Just because we’re working in Illustrator doesn’t mean we have to create clean geometric artwork all the time. With just a couple tips and some custom artwork you can create 100% vector artwork that is grainy, dusty, dingy, and awesome. Plus, these techniques are easy to apply to all kinds of graphics other than typography.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5
• Difficulty: Expert
• Topics Covered: Live Trace, Live Paint Bucket, Grain Effects
• Estimated Completion Time: 1-1.5 hours
• Required Materials: Pen and Paper

Final Image

Below is the finished type treatment we will be completing. Yours will probably look different but this is not a bad thing!

Step 1

For the first step you need to go sans-computer and create some custom artwork. Create some type with paper and anything that makes a mark. I like using Pigma’s Brush Pen and my trusty Moleskine. If you are not that comfortable with creating custom type, you can print out some type from Illustrator at 20% black and trace with your pen, marker, or whatever you are using.

Step 2

Scan your custom artwork and in an image editor, adjust the contrast as much as possible without loosing detail, and save someplace you’ll remember in your computer.

Step 3

Now we can actually get into Illustrator! In a new document, place you scanned image, select it, and open Illustrator’s tracing options from the Control panel. I like to keep the trace pretty close to the original so I use the setting below.

• Mode = Black and White
• Threshold = Adjust depending on your scan. I usually keep mine at the default 128.
• Blur = 0
• Fills = Checked
• Strokes = Unchecked
• Path Fitting = 1
• Minimum = 1
• Corner Angle = 1
• Ignore White = Checked

Step 4

Press the Live Paint Button from the Control panel and use the Live Paint Bucket tool (K) to fill the enclosed areas of your type with a color. The color doesn’t have to be anything aesthetically pleasing, just something to distinguish from the the other outlines and artboard.

Step 5

Expand the Live Paint Group and Ungroup all the objects. Use the Magic Wand Tool to select just the colored fill object. Cut these shapes and Paste In Front in two separate layers. You should now have a total of three layers. Label the first “Outlines”, the second “Shading” and the third “Color”.

Step 6

On the “Shading” layer, select one of the colored fills, and fill it with a black and white linear gradient. Adjust the gradient so the direction mimics your designated light source. With the gradient selected, choose Effects > Grain. In the Grain dialog, change the Intensity to 0, the Contrast to 50 and the Grain Type to Stippled.

Step 7

You are going to be doing these steps a number of time and to make it go a little more quickly, I suggest saving a Graphic Style with your gradient grain styling. With the new gradient grain object selected, click the New Style Graphic Style button in the Graphic Styles panel.

Step 8

Expand the Appearance of the gradient grain and trace the expanded image using the same Live Trace settings as before expect change the Path Fitting to .5 px. Expand it and you are done with the first one!

Step 9

Apply your graphic style to the next shape, adjust the gradient, expand, and trace. Repeat these steps until you have completed all the shapes.

Step 10

In another layered called “Background”, create a rectangle and fill with your desired color.

Step 11

Create a 50×50 px rectangle and fill it with a 57% black. Apply the same Grain effect as before, expand the effect, and trace it with the same setting as the previous grain trace. Expand the trace and scale the texture to 100x100px. Change the fill to White and drag the texture into the swatches panel. This will create a nice seamless texture swatch. The tiling is not perfect, but it is good enough for this project. I might create a separate tutorial for creating truly seamless complex textures similar to the ones I sell on Vector Mill.

Step 12

Select the background color, apply the new pattern swatch to a new fill layer in the Appearance panel, and change the opacity to your liking. Change the color of you “Color” layer to White and the “Outlines” and “Shading” To your background color. your done!

Applying the techniques

I really suggest you to try these techniques on other projects and not just recreate the tutorial. If your like me, you will really learn how to utilize and understand the steps when applying them to something totally different than the final result of the tutorial.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a chalkboard type treatment with some gradients, a bristle brush, and some freebies from Vector Mill! The tutorial is relatively simple and can be applied to many other Illustrator projects. Moreover, you can use the Vector Mill freebies in other projects!

Final Image

Below is the final type treatment we will be shooting for.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5
• Difficulty: Beginner / Intermediate
• Topics Covered: Grain Effect, Bristle Brush, Brushes
• Estimated Completion Time: 15-20 minutes
• Required Files: Vector-Mill-Sample.ai (compatibility CS4-CS5)

Step 1

Create a new document and create a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M). This will be our chalkboard background.

Step 2

Fill the new rectangle with a radial gradient, change the first color stop in the gradient to a green color, and the second color stop to a darker green color.

Step 3

With the rectangle still selected, open the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, and choose Add New Fill. Fill the new item with a light gray.

Step 4

With the new gray fill item selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Texture > Grain. In the Grain dialog, change the Intensity to 60, the Contrast to 50, and the Grain type to Sprinkles. Next, expand the gray fill item in the Appearance panel, click the Opacity item, and change the Blending mode to Multiply.

If you are a vector purest, I created a set of Seamless Grain Textures in the Vector Mill February Crate that are 100% vector you should check out!

Step 5

For this step, you need to download the Vector-Mill-Sample.ai file. This Concrete Texture we will be using comes from the February Crate. Open the file, Copy (Command + C) the big concrete texture, and Paste (Command + V) it over your green gradient. Fill the texture with white, set the Blending mode to Overlay and set the Opacity to 10 from the Transparency panel.

Step 6

We are almost done with the background texture, but let’s add a little more depth with a Bristle Brush. If you are still not on CS5 you won’t be able to create this step like in the tutorial. As an alternative, you can use some of the watercolor art brushes I create a while back.

If you have CS5, start by pressing the New Brush button at the bottom of the Brush panel and choose New Bristle Brush from the dialog. In the Bristle Brush Options dialog, make these changes:

• Type = Round Fan
• Size = 10 mm
• Bristle Length = 150
• Bristle Density = 75
• Bristle Thickness = 50
• Paint Opacity = 15
• Stiffness = 100

Once you have these settings, select your Paintbrush tool (B) and draw some erratic overlapping paths. That should do it for the background. Now onto the text!

