by Chad Neuman

The Pathfinder palette is a useful to when using Adobe Illustrator. Here’s a tutorial on creating text and gradient clouds using this palette.

Step One
Open Adobe Illustrator and open a New Document. Select the Text tool. Type out the word, “Clouds” and highlight it and change the font to one that is thick. I used Cooper. Set the Fill color to Black and the Stroke should be set to None.

Step Two
With the Selection tool selected, hover over the “Clouds” text and right-click over it. Click Create Outlines. This will outline the text.

Step Three
Hover over “Clouds” again and right-click. Click Ungroup.

Step Four
Now we can move the various letters and re-size them with the Selection tool. Click-and-drag a corner bounding box to resize it and click-and-drag over the letter to move it.

Step Five
Click-and-hold the Rectangle tool on the toolbar and click the Ellipse tool. Click-and-drag a few circles. Hold Shift to make perfect circles.

Step Six
Choose the Rectangle tool and click-and-drag along the bottom of the circles.

Step Seven
Cover up any areas in the middle that aren’t covered, using the Ellipse, Rectangle, or Rounded Rectangle tool.

Step Eight
Go to Window>Pathfinder to open the Pathfinder palette.

Step Nine
With the Selection tool, click-and-drag around all the shapes and click the Add icon on the Pathfinder palette (the top-left corner of the palette). This will make all the shapes one shape.

Step Ten
Click-and-drag the various letters with the Selection tool and place them so they’re partially covering the cloud shape we created.

Step Eleven
Click-and-drag around all the letters and objects with the Selection tool. Click the Add icon on the Pathfinder palette.

Step Twelve
Change the Fill color to the gradient swatch on the Swatches palette. You can change the angle of the gradient by using the Gradient tool from the toolbar. Click-and-drag over the object to set the angle. Change the two colors in the gradient by clicking-and-dragging them from the Swatches palette onto the Gradient palette.

Step Thirteen
Add a few birds by drawing them with the Pencil tool.

Step Fourteen
Draw a few with the Pencil tool and move them over the cloud object by clicking-and-dragging with the Selection tool.

by Chad Neuman

Bar graphs and pie charts can be boring. But Adobe Illustrator offers many tools to spice up those graphs for your next business meeting or classroom presentation.

Step 1
Open up a new document in Illustrator. On the Toolbar, click-and-hold the Column Graph tool. This brings out many other options. Click the Pie Graph tool, second from the right.

Step 2
Click once anywhere in the Artboard area. The Pie Graph tool will open up a dialog. Enter 300 pt for both the height and the width. Click OK and another dialog will appear.

Step 3
Enter 25, 30, 20, and 45 across the top values. You can click in each field and enter the value or tab from field to field. Click the checkmark in the upper right hand corner to apply the values to the graph.

Step 4
Your pie chart should look something like this. Boring, right? That will change.

Step 5
Go to Object>Ungroup. A warning will appear that basically states that you will not be able to edit the graph values once you ungroup it. That is fine as we are done adding values and simply want to play with the design of the graph. Press OK. Go to Object>Ungroup a second time. With the Selection tool, click on each pie piece and change its Fill and Stroke to different colors. For the outside of the pie chart to be the same as the inside, make the Fill and Stroke the same for each piece.

Step 6
Now click on a pie piece with the Selection tool, and go to Effect>3D>Extrude and Bevel. Check the Preview box to see what the pie piece will look like. Rotate it using Custom Rotation area—click-and-drag to move it around. You can also mimic my settings from the image below. The angle of the chart depends largely on the layout of the  project or presentation. Change the Extrude Depth to 25 pts. Press OK.

Step 7
With the edited pie piece we just made 3D selected, open the Graphic Styles palette (Window>Graphic Styles) and press the New Graphic Style icon.

Step 8
Select the other pie pieces, clicking the graphic style we just created in the palette each time you select a new piece. This applies the same angle and 3D depth to the other pieces. At this point your pie may look like a mess because of the arrangement of the pieces.

Step 9
Using the Selection tool, click-and-drag the pieces so they work well together. Some pieces will be on top of the others, so go to Object>Arrange>Bring Forward or Object>Arrange>Send Backward when one of the pieces is selected you want to move in front or behind another piece so it makes sense. Now you have a nice, colorful 3D graph. You can focus on one particular pie piece by clicking-and-dragging it with the Selection tool to move it up, creating the illusion that it is lifted up out of the pie.

We can also adjust the Opacity of the shapes for various pie chart designs.

by Chad Neuman

The 3D Effect in Adobe Illustrator can create some interesting shapes. But you don’t have to use the Effect>3D command to create a 3D-looking effect. Here’s one way to create a neat 3D design using the Transform Each command.

Step 1
In Adobe Illustrator, use the Rounded Rectangle tool and click-and-drag to create a long shape like this. Set the Stroke to None and set the Fill to a gradient. With the Gradient palette open, click-and-drag colors from the Swatches palette to change the two sides of the gradient.

Step 2
Go to Object>Transform>Transform Each.

Step 3
Change the settings to the settings seen here in the Transform Each dialog. Be sure to press Copy and not OK.

Step 4
Next, press Cmd-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to repeat the same transformation to the new copied object. Press it a few times to create something like this.

Step 5
With a Selection tool, click the original shape. Press the left arrow a few times to separate it from the second shape to so it doesn’t touch. Next, click-and-drag around all the shapes to select it. Go to Edit>Copy, then Edit>Paste in Front. We have the new pasted objects in front and selected.

Step 6
Go to Object>Transform>Rotate and change the angle to 180 degrees.

Step 7
It should look something like this.

Step 8
Holding down Shift, press the right arrow a few times to move it so it’s next to the original shapes but not touching.

Step 9
Optionally, go to File>Place (de-selecting Link) and place the image we created in the “layered threshold” tutorial. Go to Live Trace options and use Photo High Fidelity.

Now we have a cool 3D effect with traced art for a website, newsletter or band gig poster.

by Chad Neuman

You can use photos and trace over them in Adobe Illustrator to make some unique effects and vector art. If the vector art resembles the original photo to the average person, then you run into copyright issues. If your trace is going to be somewhat similar to the original photo, then there’s one way to get around the copyright issues, and that is to use public domain images. Generally, very old images (number of years depends on the country you live in) and images created by the government (think WWII posters and NASA photos) are in the public domain.

I got this public domain image from Alice in Wonderland book from the 1800s, scanned onto a web site. There are thousands of other images out there in the public domain.

Step 1
Open a new document in Illustrator, go to File>Place and place the public domain image of Alice. Open the Layers palette and click the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the palette to create a new layer. This is to keep our new vector shapes on their own layer.

You can use various colors for your trace, but for this one I want to keep it simple with just black traces. Use the Pen tool (or the Pencil tool) to trace over the dark parts of this line drawing. Manually tracing allows us greater control and also lower number of paths and anchors than we would have with Live Trace.

Step 2
For the curvy parts of the drawing, use the Pen tool and click once on one end of the dark area. Next, click-and-drag slightly so the path curves along the shape.

Step 3
Some dark areas are smaller and thinner than others. To avoid a blocky appearance, curve the edges by clicking-and-dragging as you click anchor points with the Pen tool. When you draw back to the original starting point for each shape, hover over the original point and click to close the path.

Step 4
As you draw each shape, try clicking the Eye icon on the Layers palette next to the layer that the original image is on. This will allow you to see just the shapes without the image underneath and help you determine if there are any missing parts.

Step 5
I added a few new shapes which make this trace look a bit different from the original photo. These ripples I made using the Pen tool make the girl look like she’s standing in water.

Step 6
Her hand ended up being awkwardly in the air, so I added a cigarette. (I don’t smoke, but hey, this Alice does).

