Adobe Illustrator Tutorial using Pen Tool
This Adobe Illustrator Tutorial will be a part of our Resource and Beginner Guides to help assist you in creating a workflow for your own artwork. LEARNING TARGET (1): Select a Primary Building Tool that best matches your own artwork or is the easiest to use (Pen, Pencil, or Shape Tools). LEARNING TARGET (2): If you are new, pay attention to the order and sequence of events that I apply to my artwork. I will be adding Brushes to my Line Work before doing Expanded Editing. LEARNING TARGET (Adv): Use Shape Builder for fast Editing. Prep your initial paths to go long.
BUILDING: If you are frustrated with the Pen Tool, a simple tip is to break down the process into 2 Steps. The first step is to just apply Anchor Points to the start-curve-end of a line or path. The second step is to adjust the Curves with the Anchor Point Tool or Smooth Curve Button in the Control Panel.
VARIATION: Many of you will be applying our Brush Libraries. To Open Brushes, open the Brushes Panel. Click on Open Brush Library. Scroll down to “Other Library.” Select one of the Brush Libraries to apply. If you saved Brushes, you can Open from “User Defined.”
COLORING: Coloring will be extremely easy using Live Paint Bucket. The goal of Live Paint is to create Shapes that we can color using Fills. Once you have completed the Live Paint Group, it is important to Expand and Upgroup. We will leverage these shapes for our Values and Gradients.
PHOTO REFERENCES: For your own artwork, look for photos to use as drawing, design, or color references. I recommend gathering and organizing images based on the same subject matter for your character or logo designs. LEARNING TARGET (1): For your own artwork, start from a Drawing, Sketch, or Traced Stock Photo.
DRAWING OR TRACED PHOTO: The easiest starting point for Adobe Illustrator is a Clean Line Drawing or Traced Stock Photo. LEARNING TARGET (1): For your artwork, create a "Traceable Path" to align with the Building Tools in Adobe Illustrator. LEARNING TARGET (2): As you become more advanced, prepare your drawings for Specific Tools or Steps in your Workflow (ex. Pen Tool, Blend Tool, Repeat-Mirror, or Values).
PRIMARY BUILDING: As I am creating my artwork, notice I am aligning the Tools to the Shapes and Lines within my Sketch or Drawing. Many of you will be using Shape, Pencil, and Pen Tools as your Primary Building Tools. LEARNING TARGET (1): Understand the Building Tool and Options in Adobe Illustrator. LEARNING TARGET (2): Align the Building Tools (Ellipse, Pen, and Curvature Tools) to the Design Elements (Shapes, Lines, and Curves) in your artwork.
APPLY: Match the Brushes to the Line Variation. If you planned out your lines in your own drawing, this step is much easier. Select the Brushes and Line Weight. The easiest method is to find the ends and visually find the other end to see if it will be floating or hitting another line. If it hits another line that signals a darker value to the end should reflect the change in value. (Thicker End).
EXPAND: Moving towards Editing your Brushes. Duplicate Live Brush Layer before Expanding. Expand All. Object - Expand Appearance + Expand. You really only need to Expand the Strokes. Path Simplify Option: Once the Brushes have been Expanded hit the selection with a Simplify Path ( Object - Path - Simplify) to clean up extra Anchor Points.
EDIT: Editing using Shape Builder. Select All. Select your Shape Builder Tool. Hold down Alt/Option on your Keyboard to Delete. Hit all of the overlapping lines to clean up any of the extra lines. You can Turn Off the Highlighting feature in Shape Builder. If you have busy or detailed areas, I will recommend zooming in to delete smaller areas.
SAVE BRUSHES: Once you have downloaded and extracted the Brush Folders, I recommend Saving Brush Libraries to your "User Defined" by clicking Save Brush Library in the Brushes Menu. Follow along with our Resource Guides to save, apply, and edit Brushes in Adobe Illustrator.
OPEN BRUSHES: Our Adobe Illustrator Brushes have been organized into Brush Libraries for easy application and to maintain consistency with your Line Variation. You can Open Brush Libraries through the “User Defined” or “Other Library” Options in the Brushes Panel in Adobe Illustrator.
DOWNLOAD BRUSHES: Many of you are jumping over from YouTube looking to download our Adobe Illustrator Brushes and Resource Folders. Our (Updated) Adobe Illustrator Brushes will come to you as Zipped Folders. Once you have downloaded and extracted the Folders, the Brushes are ready to be used in Adobe Illustrator. Brush Libraries: Updated Cartoon, Comic Strip, and Vintage Mascot Brushes.
70 CARTOON BRUSHES: Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Brushes are my go-to brushes for Professional Logos, Cartoons, Mascots, and Branding. Use Cartoon Illustrator Brushes with the Pen, Pencil or Paint Brush Tools to Apply different Line Variation to your Vector Artwork. 70 Cartoon Brushes include Updated Cartoon, Cartoon 2, and Original Cartoon Brush Libraries.
100 COMIC STRIP BRUSHES: Hand Painted + Comic Strip Brushes to get a lived in feel back into your Vector Art. Comic Strips and Hand Painted are painted based on some of my favorite artists and cartoonists. These brushes are designed to look ready for the Sunday Paper. 100 Comic Strip Brushes include Updated Comic Strip, Hand-Painted, Paintbrush, and Fine Liner Brush Libraries.
50 MASCOT BRUSHES: Jittery Hand, Caffeinated Cartoonist + Rough Ink Brushes to Mimic Paper Bleed and Caffeine. Designed to be a little less stiff with your vector art. Use these Brush Libraries to get more of a distressed look or ink bleed back in your own Vector Artwork. 50 Mascot Brushes includes Updated Caffeinated Cartoonist, Rough Ink, and Jittery Hand Brush Libraries.
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BRUSH LIBRARIES
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Shape Builder is a tool that can be used to give an alternative to the Eraser Tool while Editing. In order to use Shape Builder, you will need to Expand the Brush Layer. Select All - Expand (or Expand Appearance + Expand). I recommend duplicating the Brushes Layer to preserve a Live Brush Layer for future edits. Once the Brushes are Expanded, Select All + click on the Shape Builder Tool.
Expand Appearance: I do recommend Expanding your Brushes Layer before using Shape Builder. This will prevent bouncing of the Brushes and Line Variation. It will also move toward an efficiency model to save time so you are not stopping and editing while you are still building.
Select your All on Brushes Layer: In order to use the Shape Builder Tool, you will need to select an Object or All Objects so the Tool knows what it should interact with. You can modify what is selected by choosing smaller areas if selecting all becomes too overwhelming. Only edit one layer or object at a time.
Hold Alt/Option: Hold down your Alt/Option Key while using the Shape Builder Tool to Delete Mode. I do recommend turning off the Highlighting when in this mode. Drag or click on any of the overlapped or stray marks to delete using the Shape Builder Tool. Notice that if you go long with strokes it will give you a larger target to edit faster.
BEGINNER GUIDES
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Advanced Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Advanced Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Coloring Methods VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Coloring Methods using Shapes. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand Building, Variation, Editing, and Basic Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE