Blog Posts

Simple Celtic Knots

5/27/2020

The simple fascination of things that weave in and out, under and around has always been captivating which is why celtic knots are so engaging. Yet trying to draw on is not so easy unless you use simple shapes and the Shape builder tool and make the magic happen.
Check out the video here.

Vintage Type Effect

5/18/2020

Create this vintage type effect in Illustrator using the Transform effect and the Draw Inside Mode. With a few added tricks, create the dot pattern inside and it completes the look. See the video here.

Paper Cutout Illustration Effect

5/11/2020

Create a cut paper illustration effect. This uses layers of cutouts with a soft shadow to create the look of paper. Call up your creativity and dive into this cool tutorial here. This has several steps to create this scene, yet it is simple and easy to follow and you can create many layers to add depth to the creation.

Wood Cut Effect

5/3/2020

Create a wood cut effect using simple lines. Add some Blend magic and a gradient. The possibilities are endless. Check out the video here.

Select the Pencil Tool. Double click on the Pencil tool in the tool bar to open the preferences. Set the Fidelity to Smooth.

Draw a curve to mimic the curve of a leaf or a flower petal. Set the stroke weight to 5pts or greater.

Apply a width profile from the drop down menu, choose the first one in the list; a dual taper.

This is the result.

Duplicate and flip the line to create a leaf or petal shape.

Select both paths and choose Object > Blend > Blend Options. Set the Spacing to Specified Steps and set the number to the number of lines you want in between the two that are selected.

Choose Object > Blend > Make to render the lines.

To curve or edit the start and stop lines, you can use the Direct Selection tool or the Curvature Tool.

Change the shape of the start and stop lines to create different petals or leaves.

To create a set of petals, select the shape and then select the Rotate Tool. Hold Option/Alt and click on the end of the petal you want to rotate.

When the dialog box opens, type in 360 divided by the number of petals you want. Click COPY.

Once you get a duplicate petal, click COMMAND + D to keep copying the rotate around the center of the flower.

You can fill the petals with a white fill to create in interesting half shaded effect.

Draw a circle.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select and remove a section of the circle.

Select the line and add a heavier stroke. Apply the same width profile as the petal.

Duplicate the path and make is smaller.

Select both paths and choose Object > Blend > Blend Options and set the steps to 2. Choose Object > Blend > Make.

To create a set of arcs, select the shape and then select the Rotate Tool. Hold Option/Alt and click on the end of the petal you want to rotate.

To create a set of arcs, select the shape and then select the Rotate Tool. Hold Option/Alt and click on the end of the petal you want to rotate. I chose 360/5 then click COPY.
Once you get a duplicate arc, click COMMAND + D to keep copying the rotate around the center of the flower.

This set is not filled with white, creating an overlapped effect. The previous set shows the arcs filled with white.

Move the arcs into the middle of the petals.

To create the stem, draw a line with the pencil tool. Add a heavier stroke and apply the Width profile to it.

Duplicate the path, then use the Blend command like in the previous steps to create several lines.

Repurpose some of the petals from the flower, changing the start and stop lines of the shapes to create flowing leaves.

Select the paths and expand them by using the Object > Blend > Expand. This will convert the blend effect to paths.

Select the paths and choose Object > Path > Outline Stroke to make all the paths shapes.

Open the gradient panel to fill the shapes with a gradient fill. Double click on the gradient stop dot to select the color.

Apply the linear gradient fill to the shapes, adjusting the angle of the gradient fills to give some highlight and shadow effects.

Apply a radial gradient to the center seection.

To create a more distress effect, select a section and choose Effect > Artistic > Rough pastels. This is a raster effect that is the same as Photoshop.

The Rough pastels effect gives a somewhat distressed look to the vector shapes.

If there needs to be an adjustment to the Effect, go to the Appearance Panel and click on the Effect to make any edits.

This is a close up of the Rough Pastels.

And here is the effect of all that work. Some seriously cool wood cut effects.

Pointers and Connectors

4/27/2020

Creating infographics or instructions are made better by good arrows, pointers and connectors. Some of the clip art out there is just not good. So make your own pointers, connectors and create your own flow. See the complete video here on YouTube.

Start with a rectangle, add a fill, no stroke.

