As mentioned in the last quickfix, there are some options in Illustrator that can catch you out. This particular one could cost you dearly if a job goes to print after overlooking this crucial option, resulting is a fuzzy/compressed and pure ugly rendering on the effects you added to your design. What we're talking about here is Illustrator's Document Raster Effects setting.
I've been asked a couple of times 'how do you change the size of a rounded rectangle once it has been drawn'. The problem is that when you scale the rounded rectangle as you would a normal shape the rounded corners become squashed or stretched. Well, here is the solution…
There are a couple of options that can catch you out in Illustrator; have you ever had the problem where you scale up an object but the strokes don't get any bigger? Or vice versa where you scale down your object but the strokes stay huge leaving your design all out of proportion and looking just plain ugly?!
If you are experiencing this, you'll be glad to know there is a quick and simple fix right in the preferences panel…
Sooner or later every designer comes across the exciting job of producing a map, whether it’s on a leaflet or website the overall aim is to visually document a particular area of land to allow for people to find their way to a place of business or event.
An important factor is the amount of detail required for the map, for most situations the map should be basic enough to provide a recognisable road structure without too much intricate detailing. As you will have seen on existing maps, the use of graphics and colours are important to distinguish between different types of road, this tutorial will cover the process of using Illustrator brushes to create a map of a small road network.
The final monster cartoon character in the mini series; my favourite – the Green Slimey Monster! Once again, a tutorial that will hopefully be easy enough to follow by Illustrator beginners, with mostly the basic tools and shapes being used.
Apologies for the slight delay in the series, the site managed to use up all of it’s bandwidth allowance plus an extra 7gb in the last week that the hosting company kindly donated to keep the site live until November 1st. The site has now migrated to a supersize package with an American host which will hopefully mean less downtime and more bandwidth to play with each month!
Back onto the monster character series; Part two covered the creation of the Dumb Blue Sucker Monster, now we'll take a look at the Angry Orange Monster! Once again, hopefully these will be easy enough to follow by Illustrator beginners, with mostly the basic tools and shapes being used.