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Illustrator Tutorial: How to Create a Vector Stopwatch

designerbooster — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:38:26 +0000

In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you how to make a stylish vector stopwatch icon with the use of some basic techniques in Illustrator. You will learn lots of useful Illustrator tricks to speed up drawing of a clock face. Hope you enjoy this Illustrator tutorial and maybe even discover some new methods along the way.

Creating the Stopwatch Case

1. For the first step open a new document 600px wide and 800px in height. It doesn’t really matter about the color profile but I like to work in RGB. 2. Next make sure smart guides are turned on by going to View > Smart Guides. Then with the Ellipse Tool (L) selected, find the center of the art board, hold down Alt/Option and click one time the center of the art board to bring up dialogue box. Enter the value 370 for both width and height and click okay to create a perfectly centered circle. 3. Fill this circle with the linear gradient shown and set the angle to -90 degrees. The colors are (196, 196, 196), (132, 138, 147) and (68, 75, 76). 4. With the circle still selected go to Object > Path > Offset Path, set the value to -5px and then give it a linear gradient using the colors (218, 218, 218), (153, 158, 163), (233, 233, 234) and (76, 83, 84). 5. Repeat step 4 this time giving an offset path of -30px and use the linear gradient (153, 158, 163) and (233, 233, 234). 6. Repeat this two more times making offset -5px for each. Give the first the same gradient as your original circle (196, 196, 196), (132, 138, 147) and (68, 75, 76) but in the gradient box click the Reverse Gradient button so that the darkest color shows up at the top. For the second circle, simply give it a solid fill color of light gray (245, 245, 245). 7. Now we’re going to go backwards. With the solid gray circle still selected once more bring up the offset path options but this time enter 20 for the value. Then swap the fill to a stroke (X) and give it a weight of 2px. After this go to Object > Path > Outline stroke. 8. Give it a linear gradient with the following colors (153, 158, 163), (223, 223, 224) and (76, 83, 84). 9. Select the solid gray circle which we’ll be using for the watch face and in the Effect menu select Stylize > Inner Glow. Change the color to a dark gray (102, 102, 102) and enter the values below. Then press OK. 10. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) click once again locate the center of the art board and holding down Alt/Option click once. Enter the value 280px for Width and 13px for Height. Click OK. Then using the Selection Tool (V) while holding shift to keep it in a straight line, drag the new ellipse to the top of the stopwatch face so that the edges and somewhere in the center of the metal casing but don’t worry about being too accurate. From the Effect menu choose Warp > Arc, insert a bend of 62% then click OK. We don’t need it to stay editable so go to Object > Expand Appearance. 11. Now using the Rectangle Tool (M) draw a rectangle the same width and height as the object you just arced then fill with a basic black and white linear gradient. Change location for center to be about 32. 12. Keeping it selected go to Select > Next Object Below. Then holding Alt/Option and Shift on the keyboard reselect the rectangle just created. With both shapes selected in the transparency window’s right hand corner, click to bring up a drop-down menu and select Make Opacity Mask. 13. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and change the stroke to white with no fill. Then Alt/Option in the center of the art board and create a circle that is 330px. Change the weight of this to 20px and then in the stroke panel give it the Profile: Width Profile One. 14. Now go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points and using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the point at the very top and remove it using the Delete key on your keyboard. 15. Keeping it still selected, go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke to turn it into a solid shape. Change opacity to 55% and change the Blend Mode to Soft Light. Make a copy using Ctrl/Cmnd + C and Paste in Front with Ctrl/Cmnd + F. Now flip this shape 180 degrees using the Direct Selection Tool and holding shift move it to the top of the stopwatch, approximately 60px or until it looks like below.