Step 7

With the Type tool (T), type out some text and choose a font. I’m using Vitesse Book for my text, but you can use whatever. After you have your text, remove the fill and stroke color. This makes it easier to use Appearance panel for the following steps.

Step 8

From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, choose Add New Stroke and change the stroke color to white.

Step 9

Now hop over to the Vector-Mill-Sample.ai file again and select the brushes. These brushes are part of the March Crate’s Conté Crayon Brush set. Copy both brushes and paste them into your document. They now should be available in the Brushes panel. With your new white stroke item selected, choose the VM-Conté-01-Closed brush. To make it look a little thicker, change the stroke weight to 2 pt.

Step 10

For the fill of the text, we need the last freebie in the Vector-Mill-Sample.ai file. This one is from the March Crate and is part of a Seamless Watercolor Paper Texture set. Copy the rectangle filled with the pattern from the freebie document to your document. Note: The rectangle has a couple of fills associated with it just so you can see the seamless pattern. The pattern swatch will automatically copy into your Swatches panel once you paste the rectangle shape into your document. So right after you copy it into your doc, you can delete it.

With your text selected, choose the VM-WC-Paper-Seamless-Rev-White pattern swatch for the empty fill item in the Appearance panel.

Final Image

That is pretty much it! Pretty easy, right? You can add more text, strokes, and other elements to you text like I did in the final image. I created the lines with the Line Tool (\), applied the VM-Conté-01-Open brush to them, and adjusted the stroke weight for the other text.

Final Image

Before the digital age, my work was mostly created by ink on paper, but nowadays everything is computerized. I have shifted to vector art and feel no medium can allow me to create line art with such freedom and fluidity.

Recently, I was briefed to create an illustration featuring one of the famous districts in Hong Kong – Sham Shui Po.

Here are the tools for creating this illustration: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3 and a pack of M&M’s, just to keep myself awake…

Step 1

Before creating the work, I visited the site to capture characteristics of the area. It really helps the concept and composition of the illustration.

Step 2

Like most illustrators, I start with a quick sketch on Photoshop, just to outline the rough characters and the composition. Further details will be created in Illustrator.

Step 3

Here comes to the most interesting and time-consuming part to me. Based on the rough sketch, I illustrate the characters in detail. I create very fluid lines by using the Pen tool. Somehow, it looks very Japanese Manga to me, which I like it a lot!

Step 4

The Paintbrush tool can easily draw any hairstyle, but before working on it, I create a custom brush to draw very thin lines with pointy ends. Once these lines are grouped together and overlapping, the hair will look rich and less chunky.

Step 5

By now the first character is done. I repeat steps 3 and 4 for the rest of the characters….

Very soon the whole family is ready. Since there are some extra details in the last two steps, I change on the positioning slightly.

In order to fill up the gaps in between characters, I pick a few characters from my other works to squeeze into the layout making the street look packed.

Step 6

In most of my illustrations, I don’t create detailed backgrounds. To be honest, I just don’t really like working on it…

However, this project is about a famous district, so there is no way I can skip the background. Therefore, based on the reference picture, I put some major features together.

Step 7

Most of the drawing part is finished and it’s time to start the coloring. I am really addicted to pale colors, however, it looks odd without any gradient and shading on top. Once I apply more layers of shading, it begins to look more comfortable.

Step 8

This illustration is very much close to finalized. The only two things left are the company names on the signs and the sky.

Step 9

Now, all the vector work is done. Just before showing this to the client, I jump to Photoshop and apply a very light blur on some random areas, just to give a bit of a illusory touch to it. This is what I usually do before finalizing on must of my works.

Hope this is inspiring to you!

Final Image

Creating grainy textures are great for retro illustrations, typography, and logos. Alternatively, you can incorporate these effects into compelling new styles. You can always scan in similar textures and Live Trace them in Illustrator, but you can pretty easily create this type of effect all inside Illustrator!

Final Image

Here is a sample image of what these techniques can do. Further down in the tutorial, I give a quick breakdown of the process.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 and CS3 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
• Difficulty: Beginner / Intermediate
• Topics Covered: Grain Effect, Gradient, Gradient Meshes, Blends
• Estimated Completion Time: 15-20 minutes

Grainy Textures

In the following sections I’ll show you how to create these grainy textures from a couple of different elements within Illustrator. Basically you can create these textures from any element that contains a graded value of color (like a gradient). I’m sure some of you have already figured out this technique by creating some of the past Vectips texture tutorials or on your own, but for those of you that haven’t, you should have fun.

Gradients

Basic

First up is gradients. Gradient are good for creating grainy textures that don’t require any complex contours to the texture. To start, create a simple linear gradient with the default white and black color stops in a rectangle. With the gradient selected, go Effect > Texture > Grain. In the Grain Effects dialog, change the Intensity to 74 (you can experiment with this number to get the grain you desire), Contrast 50, and Grain Type to Sprinkles. That’s really all! The real magic comes when you apply color and blending modes to the texture.

Color

You can change the color stops in your gradient, but I like to place an object or new fill below the grain effect and set the grain’s blending mode to Multiply because of the white space the Grain effect creates. Let’s take a look at doing this with the Appearance panel.

Take your same rectangle and fill it with a solid color. From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, select New Fill. Select the top copy and fill it with a linear gradient. Change the first color stop to white and the second to a darker color than your original. With the gradient fill still selected, apply your Grain effect and set the Blending Mode to Multiply from the Opacity item under the gradient fill.

Gradient Mesh

Basic

Gradient Meshes are great for creating more complex shapes with grainy textures. To start, draw an abstract shape with a tool of your choosing and fill it with black. You can either go Object > Create Gradient Mesh and set a specific numbers of points or use the Mesh tool (U) to click on your artwork to add mesh point. I’m using the Mesh tool (U), so deselect the artwork, select white from my swatches, and with the Mesh tool (U) click on the artwork to add points. Now, apply the grain effect like before.

