Illustrator: Spin the bottle with 3D Revolve In this tutorial, I’ll be discussing some of the ins and outs of the 3D Revolve Effect by rendering a three dimensional wine bottle with a label. This Effect allows you to revolve an outline profile of the right side of an object around a center axis to create a 3D object. Considering how simple the feature is to use, the results are really quite remarkable. Once you have the profile of the object that you wish to render, you can Revolve it, add lighting, and map other elements to its surface, or throw it into perspective, in minutes. STEP 1: Starting on the On the Edge of Reality. There are lots of ways to create the contour of an object to be used for this 3D exercise. STEP 2: In Preparing to Revolve, You May Need to Rotate Your Profile Before you do anything, you have to make sure that the open end of the profile is to the left which will become the axis for profile to Revolve around. STEP 3: Making It Into a Bottle, Inside and Out STEP 4: Outline the Stroked Contour 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Cleaning up scanned sketches with GIMP and Inkscape | DarkGoddess I’m no professional designer, but I do feel the need to get some sketching done once in a while. Sometimes I feel the urge to make a full colour image like my TNP fan art and various (now more-difficult-to-find) mini illustrations for Yvan’s blog. Without the formal training, and the expensive professional tools, I’ve used GIMP for years. Lloyd in Letchworth - reminds me of "Dot and the Kangaroo" The sketch to convert Lloyd sketch - finalized design The comic industry had to start off without computers in the beginning.. In the case of this drawing, I had a few ideas already in mind and used the best sketch. Lloyd sketch - rough cleaned The clean line After processing the sketch to be as clean as possible, I import the image (just a link rather than embed) into a new SVG page in Inkscape. Lloyd - 'final ink' stage in Inkscape At this stage, the aim is to ensure that the lines are smooth and crisp. Here, I have separated the arms, tail and beer mug from the main body. Adding colour
Rendering a 2D Spark Plug Diagram from 3D Components in Illustrator Often, the best way to be sure of your depth and angles is to render objects using Illustrators 3D tools. This tutorial will take you through building a 3D spark plug from multiple components and then expanding the image into a 2D vector diagram. Previous experience with Illustrators Revolve and Extrude tools will be necessary for this. Final Image Preview Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Step 1: Bright Spark To begin with we need to know what a spark plug looks like. Step 2: Approach We can see from the image that creating a single 3D object isn't going to be possible in Illustrator. For more information on these two techniques why not refer to VECTORTUTS tutorials Working with 3D Objects and Transparencies to Make a Vector Cola Bottle Design and Create a Can of Beans by Mapping Vectors to a 3D Object. Step 3: Outline Step 4: Hexagon Step 5: Polygon Tool Conclusion
Photoshop Class: Scanned line drawing to finished colored illustration [15 Oct 2010 | By Dot | 7 Comment(s) | 9,180 views ] I bet you guys thought I’d forgotten how to draw, huh? I must admit, art has been on the back burner these days… but I volunteered to do a little illustration for a neighbor’s baby shower. And, since you like our last ‘Photoshop Class’, I thought you guys might like a little peek into how I colored it. This is a quick method I use for coloring more ‘cartoonish’ drawings… I sketched the drawing in pencil, then went over the line work in ink. However if you draw your pencil lines dark enough, this method will also let you create an ‘inked’ looking drawing from the pencil sketch. Step 1: Scan Clean up the worst of the stray pencil marks, and scan in your drawing. Step 2: Levels Create a new Levels adjustment layer. Move the white arrow to the left and move the black arrow to the right (see the Step2 image) until you have a white background and black lines. Step 3: Clean up the Lines For this illustration, I wanted smoother lines. 1.
