Bamboozled by Bézier? Put off by points? Check out our quick guide
to some cool tools in Adobe Illustrator and how you can master them.
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.
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. 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).
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