Color

Like with the Gradient technique, meshes work great with a color underneath and the grain’s blending mode to Multiply. Start the original shape a solid color and Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (F). Change the fill of the copy to a darker color of the original shape, apply the white mesh points, apply grain, and set to Multiply.

Blend

Basic

Blends tend to work great for either simple grainy textures or complex ones. It really just comes down to how you work and which is more comfortable, but the principle is pretty much the same. For the example, created a shape, go Object > Path > Offset, fill the offset with white, select both copies, and go Object >Blend > Make. Finally, apply your grain effect.

Color

Like both the Gradient and Gradient Mesh, it’s good to have an underlying color. Also like gradient meshes, you will need a copy of the original shape above the color with a darker color, grain, and blending mode set to Multiply.

Quick Tutorial

Here is a quick tutorial utilizing some of the techniques. I won’t go into much depth, it’s just to get an idea of how to use these techniques in an illustration.

First, I created a sketch, scanned it, and traced it with the Pen tool (P). Next, I filled the trace with color, and added stroked paths set with one of Illustrator new Stroke Profiles (Width Profile 1). To add more depth with the grain textures, I started with the linear gradients in the skin and hair. I used a blend for the outline grain texture face shape and used a gradient mesh for the collar of the character’s shirt. For the background I used a big radial gradient grain texture. I also used a radial gradient with the first color stop white, the second white with 0 Opacity, grain, and set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Experiment

This is a great technique to experiment with! Experiment with different colors, shapes, blending modes, and layering of textures. Try these techniques on graphical elements other than illustrations. They work great on text, logos, UI elements, and more! You can even incorporate these effects with some of the other texture techniques I have written about.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a simple retro type treatment. Even though its simple, it uses some powerful Illustrator features. If you have read my tutorials before, you know this means the Appearance panel! Along with the Appearance panel, we will be using some texture effects, Warp effects, and some simple layering.

Final Image

Below is the final type treatment we will be working towards.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 and CS3 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
• Difficulty: Beginner / Intermediate
• Topics Covered: Appearance Panel, Effects
• Estimated Completion Time: 15-20 minutes

Step 1

Create a new document and type out some text with the Text tool (T). I used Clarendon Bold at 48 pt. Take off any stroke and fill on the text.

Step 2

With the text still selected, choose Add New Fill from the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel. Fill the new fill with a reddish orange color. In the Appearance panel, press the drop-down arrow for the new fill to reveal its attributes. Press the Opacity link and change the Blending Mode to Multiply.

Step 3

Create another new fill in the Appearance panel, select the bottom fill item, and fill it with a light yellow color. With the light yellow fill item selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform dialog, change the Horizontal Move to -2 px and the Vertical Move to 2 px.

Step 4

Create another new fill, select the bottom fill item, and fill it with a light aqua color. With the aqua color fill item selected, go Effects > Convert to Shape > Rectangle. In the Rectangle dialog, select the Relative radial button, change the Extra Width value to 30 px and the Extra Height to 8 px. With the aqua fill item still selected, go Effects > Warp > Squeeze. In the Warp Options dialog, select the Horizontal radial button and change the Bend to 23.

Step 5

With the aqua item selected, press the Duplicate Selected Item button at the bottom of the Appearance panel. In the Appearance panel drag one of the aqua copies above the first reddish fill item. Change the fill of the top item to a light gray. With the item still selected, go Effects > Texture > Grain. In the Grain dialog, change the Intensity to 78, the Contrast to 50, and the Grain Type to Sprinkles. Change the Blending Mode of the gray fill to Multiply and change the Opacity to 38.

Step 6

Duplicate the grain fill item, select the top copy, and expand the attributes. Select the Grain attribute and press the trash icon at the bottom of the Appearance panel. Fill the selected item with a Diagonal Line swatch (this can be found by pressing the bottom left Swatch Libraries icon in the Swatches panel then navigating Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures).

Step 7

Select the empty stroke item at the top of the Appearance panel, (if your empty stroke item is not at the top, drag it up to the top) fill the stroke with your reddish color, and change the weight to 2 pt. Change the stroke to have the same rectangle and squeeze settings as the previous fill items and set the Blending Mode to Multiply. With the stroke still selected, go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform and in the Transform dialog, change the Horizontal Move to -4 px and the Vertical Move to -4 px.

Step 8

That’s pretty much it for the text treatment! I like to save it as a Graphic Style so I can apply it to other artwork. To create a Graphic Style, select the text and the press the New Graphic Style Button in the Graphic Styles panel. Now you can add the effect to other elements like in the final preview image.

Final Image

Again, here is the final image!

Halloween is in a couple days and why not celebrate by creating a mummy styled text treatment? In this tutorial you will learn how to create this treatment with some gradients and, of course, heavy use of the Appearance panel. There isn’t a lot of steps but the tutorial is slightly more advanced than previous tutorials.

Final Image

Below if the final text treatment we will be working towards.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
• Difficulty: Intermediate / Advanced
• Topics Covered: Gradients, Appearance Panel
• Estimated Completion Time: 1-1.5 Hours

Step 1

Create a new document and type out some text with the Text tool (T). I used Museo Sans 900 but you can use whatever font you like. I suggest starting with a bold sans-serif font to get the hang of the technique. When you create the wrap effect it might be harder on a script of serif font initially.

Step 2

Outline your text (Command + Shift + O) and fill it with a linear gradient. Change the first color stop to a muddy green color, change the second color stop to a darker muddy green color, and change the Angle of the gradient to -90.

Step 3

Now we got the base text, let’s start creating the mummy fabric. We are going to take this one letter at a time, so let’s focus on the first letter of your text. WIth the Pen tool (P) create a strip shape that covers a small portion of the letter. Make sure the shape overlaps the letter a little.

Step 4

Take off any stroke on the strip and fill it with a linear gradient. Add one more color stop to the gradient so you have a total of three color stops. Change the first color stop to a gray color, the second color stop to white, and the third color stop to a gray slightly lighter that the first gray. Change the Location of the first middlepoint to 28 and the second middlepoint to 87.