Creating the Face

16. Now select the watch “face” with the inner glow then Copy and Paste in Front. Set the fill to none and stroke to 1px black. Then give this an offset path of -6px. 17. For the next step, select the Line Segment Tool (/) and click somewhere on the art board that is not the stopwatch itself. Enter the following values and click OK. Now change the stroke color to something bright and easily recognizable and give it a weight of 2px. Do this two more times making a line that is 9px and one that is 6px. Change the colors of each making sure that all 3 lines are different. Then change the smallest stroke to a weight of just 1px. 18. Select all three lines using the Selection Tool (V) and then holding down Shift click on the watch “face”. Let go of shift and then click once more on the face. You’ll see that it now has a thick blue line around it meaning it’s a Key Object. 19. In the Align panel select Horizontal Center followed by Vertical Top and it will put all three lines in the center of the art board and at the top of the watch’s face, exactly where they need to be. 20. Holding shift click on the face of the watch to deselect it and then go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke to making the lines solid shapes. Click anywhere on the art board to deselect the newly formed rectangles. Now reselect the largest of the three, select the Rotate Tool (R) and then from the View menu select Outline. This allows you to see the center more accurately and if you’re using Smart Guides (Ctrl/Cmnd + U) it will snap into place. With the Rotate Tool hold Alt/Option and click in the center of the stopwatch to bring up a dialogue box. Being the longest rectangle we want it to represent every 10 seconds that passes and if you don’t want to do the math Illustrator will do it for you. There are 6 “10 seconds” in one minute and 360 degrees in a circle so simply type 360/6 to get the number 60. Now hit Copy. 21. Keeping the copy selected Transform Again by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmnd + D and make four more copies. Before deselecting it, go to Select > Same Fill Color and then hit Ctrl/Cmnd + G to group them together. 22. Now repeat steps 20 and 21 this time with the mid-sized rectangle and do do the math 360/12 since it represents every 5 seconds. You should end up with an angle of 30 degrees. Copy until all positions are filled. Then do the same for the smallest marker which is for 1 second, this time using an angle of 6 (360/60). Hit Ctrl/Cmnd + Y to exit Outline mode. 23. Select all three lengths of of the seconds markers and then in the Pathfinder Window hit Unite to make them all the same shape and color. Change the fill to black.

Adding the Seconds

24. Using the type tool type the number 60. I used the default font Myriad Pro with a weight of 24px but feel free to experiment with others. Center it with the art board and drag it to the appropriate position on stopwatch face. With the text still selected pick the Rotate Tool (R) and holding Alt/Option click in the center of the stopwatch. You may need to go back into Outline mode (Ctrl/Cmnd + Y) to for this. In the dialogue box enter 30 for the angle and hit Copy. Then Transform again using Ctrl/Cmd + D and fill the rest of the clock. 25. Now we have to rotate all the numbers so they face the right direction. Simply keep the last “60″ selected and go to Object > Transform Each. Scale should be 100% and Move values set to 0. The only thing we want to change here is the angle, enter 30 degrees and click OK. 26. Select the next number and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmnd + D Transform again. You’ll need to hit the D key the appropriate number of times for each or you can just hold it down to speed things up. Once everything is in place change the numbers to the seconds they correspond to, making the 60, 15, 30 and 45 bold and color filled with red. You may also need to drag the number 5 a little to the right to make it fit better. You should end up with something like this. 27. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and set stroke to a weight of 1px black with no fill. Alt/Option click on the center of the art board to bring up the dialogue box and enter the value 60px for both width and height. Holding Shift drag this new circle up to the appropriate position. 28. With the circle still selected, give it an offset path of -5 then click OK. Now using the Line Segment Tool (/) draw a line that connects the two rings you just created. Keep this line selected and then use the Rotate Tool (R) Alt/Option to click in the center of these smaller circles and enter 12 for the angle then hit Copy. Transform again 28 times. 29. Next select the numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 & 60 then Copy and Paste in Front. Holding Shift together with Alt/Option scale down roughly to the size of the smallest circle you just made, centering them by eye is fine for now. Use the Eyedropper Tool (I) and click on the number 60 to change them all to bold and in red, adjust the size of the font to around 9px and finally with everything still selected group them together using Ctrl/Cmnd + G. To center them accurately hold Shift, click on the circle just outside the numbers then release Shift and click again. This creates a Key Object and you can align the numbers to it vertically and horizontally.