Here’s the original image next to the vector illustration that I traced from it.

I’ve also included a few examples of public domain images you can trace over for unique art. Check them out. You might get some great ideas.

You can also find many resources linked at the bottom of this Wikipedia entry. Click on some of the links and see what’s out there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources

by Chad Neuman

Using custom brushes can be useful for adding unique backgrounds or strokes to a design. But one uncommon way to use them is to make their stroke very large, causing some interesting effects for use as backgrounds or other abstract designs.

Step 1
As an example, let’s click-and-hold onto the Rectangle tool, which will bring out a side menu which includes the Ellipse tool. Select it and draw out a circle. Hold Shift to make a perfect circle.

Step 2
On the Control Palette, change the stroke to a different brush.

Step 3
Choosing this example brush will change the stroke to something like this.

Step 4
Next, change the size of the brush to a higher number.

Step 5
The circle doesn’t look like a circle anymore. This causes this interesting look, but let’s make something a little bit better.

Step 6
Select the Star tool from the same toolbar area.

Step 7
Change the Stroke of the brush to 100 pt and to this brush shown here.

Step 8
The effect causes it to not look like a star anymore, but this abstract background.

Step 9
Ctrl-click (PC: Alt-click) and drag the object to a duplicate, and do this twice to make two. Change the color of the Stroke of the designs, and adjust the Opacity in the Transparency palette.

Step 10
Finally, place a raster image (File>Place) and apply a Live Trace (for this one, I used the Type preset).

Step 11
Click Expand, and use the Direct Selection tool to select some parts of it and delete them. Now we have a unique, abstract design which can be used as a background or even a logo. 

by Chad Neuman

Let’s create the layout for planning a website portfolio. By doing so, we’ll learn a few techniques, including applying gradients to simulate a dried paint effect, the Add to Shape command in the Pathfinder palette, clipping masks, and typing on a path.

Step 1
Open a new file in Adobe Illustrator. With the Ellipse tool, click-and-drag out a few overlapping circles. Hold down Shift to draw perfect circles. They should all together form a “cloud” shape.

Step 2
Change the Fill color to an orange swatch from the Swatches palette. Set the Stroke to None.

Step 3
Click-and-drag around all the shapes with a Selection tool to select them all. Open the Pathfinder palette (Window>Pathfinder) and click Add to Shape to combine them all. Press Expand to get rid of the inner edges and make it truly one object.

Step 4
Next, deselect the cloud so we don’t change its color. Draw out a few long, vertical rounded rectangles with the Rounded Rectangle tool. Change its Stroke to None and set the Fill to a gradient. In the Gradient palette, click-and-drag a dark orange and a regular orange to the opposite sides, like shown here.

Step 5
Click-and-drag with the Gradient tool to make the darker orange appear on the bottom side. The effect is accomplished by having a little bit darker orange near the bottom of the paint drips, much like dried paint, which would be a little bit darker.

Step 6
Now let’s add some text for the parts of the website. With the Pen tool, create a curved path that follows the top curves of the cloud. To do this, click first at one point, then let go and then click where the end of a curve is, but don’t let go yet. Drag it to curve the path. After drawing a curve, be sure to click again on the most recently created point to reset the angle so you don’t get awkward curves.

Step 7
With the Text tool, click somewhere on the path and enter in the text.

Step 8
Select the text and go to Edit>Copy and Edit>Paste in Front. Then move the front text for now to select the back text and add some arrowheads to it by going to Effect>Stylize>Add Arrowheads.

Step 9
Make the back arrowhead text a different color from the text in front, like blue. Then move the front text back on top of the arrowhead text.

Step 10
Add a photo by placing it (File>Place). If you’d like it to have rounded corners, just draw a Rounded Rectangle over it and when selecting both the photo and the rounded rectangle, go to Object>Clipping Mask>Make. Add a background black rounded rectangle and Arrange it behind the photo for a border. Add some other decorations, such as stars with the Star tool or birds or arrows with the Pen tool.