Step 5

For this next gradient we are going to use a linear gradient with numerous color stops to create the fabric folds. With the strip shape selected, add a New Fill from the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel. Make sure you are working on the top layer and fill it with a linear gradient. Add six color stops to the linear gradient giving you a total of eight. Change the fill of the color stops in this order: white, gray, white, white, gray, white, gray white. Change the Angle of the gradient to -90. This next part is slightly tricky but we need to adjust the color stop locations and middlepoints to create the effect of fabric. Basically, we want the gray color stop to end more abruptly when blending into the white color stops, so drag the white color stops following the gray color stops really close to the gray color stops. Take a look at the image below to see what I am talking about. Next, open the list items in the Layers panel for the eight color stop gradient and set the Blending Mode to Darken.

Step 6

Create a new fill from the Appearance panel and fill it with a light gray color. With the new fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Texture > Texturizer. In the Texturizer dialog, change the Texture to Brick, the Scaling to 200 and the Relief to 50. Next, set the Blending Mode of the texture fill to Overlay at 12 percent opacity.

Step 7

To give it a little more depth let’s add a drop shadow. We want to add it to the whole shape and not an individual fill, so select the “Path” at the top of the list in the Appearance panel. Once selected go Effects > Stylize > Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow dialog, change the Opacity to 40, the X Offset to 0, the Y Offset to 1 px, and the Blur to 1 px.

Step 8

That is basically it for the creating the texture. Now comes the tedious part, creating all the strips and applying the effect. The nice part is we can create a Graphic Style to apply to all the strips. To create the Graphic Style, simply select the strip we already created and press the New Graphic Style button in the Graphic Styles panel.

Step 9

Now create a bunch of other strip shapes with the Pen tool around the first letter. When creating the strip shapes alternate the stacking order so some are on top and some are not. Next, select all the strips and apply your new Graphic Style to them. It’s looking pretty good but we need to adjust some of the gradients of the individual strips to add a slight variance from strip to strip. An easy way to this is to reverse the eight color stop gradient in some of the strips. Moreover, adjust every strips eight color stop gradient with the Gradient tool (G) so the Gradient Tool’s Fill Path (the line connecting the Start Point and End Point of the gradient when the Gradient Tool is active) is parallel with the shorter sides of the strips.

Step 10

After you have finished the first letter, move on to the rest and create the strip shapes, apply the graphic style, and adjust each individual strip. It can get tedious, but the results are worth it. When creating the strips really think about how they actually would wrap around the form of a letter. If you are wrapping a elliptical shape, the strips would be thinner as the reach the axis of the elliptical shape. Also, think about how the strips would wrap around sections of letters like “t”. You might just have to play around until you get something you like (that’s what I did), even still, you probably will get some funky pieces. Another tip is to always adjust the gradient so the gradient Fill Path is parallel to the shortest side of a strip. For example, the eight color stop in the “e” is going a different direction compared to the first strip we created because of how it is positioned.Once the strips are ready, group each individual letter together, making it easy to move and rotate each letter.

Final Image

Here is the final image again. I adjusted the text to be a little closer together and created a background following the techniques from the Seamless Textures Tutorial from about a month ago.

In the following tutorial created by Andrei Marius,  you can learn to create a simple trunk icon. This detailed Illustrator tutorial uses some Extrude & Bevel 3d effects, gradients, offsets, and other techniques that can be easily applied to other icons ans illustrations.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator
• Version: CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 1 hours 30 minutes

Final Image

What You’ll Be Creating

Step 1

Create a 256 by 256px document. First, turn on the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Now, you need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > preference > Guides & Grids then enter “5″ in the “Gridline Every:” box and “1″ in the “Subdivision:” box. You should also open the Info palette for a live preview with the size of your shape. All these options will significantly increase your work speed. Now, let’s make some shapes. Pick the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a 130by70px shape then pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 130 x 130 shape and place it as shown in the second image. Duplicate the rectangle shape. Select this copy along with the ellipse and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Reselect both shapes and group them (Ctrl + G).

Step 2

Disable the Grid and the Snap to Grid. Select the group made in the previous step and go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel. Enter the data shown below, click OK then go to Object > Expand Appearance. You’ll get a group with a lot of shapes. Drill down in the group, remove the clipping mask and ungroup the rest of the shapes. Select the shapes shown in the second image and click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. In the end you should have only four shapes. In the final image I’ve separated these shapes so that you can distinguish them easier.

Step 3

Let’s focus on the bottom, left shapes. Select it and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a “-7″ Offset and click OK. Double click on the resulting shape (in the Layers panel) and name it “1″. You should also fill it with a different color (to distinguish it from the rest of the shapes). Duplicate this shape. Select this copy along with the larger shape and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Name the resulting shape “2″.

Step 4

Let’s move to the bottom, right shape. Select it, add the “-7″ Offset and click OK. Name the resulting shape “3″ and duplicate it. Select the copy along with the bottom, right shape and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Select the resulting shape and name it “4″.

Step 5

Continue with the top, right shape. Select it, add the “-7″ Offset and click OK. Name the resulting shape “5″ and duplicate it. Select the copy along with the top, right shape and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Double click on the resulting shape and name it “6″.

Step 6

Finally, the top, left shape. First, duplicate this shape, then add the “-7″ Offset and click OK. Pick the Pen Tool(P) and create a shape like the one shown in the third image. Select it along with the copy of the top left shape and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Select the resulting shape along with the smaller shape (the one made with the Offset) and click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Double click on this newly created shape and name it “7″.

Step 7

Duplicate “7″. Select this copy along with the top, left shape and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Name the resulting shape “8″.

Step 8

Enable the Grid and the Snap to Grid. Next, you need a grid every 1px. Go to Edit > preference > Guides & Grids then enter “1″ in the “Gridline Every:” box and “1″ in the “Subdivision:” box. Now, let’s create the lock. First, grab the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 20 by 30px shape and add a 5px Rounded Corners effect. Next, use the Ellipse Tool and the Rectangle Tool to create the white shapes shown in the second image. Select these two shapes and click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Finally, select the resulting shape along with the rectangle and group them (Ctrl + G).

