In celebration of St. Patricks Day, I wanted to do a four-leaf clover tutorial. Some of you might not celebrate St. Patricks Day or have no use for a four-leaf clover, but still take a look at this tutorial. This tutorial combines some good techniques. You will Divide, Transform, and add Warping Effects. These techniques will help you quickly and easily create with Illustrator!

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It used to be a time consuming process to create a halftone. First, I would open a picture in Photoshop, convert it to grayscale, apply a halftone effect, open it up in illustrator, trace it, and if didn’t get messed up somewhere in the process, I would use the halftone in Illustrator. In Illustrator CS3 it is quite a bit easier to create halftones without leaving Illustrator.

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I wonder how long the Web 2.0 style will be around. All those shiny graphics are great to look at and create, but it can’t last. In some respects, it’s good to capitalize on the trend, but it the same respect it’s good to explore new techniques and styles. Regardless, there is enough demand with the Web 2.0 style to justify a tutorial on some nifty Web 2.0 Stickers!

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For a while, it seemed liked every client wanted grungy graphics. This might sound familiar, “I like it, but can we grunge it up more”. Don’t get me wrong, having some grunge can create a great deal of depth to a design or illustration, but there can be to much of a good thing. This is the technique I use because it is quick and consistent, making it easy to scum up any design or illustration.

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I have been asked many times how I create some of the shiny buttons I sell on iStock. Although there are other tutorials out there, this one shows you how to create these buttons without blends and transparencies. It is a relatively simply technique that can be applied to many different elements other than buttons. Moreover, using this shiny effect will create a cleaner, more accessible, and consistent file.

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