Let’s learn how to create a vector text effect on the metal brushed background. We’ll take advantage of the Appearance Panel and Graphic Styles to speed up the process and keep the text fully editable. We will also cover a process on how to create a realistic metal brushed texture using simple techniques like the Sponge, Transform Each, Gradient, Reflect etc.
1. Open up a new document, and set the Artboard dimensions to 800×600 px. Go to the Tools Panel and grab the Type Tool (T) and type some text of your choice (pick any color you want). The text effect will work with any font, but I suggest you to download Orbitron sans-serif typeface. Choose Black Font Style with a size of 70pt. While text is still selected, go to the Character Panel and increase the Horizontal Scale to around 150% to stretch type sideways. This create a more sleek and futuristic look.
2. It’s time to create a rusty metal text effect. Remove any Fill or Stroke color and make sure nothing else is applied to the text yet. Turn on the Appearance Panel and from the fly-out menu and choose option “Add New Fill”. Once done, a new “Fill” attribute will appear in the Appearance Panel, just below the empty “Stroke” attribute. Open the Gradient Panel (Ctrl+F9) and give the text a gradient fill using alternating colors between black (R:0 G:0 B:0) and a brown (R:110 G:96 B:33).
3. Select the “Fill” we created in the previous step and click the Duplicate Item button (click the drop down arrow at the right corner) to create another “Fill”. Turn on the Color Panel (F6) and replace the existing color with pure white (R:255 G:255 B:255). Keep this fill still highlighted, and go to Effect > Stylize > Scribble. Set the values as shown on the image below. Click on the toggling arrow on the left to reveal the content of that specific “Fill” attribute. We`ll find two sub-layers, the Scribble effect we just applied and the Opacity layer. Change the Opacity to 50% Overlay.
4. Duplicate the previous attribute the way we did in the step 3. Make sure this “Fill” is placed above everything else except the “Stroke” attribute. As you can see, we duplicated a “Fill” attribute along with the content hidden within it. Double-click on the Scribble Effect to bring up dialog box and we are free to edit the effect. Change the properties shown in the following image and press OK to keep the changes. Lower the Opacity to 25% Screen.
5. It’s time to create a new “Fill”. Copy the previous “Fill” and use the brown color (R:117 G:76 B:36) for that active attribute. So far, we have four “Fill” attributes and an empty “Stroke” attribute. First, we want to be sure that there is no any effect applied to our last “Fill”. If any stuff is still there, select it and click on Trash button to delete selected item. Now, make sure the attribute is still selected and go to Effect > Path > Offset Path and select an offset of approximately -3 px. Actually, we want this fill to be offset a bit from the edges of the original letters. When done, click the Opacity and change it to 100% Overlay.
6. We’ll make some drastic changes to this fill now. Select Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen… and set the values you can see on the image below. Using this effect, we want to create those rust spots we can find on the eroded metal surface.
7. Let’s make some modifications on the brown “Fill”. The Roughen effect we have just applied will be automatically added beneath the Offset Path effect. To get the result we want to accomplish, we must place it on top of that fill. To change the stacking order within brown “Fill” attribute, drag the Roughen effect up and when you are satisfied, release the mouse button. To compare the changes refer to the close-up views.
8. Now here’s the interesting part. To get the realistic surface, we need to achieve a sense of depth. To do this, go to Effect > Texture> Craquelure and type the values manually. This effect is great because its relief surface producing a fine crack patterns that follow the contours of the object we are working on.
9. The next step is to add a realism to the eroded surface. Our rusty effect is not yet realistic and the reason is obvious. The edges look too sharp. Select Effect > Stylize > Feather and set the distance at 3px in order to get nice smooth edges.
10. We cannot leave our text effect unfinished, because it looks kinda flat. It will look completely different if we add some highlight parts at the back of our text. First, click on the fly-out menu and select “Add New Fill”. You will need to drag this fill layer to the bottom of the Appearance Panel so that it appears below everything else we’ve already applied to the text. Don`t forget to apply a color (R:163 G:124 B:82) to that new “Fill” attribute. Then, go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform and enter the values as shown.
11. We’re going to enhance the text visibility a bit. Click on the “Stroke” attribute and fill it with brown color (R:117 G:76 B:36). Click on the toggling arrow to reveal the sub-layer and change the Opacity to 50% Color Dodge.
12. Our text effect wouldn’t seem complete without nice metal background. Create a new layer and name it “Brushed metal background”. On that new layer (should be placed below the text layer) create a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (M) and fill it with linear gradient, (R:111 G:85 B:64) and (R:0 G:0 B:0). Remember to create a rectangle that is the same size as the Artboard we have created in step 1. Now enable Smart Guides (Ctrl+U) that will help us align the rectangle and the Artboard.
13. Duplicate the rectangle shape from the previous step and fill this copy only with black (R:0 G:0 B:0). We are going to create a metal brushed surface that has small scratches all running in the same direction. Keep selected the black shape and go to Effect > Artistic >Sponge and enter the data shown in the following image.
14. When you apply Photoshop effect, you actually create a raster image. We want to turn this shape into vector objects. Select Object > Expand Appearance to expand the object. When the Live Trace command appears click on it. Our object is black again, but don`t worry, we`ll fix it immediately. Open the Tracing options dialog, enter the values shown in the following image and press Trace. Click on the Expand button to convert tracing shape into fully vector-based objects.
15. Let`s create first set of metal scratches. Ungroup the traced object first (Shift+Ctrl+G). Once done, select those separated objects and go to Object > Transform > Transform Each, enter the values shown on the image below. As you can see, we’re actually increasing the size of every single object horizontally by 500%, while at the same time reducing the size vertically to 1% of the original size.
16. Keep the object still selected and open the Color Panel (F6) in order to change the fill into dark grey (R:86 G:84 B:79). When you are satisfied, group the objects again (Ctrl+G).
Note: You may find some lines extremely long; if it bothers you, just get rid of them.
17. Duplicate the rectangle we’ve created in step 12 and bring it above our new texture. Select both and right-click on selected surface. Now make a clipping mask, so we can hide parts that exceed the background boundaries. Activate the Transparency Panel (Shift+Ctrl+F10) and change the Blending Mode to Screen (Opacity 15%). Place that object just above the first rectangle shape.
18. Select the previous shape and go to Object > Transform > Reflect to reflect the object by horizontal axis and press copy. Once we get the copy of the first texture, in the Transparency Panel change the Blending Mode to Multiply (Opacity 15%). Now we have two sets of scratches, the bright scratches and the darker ones.
19. Pick the Ellipse Tool (L) and make an ellipse with size of about 1310 x 810 pixels and fill it with radial gradient. Click on the left color stop and change the opacity to 0%. Do the same for the right stop, but now lower the opacity to 75%. Mask the ellipse the same way we described in the previous steps (refer to step 17). Make sure the mask retains the same dimensions as our background (800×600 px). When the mask is finished, in the Transparency Panel change the Blending Mode to Color Burn (Opacity 100%). Place the object above everything else on that layer.
