Master some cool tools in Adobe's vector illustration software with our quickfire guide.
Adobe Illustrator
is a vector drawing tool, meaning you can create artwork that can be
scaled infinitely without any loss of quality. It's a fantastic tool for
logo design, creating complex vector artwork and playing with illustrated typography design. But coming from Photoshop you may not be savvy with Illustrator and its unique ways: so we're here to help.
From using Bézier points and curves to strokes and fills and
adding a more natural look to your vector artwork, read on for some
Illustrator secrets for those new to the application.
01. Get to grips with Bézier
Bézier control points and curves let you create just about any shape you can think of
Bézier points and curves are the thing you need to
master if you're going to be able to use Illustrator to create - well,
just about anything. Whilst rather tricky to get to grips with at first,
Bézier control points and curves offer the freedom to create just about
any shape you can think of.
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Manipulating points controls the curves, and using the Alt/Shift keys in conjunction with the pen tool (clicking on a curve to add more control points for instance using Alt)
you can start to define complex organic shapes in no time at all. The
best advice is to practice and discover for yourself how they work.
02. Bézier shortcuts
But a great tip for controlling Bézier curves with more accuracy is to use the Alt key after you've created a point. Hold down the Alt key after creating a point and you can position the next point without manipulating the curve.
In addition, holding down Shift will snap
your next point to a 45-degree angle. By using these kind of shortcuts
you can easily trace raster images in Illustrator (maybe for a logo
design and so on).
03. Strokes and paths
Use the Strokes panel to adjust the weight and type of stroke
By
default, Illustrator strokes your path (whether created using the Pen
tool or a shape tool, etc) with a 1pt black (and fills your shape with
white if you connect up the points). You can change the colour or fill
using the swatches panel (or indeed the tool options bar at the top of
the interface).
The small stroke and fill tool below the main tool panel
lets you swap between the two when the object is selected. Using the
Strokes panel you can adjust the weight and type of stroke, as well as
where the stroke is applied (from CS6).
04. The Appearance panel
The Appearance panel gives a quick overview of your strokes and fills at any time
To get a quick overview of your strokes and fills at any
time (along with any effects you've applied) use the Appearance panel.
You can also quickly change the stroke and fill type and colour from
here, including opacity. If you've applied an effect, you can quickly
click the name of it to go back and tweak it. Incredibly useful.
05. Easy brushes
Use the Brushes panel to quickly apply paint strokes to your lines
If you thought Illustrator and vector graphics was about
solid shapes and non-natural media effects, think again. You can, using
the Brushes panel and Illustrator's huge range of brush libraries,
quickly apply, for instance, paint strokes to your lines.
Double-clicking the brush in the Brushes panel enables you
to edit it - and these changes will be reflected automatically on your
illustration. You can even create brushes from scratch using vector
graphics you've designed. The possibilities are endless.
06. Use the Symbolism tools
Use Symbols to create complex illustrations quickly
Similarly, Symbols are a great way of creating complex
artwork quickly. Say you want a flock of birds. Simply draw one bird,
then select it and using the Symbols panel arrow menu, you can turn it
into a symbol. Next, select the Symbol Sprayer from the tool panel and
spray it around your page.
You can then use the other Symbolism tools to resize, colour
and rotate only certain instances of the symbol, giving a more natural
effect. Try it, it's very easy!
07. Warp with ease
Experiment with the effects tools for original results
If your objects are looking a little uniform, you can use
the effects tools to warp, roughen, pucker, bloat and generally subtly
change their appearance.
In the Tool panel, click and hold on the Width tool to bring
out the effects tools flyout. Then, use one or each tool (they are
brush-based) to gently warp and tweak your object. By double-clicking on
each tool in the flyout, you can change options - so experiment!
08. Quickly edit type
Illustrator is brilliant for editing type
One of the great things about Illustrator is its fantastic
type tools. It's great for laying out type as part of an illustration,
but better for editing type. Type out a font, make it larger using the
Character panel or Tool Options bar. Then select the box the type is in
(not the text itself) and go to Type>Create Outlines.
You can now edit the letters as you see fit by adjusting the
Bézier points. It's great for experimenting with new variations on
standard fonts. And there's some even better stuff coming with
Illustrator CC.
09. Selecting similar objects
You can easily change the colour of many objects at once
Once you've become accustomed to drawing more complex shapes
in Illustrator and have built up an illustration, you may want to
change the colour of many objects at once. But some of those objects may
be partially hidden under others, and there may be absolutely loads of
them!
So to make things easier, select one of your objects and
then go to Select>Same and then choose the option you want (maybe
Fill Colour). All your objects with that fill colour will then be
selected and you can change them all at once by using the swatches
panel.
10. Easy blends
The Blend tool is a great way to create gradients
There are a few ways to create gradients in Illustrator (the
Gradient panel and Gradient Mesh tools are worth experimenting with and
getting your head around) but a great way is to use the Blend tool.
Simply create two shapes with different colour fills (for a
gradient effect choose no stroke) and then, with the Blend tool
selected, click on the first object and then the second. If you
double-click the Blend tool in the Tool Panel before doing this you can
change the type of blend it applies (and if you keep your blend objects
selected it will apply the changes to that blend).
11. Use presets with the new Pencil Tool
Quick presets let you create a smooth, fluid path with fewer points
If you're using Illustrator as part of the Creative Cloud
then the Pencil Tool now lets you use quick presets to create a smooth,
fluid path with fewer points, or a path that more closely matches your
drawing intent.
As well as curves, you can now use the Pencil Tool to easily
draw straight lines too, which you can constrain to 0, 45 and 90 degree
angles if you choose. Adobe's also added the ability to continue
drawing from the end points of an existing path, and you can now close
your paths with a curved or straight line. These two videos show how:
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