Advanced Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Coloring Tutorial
Adobe Illustrator Tutorial using Pen Tool
In this Adobe Illustrator Tutorial for Beginners, we are going through some different options for the Pen Tool. The few things to remember is to focus on getting down the anchors first. We have a lot of our tutorials that focus just on straight lines and placing anchors. The easy parts of the line are the start and end points which means you just have to look for changes in direction in the middle. This tutorial will focus on Building Tools, Applying Brushes, Editing Options, and Basic Coloring Techniques.
ARTBOARDS: File-New. Use a size or ratio that you can use for all of your own artwork. I recommend a 1080px by 1080px artboard for websites and social postings. Many of you will be looking to export your own artwork to Instagram. You can modify the size of the artwork or artboard with the Artboard Tool or Properties Panel.
SKETCH OR TRACED PHOTO: I recommend starting from a Clean Line Drawing or a simple Traced Stock Photo for your artwork and designs. Create a "Traceable Path" to align with the Building Tools in Adobe Illustrator. You can speed up your workflow by using a Quick Sketch when you become more advanced.
TEMPLATES: File -Place in your own Drawing, Sketch, or Traced Stock Photo. Select your Resource Layer. (It will usually be your only layer) In your Layers Panel, select the Menu in the Upper-Right Hand Corner. Drop down to Template. This will create a 50% Opacity and Lockout the Layer. Create a New Layer above to start "Building".
APPLY: Many of you will be adding our Brush Libraries for Line Variation. Notice that I am finding the ends 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: For your own artwork, duplicate your Live Brushes Layer before Expanding. Expand All. Object - Expand Appearance + Expand. 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: Select All. Select your Shape Builder Tool. Hold down Alt/Option 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. I recommend zooming in to delete smaller areas.
CARTOON BRUSHES: 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. (Updated) Cartoon, Cartoon 2, and Original Cartoon Brush Libraries.
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. (Updated) Comic Strip, Hand-Painted, Paintbrush, and Fine Liner Brush Libraries.
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. (Updated) Caffeinated Cartoonist, Rough Ink, and Jittery Hand Brush Libraries.
SAVE BRUSHES: Open All of the Brushes Libraries in Adobe Illustrator. (File - Open). Have your Brushes Panel Open. Under Window - Brushes. In the Brushes Menu, select "Save Brush Library." The Default Save Location is "User Defined." Repeat this step for each Brush Library.
OPEN BRUSHES: Under Window - Select Brushes. In the Brushes Menu, drop down to Open Brush Library. Hover over it and select "Other Library." A Normal Open Dialogue Box will appear to select any Brush Library to use in Illustrator. Almost all Tutorials use this method.
Opening Color Swatches
Open the Swatch Window. On the bottom left hand corner you will see the Open Swatch Libraries icon. At the bottom of the drop-down menu you will see Open Other Library. Go to our resource folder in the Color Palettes folder to Open ASE files. The ASE files have been created to make your life easier while going through the Challenge Series. Once you open the Library- click on the folder icon next to the swatches to move them from the library to the swatches.
Coloring with Fills
One of the easiest and fastest ways of filling in your color is through using Fills. The main thing to look for is enclosed shaped. We have done nothing but build with Shapes so coloring is super easy. Keep this in mind as you are going through the other tutorials where we don't have any shapes.
Gradient Panel
Select each color using the Magic Wand Tool (Adjust to Tolerance 5) each color. Add on a Radial Gradient to the frosting layers (3). Use the lightest and Darkest Color Swatch from the color set of 3. Adjust the slider to control where the values hit. Troubleshooting: Double check your fill is in front and not your stroke.
Gradient Tool
You can use the Gradient Tool to gain some control over where the gradient hits on your shapes. The tool will control the same features that are in the panel. I use the tool when I don't want to guess and check angle degrees or aspect ratio percentages.
BEGINNER GUIDES
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Basic Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Advanced Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand Building, Variation, Editing, and Basic Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE
BEGINNER: Understand the Building, Variation, and Advanced Coloring Methods. VIEW BEGINNER GUIDE