20. We’re almost done. To get realistic metal texture, we want to add some light reflections on the metal structure. Create another 800×600 px rectangle and fill it with linear gradient. Add 5 color stops, but only 3 colors: black (R:0 G:0 B:0), light grey (R:179 G:179 B:179) and mid-grey (R:128 G:128 B:128). Open the Transparency Panel and change the Blending Mode to Color Dodge (Opacity 75%).
21. Keep the previous object selected and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 10px radius then click OK. Since we will inevitably get blurred object whose edges exceed the boundaries of our background, add a clipping mask to hide the edges. Bring the object above every item we placed in our Artboard.
22. OK, we’re almost done. Bring our text effect and the background together first. Select the text and go to Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow and enter the values when dialog box opens. We want to add some dark shadows to our text, so there is an interaction between text and background.
23. If you applied the Outer Glow effect, activate Graphic Styles Panel (Shift+F5). Keep the text selected and click on the New Graphic Style. Now you can apply that style to any font you like.
How to Create a Night City Illustration Using Adobe Illustrator and Phantasm CS
Being armed with Phantasm CS, you can get any shade of the color.
In this tutorial we will learn how to create a night city and glow of lights on the highway using the Adobe Illustrator CS5 Perspective Grid Tool, Blend Tool, 3D modeling and Phantasm CS. This tutorial is filled with professional and creative instructions. Let’s get started!
Step 1
Let’s start with the building closest to the viewer. Before creating it in a linear perspective, we need to create the walls and facade sections on the plane. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle.
This rectangle will be one of the walls of the building. With the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) create another small rectangle and place it at the left edge of the larger rectangle. This will be one of the windows of the building.
Step 2
Holding down Shift + Opt / Alt, drag this rectangle horizontally to the right side of the building, duplicating it.
Now go to and set the number of Specified Steps. Select both windows and go to , creating the first row of windows.
Step 3
Holding down the Shift + Opt / Alt buttons, drag the first row of windows vertically down, duplicating it.
Click on the shortcuts Cmd / Ctrl + D (Transform Again) a few times, in order to create the necessary amount of rows of windows.
Select all the windows of this wall and go to . Ungroup the objects two times (Shift + Cmd / Ctrl + G) and group them up one time (Cmd / Ctrl + G). We do not need extra groups of objects; it is more convenient to work like that. Select all the created objects (wall and window group) and group them up (Cmd / Ctrl + G).
Step 4
With the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) create the second wall of the building. Its height should be the same as of the first wall.
Using the above described technique, create windows on this side of the building.
Select and group up all the elements of this side of the building.
Step 5
It’s time to place the created elements of the building in a perspective view. Take the Perspective Grid Tool (Shift + P) and go to , if this type of grid is not set by default.
By controlling the grid lines and moving the Vanishing Points, bring the perspective grid to the view shown in the figure below.
Step 6
Enable the Right Grid on the Active Panel Widget, take the Perspective Selection Tool (Shift + V) and drag the first wall of a building to the perspective grid.
For ease of object installation, turn on Snap to Grid mode .
Step 7
Turn on the Left grid on the Active Panel Widget, take the Perspective Selection Tool (Shift + V) and drag the second wall of the building to the perspective grid.
Step 8
To build the second wall of the building, move the Left Grid Panel Control to the right and up, moving the Left Grid in the depth of the composition. Using the technique described in the steps 1-3, create a new flat wall of the building and with the help of the Perspective Selection Tool (Shift + V) move it to the Left Grid. Do not forget to turn on the appropriate mode on the Active Panel Widget.
Step 9
Create a road surface. Enable the Horizontal Grid on the Active Panel Widget, take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle. This rectangle will deform immediately, following the constraints of linear perspective.
Do not worry if you do not get immediately what you wanted it to be. Take the Perspective Selection Tool (Shift + V) and edit the shape as you think fit.
In the same way, create the second road surface.
Step 10
Getting deeper into the composition. Move the Left Grid and create another building.
Perspective distortions are less noticeable closer to the horizon, so create two further buildings with the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) and the Pen Tool (P).
Create windows as we did with the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) and Blend Tool.
Step 11
To add variety to our composition, create a building in the shape of a tower. Take the Pen Tool (P) and create a stepped shape as shown in the figure below.
Now create a template for the windows of the tower the same way as was described at the beginning of this tutorial. Open the Symbols panel and save the created windows as new symbol entities.
After creating the window symbols, the windows templates can be removed from the workspace.
Step 12
Select the stepped shape and go to and set the parameters indicated in the figure below.
Click on Map Art button in the dialog box “3D Revolve Options” and set the saved symbols for four side surfaces of the tower.
Step 13
Keep the tower selected, go to Object > Expand Appearance. After this operation, the tower will contain the Clipping Masks and other unnecessary elements. In order to work freely with the objects of the tower in the future, perform the following operations. Go to , then .
Now, our tower represents a group of simple vector objects.
Step 14
The main objects of composition are created; they only need to be painted. Before painting, I always create a background that allows me to work right with the color of other objects. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle filled with dark blue color.
Go to . and set the number of rows and columns in the dialog box.
Step 15
Take the Direct Selection Tool (A), and selecting the individual nodes of the grid, paint them in lighter shades of blue. Move nodes and their handles with the same tool in order to create a resemblance of night sky glow over the city.
Step 16
Fill the walls of the buildings with linear gradient from dark blue to black color. The top of the buildings look a little brighter because of the glow of the sky.
Select all the windows and fill them with black color.
Step 17
Now take the Direct Selection Tool (A), and then holding down Shift, randomly select windows.
Fill the selected windows with radial gradient, which consists of white, blue and black colors.
Step 18
Of course, the lights in all the windows cannot be the same (light source in the windows is located in different places). So we will have to reconfigure the gradient moving from window to window. Just change the position of the gradient in some of the windows, extend its field, swap the radial gradient in some windows with linear gradient, change colors etc.
Looking at the amount of windows in this composition, I admit it’s quite tedious work. Well, art requires sacrifice.
Step 19
The windows in the further buildings do not require being in such detail, so I filled them with the same gradient with few exceptions.
This is how the composition looks like after working with windows.
Step 20
Now let’s create a few more luminous elements of the buildings. With the Ellipse Tool (L) create two circles, filled with dark blue and light blue colors.
Place circles on the roof of the closest to the viewer building. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) pull the lowest point of the dark blue circle horizontally down and convert it from smooth to corner one.
Set 0% Opacity for this shape in the Transparency panel.
Step 21
Go to and set the number of Specified Steps. Select both objects and go to , creating a glow from the lamp at the edge of the roof.
Using the same technique, create light glow.
Select and group up both blend objects. Drag the new group along the border of the roof, holding Opt / Alt duplicating it.
Step 22
Luminous objects can be created with the help of the raster effects, let’s see how this is done at another example. With the help of Pen Tool (P) create a few lines of different thickness over the stepped tower.
You can quickly bend the straight sections with the help of the PathScribe Tool, one of the tools of the VectorScribe plugin. So, take PathScribe Tool, and holding down Shift, pull the middle of the straight-line segment up. This procedure reshapes path while keeping it symmetric. Symmetric means that both handles are of the same length and form the same angle to the imaginary line running through the endpoints of the path segment.
For more information about the operation of shapes of vector objects with the PathScribe Tool follow this link.
- Click here to read Shortcuts for PathScribe: Part 1
- Click here to read Shortcuts for PathScribe: Part 2
- Click here to read Shortcuts for PathScribe: Part 3
Step 23
Do similar transformations to the rest of the straight-line segments, and then place them below the tower objects in the layers panel.
Select all the segments and go to . Fill shapes with differently directed linear gradient consisting of white and blue colors.
Select and group up the created elements.
Step 24
Copy the created group and paste it back (Cmd / Ctrl + C, Cmd / Ctrl + B). Keep the lower group selected, go to and set the radius in the dialog box.
The use of raster effects works for complex shape objects. It will save you much time. The same way you can create advertising signs on buildings.
Step 25
With the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) create a general background of the lower part of the composition.
Now with the help of the Pen Tool (P) create a horizon line.
Add a few more glowing windows to the background.
Step 26
Now we can start creating the road. Fill the road surface with linear gradient from blue to black.
Now create a dividing line on the right side of the road. Take the Pen Tool (P) and create two triangles; its vertices will be located in the vanishing point.
Now double-click on the Eraser Tool (Shift + E), which opens a dialog box with the settings of the instrument. Set the diameter, and click OK.
Step 27
Lock all the objects in the layers palette except for two triangles that were created in the previous step. Now take the Eraser Tool (Shift + E) and holding down Shift erase parts of the triangle forming a broken dividing line. The further we move deep into the composition, the smaller the Eraser Tool diameter should be.
Fill the dividing lines with a linear gradient consisting of shades of blue reproducing the light distribution.
Step 28
We will not draw cars rushing on the road, and will only represent the lights of their headlights merging into luminous flux. This effect occurs when photographing moving luminous objects with long exposure of the camera. These kinds of lights look a bit blurred, we will be using a special Art Brush for their creation. Create a red rectangle with the help of the Rectangle Tool (M).
Height of the rectangle is 4 px, of any length. We chose red color because on the right side of the road cars are moving away from us. Therefore, we see their back brake lights, and they are usually red in color.
Step 29
Copy the red rectangle and paste it in front (Cmd / Ctrl + C, Cmd / Ctrl + F). Reduce the height of the rectangle to 0.25 px. Set 0% Opacity in the Transparency panel to the lower rectangle.
Now select both rectangles and apply Blend to them, as we were doing during the tutorial.
Step 30
Drag the Blend object to the Brushes panel and save as new brush as Art Brush.
With the help of Pen Tool (P) create a bundle of converging at the vanishing point lines and apply the created brush to them.
Step 31
Create new lines, apply the same Art Brush to them. Set 50% Opacity in the Transparency panel for these lines.
Step 32
Lights of the moving vehicles are usually not the same in thickness. To create thickenings, create another Art Brush. The technique of its creation is not different from the previous one, but it does not consist of the rectangles, but of two ellipses, the extreme points of which are converted from smooth into the corner ones.
Using this brush, create a new line, which will be thickening the previously created ones.
Step 33
Create a color irregularity of the lights. In order not to create brushes of different color, change the color of individual strokes using the Phantasm CS. Select a few strokes and go to . Tick “Colorize” in the dialog box, and by controlling sliders of Saturation and Lightness, change the color of strokes to pink.
I know from experience that the selection of brush colors and creating of the new ones is a very tedious process that takes a while. Changing the color by means of the Phantasm CS will save you more time for creativity.
Step 34
Now create the glow in the places of lights flux accumulation. With the help of Pen Tool (P) create a triangle with a vertex at the vanishing point.
Set 0% Opacity for this object in the Transparency panel.
With the help of Pen Tool (P) create a straight line coming from the vanishing point with a red stroke and has 2 px thickness.
Select the transparent triangle and the red line, then apply Blend.
Step 35
Create a few more bright lights. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle filled with black and white radial gradient.
With the help of the Selection Tool (V) transform a circle into an ellipse and rotate it so that the major axis coincides with the direction of red light.
Set the Color Dodge Blending Mode for this ellipse in the Transparency palette.
Using this technique, create a few glowing lights.
Step 36
To create the lights on the second side of the road, I used the same red brushes and techniques. However, on this side of the road cars are moving towards the viewer, therefore, it should be white and light blue colors. Being armed with Phantasm CS, you can get any shade of the color. Select the streams of lights on the left side of the road and go to controlling Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders set the desired shade of color.
Step 37
Create a glow of street lights along the road. With the help of the Ellipse Tool (L) create a circle and fill it with a radial gradient fill. The gradient consists of white, blue and black colors. With the help of the Selection Tool (V) transform a circle into an ellipse and set the Screen Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.
Duplicate this ellipse and rotate it at 90 degrees according to the first one. Set the Color Dodge Blending Mode for this ellipse in the Transparency palette.
Group up the two ellipses (Ctrl / Cmd + G) and place the glow of street lights along the road, duplicating the first street light and reducing the size according to the law of perspective.
Conclusion
After studying the techniques of this tutorial I suggest you to experiment a little bit. First, create your own composition. Then, try using the Phantasm CS change the color scheme of our composition. Let it be morning or evening with the red hues of sunset. You can leave links to your artworks in the comments. I’m always happy to look at the works of my students, and to critique it if you wish.
Create an Assortment of 3D Text in Adobe Illustrator
In this graphic design tutorial, we will discuss how to create an assortment of 3D text styles in Illustrator CS4. We will create a custom pattern (a flower pattern), apply beautiful color gradients, use basic shape tools to create custom objects, and much more. The underlying lesson in this tutorial is that, in Illustrator, you can achieve amazing results by choosing the right fonts and colors, and by being conscious of basic illustration principles such as perspective and lighting.
Author: Jasmina Stanojevic
Preview
Step 1: Set Up the Artboard
Create a new document in Illustrator with Size at 500×500pt.
Step 2: Create the First Letter
Choose a nice, thick font for the letters as this will give us more surface area to play around with. Since we are going to make the letters one at a time, you can choose different fonts for each letter to achieve a vivid and interesting final piece. I’ll start with the Impact typeface, which most of us will have.
Type the first letter of the word you want to create using the Type Tool (T); my first letter will be "D". Afterwards, switch to the Selection Tool (V), select the letter, then go to Type > Create Outlines (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + O or right-click/Control-click on the letter in the artboard and then choose Create Outlines from the menu that appears).