Duplicate the rectangle, turn it 90° and fill it with a darker color.

Move the rectangles so the inner corners touch. Select the upper right corner of the rectangle with the Direct Selection Tool.

With the corner point selected, move the corner up to the top of the darker rectangle

This creates a nice fold effect. Add a polygon for an arrow head.

For this flip direction, it uses the same basic shapes as the first set.

Start with a rectangle.

With the Direct Selection Tool, select the lower left point the pull the corner widget in toward the center to its max widgetness.

With the Direct Selection Tool, select the upper right point.

Delete the upper right corner and that will remove the horizontal and vertical lines.

Duplicate the line.

Select both of the lines and choose Object > Path > Join. Do this step twice. You can use COMMAD/CTRL + J as a shortcut. Remove the stroke and add a fill to the shape.

Duplicate and flip the shape on the Properties panel. Add a darker fill to one of the shapes.

Move the shapes over each other at the tops to create this flip over effect. Add a polygon for the arrowhead.

For the flip over effect, this is done with lines.

Draw a lines, add a hefty stroke to it.

Select the Width Shape tool, click on the right end and pull the edges in to create a point.

Click on the center of the line with the Width Shape Tool and pull out from the center of the line to create a bow in the line. Choose Object > Expand Appearance to outline the path.

Draw a rectangle to match the widest part of the shape.

Select both shapes and use the Pathfinder Unite mode to join them together.

Copy and flip the shape. Add a darker color fill

Put an arrow head on the end and you hace the twist pointer.

For the zig zag, this is made of rectangles.

Draw a rectangle, add a fill, no stroke.

Select the Free Transform Tool.

Select the top of the rectangle and shift it off to the side.

Duplicate and flip the shape, add a darker fill color to the new shape.

Repeat these sections.

At the end, draw a polygon for the arrow head.

Select the Free Transform Tool and skew the top of the arrow to match the angle and direction of the lines.

Send the darker lines to the back to make it look like they are behind the lighter lines. Choose Object > Arrange > Send to back on the dark ones.

This is the paper roll. Looks complicated... there is some skill required for this.

Select your Spiral tool and draw a spiral. Use the p/down arrow keys to make 5 segments.

Or click on the document with the Spiral tool if you want to set the settings instead of using the shortcuts while drawing.

Select the spiral and reduce the width of the overall shape.

Duplicate the spiral directly to the side. I added strokes to see the steps, in the end we will remove the stroke.

Select both shapes and choose Object > Path > Join. Do this twice to close the shapes.

Draw lines and the top, bottom and center top. These will not join, these are just lines that will define the area once we get into the Live Paint Mode.

Select all the shapes and lines, remove the stroke on all. Choose Object >Live Paint > Make. The selection will now show the pull handles with snowflakes in them, this is LivePaint mode.

Choose the Live Paint Bucket Tool (K). This is the only way to fill in these areas. in the upper left of the Paint Bucket icon is your swatches that mimic the swatches panel. Use you left/right arrows to scroll through the colors while the Live Paint Bucket Tool is active.

Choose a color and begin to fill in the sections with color. Refer back the initial image in this section to see how this is to be filled, this can make your brain hurt, trying to figure out how this curves.

In the end, you will have the darker areas inside the curl, lighter on the outside. This can remain in Live Paint mode or can be converted back to shapes by choosing Object > Live Paint > Expand.

For the cross over, we are using the components of the flip.

With the two legs of the flips, we can make this crossover effect.

Flip the darker color shape.

Line up the shapes at the tips.

Add a stoke to each shape with the corresponding fill color. I made this a 5 pt stroke.

Move the shapes apart.

Draw a line in between the tips. Make the weight the same as the outline of the shapes.

Choose Object > Expand to outline the line.

Open the Gradient Panel. Double click on the black gradient stop (dot). Click on the Eyedropper tool in the lower left of the Gradient Panel, then click on the right leg of the shape to sample the color.

Repeat this process with the left color stop dot. Select the color from the lighter green leg.

The result is a gradient bridge that can be adjusted in with how ever far apart or close together you want the legs.

And your cross over is done.

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Design Points n PixelS

Simple Celtic Knots

Vintage Type Effect

Paper Cutout Illustration Effect

Wood Cut Effect

Pointers and Connectors

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