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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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
Create a Retro Triangular Pattern Design in Illustrator Follow this step by step Illustrator tutorial to create the popular retro style pattern design made up of lots of colourful squares and triangles. The process is pretty simple, making this a good tutorial for newcomers to Adobe Illustrator. We’ll be using tools to accurately align our elements, then see how the Pathfinder can easily create custom shapes. The pattern we’ll be creating is this cool retro inspired somewhat mosaic like design. View the final retro pattern design Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. Repeatedly press CMD+D to repeat the last transformation until the width of the artboard is filled with evenly spaced lines. Repeat the process, but this time with a horizontal line. Next, draw a diagonal line at 45 degrees across the artboard. Zoom right in and toggle outline mode (CMD+Y) and carefully align the diagonal line so it accurately intersects each grid point. Draw a selection around all objects then hit the Divide option from the Pathfinder tool palette.
Free Contract Templates & Legal Resources for Freelancers - UltraLinx Freelance design can be stressful. The time spent doing legal work and networking can get annoying when all you really want to do is design! I know that feeling. Dealing with a contract, countless emails and phone calls, and so much time in-between certain projects is a drag. Having your legal stuff in check can make for a faster and safer experience, so you can get to what you love, the design work. In this post I share some free templates for contracts, legal resources, and other tips I've learned through freelancing. Free Contract Templates Contracts were always a challenge for me, until I came across some free templates. Contract Killer The Contract Killer is an amazing free template and guide to your first freelance contract. Web Design Contract This sample contract is incredible for getting an idea of what to put in your contract. Contracts and Other Legal Templates Sending the Contract Writing the contract is half the battle, sending it and getting it signed is another story. Docracy
Wait, We Still Like Paper!: How to Screen Print on an Inkjet When designer Briana Bolger-Schuth took a break from advertising work, she wanted to make art. She had no art studio, but she did have access to a new Epson inkjet. Working on a project one night, she had a revelation: “I suddenly thought, ‘Hey, I wonder what would happen if I set these up as separations and ran the paper through each time for different colors?'” The results are pretty wonderful. She calls the project Let’s Put the Black on Last, and the setup is really simple. “The idea of getting something different out of the printer other than just what I expect is so exciting to me,” says Bolger-Schuth, “Where is the fun in knowing exactly what’s going to happen when you press the print button?” When Walter Benjamin penned The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he bemoaned the loss of authenticity and aura in mass-produced printed works. With Let’s Put the Black on Last, I have my answer. Click to Open Overlay Gallery The other joy is that the process is dead simple.
How To Create Wet Plate Collodion Styled Images In Photoshop (My Tutorial) I’m sure this will cause a bit of stir in the photography community, but retouching images is my kind of art creating something original. This is the first of hopefully many retouching and photography tutorials that I will be doing over the next months. This tutorial is about wet plate collodion images which I’ve been trying to find a way to emulate in post production. I really like the look and feel of these kind of images. For me, the basic photograph is the starting point and I try to capture people as they are. More info: anttikarppinen.com
How to Make an Animated GIF in Photoshop [Tutorial] If you've spent any time on the internet at all, you've probably come in contact with an animated GIF. It's an image file that allows you to feature animated images that makes it seem like the image is moving. Think of them as a hybrid between a still image and a video. Why are GIFs great additions to your marketing? The best part about GIFs is that they aren't too hard to make. Click here to download our free guide to learn how to design high-quality graphics. In the following tutorial on making animated GIFs, I'm using the Creative Cloud 2015 version of Photoshop, but the steps should be similar in other versions. How to Create an Animated GIF in Photoshop Here's an example of an animated GIF you might make using this tutorial: Alright, let's get started! Step 1: Upload your images to Photoshop. If you already have images created ... Gather the images you want in a separate folder. Then, select Browse and choose which files you'd like to use in your GIF, then click OK. 1) On social media.