Step 3: Render the Letter in 3D
Let’s add a 3D effect to our letter. Select the letter and go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel.
In the Extrude & Bevel Options window, check the Preview option to be able to see what the letter will look like while we tweak the Extrude & Bevel effect’s options. Adjust the positional angles of the letter, and don’t forget to set a value for the Perspective option.
Perspective is a very important part in the creation of any 3D object on a flat plane (e.g. our Illustrator artboard). The two important things about perspective are size and distance. If we increase the distance between us and an object we are observing, we need to decrease the size of that object. That way, we can achieve an accurate depth illusion in our work.
When you are happy with the preview, press OK to apply the settings to your letter.
Step 4: Expand and Combine the Letter’s Components
Expand the letter by choosing Object > Expand Appearance.
Next, ungroup the letter in order to have all its parts separated. Ungrouping the letter gives us the ability to apply colors and gradients to each part of the letter separately. You can ungroup the object by going to Object > Ungroup (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + G). You might have to perform the Ungroup command several times because our letter contains a lot of parts.
If you zoom in a little bit with the Zoom Tool (Z), you can see that some of the parts are broken down further into even smaller pieces. Just select the pieces and combine them as needed by using the Unite button in the Pathfinder Panel (Window > Pathfinder).
Step 5: Apply Gradients
Time to apply color gradients. To start, try to imagine the light’s source: For our piece, let’s make the source of light come from above our letter. Therefore, according to the light source we’ve picked, some parts of the letter need to be darker, and some should be lighter. That way, we will create shades and highlights on the surfaces as accurately as possible. Each time you are applying a gradient fill to an object, think about the angle of the source of light.
First, make sure the Gradient Panel is open (Window > Gradient or press Ctrl/Cmd + F9).
For the front side of the letter, use a radial gradient.
On the left side, use a linear gradient. Feel free to play with colors until you achieve your desired look.
For the inner part of the letter, also use a linear gradient.
Step 6: Creating Highlights
Let’s now add detailing to our letter by giving it some nice, highlighting edges. Select the front side of the letter, copy it (Ctrl/Cmd + C), then paste in front twice (Ctrl/Cmd + F).
Select the topmost copy with the Selection Tool (V) and nudge it 1px downwards and 1px to the right (use your Arrow keys). Keep this nudged copy selected. Now, Hold down Shift and click on the other copy to add it to the selection. In the Pathfinder Panel, hit the Minus Front button. This will leave us with one object that is just the non-overlapping part of both copies.
Change the Fill color of the object so that it’s lighter in color than the color gradient of the letter; salmon pink would be my suggestion.
Step 7: Creating Another Letter
Now that we have covered the fundamental steps of creating a 3D letter, filling it with color, and giving it highlights, I’ll quickly run you through how to create another letter. Afterwards, I will leave it up to you to create the remaining 3D letters.
The second letter we will make is "e". Find a font you like using the guidelines in Step 2 (it needs to be thick); I am using Cooper Std.
Go through the previous steps again and refer to the images below for filling it in with color gradients.
Once done, position the "e" such that it overlaps with "D" to reinforce our 3D illusion. Later on, we will give our letters shadows.
Step 8: Creating a Flower Pattern
To create variety, we can apply patterns to the front side of the letters instead of color gradients. Let’s create a nice pattern for the third letter ("s").
Choose another thick font for "s" and render it in 3D just like we did for the first two letters ("D" and "e"). Apply a linear gradient on the left side of the letter.
For the front side, we will create a pattern — a simple flower pattern, to be exact. To start creating the flower pattern, use the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tools Panel to draw a small, pink circle.
With the circle still selected, switch to the Rotation Tool (R) and, holding down Alt/Option, click just below the pink circle. In the Rotate window that appears, set the value for Angle to 60o and then hit the Copy button. This will create a second pink circle.
Repeat the rotation by going Transform > Transform Again (Ctrl/Cmd + D) — this will rotate and copy the circle again so that we now have three circles. Use the Transform Again command 4 more times in order to complete the flower’s petals.
Use the Selection Tool (V) to select all the petals and, in the Pathfinder Panel, hit the Unite button.
Create one more circle at the center of the petals. Set the Fill color of the circle to white. To perfectly center the white circle, select it along with the petals and then, in the Align Panel (Window > Align or Shift + F7), click the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center buttons.
Make a few copies of the flower and arrange them as shown below. Draw a rectangle around the flowers with the Rectangle Tool (M), then set its Fill color to beige. Afterwards, send the beige rectangle to the back (Transform > Arrange > Send to Back) so that it’s behind the flowers.
Select the flowers and its background (you can group them if you want), then drag and drop them into the Swatches Panel — this will create a swatch that we can then apply just like any other color or pattern that is in our Swatches Panel.
Select the front side of the "s" and click on our flower pattern swatch in the Swatches panel to apply it as a fill.
Then, set the Stroke color to pink and Weight to 1px to stylize the edge of the letter.
Use your imagination and try to make other nice and colorful patterns for your other letters.
We are going to skip the steps for creating other letters because you’re now equipped with the knowledge you need to proceed with the other letters.
Step 9: Creating Shadows Between Letters
If you want to create realistic illustrations, shadows are very important. Even though you have a 3D object with perspective, without shadow, it may still look quite flat. Since letters are pretty close to each other, the light should cast the shadows on their adjacent letters.
Let’s start with "D" and "e". First, we need to make a copy of "D" — just select it, press Ctrl/Cmd + C, and then press Ctrl/Cmd + F to paste in front.
Ungroup the copy (Ctrl/Cmd + G). After ungrouping, all the parts should still all be selected; hit the Unite button in the Pathfinder Panel to combine them into one object.
Let’s do the same thing with the letter "e" (make a copy, ungroup the copy, unite the ungrouped copy).
Use your Arrow keys to nudge the copy of the letter "e" 2px to the left. Now click-and-hold on the bottom-right transform control and rotate clockwise.
Hold down Shift and click on the "D" copy to add it to your selection. With the two objects now selected, press the Intersect button in the Pathfinder Panel.
Select the new object created, send it backwards (Object > Arrange > Send Backward). Then, change its Fill color to dark red. We choose dark red because it’s darker — but around the same shade — of the orange gradient on which it’s on top of.
Use the same technique to continue making the shadows for other letters. Just make sure to set the Fill color of the shadow slightly darker than the part of the letter where the shadow is on.
For shadows on top of surfaces that have multiple colors, ungroup the shadow and apply different shades of colors to each part. Doing it this way makes the shadows appear more nuanced.
Step 10: Hanging a Letter on a String
To further enhance the diversity of appearance between each letter, one of the possibilities we can do is "hang" one of the letters; you just need a string for that. As you can see in the preview at the begginning of this tutorial, the letter we’ll hang is "g" because it has a perfect shape for this technique, and is positioned in just the right place.
