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SIMPLE PERSPECTIVE Construction

10/27/2019

Creating an icon in perspective can be easy. Illustrator has a Perspective Grid but in this tutorial, you can create your own grid quite quickly, then build your icon in perspective.

Set up the perspective by drawing two lines, this will be your perspective angle.

Select both lines and choose Object>Blend>Blend Options. Set the Spacing to Specified steps and set the number of lines you want to create.

Then choose Object>Blend> Make to create the lines.

If your lines turn out line string art, this means the lines were going different directions. Double-click on the bottom line and choose Object> Path> Reverse Path Direction to fix this

Select the "fan" of lines and choose Object>Expand. Click OK to expand the lines.

With the lines selected, choose View> Guides> Make Guides. This feature takes any line or shape and turns these into guides. The guides will be locked. To unlock the Guides choose View> Guides> Unlock Guides.

Create shapes that conform to the grid.

When you draw shape start with one corner on the grid.

Use the Direct Selection Tool to select and move the point to snap to the grid. Hold Shift to make the stay in line vertically.

Repeat the Direct Select process with the other points until all the points snap to the grid

Copy the last shape or create a new one, use the Direct Selection Tool to snap to the grid.

Create any lines or shapes that snap to the grid.

Add some color fills.

You can unlock the grid, copy the grid lines and flip them to do the other side of the perspective.

When the corners meet at the convergence point, anything with a stroke will have odd tips showing.

The way to solve this is to select the shapes and change the stroke Corner from square to rounded.

Problem solved, corners now look like they come together cleanly.

Simple icon in perspective, that quick. Nice job!

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Optical Art Illusions

10/20/2019

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These illusions are all effects. Easy to create, fun to edit and there is no limit to the cool optical illusions that can be created.

Create a shape. Solid fill, no stroke

Add an effect. Effect > Distort & Transform > ZigZag. Also try other Effects, roughen, pucker, bloat.

With the Effect applied, choose Object > Expand Appearance.

This is the shape after the Expand Appearance.

Copy and Paste the shape in place. Scale the pasted shape much larger. and center both shapes on each other.

Select both shapes. Choose Object > Blend > Blend Options. Set the Spacing to Specified Steps. Set the number of steps to 20. Click OK.
There will be no visible result from this step until the next step.

Select the blended shape and choose Effect > Pathfinder > Exclude.
Do not use the Exclude from the Pathfinder panel, it will look the same but the results will not work.

Select the shape, then double click on the outside shape to enter into Isolation Mode. (You should see a gray bar across the top of the document to indicate Isolation Mode. )

Choose Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Click the Preview button. Set the angle to rotate the outer shape. The more you rotate, the more twist will appear.

You can try these effects with any shapes.

The star can create a dimensional look to the shapes.

With a square, apply a Pucker effect. Then follow the steps to create the Exclude effect.

This shows when you rotate the isolated outer shape

You can also isolate the outer shape and move the shape to create a tube effect.

With the outer shape isolated and selected, you can adjust the Corner Widgets and create a cool effect. Try it with any shape you can imagine.

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Sawing Wood

10/14/2019

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Building something is always fun. Here is a quick way to create a hand saw cutting through some lumber.

Start with a rounded rectangle for the wood. Add a heavy stroke and a fill.

Make a copy of this and save it for the end steps.

Create concentric circles using the Polar Grid Tool. While drawing, hold SHIFT to make it a perfect circle AND use the UP arrow to add circle, DOWN arrow to take them away. To remove the dividers, use the LEFT arrow.

Select the rounded rectangle and click on the Draw Inside mode at the bottom of the toolbar.

Cut the circles and paste them into the shape. Move them around until the rings are off set. Click on the Draw Normal mode.

To edit the rings pasted inside, select the shape and click on the Edit Content button in the Control Bar. This allows you to selected and move the shapes without breaking it out of the clipping mask.

Create a few pieces of lumber using different fills. Use the Control Bar buttons to isolate the contents then the clipping mask (the shape) to change the color.

For the saw, create a gray filled rectangle.

Using the Polygon tool, draw and use the down arrow to remove sides until you get a triangle.

Duplicate the triangle until you have all the teeth along the saw. Select all the shapes and use the Pathfinder Unite Mode to make them one shape.

Add a heavy stroke to the saw blade.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select the upper left point and move the point down to taper the saw blade.

Create a rectangle for the handle.

With the Curvature Tool select the right edge and move the center in to create a curve.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select the lower left point and move the point in to taper the handle.

Select the shape the Direct Selection tool and pull the corner widgets in to round all the edges.

Add a rounded rectangle in the center for the opening.

To create the screws that hold the handle to the blade, create a circle and a thin rectangle.

Select both shapes and use the Pathfinder Minus front mode to remove the rectangle and reveal the screw.

Assemble the handle, blade and screws. Select all the shapes and group them together.

Add some lines behind the wood to create a bit of atmosphere. Round cap (hot dog) the ends of the lines.

Add the Saw blade behind the top piece of wood to make it look like it is cutting through it.

Create small squares for the saw dust. Rotate the shapes to make it look like they are falling.

With the copied shape from Step 1. remove the stroke, add a light gray fill and in the opacity panel, change the Blend Mode to multiply.

Move the shape behind the top piece of lumber and in front of the saw. Done!

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Teddy Bear

10/7/2019

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Try this snuggly teddy bear on for size. Cute, adorable and so easy to create. This one is a fun one.

Start the body of the bear with a rounded rectangle. Add a fill and no stroke color.

Create a triangle with Polygon tool. While daring the polygon, use the down arrow to reduce the number of sides to get to a triangle.

Use the Corner Widget target to pull in toward the center and round the tips slightly.

Cut the triangle (Edit > Cut). Select the body and click on the Draw Inside Mode at the bottom of the toolbar.

Paste the cut triangle into the shape. Click on the draw normal mode when done.

Add a circle for the head.

Add another circle for the ear.

With the ear selected, use Object > Path > Offset Path. Set the offset to -10 and click OK. This will duplicate the circle inside the ear.

Add a lighter color to the inside ear shape.

Duplicate the ear and send them behind the head. Object > Arrange > Send To Back.

Create ovals for the feet. Use the Offset path function like with the ears to create the feet.

Create a rounded rectangle for the arms.

Add the arms and send them to the back behind the body.

Add circles for the eyes and an oval for the nose.

Copy and paste one of the arms, Remove the fill and make the stroke a heavy weight.

With the Direct Selection Tool, select the upper and upper left points and delete them.

Add rounded ends (hot dog them) to the stroke from the Stroke Panel .

Add the lines under the nose. Copy and flip the hook to make the left and right sides of the nose.

Duplicate the head shape. Duplicate it again and put the copy a bit offset from the first.

Use the Pathfinder Minus Front Mode to leave this sliver. This will be the shadow for the head.

Fill the shape with a darker fill. Set the Opacity to 20% and the Blend Mode to Multiply.

Add the shadow to the head. Repeat the same steps for the feet to add shadows to them as well.

Add slip shadows to any of the shapes to help add dimension and you are done.

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Design Points n PixelS

SIMPLE PERSPECTIVE Construction

Optical Art Illusions

Sawing Wood

Teddy Bear

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