Tutorials
I’ve posted articles about topographic maps before on my blog, namely my contour map effect Illustrator tutorial and my free pack of topographic map patterns. My first tutorial used Illustrator’s Blend tool to draw a series of concentric lines. It worked pretty well, but I went on to develop a technique that would help create more detailed and repeatable patterns, which I used to create that freebie pack. I never explained those new techniques in a tutorial, so that’s the topic for today! Follow this how-to guide to learn how to create a detailed topographic map effect, then convert the design into a seamless pattern.
Last week I posted a showcase of stunning chalk lettering designs, which gave me the inspiration to create some chalk typography myself. Unfortunately I neither have the talent or a chalkboard to produce authentic hand made chalk typography murals, but I’ve come up with a technique that designers can use to achieve realistic chalk lettering effects with their artwork. We’ll use the power of Illustrator to design a concept, then we’ll use some analogue tools to help capture the character of hand lettered art.
I recently received an email from a reader who asked for advice on how to create ropes and knots in Illustrator, which are particularly common with nautical themed designs. A custom Illustrator brush immediately sprung to mind, so I played around and perfected a technique that can be used to make any path look like a twisted, knotted and entangled length of rope.
Last week I shared a collection of seamless knitted Christmas jumper patterns for my readers to download and get their design in the festive spirit. A few of you guys were interested in seeing how they were made, so today I’ll be showing you the techniques I used to build them. Don’t worry if you’re not into real life knitting, this process uses Adobe Illustrator to compose your design and create a repeating pattern!
There’s some talented artists out there who can hand paint stunning hyper-realistic art, but those kinds of skills are something us mere mortals can only dream of. Thankfully with the help of Photoshop it’s possible to create cool effects to mimic the style of painted images. In today’s tutorial I show you a few steps that will transform a photograph into a digitally painted piece of art with detailed brush strokes and blotchy colours.
Textures are valuable design resources that can be used as backgrounds to your work or pasted in as overlays to add distressed tones. Anyone with a camera can collect texture resources, with even the latest smart phone cameras being more than capable of capturing high resolution details. It takes more than just a click of the shutter button to capture a great texture though, the most usable textures are the result of some Photoshop editing. In today’s post I share 3 important tips that will help transform your standard images into better textures resources.