To start, let’s make sure that your letter "g" is on top of other letters (i.e. it is the topmost layer). Grab the Line Segment Tool (/) and hold down Shift to draw a vertical straight line.
Grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw the vector path (shown below) that will eventually become the loop around the letter "g".
Select the vector path and expand it (Object > Expand) so that we can edit it further.
What we want to do now is make sure the ends of the vector path don’t go outside of the letter "g". To do that, first, copy the letter "g" and paste in front. Ungroup the copy. With the ungrouped objects of the letter "g" copy still selected, press the Unite button in the Pathfinder Panel; you’ll end up with one object like the one shown below.
Now select both the letter "g" and the vector path and click on the Intersect button in the Pathfinder Panel. You’ll be left with just the part of the vector path that’s inside of the "g" shape, making it look like the string loops around the letter.
To make it more realistic, let’s add some shadows. Ungroup the letter "g" and select the inner part (shown below).
Copy the selected object and paste in front. Copy the vector path and paste it in front as well. Select both copies and press the Intersect button in the Pathfinder Panel. This will leave us with just part of the looping string that’s inside the "g".
Change the Fill color of the inner string vector path to light gray (a darker shade of white). This makes our lighting as realistic as possible, since the inner part should be less affected by our light source.
Use the same process to create more loops.
Step 11: Create Shadows on the Floor
As the final step, let’s create shadows on the floor made by each letter. We need to do this manually; it’s the best way. For letters with sharp, angular corners, use the Pen Tool (P). For rounded letters, make use of the Ellipse Tool (L). Once done, choose a light gray for their fill colors.
Tutorial Summary
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The various techniques discussed in the tutorial are pretty simple, but combined together, they can result in elaborate and remarkable artwork. Just keep in mind two important things when working with 3D: perspective and light source.
Try the techniques covered in this tutorial by creating other 3D objects; they don’t have to be letters. I looking forward to seeing your results — post a link in the comments and include it in our Flickr group pool!
Download Source Files
- assorted_3dtext_illustrator (ZIP, 1.10 MB)
From Sketch to Vector Illustration
Apr 18
Illustrator, Photoshop, Tutorials
Hey everyone! Welcome back to the hak-world. There has been such a wonderful response on my vector art tutorial “Beautiful Vector Illustration” that I thought I better write another one. If you recall in that tutorial I discussed how to create vector illustrations using photographs as your starting point. A technique of vector illustrating that takes a little bit more skill that I did not cover is starting with a hand drawn sketches. I will focus on that technique of vector illustrating for this tutorial.
For those of you without good sketching ability – please don’t jump ship just yet! I will also discuss a number of tips and techniques to using your pen tool that applies to ALL vector artists – so keep reading. You’ll still learn a thing or two. And who knows – maybe you try to sketch something anyway.
I am going to meander a bit between different sketches, but here is one example of a vector illustration that was based off of a sketch.
This is a design our firm was hired to do for the rock band Mr. Gnome. The theme was straight forward, a gnome with a guitar in a dynamic pose.
The tools you’ll need for this tutorial are:
1. Pencil
2. Paper
3. Scanner
4. Computer (with a monitor)
5. Adobe Illustrator (and Photoshop wouldn’t hurt either)
2. Paper
3. Scanner
4. Computer (with a monitor)
5. Adobe Illustrator (and Photoshop wouldn’t hurt either)
This tutorial will cover:
1. Sketching – How detailed to get in your sketch?
2. What resolution to scan your sketch.
3. How to set up your Illustrator file.
4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
5. Tips and Techniques to coloring your vector illustration.
2. What resolution to scan your sketch.
3. How to set up your Illustrator file.
4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
5. Tips and Techniques to coloring your vector illustration.
Step 1. Sketching.
Ok here we go. Since we will not be using photographs – we’re going to have to rely on our ability to draw. As I mentioned in my tutorial “Comic Book Style Graphic Design” I will not be able to go into the fine details of how to draw here, but I want to try and give you a few tips.
Ok here we go. Since we will not be using photographs – we’re going to have to rely on our ability to draw. As I mentioned in my tutorial “Comic Book Style Graphic Design” I will not be able to go into the fine details of how to draw here, but I want to try and give you a few tips.
First, I believe that learning how to draw is like learning any other skill. It takes time, practice and it doesn’t hurt if you study a little. So go buy yourself books on drawing, find tutorials online or sign up for classes at your local college. And of course, nothing in the world can replace practice.
This sketching phase of the process should be a fun relaxing part of the process. If you put pressure on yourself you will surely struggle. When I am drawing I try to let go of all expectations. When you sit down to draw tell yourself: “I may draw for the next three hours and may draw nothing good. But I am going to enjoy the process.” Have a pile of paper, a pencil sharpener and an eraser. Always start by sketching as loosely as possible; just work on basic shapes. Get yourself to relax. Turn on some good tunes, have a can of Coke, whatever it takes to get yourself into a good place. I really think this is a big part of getting yourself in the right frame of mind to draw well. It may seem silly – but imagine if you sat down with one sheet of paper, a thirty minute deadline and a rigorous expectation of what you needed to draw. Wow… what pressure! You would be setting yourself up for failure! That’s no fun. So, sit down, relax, let go of any expectations you put on yourself and have some fun.
Also, you need to know that the final sketch will usually be achieved through a process. Many amateur artists don’t truly realize all the “steps” that go into creating a final piece of art like the one I drew. The assumption is that I sat down and in one fell swoop illustrated this final sketch. Frequently there are a lot more steps to this process. Here is a typical process that a professional illustrator might go through to produce a final illustration:
1. Extremely rough “comps” are drawn to show your client what you are intending to draw. Often times there will be several of these so your client has some options.Often times the client will give you feedback on your comps – so you’ll have to modify your composition until they’re happy. Here is a sample of how rough the early “comps” can be:
2. “Studies” are then drawn for a variety of the elements in the image. If, for instance you’ve never drawn a palm tree before you might want to download some pictures of palm trees and sketch them for a while till you get a good handle on how to draw them.
3. The first draft of the final illustration is then done. It always starts with loose light lines to get the composition worked out, then you’ll go over it filling in with “tighter” lines to get your details.
4. Often times some aspect of the illustration looks bad. A professional artist will re-work that part of the illustration on a separate piece of paper until they get it right.
As you can see – this is definitely a process. So, don’t get frustrated if it takes a lot of work to get your final sketch together.
How detailed you get with your sketch is up to you. Personally, I find that it is always easier to decide where I want lines while I am in the sketching phase. So I will get fairly detailed in my drawing before I scan it into the computer. Deciding where to put lines when I’m vectorizing (digitally inking) my sketch is much harder. So I will err on the side of a “tight” sketch (lots of detail) versus a “loose” sketch. Here are two examples of illustrations. This first one is the fairly tight sketch of a demon that I drew for Ozz Fest.