Now we have the basic design down for a portfolio website. Using this, we’d use Adobe Dreamweaver or Adobe GoLive along with Adobe Photoshop to layout out the functional website.

by Chad Neuman

Using both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop together can produce some original designs. I’ll go over a technique of creating a shape in Illustrator and then using it as a clipping mask in Photoshop, which is then partially hidden for a nice background effect.

Step 1
In Illustrator, click-and-hold the Rectangle tool to bring out the other shapes. Click the Ellipse tool.

Step 2
You can click-and-drag out a small circle by holding Shift to keep the correct proportion, or you can just click on the Artboard with the Ellipse tool selected and enter a specific size, such as .2 inches shown here. Make the Fill black and Stroke none.

Step 3
With a Selection tool, hold down Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag to the right to create a duplicate. Be sure to hold down Shift to keep it duplicated at a 90 degree angle.

Step 4
To repeat this effect with the same settings, press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) which will repeat the last transformation. Press it as many times as needed to create a row, like seen here.

Step 5
With a Selection tool, click-and-drag around the row of circles to select them. Then hold down Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag below the current selection to create a duplicate row. Press it a couple times to create a box area of circles.

Step 6
Select the entire grid of circles and go to Edit>Copy. Open an image you want to work with and go to Edit>Paste.

Step 7
Press Enter to place the clipboard contents. The art should look something like this.

Step 8
Double-click on the Background layer and name it to make it a normal layer. In the Layers palette, click-and-drag the new layer which has the pasted shape from Illustrator below the original layer. There should now be two layers, one that has the image and one that has the pasted shape. The pasted shape layer should be below the image layer.Position the cursor between the two layers in the Layers palette and hold down Option (PC: Alt) and a circle icon will appear. Click to make a clipping mask.

Step 9
Now the image looks pretty cool, but let’s go one step further. With the layer that has the shape on it selected in the Layers palette, choose a soft-edged, large brush and paint black over an area you would like to hide the circles. Now the subject stands out from the rest of the image, with a nice background effect.

©ISTOCKPHOTO/JOHN MILLERBIO

The Transform Each command, when repeated with the Transform Again command, can create some unique designs and patterns, and even custom brushes, as we’ll see here.

Step 1
Open a new document in Adobe Illustrator. I set the art board size to Letter but yours can vary. Click-and-hold on the Rectangle tool to bring out the other options, including the Star tool. Click the Star tool.

Step 2
Holding down Shift to keep a correct proportion, click-and-drag to create a star.

Step 3
With the star still selected after drawing it, go to Object>Transform>Transform Each.

Step 4
The Scale options allow you to resize the object to a certain percentage of the original and the Move options allow you to change the position of the object on the Artboard. Rotate allows you to rotate the object to a specified angle. Keep the numbers in the Scale option the same if you want the scale to be the same. Try following these setting for this tutorial. IMPORTANT: Next, click Copy. This creates a duplicate object so the original is not deleted.

Step 5
Once you have two stars on the Artboard, press Cmd-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to repeat the same effect to the new object, therefore creating a third object off to the side, rotated a bit more and a little smaller. Press Cmd-D (PC: Ctrl-D) a few times to create a line of stars.

Step 6
Next, we’ll use this design to create a custom brush. Open the Brushes palette (Windows>Brushes). With a Selection tool, click-and-drag a selection around all of the stars. Click-and-drag the selection into the Brushes palette.

Step 7
Select New Art Brush and click OK.

Step 8
Change the Method to Hue Shift and check Proportional to keep the stars from being stretched.

Step 9
You can now apply this new art brush to any Stroke, whether it’s the Pen tool, Pencil tool, or the stroke of an object such as a rectangle or circle. Try drawing a curve with the Pen tool as seen here. Make sure you make the Fill set to None and the Stroke set to the new brush by selecting it in the Brushes palette.

