BEGINNER GUIDE
ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
TUTORIALS: Our Adobe Illustrator Tutorials will focus on the core areas of your workflow: building, editing, and coloring. LEARNING TARGET (1): Understand the Building Tools and Options. LEARNING TARGET (2): Understand Line Variation along with Live and Expanded Editing Tools. LEARNING TARGET (3): Understand Color, Values, and Gradients using Advanced Coloring Techniques.
BEGINNER: Our Beginner Tutorials will follow an easy process for creating artwork in Adobe Illustrator. If you are new, it is important to understand the Tools Options and Settings. LEARNING TARGET: Understand the Primary Building Tools and Options.
ADVANCED: As I am creating my artwork, pay attention to the Sequence of Events and Tool Options as it relates to building a "Routine" or "Workflow." LEARNING TARGET: Apply Variation, Editing, and Advanced Color Techniques to your own Artwork.
ARTBOARDS: I will recommend a (1080px by 1080px, 300PPI, RGB) as your Initial or Base Artboard Size. The Initial Artboard Size can be changed at any point without ruining your own artwork. Use the Properties Panel to Scale Artwork and Artboards. LEARNING TARGET (1): Create a "Building Template" that includes Artboard Size, Resource Images, and Template Layers. LEARNING TARGET (2): Pick a "Building" Artboard Size you can use for your own Artwork and Social Media Postings. Example: Instagram uses 1080px as its base size to modify for Landscape, Square, or Portrait.
GENERAL PREFERENCES: All of our initial preferences are designed to gain more control over what you are clicking on. The more you can zoom in and see your anchors and handles the better. You can adjust the size of your Anchors and Handles under Selection and Anchor Display. Under your General Settings, make sure that Disable Auto Add/Delete is Selected.
SELECTION TOOLS: The Direct Selection Tool can grab and adjust the Anchors, Handles, and Paths. It is worth having your Smart Guides Path Labels Turned On so you know what the tool is selecting before dragging. The Selection Tool will move and select objects. I like using the Bounding Box for my Transform Tools, Turn On under View. I recommend this for Quick Scaling.
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 TEMPLATE: I have created a Drawing Template of 2160px by 1080px in Adobe Photoshop. This will allow me to Export my Drawing or Sketch from Layers at 1080px by 1080px. I have created a Frame of 1080px by 1080px. File - Place in your Photo Reference. You can add Adjustment Layers to assist your drawings and sketches. LEARNING TARGET (1): Create a New Document 2160px by 1080px. LEARNING TARGET (2): Add Adjustment Layers to your Photo Layer.
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.
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. DOWNLOAD BRUSHES / BRUSHES GUIDE
ADVANCED COLORING: In our Advanced Coloring Tutorials, we will be using Live Paint to create our Basic Fills or Flat Color Layer before moving on to Values and Gradients. LEARNING TARGET (1): Apply Color, Values, and Gradients using Advanced Coloring Techniques to your own artwork or designs.
COPY-PASTE: The goal of this step is to get the Halftones into your design so they populate into your Swatches. All you have to do is Copy and Paste them over into the Artboard you are currently working on. The Comic Halftones will automatically populate into the Swatches Panel for use.
RESOURCE GUIDES: Digital Downloads will come as Zipped Folders. Once you have Downloaded and Extracted the Resource Folders, they are ready to be used in Adobe Illustrator. Follow along with our Resource Guides and Tutorials to learn how to Apply Brushes + Halftones + Textures. BRUSHES GUIDE / HALFTONES GUIDE / TEXTURES GUIDE
RESIZING HALFTONES: Draw out a rectangle and select a Halftone Pattern Fill from the Swatches Panel. With the Shape Selected, double click on the Scale Tool. Check Transform Patterns Only and adjust the Scale up or down under Uniform %.
KNIFE TOOL: After using Live Paint, Expand and Ungroup. Use a Duplicated Flat Color Layer for your Value Layers. The Knife Tool will cut Shapes. I recommend cutting out all of the shapes first before deleting them. You can use this technique for Highlights, Shadows, or Cast Shadows. LEARNING TARGET: Use the Knife Tool to create shapes to use as Values. LEARNING TARGET (2): Apply Color, Values, and Gradients using Advanced Coloring Techniques to your artwork or designs.
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