the middle shapes of each section and OPTION + DRAG them to the side and position them to fill in the space. 

Select the entire set and OPTION + DRAG the set again. Use COMMAND + D to duplicate the duplicate as many times as you want. Nice job!

Fun piggy bank creation. Simple and quick; make a great icon for saving money!

Create the body using an oval. 

For the legs, start with two overlapping circles. 

Select both circles and in the Pathfinder Panel use the Minus Front Mode. This creates a moon shape for the legs.

Place the moon shape in the leg positions.

Draw a rectangle over the legs to cut them off. Copy this rectangle since we will need it again. Select the rectangle and one leg (have to do one leg at a time) and choose the ​Pathfinder Panel Minus Front Mode.

Choose Paste In Place to repaste the rectangle in the same location. ​Select the rectangle and other leg and choose the ​Pathfinder Panel Minus Front Mode.

For the ear, this will be two overlapping circles as well.

Select both circles and Select the rectangle and choose the ​Pathfinder Panel use the Intersect Mode. This creates the ear and snout.

Position the ear and copy it for the snout. Put them both in position and size and rotate them for fit. 

Add an arc for the coin slot and an eye as well. 

Double click on the Pencil Tool in the tool bar. Slide the Fidelity settings to Smooth. Click OK.

Use the Pencil tool to draw the tail. Any choppiness will be smoothed out. 

Draw a circe fr the coin. Fill and stroke the coin. 

Add a monetary symbol to the coin. Draw a lighter circle behind the piggy bank. 

Select the circle behind and click on the draw inside mode at the bottom of the tool bar. Draw a darker rectangle with a stroke to provide a foreground to anchor the piggy bank. Click on the Draw Normal mode and you are done!