Step 9

Select the group made in the previous step, place it as shown in the first image then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Free Distort. Transform the buttons as shown then go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the rounded rectangle along with shape “2″ and click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Double click on the resulting shape and name it “2″.

Step 10

Now, it’s time to add some color. Fill shape “1″ with R=96 G=56 B=11. Add a new fill for this shape (from the flyout menu of the Appearance panel) and use the linear gradient shown in the second image (the yellow text stands for Opacity percentage). Select this second fill (from the Appearance panel), change its blending mode to Multiply and lower its opacity to 25%. Add a third fill for this shape and use the second linear gradient shown below. Again, select this fill, change its blending mode to Screen and lower its opacity to 10%. Save these two gradients in the Swatches panel. You’ll need them in the further steps.

Step 11

Let’s move to shape “2″. Fill it with R=128 G=128 B=128 then add three new fills and use the linear gradients shown below.

Step 12

Go to Edit > Preferences > General and enter “1″ in the “Keyboard Increment” box. Make two copies of “2″. Select the bottom copy and hit the left arrow three times. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus From button from the Pathfinder panel. You should get a group for three shapes. Keep the shapes shown in the second image and remove the other one. Fill them with black and lower their opacity to 10%. Don’t forget to remove the extra fills from the Appearance panel.

Step 13

Go to Edit > Preferences > General and enter “0,5″ in the “Keyboard Increment” box. Let’s focus on the lock shape. First, fill it with R=51 G=51 B=51 then make two copies. Select the top copy and hit the right arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=230 G=230 B=230.

Step 14

Fill shape “3″ with R=96 G=56 B=11. Add two new fill for this shape and use the gradients shown below (the same gradient saved in step #10). Don’t forget to change the blending mode and the opacity for each fill as shown below.

Step 15

Let’s continue with shape “4″. Fill it with R=179 G=179 B=179 then add three new fills and use the linear gradients shown below.

Step 16

Go to Edit > Preferences > General and enter “1″ in the “Keyboard Increment” box. Make two copies of “3″. Select the top copy and hit the right arrow three times. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black and lower its opacity to 10%.

Step 17

Fill shape “5″ with R=96 G=56 B=11. Add a second fill for this shape and use the linear gradient shown below. Select this new fill (from the Appearance panel), change its blending mode to Multiply and lower its opacity to 25%.

Step 18

Fill shape “6″ with R=179 G=179 B=179. Add two new fills for this shape and use the linear gradients shown below.

Step 19

Make two copies of “5″. Select the top copy and hit the right arrow three times. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black and lower its opacity to 10%.

Step 20

Fill shape “7″ with R=96 G=56 B=11. Add two new fills for this shape and use the gradient shown below (the saved gradients). Don’t forget to change the blending mode and the opacity for each fill as shown below.

Step 21

Fill shape “8″ with R=128 G=128 B=128. Add two new fills for this shape and use the linear gradients shown below.

Step 22

Go to Edit > Preferences > General and enter “0,5″ in the “Keyboard Increment” box. Make two copies of “1″. Select the top copy then hit the up arrow and the right arrow. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. You should get a really thin shape. Fill it with R=204 G=204 B=204.

Step 23

Make two copies of “3″. Select the top copy then hit the up arrow and the left arrow. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=204 G=204 B=204.

Step 24

Make two copies of “5″. Select the top copy then hit the up arrow and the left arrow. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=204 G=204 B=204.

Step 25

Make two copies of “7″. Select the top copy then hit the up arrow and the right arrow. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shapes with R=204 G=204 B=204.

Step 26

Make two copies of “1″. Select the top copy and hit the up arrow. Drill down in the group and remove the bottom shape (pointed by the arrow).

Step 27

Now, let’s focus on the shapes made in the previous step. First, fill them with white then pick the Delete Anchor Point Tool and remove the anchor points highlighted in the first image.

Step 28

Pick the Pen Tool(P) and create a shape like the one shown below. You should Enable the Smart Guides (Crtrl + U) to ease your work. Name it “vvv” an duplicate it. Make a copy of “2″, select it along with the copy of “vvv” and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black and lower its opacity 15%. Make a copy of “4″, select it along with the original “vvv” shape and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill this newly created shape with black and lower its opacity to 10%.

Step 29

Reselect the Pen Tool(P) and create a shape like the one shown in the image below. Again, name it “vvv” and duplicate it. Make a copy of “2″, select it along with the copy of “vvv” and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black and lower its opacity 5%. Make a copy of “4″, select it along with the original “vvv” shape and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill this newly created shape with black and lower its opacity to 5%.

Step 30

Disable the Smart Guides. Make a copy of “2″ then select the Pen Tool(P) and make a shape like the red one shown in the first image. Select it along with the copy of “2″ and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black and lower its opacity to 10%.

Step 31

Grab the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape like the red one shown in the first image. Make a copy of “8″, select it along with the newly created shape and click on the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shapes with white and lower their opacity to 20%.

Step 32

Make two copies of “8″. Select the top copy and hit the up arrow twice. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Remove the shapes pointed by the arrows (image #2) and save the one shown in the final image. Fill it with R=128 G=128 B=128.

Step 33

Make two copies of “6″. Select the top copy and hit the up arrow twice. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Remove the top shapes (pointed by the arrow) and fill the bottom one with R=128 G=128 B=128.

Step 34

Make another two copies of “6″. Select the top copy and hit the right arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Remove the right shapes (pointed by the arrow) and fill the left one with R=128 G=128 B=128.

Step 35

Make two copies of “8″. Select the top copy and hit the left arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Remove the left shapes (pointed by the arrow) and fill the right one with R=128 G=128 B=128.

Step 36

Enable the Smart Guides, pick the Pen Tool and create a path like the one shown in the first image. Fill it with none, add a 1px stroke (any color) then go to Object > Expand. Grab the Direct Selection Tool(A), select the bottom anchor points and go to Object > Path > Average. Check the Both button and click OK. Fill the resulting shape with R=128 G=128 B=128.