The second sketch is a much more loose drawing:
Lines are not well defined and there is a lot that you would have to make decisions about once you get the drawing into Illustrator. You have to be extremely skilled in your ability to work through a drawing on-the-fly. If you are, you can take a very rough sketch like this and make inking (vectorizing) decisions as you work. I don’t think most people have this ability, so I would recommend that you try to get a little bit more detail into your sketch before you scan it into Illustrator.
While I am endorsing a “tighter” sketch I want to mention the fact that one of the biggest advantage of creating a vector illustration off of a sketch is that the over-all feeling of it is MUCH looser than what you create when you work off of a photo. When, for instance you are working off of a photograph – you are somewhat bound by the natural laws of nature. But in a sketch you can really go over-board with exaggerated features. When you combine these loose exaggerated features of a sketch with the tight clean lines of vector art you really get a wonderfully unique looking illustration. So, don’t be too tight with your drawing! You don’t want to lose your personality.
Step 2. Scanning your Artwork.
HHmm.. not sure why I made this into a whole section of this tutorial. I guess it’s just an important step – you need to get your sketch into your computer. Here are a few tips to scanning your sketch:
HHmm.. not sure why I made this into a whole section of this tutorial. I guess it’s just an important step – you need to get your sketch into your computer. Here are a few tips to scanning your sketch:
1. Make sure to scan your sketch in “photo” mode at 300dpi or higher. You may want to go as high as 600dpi. It really helps to zoom in on your sketch while you’re vectorizing (digitally inking and coloring) it. At this zoomed in state you might be looking at a part of the sketch 300% – 400% bigger than the size you drew it, so you’ll need that extra resolution to see where to put your lines.
2. If your sketch is bigger than your scanner – you’ll have to scan it in pieces and stitch them together in Photoshop. One little tip that helps make this process easier is to make sure that you butt one side of the paper up against the edge of the scanning surface. Scan it, then slide the paper keeping that same side flush up against the edge of the scanning surface. This process insures that your different parts of the sketch are not rotated differently. It is much easier to piece together two images that don’t need to be rotated. Once your sketch pieces are in Photoshop, open one and enlarge the canvas area to make room for the other pieces. Copy-and-Paste the other pieces so that they are all in one image. Set the properties of each layer to “multiply.” This will allow you to see through each layer and more easily line them up. Once you have them all lined up, change the layer properties back to “normal,” flatten the image, and save it as a .jpeg
Step 3. Setting up your Illustrator file.
I like to create 3 layers in Illustrator when vectorizing a sketch. The bottom layer is where I place my sketch. I will lock this layer so I don’t accidentally select it or move it. The middle layer is my color layer. This is where I will fill in my shapes with colors. I will also lock this layer until I get to the coloring part of the process. The top layer is the inks (the lines) of the drawing.
I should take a moment here to mention that you can illustrate vector art without lines. The artwork can be comprised completely of solid shapes with no “line art.” Here is an example of each:
This is a vector illustration without any lines defining the shapes. It simply uses color and value to define the shapes.
This illustration does have lines to separate the shapes.
Whether you choose to make line art or not is up to you, but we WILL be making the line art first on this project.
Step 4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
Step 4. Tips and Techniques to digitally inking your sketch using vector lines.
Ok.. now we get to drawing our vector lines. I don’t have one set style for creating these lines; in fact I have several. I will discuss each. But before I do, I want to discuss our goals. The goals with these lines are that they have character. And by “character” what I mean to say is: “they look cool.” So, how do we make our lines look cool?
For starters, we need our lines to vary in what is known as “weight.” “Weight” of a line basically means how thick or thin your lines are. A lot of weight is thick a little weight is thin. Making your lines vary in weight adds a LOT of character (makes them look cool.)
And where we put this character into the lines is also important. I use three general rules when making a determination of where to put weight:
1. Most important is how close an object is to you. So, if you have a drawing where the super-hero is punching out towards you, the fist would be the closest thing to you. The closer something is to you, the thicker the lines should be. The further away something is – the thinner the lines should be. The city in the background, for instance, should be illustrated with very thin lines. This creates an illusion of depth.
2. The outer-most line of each separate object I will also tend to make a little thicker than the interior lines. This helps define that object apart from the other objects.
3. I will also pay attention to light source. If, for instance, the sun is just over the right shoulder of a character – I might thin that line so much that it ends… there is actually a gap where the line ends then re-starts. The side of the object opposite of the light source will have thicker lines.
4. Finally – I will tend to thicken a line that dead-ends into another line. This is a hard one to explain, so here is a picture:
Now that we have a clear understanding of what kind of lines we’re trying to make… how do we make them?
My first step is usually to outline my object or a portion of the object and then “knock out” the shapes that are inside it. Using my pen tool I will simply find a starting point and start drawing around a shape. If you are not experienced using the pen tool in Illustrator this may be a bit of a frustrating process. Have faith that in time you will get better and faster. It takes time to learn how to best use this tool. Here are a couple of tips:
1. Place your points at the most extreme spots – at the very top of the peak of a curve or the very bottom of a curve.
2. Fewer points will give you a smoother line, so challenge yourself to eliminate points.
3. If you need to bring a curving line to a sharp turn, click on where the curve will end, click-drag your mouse to create the curve before the sharp turn (don’t worry about the vector line on the far side of the point. When you get the curve before the point where you want it, let up on the button, but before you make your next point – click one time on the point you just made. This will eliminate the bezier handle that runs through the point. When you place your next point, the line from the previous point will come out straight from that point. Here is a little picture sequence of this process. **This is a VERY useful tip. So, if you don’t understand it – read it five more times, study the images below and don’t proceed till you get it. It will be on the S.A.T.!**
Once I have my outline I will simply start drawing the shapes that are inside it that need to be subtracted (or for us old-school designers: “knocked out.”) Be aware that the “lines” you’re creating will be comprised of the outline minus the interior shapes. So, in terms of giving your final lines varying weight, you will have to vary how close your interior shapes are to the outline.
Here is an example of how I will draw an outline, then subtract (or knock-out) the interior with a second shape:
One way to deal with this varying line weight issue is to deal with it in the sketching phase. This way – you don’t have to think about it while vectorizing. You can just follow your sketch lines.