Designs, Good Thunder, Minnesota: Online Classes in Illustrator, Macromedia Fireworks and Freehand, Photsohop Elements. Photoshop Filters, Canvas, Creature House Expression Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard vector, or object oriented, drawing program. I've compiled a few of my favorite tips that make working with Illustrator easier, and tutorials using some of Illustrator's creative features. But first, what is a vector program? Join me for classes in Illustrator CS3 at Eclectic Academy. Illustrator CS3: Getting Your Feet Wet: the introductory class for Ilustrator CS3 Ilustrator CS3: Learning to Swim: the Level 2 class for Illustrator CS3 These tutorials were written for Windows but Macintosh users can use them too. Pattern Brush Anatomy 101 Making pattern brushes can be baffling. Loading Brush LibrariesHow to load brush and other libraries in Illustrator 9 and 10. Setting Leading Illustrator sets leading manually (the space between lines of text), but sometimes it isn't right for the look you want to achieve. Weaving a Ribbon Through Text Here's how to weave a ribbon (or anything else) through text in a few easy steps. Filters vs. Free St.
A great technique for scanning your inked drawings This is a nice and quick way to get amazingly crisp and sharp scans of your artwork.The scanning process itself is crazy fast and you'll end up with a perfect scan - no need to adjust levels or remove smudges, scratches and noise because of the texture of the paper. And the best part, at least for me, is that the scan itself will be cut out from the background so you don't have to spend time removing it and can move straight on to colouring or whatever you'd want to do. You can only use this procedure with white or, at least light, paper with sketches drawn using ink, felt tip pens, markers and the like.It won't work as well when you've used a lead pencil or something else that leaves smudges and/or has a faint edge. In step 4 you'll find a quick rundown for people who know their way around Photoshop as well as some final notes and examples of the difference between this scanning method and the "regular" one.
Easy Fabric Printing Tutorial My garden shed project is continuing. I've had an idea in my head for fabric for the cushions for a couple years now. I wanted something bold that would stand out from afar. Here's the stamped faux wallpaper in the stairwell in our house. I started with a drop cloth for painting that I found at the hardware store. The cushions are going to be outdoors and will eventually fade and mildew. Here's how I printed the fabric: Step 1: I drew out some of the flowers on white paper and traced the design on the fun foam. Step 2: I cut out the shapes from the foam. Step 3: I glued the fun foam flower shapes to grayboard insulation I had hanging around the house. Step 4: Keeping in the frugal vein of the project, I decided to use latex paint I had hanging around my paint closet. Although I'm not sure how durable, etc. the latex paint will be on the canvas, I figured I would keep things simple. Using a foam brush, I neatly painted the flower stamp with the latex paint.
Get the Most Out of Your Line Drawing November 29th, 2006 Before I went to college, the only digital art I produced were little scribbles I made with my mouse in Microsoft Paint. Then, in my second semester, I took a little class called “Introduction to Computer Imaging” where I was first introduced to Photoshop. One of the first things I learned in that class was how to scan and color a drawing. My drawings are still an integral part of my digital paintings. Different Types of Line Whenever I start a new painting, one of the first decisions I make has to do with the drawing. Here’s examples of two black and white images I made that use different types of line. A finished image that utilizes an ink drawing. In these paintings, I started out with a very rough sketch. Preparing the Line For whatever type of line I use, I usually scan it in grayscale mode at 300 ppi. I also don’t scan in color because it takes longer and is unnecessary. Here’s an example of a drawing I did with a red under-drawing. The Hue/Saturation settings:
Spot Colour Regular readers of the RW Publishing/Graphics section will have noticed a recurring theme, namely the huge difference between producing in-house and commercial print. For work destined for your local inkjet all colours are output in a single pass of the sheet of paper through the device. For commercial full-colour print all colours are recreated by passing the paper through the printers' press four times, once for each of the four "process" colour components - cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The extra work involved in commercial printing and especially the initial setup in creating the CMYK colour-separated plates means that full-colour work generally proves too expensive for short runs. In other words there is a huge gap between as-you-need-it in-house print and full-blown full-colour offset print. Moreover it's much easier to produce the necessary separations as each spot colour is output on its own plate rather than being broken down into its CMYK percentages. So what can be done?