Step 37

Finally you need to add a little shadow effect. Pick the Pen Tool(P) and create a path like the one shown in the first image. Fill it with black, lower its opacity to 80% and add a 2px Gaussian Blur effect. Don’t forget to Send it to Back (Shift + Ctrl + [). Reselect the Pen Tool and create a larger path as shown in the second image. Send it to Back (Shift + Ctrl + [), fill it with black, lower its opacity to 30% and add a 5px Gaussian Blur effect.

Final Image

Did you know that 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease? Moreover, 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people. That’s pretty crazy! To spread the awareness about The Water Crisis, you can create the following Illustrator tutorial and learn more about the crisis at Change.org.

About Blog Action Day 2010

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Their aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all.

About the Water Crisis

Clean water is essential for our survival, but dangerously scarce. Nearly one billion people in the world today don’t have access to clean water and 42,000 people die each week from water-borne diseases. And the issue doesn’t stop there – water availability impacts a wide variety of issues from the environment to women’s rights and from technology to fashion.

Learn More and Find Out How You Can Participate

• Blog Action Day
• Water.org
• CharityWater.org

Final Image

Below is the final character we will be working towards.

Tutorial Details

Program : Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
Difficulty: Beginner /Intermediate
Topics Covered: Gradients, Shapes, Pattern Brush
Estimated Completion Time: 30-45 Min (About 125 people will die from a water-borne disease by the time you finish this tutorial)

Step 1

Create a new document and create an ellipse with the Ellipse tool (L). With the Direct Selection tool (A), select the top anchor in the ellipse and drag it up almost doubling its original size. With the anchor point still selected, the Control panel defaults to Anchor Point tools. Press the Convert Selected Anchor Points to Corner button.

Step 2

Take off any stroke applied to the ellipse and fill it with a Radial Gradient. For this gradient we are going to add one more color stop creating a total of three color stops. To add a color stop to the gradient, click right below the Gradient Slider in the Gradient Panel. Change the first color stop’s color to a light tan color, the second to a slightly darker tan color, and the third to a darker tan color. Select the middle color stop and change the location to 32. Select the middlepoint between the second and third color stop and change the Location to 60.

Step 3

Create another ellipse and cover the lower fourth of the main drop shape. Select the the drop shape, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Front (Command + F). Select the copy and the new ellipse and press the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the new shape with your tan color, change the Blending Mode the Multiply, and set the Opacity to 40 from the Transparency panel.

Step 4

Select the main drop shape and go Object > Path > Offset Path and in the Offset dialog change the Offset to -5 px (this value might be different depending on the dimensions of your original drop shape). Create a path with the Pen Tool (P) and where it overlaps the body of the drop, create a wave shape the starts about half way up the body and ends close to a fourth the way down the body. Select your pen shape, the offset copy, and press the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Change the fill of the new shape to a linear gradient with both color stops white. Change the opacity of the first color stop to 32 and the opacity of the second color stop to 14. Change the Angle of the gradient to 90 and the middlepoint Location to 30.

Step 5

Select the main drop shape and go Object > Path > Offset Path and in the Offset dialog change the Offset to -5 px (this value might be different depending on the dimensions of your original drop shape). Hold the Alt / Option key and use the Selection tool (V) to drag out a copy of the offset. Rotate the offset slightly to the left and place over the original offset so the top points line up. Select the offset and its copy and press the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the new shape with a three color stop linear gradient. Change the first color stop to white, the second to a light tan, and the third to white. Change the location of the second swatch to 60, the middlepoint Location between the first and second to 80, and the Angle to -90. Next, change the Blending Mode to Multiply.

Step 6

Select the main drop shape and offset it by 10 px. Drag out a copy of the offset and rotate like in the previous step except rotate it to the right. Select both shapes and press the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (M) about half way down the main drop shape covering the bottom of the offset shape. Select the offset shape and the rectangle and press the Minus Front button. Change the fill of the new shape to a linear gradient with the both colors stop white. Change the opacity of the first color stop to 30, the second one to 0, set the middlepoint Location to 60, and change the Angle to -90.

Step 7

Create an ellipse and fill it with a gray and white color stop radial gradient. Make the ellipse about as wide as the water drop shape. Squish the ellipse with the Selection tool (V) and place it below and behind all the drop shapes.

Step 8

Create a super tiny ellipse (mine is only a couple of pixels wide) and fill it with a dark brown color. Drag the ellipse into the Brushes panel and when the New Brush dialog opens, choose Scatter Brush. The follow Scatter Brush setting are what I am using. Your settings might be different depending on the dimensions of your artwork. Change the Size to Random from the Size pop-up menu, change the first percentage to 44, and the second to 155. Change the Spacing to Random from the Size pop-up menu, change the first percentage to 802, and the second to 67. Change the Scatter to Random from the Size pop-up menu, change the first percentage to 1000, and the second to 333. Select your new brush in the Brushes panel, select your Paintbrush tool (B) and create a couple of paths over your drop. Vary some of the opacity levels of the different paths to add some depth.

Step 9

The dirty water drop is looking pretty good! Now we can add a little more character to it with some eyes and a mouth. First, create an oblong ellipse over the left middle part of the drop shapes and fill it with a radial gradient. Change the first color stop to a light gray and the second to black. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to adjust the gradient so it sits in the top right corner of the eye shape. Offset the eye by 2 px, change the fill of the offset to a linear gradient with the first color stop white, the second a brown color, and change the Angle to 90. Now we have one eye done, select the eye shapes and drag out a copy to the right of the drop shape.

Step 10

Draw an ellipse towards the bottom of center of the main drop shape. With the Direct Selection tool (A), select the bottom anchor point and drag it up about half way up the height of the ellipse. Fill the ellipse with a linear gradient, change the first color stop to brown, the second to black, and change the Angle to 90. Next, offset the mouth shape by 2 px and fill with the same linear gradient as the eyes offset.