Step 10
The Transform Each command, combined with the Transform Again command, can create designs for many custom brushes and add aesthetic appeal to your designs.

© ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/GUSTAVO MARTINO

One ”web 2.0″ look is the reflecting icon. The clean, crisp look of these attractive images makes clicking through a website’s navigation fun. Here’s how to make one of those neat icons.

Step 1
Open a new document in RGB mode, since this will be for the web and not for print. For this example, we’ll make a black background with white icons for a wide variation between the icons and their background. Draw a black square or rounded square with the Rectangle tool or the Rounded Rectangle tool (click-and-hold over the Rectangle tool icon on the Toolbar to get more options). Hold Shift while dragging to make a square.

Step 2
Click-and-hold the Rectangle tool icon and then click the Star tool. Change the Fill at the bottom of the Toolbar to White. Make sure the Stroke is set to None. Click-and-drag on the black square area to draw a white star.

Step 3
Click the Selection tool on the Toolbar. Hold down Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag the star to duplicate it. It doesn’t matter where you move it, we’ll situate it correctly next. With the Selection tool, click-and-hold the middle box at the top border of the star. Now drag it down so that is upside down but about half the size of the original star. Move it so its two points meet the points of the original star.

Step 4
Click the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle over the new upside down star. In the Gradient palette (Window>Gradient), change the gradient to white and black, and move the middle slider to the left. I set it to about 15%. Change the angle to 270° so the black is on bottom moving vertically to lighter shades.

Step 5
Select the rectangle we just made as well as the upside down, smaller star. One way to di this is to click-and-drag over the area with the Selection tool, then Shift-click the black background to de-select it. In the Transparency palette (Window>Transparency), click the arrow to get the flyout menu. Click Make Opacity Mask. Now we have the reflecting icon!

Step 6
Try a few different shapes. Here I’ve drawn a few different objects by drawing the shapes then grouping them (Object>Group) to create a few more examples.

One of the coolest aspects of Illustrator’s Text tool is its flexibility once the text is outlined. You can then edit the text just like any other Illustrator path, moving the letters around and even the lines and shapes around.

Step 1
Start out by typing a simple phrase, a company name, or a slogan. Include the ampersand in it for this example. I used the font Rosewood. Click once with the Text tool to make the first word, then click elsewhere with the Type tool and type the ampersand, then click somewhere else with the Type tool for the other word.

Step 2
With the Selection tool, click the ampersand. Click-and-drag a corner to make it bigger.

Step 3
Let’s make the text more editable for our purposes of reshaping (rather than changing the character of the font). With the Selection tool, Control-click (PC: Right-click) over each word as well as the ampersand and click Create Outlines.

Step 4
Next, with the Selection tool, Control-click (PC: Right-click) again over each word and the ampersand and click Ungroup.

Step 5
Zoom in the art to see that we can now edit the text as shapes. With the Selection tool, click-and-drag the letters to move them closer together. Click-and-drag on a corner box to resize specific letters. With the Direct Selection tool, click an Anchor point to stretch the letter or make it conform to another letter.

Step 6
Click-and-hold the Pen tool to get the Add Anchor Point tool. Click on the paths were there should be another anchor point to add one. Then use the Direct Selection tool to move it.

Step 7
In some spots, you can have one letter’s stroke adjacent to another. Be creative with how the shapes of the letters conform to the other letters.

Step 8
Now instead of a boring slogan we have various sizes and shapes for the letters, some flush with each other.

Step 9
Try adding a gradient fill. Click-and-drag with the Selection tool a box around all of shapes (or go to Select>All). Go to Window>Gradient, select colors from the Swatch (Window>Swatches), and choose a gradient to finish the look. You may also want to color specific letters differently. For this just select each letter separately, then choose a color from the Swatches palette.