How to Scan Handmade Art to the Computer Effectively - Tapastic Do you make your art by hand? I used to make my comics mostly by hand, drawing the comic with a soft pencil (about a 4B), apply watercolor, then photograph my comics with a digital camera. Then apply digital retouching in Photoshop. Nowadays, I pencil and ink my comics, scan them to the computer and color the work in Photoshop for a much cleaner look to be read on a computer screen. I have a way of scanning a hand drawn image that will be ready for coloring in Photoshop. 1. 2. 3. 4, Create new folders with the names Initial Scan and Master File: Create these folders to keep your work in order. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. I hope that helps! See you then!
Prepress-Perfect PDFs with Acrobat 8 Professional - Layers Magazine | Layers Magazine Not all PDFs are created equal—just ask any prepress manager. Prepress-bound PDFs are best created by high-quality PDF generation tools such as Adobe Acrobat Distiller or the Export command in Adobe InDesign. Prepress PDFs should have high-resolution images; simplified flattened, RIP-Ready images; high-quality embedded fonts; CMYK or spot color assignments; no lines that are less than 0.25 pts; and need to have large enough dimensions to accommodate crop marks and color bars. If you are the receiver of a PDF file that’s destined for prepress, you want to be able to evaluate and prepare a PDF for prepress output. Here are some of the Acrobat 8 tools you can use to evaluate, edit, and fix your PDF files to ensure that they print properly. STEP 1 Open and Resave PDF Document Open the PDF document you want to evaluate and prepare for prepress. STEP 2 Determine Document Dimensions and PDF Creator Begin the evaluation of your PDF document by determining its dimensions and how it was created.
Design a three-colour Risograph print Risograph is a similar process to screenprinting, where one colour is printed at a time and a limited colour palette is used. There are hundreds of different ways to prepare your artwork for Risograph printing, but I’ve found an efficient method that suits my way of working and illustration style, which we’ll walk through here. In this tutorial we’ll prepare a three-colour print – when overprinted these can create a fourth colour – that’s ready to be brought to life using a Risograph printer. Once mastered, you can experiment with this technique and adapt it to your creative process to create unique prints of your own. 01 First of all research and then sketch out your illustration. It’s a good idea to keep the shapes relatively simple so that you don’t run into problems during the printing stage. 02 Launch Photoshop and open your new file (File>Open). 03 Once you’re happy with how well you’ve cleaned up the scan, open the file in Illustrator and select the Pen tool.
12 Apps for Successful Graphic Design Client Meetings - MoneyWiseWomen Working as a graphic designer, especially if you work for yourself, means you have the opportunity to be creative but also need the skills to run your business effectively. Here are 12 iphone, ipad and web apps that can help you manage client meetings and grow your clientele with skill and professionalism. 1. Penultimate This iPad app allows you to take extensive notes at client meetings and even show off preliminary sketches at a moment’s notice. 2. Moodboard Pro a design tool that offers you the opportunity to gather inspirations for projects in one convenient place. 3. Clients expect to be able to offer constant feedback. 4. The quest to find just the right color palette for a project can really hinder progress. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12.
Creating Editable Letterpress Styled Text A popular typography trend in web design and print design is letterpress styled text. This text styling is easy to do in Photoshop, but in Illustrator, it is super simple to create letterpress styled text while keeping the text editable. Utilizing the Appearance panel and Graphic Styles, you can quickly and consistently apply this style to any editable text and other vector objects. Final Image: Letterpress Styled Text Below is the final letterpress styled text treatment we will be working towards. Tutorial Details: Letterpress Styled Text Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4Difficulty: BeginnerEstimated Completion Time: 5-10 minutes Step 1: Letterpress Styled Text Create a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M) and fill it with a color of your choosing. Step 2 Type out some text with the Text tool (T) and chose a font. Step 3 From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, choose New Fill. Step 4 With the new fill selected in the Appearance panel, go Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Step 5 Step 6 Step 7