Step 11

The last step is the tongue. Create an ellipse and place it half way down the mouth. Select the main mouth shape, Copy (Command+C), and Paste in Front (Command+V). Select the tongue and mouth copy and Intersect them. Change the fill of the new tongue shape to a linear gradient, change the first color swatch to a pink color, the second color a darker pink color, and the Angle to -90. That’s it! Now you can place your dirty little drop in ads, posters, or whatever. Check out Water.org or CharityWater.org for some great facts the compliment you dirty drop.

Final Image

Here it is again. That wasn’t too hard, right?

As these chunky style buttons get more popular I find clients requesting them more and more. If you are getting the same requests or just want to learn how to create them, you’ll be happy to know it is pretty easy. With heavy use of the Appearance panel, this tut is similar to others I have written. Like in the previous tutorials, it is easy to make a graphic style and apply the effects to other elements!

Tutorial Details

• Program : Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
• Difficulty: Beginner /Intermediate
• Topics Covered: Appearance Panel, Gradients
• Estimated Completion Time: 15-20

Final Image

Below is the final button we will be working towards.

Step 1

First, create some text with the Text tool (T). I used Museo Sans 900 at 18 pt. Take off any stroke or fill from the text.

Step 2

Select your text, open the Appearance panel, and from the pop-up menu of the panel choose New Fill. Select the new fill item in the Appearance panel and fill it with a linear gradient. Change the first color stop in the gradient to a dark gray, change the second color stop to black, and set the Angle to 90.

Step 3

Select the gradient fill item in the Appearance panel and press the Duplicate Selected Item button at the bottom of the panel. Select the bottom duplicate in the list and go Effects > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform dialog, change the Vertical Move to 1 px (-1px if working in CS4). Change the first color stop of the duplicate linear gradient to white, the second to a light gray, and change the angle to -90.

Step 4

Create a New Fill from the Appearance panel like early in the tutorial and drag the fill item below all other fills. With the new fill selected, go Effects > Convert to Shape > Rounded Rectangle. In the Shape Option dialog, select Relative, change the Extra Width to 10 px, change the Extra Height to 4 px, and change the Corner Radius to 3 px. For the linear gradient fill, add another color stop to the gradient by clicking just below the Gradient Slider in the Gradient panel. Change the first color stop to a light gray, the second to a gray color, and the third to a dark gray, and set the Angle to -90.

Step 5

Select the last fill item in the Appearance panel and press the Duplicate Selected Item button. Make sure you have the last fill  in the list and go Effects > Path > Offset. In the Offset dialog change the Offset to 1 px. From the Gradient Panel press the Reverse Gradient button.

Step 6

Create a New Fill, drag it below all other fills, and convert it to Rounded Rectangle with the same dimensions as in Step 4. With the new fill item selected, go Effects > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform dialog, change the Vertical Move the 7 px (-7 px for CS4). Change the linear to have three colors stops and change the first to a dark gray, the second to a gray color, and the last one a dark gray. Move the individual Middlepoints between each of the color stops closer to the darker gray color stops and set the Angle to 0.

Step 7

Duplicate the last fill, make sure the last item is selected, and go Effects > Path > Offset. In the Offset dialog change the Offset to 1 px. Next, change the fill to dark gray. With the item still selected go Effects > Stylize > Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow dialog, change the Opacity to 60, the X Offset to 0, the Y Offset to 1 px, and the Blur to 1 px.

Step 8

It’s looks pretty good, but we can add just a little more depth with a radial gradient. Duplicate you third fill item, select to topmost copy, and fill it with a radial gradient. Change both color stops to white, change the first color stop’s Opacity to 56 and the second color stop to 0.

Step 9

Now that we are done, we can create a Graphic Style so we can apply it other elements. Simply select your text and press the New Graphic Style button in the Graphic Style panel. Now you can apply your button style to other text and vector objects! Try changing the colors for fun.

Illustrator is great for creating sharp clean graphics. I used to rely on Photoshop for creating simple seamless textures for typography, web, and illustration projects. Since the updates to the Appearance panel in CS4 and the updated crisp graphics for web in CS5, I create these textures solely in Illustrator and actually, it’s really easy!

Tutorial Details

• Program : Adobe Illustrator CS5 (You should be able to create this tutorial in CS4 but some of the tutorial images might look different.)
• Difficulty: Beginner /Intermediate
• Topics Covered: Appearance Panel, Effects, Pattern Fills, Graphic Styles
• Estimated Completion Time: 15-20 minutes each

Adding Texture in Illustrator

If you have been working with illustrator for a while, you probably know that you can easily drop in a texture image, set it to multiply, and you are good to go. One of the great things about using the techniques in this tutorial is you can easily create a seamless texture without having to mask out a texture or make sure it will fit your artwork properly. Moreover, we are going to be using to Appearance panel so we can easily make a graphic style, making it easy to apply the effects to other text and vector objects.

I know some of you are saying that using raster effects in Illustrator is cheating because its not vector art and you should just use Photoshop. You really can do whatever you want. I just have found creating these type of effects in Illustrator a lot easier and quicker. Probably one of the best reason to use Illustrator for these type of effects is the scalability of vectors even with raster effects applied. Unless you expand the effects, you can adjust your artwork without worrying about creating pixelated artwork.

Raster Effects

If you are familiar with some of the texture effects and filters in Photoshop, you will feel right at home with this technique. For these effects, I keep the Document Raster Effects Settings at 300 ppi. You can change this resolution by going Effect > Document Raster Effect Settings.

Step 1

Create a new document and create a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M).

Step 2

Take off the stroke and fill the rectangle with a linear gradient. Change the first color stop in the gradient to a greenish blue color, change the second color stop to a darker greenish blue color, and change the Angle to -90.

Step 3

From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, choose Add New Fill. Choose the topmost fill from the Appearance panel list and change the fill to a gray color.

Step 4

With the new gray fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Texture > Grain. In the Grain dialog, change the Intensity to 90, the Contrast to 50, and the Grain Type to Sprinkles. From the Appearance panel, press the arrow to the left of the title and from the sub-list, click on the Opacity link and change the Blending Mode to Multiply.