While you are drawing these knock-out shapes you may want to ignore little detail lines that might be hard to draw. If for instance you have some cross-hatching lines that extend from a large black shape – I won’t try to draw them both at the same time. I will start by just drawing the black shape, then will go back and draw the hatch-lines. I can merge these shapes using the Pathfinder tool later if I want to. Here is a sample of that:
Once you have all of your interior shapes in place, you’ll now need to knock them out of your outline. You will do this by
1. Grouping all of the interior shapes.
2. Bringing these grouped interior shapes to the front: Object>Arrange>Bring To Front
3. Selecting both your grouped interior shapes and your outline
4. Clicking on the knock-out (or “subtract”) function of your pathfinder tool.
5. Fill with black! (or whatever color you want your lines.)
1. Grouping all of the interior shapes.
2. Bringing these grouped interior shapes to the front: Object>Arrange>Bring To Front
3. Selecting both your grouped interior shapes and your outline
4. Clicking on the knock-out (or “subtract”) function of your pathfinder tool.
5. Fill with black! (or whatever color you want your lines.)
Another way to draw lines of varying weight without drawing the inside and then the outside of each line is to just draw a single vector line down the center of your intended line. Then you “stroke” this line with a brush. Specifically you might want to use one of the calligraphy brushes that Illustrator includes.
Here is how using one of these brushes looks when applied to a curving line:
This looks great and is a much easier way to make lines with character – but it is much harder to control where the line is thick and where it’s thin. This is determined by the shape of the brush and the angle of your line. If you have a set of brushes set up at various angles and experiment a bit, you can figure out how to control where the thick and thin parts of your line are, but it takes some work.
If you are using this technique to vectorize (digitally ink) your sketch there is one additional step you have to take. Once you get the line how you want it, you’ll have to: use the Object>Expand Appearance function. This will take your brush stroke and convert it into a solid shape.
You may also experiment making your own brushes in Illustrator. One very useful brush is a simple triangle.
Simply make this triangle shape, select it and then go to the drop-down menu in your brushes window and select “New Brush>New Art Brush. Then draw a curvy line and apply this brush. You will quickly see how useful it will be in inking. Here is a sample of what a triangular brush on your vector path looks like:
I suggest experimenting with brushes like this. I will not reveal all of Go Media’s secrets here – but this should get you started.
Now you have the meticulous job of “inking” your illustration. Depending on how complex your drawing is – this process may take an entire day or more, so settle in and try to enjoy yourself. After all – that’s why we’re here right?
Here is the finished inking I did on this sketch… Pretty sharp if I do say so myself!!
First the pencil sketch:
Now the final inked illustration:
Ok, now to the really fun part – coloring.
Step 5. Tips and Techniques to coloring your vector illustration.
This tutorial is going to cover coloring in Adobe Illustrator. At this point you could also export your line art to Photoshop and color your drawing in it. In fact, most professional coloring you’ll see of illustrations is done in either Photoshop or Painter. Making a vector coloring – as we are in this tutorial is a very different process with a different look and feel to it. In Photoshop for instance, you can much more easily make soft-edged transitions between your various colors. Here in Illustrator your color shapes will have sharp edges.
Now I will make a confession – I don’t think I have a very good sense of color. I think I am a bad colorist. So, hopefully I can give you some tips I use to “fake it.” Remember: “Fake it till you make it!”
Now, you’ll be coloring on your color layer, so lock your inking layer and unlock your color layer.
Usually I will try to pick the colors I’m going to use before I start coloring. I will start with 2-4 main color themes that work well together. For each of these colors I will try to get a range of color values from dark to light. Once I have this palette of colors I try very hard to stick with it. Since I don’t have a good sense of color, I’m afraid to stray too far from a nice color palette once I’ve made one. Here is an example of a color palette I put together:
I will usually assemble my color palettes by opening a Pantone Swatch Library (located in the Swatch window drop-down in the Swatch Libraries drop down). I’ll then see a color I like and grab the entire value range from dark to light of that color.
One “cheat” I use occasionally for finding a good color schemes– is the website:colourlovers.com. It doesn’t give a complete coloring palette and isn’t usually exactly what I’m looking for, but it’s a great resource for inspiration.
In the case of this illustration, he went with a fairly straight-forward coloring scheme. The girl’s skin is flesh color, the skull is grey and the devil-baby is red. For each of these object there is about 3-4 color values; a middle value, one dark color for shadows and one light color for highlights.
While going with a straight-forward coloring scheme is fine, I want to encourage you to really experiment with colors. Explore the space. I got a fever, and the only prescription – is MORE COW BELL… no wait – I mean – MORE COLORS. I think doing a good realistic coloring job is almost passé these days. Using non-traditional colors is the current trend.
To start, lets use this little devil baby sketch that Dave did and start by filling each main shape with a middle value. Here is what the baby looks like with each of his primary shapes filled with the middle-value. You’ll notice the back of the tail is dark. We obviously decided that we were going to have a light source to the upper left. This would place the tail in a shadow.
When I say “We filled each main shape..” what I mean specifically is that we stole the line art and used the vector lines that were already drawn to fill the main shapes.
In order to do this you need to make sure you’ve used your Pathfinder tool to subtract (knock-out) and consolidate all your line art into one complete path, then you will:
1. Unlock your inking layer (if it isn’t already)
2. Select your Inks (lines)
3. Edit>Copy
4. Switch to your color layer (I’ll even re-lock my inking layer)
5. Edit>Paste In Front – this will drop a copy of the inks into the coloring layer in the exact same location that it was taken from – so it lines up perfectly.
6. Select the line art and then Object>Compound Path>Release. This will break all of these shapes back up into their own pieces of art. You can then delete the outline and simply deal with the fill shapes. By selecting them you can fill them with the appropriate color.
2. Select your Inks (lines)
3. Edit>Copy
4. Switch to your color layer (I’ll even re-lock my inking layer)
5. Edit>Paste In Front – this will drop a copy of the inks into the coloring layer in the exact same location that it was taken from – so it lines up perfectly.
6. Select the line art and then Object>Compound Path>Release. This will break all of these shapes back up into their own pieces of art. You can then delete the outline and simply deal with the fill shapes. By selecting them you can fill them with the appropriate color.
Using this technique will save you a lot of time. Here is the single-color initial fill of the devil-baby:
If you are not familiar with the Pathfinder tool in Illustrator, let me just say: please take the time to explore this tool. It is indispensable. I use it constantly.
Once the main color fill is in place, we can start adding shadows and highlights. Since your highlights and shadows will be contained within the area we’ve already established with our fill, you really only need to draw the line that will distinguish the barrier between your middle value and shadow.
In this first image you can see where I drew the dark red shape to define the shadow area. I only concerned myself with where my shape intersected with the red fill of the devil baby’s body.
I then need to make a copy of the devil-baby’s fill shape so I won’t lose it when I use the pathfinder tool. I use the Copy and Paste-In-Front function to create two duplicate shapes that are directly on top of one another. Then I select the main fill shape and the shadow shape as well.
Then, using the Pathfinder tool use the overlap Pathfinder tool. I’m not sure what the technical term is for this function, but it basically takes two shapes and removes any parts of them that do not over-lap. Here’s a pic:
I will go through and use this technique to define each of my shadows, bright spots and any other little details I would like to add.
So there you have it. An insight into my mind as I go from sketch to vector illustration. This is how I do it, but every illustrator has a different technique. So use this article/tutorial as a guide to help you establish your own technique. I hope you learned something useful!
Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we alsowork for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.
Creating an Illustrative Monogram
Jan 06
Creating a Monogram
Monograms are an interesting way to go about making an identity. By nature they can be straight forward or extremely ornamental and illustrative. In this tutorial I’m going to walk you through the steps I (Chris Comella, designer at Go Media, hi!) took to making Go Media’s own Heather Mariano (formerly Heather Tropp) a monogram for her business card.
What follows is a series of animated GIFs. Each show the steps I took toward executing my concept. They all loop, so if you miss something the first time, don’t sweat it. It’ll be back in a few seconds. Also, below each animation you’ll see the corresponding notes.
Step 1: Creating the H
I start off making the general form of the H with basic shapes. Then I add in the negative I’ll be using as guides to ‘carve’ away any excess form. After I draw out the shape, using the pathfinder I unite all the white shapes together to create one solid piece I can use to subtract from the black base. To polish off the H I add a swirl at the stem and carve out a point on the leg.
Step 2: Creating the T
We start off again by creating a basic shape from which to work with. I basically create two circles with a square joining the middle to create an elongated circle. Merge the three pieces and start on the negatives. The two white circles again act as my guide for carving out an unwanted form. Once I’m done drawing out the shape on one side, I duplicate and rotate the piece to fit the other side to keep it symmetrical. Lastly, combine all the white shapes and subtract it from the black base.
Once I have that initial piece (the Arm) done, I end up squashing it a bit as you can see. I finish off the T by using two circles to create a a curved stem and adjust the angle a bit with a third shape. I merge those together along with the arm, and the T is set.
Step 3: Rendering the type
So now that we have the foundation of the monogram set, we can start thinking about how to render it. I wanted it to feel a bit more tactile, so what I did was create some contours that help define the shape spatially. I set the standard in my mind with the first line you see made above…following that precedent I just go ahead do the same around the letters. Next, I decided to take another look at the letters themselves. I end up adding in some open lines to two of the primary curves in the pair, giving it a more decorative, floral vibe. Also, you can see I added a horizontal line connecting the two letters.. here was something I kind of stumbled upon and decided to elaborate. What came to mind at this point was adding another aspect to the piece, I wanted it to appear ‘juicy.’
So in that vain, I decided to add in some water droplets. I liked this because it was in line with the piece’s theme and created some more visual appeal. Following the contour lines I layed down previously, I used those as a jumping off point for the droplets. Drawing them with those curves in mind, I rendered an initial droplet and then elaborated further by adding a couple more throughout the type.
Next up is the color. This step turned out to be very important, because not only is it making the leap from black & white, but it also defined the unique shapes of the letters themselves. What I did here, similarly to the contour lines, was set a precedent with the first piece and moved forward from there…essentially, winging it, but with a sort of mental guideline.
Step 4: Complimentary imagery
To emphasize the monogram’s theme, and to help round out the composition, I decided to make a flower to pair with the type. I started with the petal and finished by drawing the body out. This needed to be simple as it’s purpose is to fit in with the type.
Step 5: Putting it together
I pasted in the flower behind both the letters and trimmed it down to size (erasing any unwanted parts). Next I drew in a highlight and filled the flower with the same gradient from the type highlights. Taking it one step further, I decided to add in some (what I believe are called) Pistils… aka, antennae things. Finally I duplicate the flower and add it in at the bottom of the T to balance it out. From here I simply tightened the piece up, making any minor revisions or tweaks that were left. I decided to add a stroke on the T, a simple gradient to the water droplets, and create a small lightning bug riffing on Heather’s passion of photography (I always thought of lightning bugs as nature’s paparazzi). And there you have it!
Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we alsowork for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.
Andre Meca’s MSCED 183: A Case Study
Sep 12
Hello...
André Meca is a Portuguese graphic designer and illustrator. He currently studies at the ESAD. During 2011, he’s having his own take on the Make Something Cool Everyday Project.We’ve been following his work for quiet a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to show you his work and some of the behind the scene stuff of his process. Enjoy!This specific piece is the 183rd he made. You can view it better on Flickr. André has been kind enough to include the PSD of his experiment (see at the end of the post), so you can understand better his way of constructing the piece and the various ways he uses the elements composing the final image.— Simon H.
Today, I’m demonstrating how to make a cool, vintage Argus camera come to life!
So, lets get to it.
STEP 1: Draw basic shapes
First, grab an image of the Argus C3 here. Open a vector software, in this case Adobe Illustrator, and create a new document file and place your camera image. Now, using the Shape Tool, start drawing the basic shapes and elements of the camera.
Now to make the needed ‘Zig Zag’ effect, draw a circle, and go to Filters>Distort>Zig Zag and play around with value to develop the desired look. You can see my settings below.
Now, draw a nice circle again, and with the Line Tool, draw a small line in the up center of the circle. With the Rotate Tool, point to the middle of the circle and while pressing ALT move the line as much as you want. Now, the secret is to use the “CMD/CTRL + D” shortcut to repeat the same step as before, duplicating and rotating the line in equal distances.
When you have all the lines in place, it’s time to expand them, becoming shapes, not simply line strokes. Select the lines and go to Object>Expand, and click OK.
Now that they’re all shapes, select all shapes(lines and cirlce) then on Pathfinder it the “Intersect shape areas” button to achieve that effect. Simple.
At this point, continue to draw and arrange the various shapes over the image. Soon, it will start to look like an Argus camera.
For the numbers, repeat the same steps as above. Select the number, and while using the Rotate Tool, point to the middle of the circle to and move and rotate them.
STEP 2: Add some color
With all of the shapes looking cool and in place, it’s time to add some nice colors to our camera. I decided to give it brown, earthy colors; but, feel free and add as much color as you want.
STEP 3: Textures
The coolest part &emdash; texturing &emdash; is always great to experiment with. You can grab some textures similar to these or these to play around with. You can also find awesome texture made by yours truly at www.PSDFAN.com. Feel free to have a look at those, too.
STEP 4: Finishing touches
Now with all shapes, colors and textures in place, open Photoshop and copy the entire vector file from Illustrator, and then paste it into Photoshop as a “Smart Object File.” At this point, we have the whole illustration in a single layer. Since we inserted it as a Smart Object, it is still in vector mode meaning that you can so you can scale it up or down losslessly without rasterizing it. So, start by adding a little bit of shapeliness to the illustration by playing around with Levels, Curves and Color balance in Photoshop!
I encourage downloading the entire .psd file of this tutorial, provided below, and give it a look. Edit the layers and settings to achieve almost any desired result.
That’s it, folks! Thank you all for reading and for your time!
If you have more available time you should take a look at my work at www.heymeca.com, check out my Flickr, fav this image on Flickr, or follow my Dribbble page!
Additional pieces from MSCED
Simon here again. I wanted to share with you more pieces from the project, as they’re really sweet and inspirational.
Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we alsowork for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.
