When the Shape Builder tool came out in CS5, it wasn’t really on my radar. I have a set of actions and keyboard shortcuts setup for the different Shape Modes from the Pathfinders panel. I didn’t really need a new tool to replace my workflow. After using it more and more, I’m coming around to thinking it’s a pretty powerful tool and I really like to use it as a Paint Bucket.
I like scanning a bunch of different brush strokes to create custom Illustrator Art Brushes. When I create these brushes from the outlined scanned artwork I sometimes get this weird overlapping effect that’s really annoying. I’ve been hunting around for a solution and finally found one. To be honest, I’m not really sure I understand why it works, but it does, so I guess that’s fine.
I use multiple Artboards on my Illustrator documents consistently and don’t know how I could work without them. I use them for versioning, multiple concepts, logo variations and more. If you’re like me, sometimes navigating multiple Artboards on a document can get cumbersome. Luckily, there is a keyboard shortcut!
Looking through some of my past work, I noticed I used the font Myriad a lot. At first I wondered why, then I came to the realization, it might be because Myriad is the default font in Illustrator. After that, I changed my default font for new documents. It is really easy to do, so read on to find out how.
Actions are a set of commands or a series of events that you can record and playback in the Actions panel. Actions are great for complex or repetitive tasks. I use the Actions all the time, especially when working with icon sets or buttons, like in the previous tutorial. If you are familiar at all with the Actions panel in Photoshop, you will have no problem with the Actions in Illustrator.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a realistic Wacom Bamboo Tablet in Adobe Illustrator. You will find out how to add shadows and highlights to your Wacom Tablet using different Blending Modes, how to use the Round Any Corner Script and finally, how to create a nice textured background. Let’s begin! Continue reading
What is design theory and how can you put it to work for you? I’ll cover the principles of design that propel good design to great design. Superficial instruction, where you’re simply told what to do to get a specific result has its place, but you won’t find any of that here—only principles squarely aimed at applying design fundamentals to increase the effectiveness of your work. Take a look.