Step 5

From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, add another New Fill like before. Make sure you have the top most fill selected, change the new fill to a radial gradient and fill both color stops with white. Change the opacity of the first white color stop to 40 and the second to 0. From the sub-menu of the new radial gradient, click Opacity, and change the Blending mode to Overlay.

Step 6

That does it for the background texture, but we can add similar textures to text with the Appearance panel. Moreover, we will keep the text still editable! Start with typing out some text with the Type tool (T). I used the the font for Museo Slab 900 for the “Raster” text. Next, take off any stroke and fill from the text.

Step 7

Choose Add New Fill from the pop-menu of the Appearance panel and fill it with a linear gradient. Change the first color stop to white, the second to a light gray, and change the Angle to -90.

Step 8

Create another new fill from the Appearance panel and fill it with a gray color. With the new gray fill item selected in the Appearance panel, go Effects > Texture > Texturizer. In the Texturizer dialog, change the texture to Burlap, the Scaling to 200, the Relief to 50, and the Light to Top. Change the fill’s Blending Mode to Multiply and set the Opacity to 5.

Step 9

Select the bottom linear gradient in the Appearance panel and go Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow dialog, change the Opacity to 60, the X and Y Offset to 0 and the Blur to 1. All done with this treatment!

Step 10

For the “Effects” text, I used Museo Sans 300 (I’m kinda obsessed with the Museo Family). With this treatment, take off any stroke and fill, create a new fill from the Appearance panel, change it to a linear gradient, change the first color stop of the gradient black, change the second color stop a gray color, and change the Angle to -90. Create another new fill, make sure you are editing the last fill list item in the Appearance panel, change the fill to a lighter color than your background, and go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the Transform Effect dialog, change the Vertical Move to 1. That does it for the raster texture example!

Playing Around

It’s fun to play around with different texture to get to create different results. Below is taken from the Vectips tutorial Create An Editable Stitched Label Type Treatment with some basic textures added.

Pattern Fills

Creating this technique is pretty similar to the raster effects technique. Really, these textures are just seamless pattern fills that come stock with Illustrator, but they can create some pretty interesting results.

Step 1

The initial steps are almost exactly the same as the previous raster example. Create a rectangle, take off any stroke, fill it with a linear gradient, use greenish yellow colored color stops, and change the angle to -90.

Step 2

Instead of using an effect for the next step we are going to use some of Illustrator’s stock pattern swatches. From the Swatches panel, press the Swatch Library Menu button at the bottom left side of the panel and choose Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures. With the rectangle selected, choose a new fill from the Appearance panel, select the topmost fill, and fill it with the Bird Feet swatch from the library we just opened. An easy way to see the name of the swatches in a library is to choose Large List View from the pop-up menu of the swatch panel. After you have filled the new fill with the Bird Feet swatch, change the Blending mode to Overlay.

Step 3

To finish off the background, create a new fill and fill it with the same white radial gradient from Step 5 of the Raster technique. That’s it for the pattern fill technique! Pretty easy, right?

Step 4

The text treatment is pretty similar to the rater image. For the “Pattern” text I did the same as step 10 from the raster image. I used Susa Heavy for the font and in the Appearance panel, I filled it with a dark gray linear gradient, added a new fill, offset the new fill, and changed the offset fill to a lighter background color.

Step 5

Below the “Pattern” text is just a couple simple paths. With the Line Segment tool (/), create a path that is the length of the text. Change the stroke to 1 pt and change the stroke color to a gray color. Create another path directly below the first, and change the stroke color to a light background color.

Step 6

For the “Swatch” text, I used Museo Slab 900. First take off any stroke and fill and from the Appearance panel add a new fill. Change the new fill to a linear gradient with the first color stop white, the second a darker yellow color, and change the Angle to -90. With the new fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effects > Stylize > Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow dialog, change the Opacity to 50, X and Y Offset to 0, and the Blur to .5 px.

Step 7

Create a new fill from the Appearance panel, fill it with a linear gradient, change the first color stop to a light yellow color, change the second to the same darker yellow color in the previous step, and set the Angle to -90. With the new fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effects > Path > Offset Path. In the Offset Oath dialog, change the Offset to -1 px. That’s all!

Playing Around

These are really fun to play with. Take your background texture that you just made, find the Bird Fill item, and change it with any of the Basic Graphics_Textures swatches and see what you come up with! Also try combining a couple of different pattern fills on the same background.

Combining Raster Effects and Pattern Fills

This technique is probably my favorite. It’s fun to explore and play around with all the different results. Basically we are combining both the raster and pattern fill techniques. This is pretty similar, so if you had no trouble with the previous techniques, you will have no problem with these!

Step 1

I’m not going to go into too much detail because you have already done these initial step in the first two sample. Basically, create a rectangle, fill with a red linear gradient, create a Sprinkle grain pattern, and create a radial white gradient.

Step 2

Add another fill in the Appearance panel and choose the “Diamond” pattern fill from the Basic Graphic_Textures. Set the Blending Mode of the new pattern fill to Overlay and change the Opacity to 50.

Step 3

For the “Combo” type, I used RadioTime for the font and used the same gray gradient and offset from the previous examples. The secondary text is simply Museo Sans 300 with a yellow fill.

Playing Around

Like before, this is good time to play around and see what different texture treatment you can come up with!

Creating Graphic Styles

So now that we have all these wonderful textures created, we can apply the effect to other artwork and text. Instead of creating the effect every time, we can just create a Graphic Style.

Step 1

To create a graphic style, simply select you texture and press the New Graphic Style Button in the Graphic Style panel. Seriously, it’s that easy. Now select some text or another object and click you new style in the Graphic Styles panel and your all set! You can even create graphic styles for each of the text treatments we created.

Step 2

I sometimes adjust the texture in the Appearance panel to include other elements. In buttons examples below, I added an offset fill of 1 px and added a drop shadow to the fill. The background texture is just a Graphic Pen fill (Effect > Sketch > Graphic Pen) and the icons have the same treatment as my text is some of the texture examples.

Playing Around

Now just play and experiment with the graphic styles on other text, UI, and vector objects.