Making the Hands

30. Now onto drawing the hands. Select the ellipse tool and Alt/Option click in the center of the watch face. Enter 10 for both values in the dialogue box. Fill this with a radial gradient using the colors (242, 220, 142) and (201, 150, 26). 31. Keep the circle selected and give it an Offset Path of 2px. Then go to Windows > Swatch Libraries > Gradients > Metals and select Bronze. Set the angle to -90. 32. Create another Offset path from this new circle, give it the value of 4px and fill it with a dark gray (51, 51, 51). Keep it selected go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points. Do this twice. Select the point at the very top using the Direct Selection tool and then drag it while holding Shift just above the number 60. 33. Now select the anchor point at the very bottom of the circle and hold down Shift on the keyboard and nudge it down three times using the arrow keys. Then zoom in and use the Direct Selection Tool (A) pull the handles of the anchor point until it’s the same width as the circle itself. Select all three shapes and group them together. 34. Copy then Paste Behind using Ctrl/Cmnd + C followed by Ctrl/Cmnd + B. Holding Shift, nudge the duplicate to the left two or three times and then up until it’s inline with the millisecond portion of the stopwatch. Release shift and make smaller nudges if necessary. Grab the point at the very top of this shape using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag it down while holding shift so that it’s just larger than the entire millisecond part. Then do the same for the bottom, dragging it up to cover half of the 30. Now nudge right and back into the center. 35. Now let’s rotate them. Select the largest hand and then use the Rotate Tool (R) click on the center of it. Holding Shift rotate 45 degrees. Repeat for the second hand this time making -45 degrees.

Reflection

36. For the last part of the stopwatch’s main body we just need to do the glass. Copy and Paste in Front the main section of the face which has the outer glow and then set fill to default (D). Remove the stroke since we won’t be needing it then go to Object > Arrange > Bring to front. Give it an opacity of 55%. Now, with the circle still selected hold down Alt/Option drag it off to the bottom left. This creates a copy so simply stretch out the right side forming an ellipse. 37. Holding shift select both pieces of glass and in the Pathfinder window hit Minus front. Make two copies of this new reflection and paste both in front. Drag the top shape to the left and make it bigger so you only have a small section of what’s beneath it showing. Once again select this and the shape beneath it and then in the Pathfinder select Minus Front. Change the opacity to 65%. Go to Select > All and group together using Ctrl/Cmnd + G.

Putting a Lid On It

38. For the top portion of the stopwatch we need to select the ellipse too and make a rectangle 9px in height and 70px in width. Then fill it with a linear gradient at -90 degrees, using colors: (153, 158, 163) and (53, 58, 59). Next using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the top anchor point and then Copy and Paste in Front twice. While the second is still selected hold down Shift and nudge up 3 times. Now select the anchor point to the left of this and hold Shift ans select the same anchor point for the copy below. Hit Ctrl/Cmnd + J to joint the point. Repeat for the right side to close the shape. Fill this shape with a linear gradient using colors (76, 83, 84) and (153, 158, 163) 39. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle approximately 1.5px in width and just make sure it’s longer than the shape you just created. About 40px should do the trick. Hold alt/option and drag a copy about 2px to the right. Then keeping the copy selected hold down Ctrl/Cmnd + D to make enough copies to cover the area of the shape created earlier. 40. Once you have enough, select all of the rectangles and in the pathfinder while holding down Alt/Cmnd + Unite them and Expand. Now go to Object > Arrange Send to Back. Make a copy of the biggest shape paste it in front. Holding shift also select the ridges you previously sent to the back then in the Pathfinder panel Alt/Cmnd click on Intersect and Expand. Now fill with the linear gradient (76, 83, 84);,(233, 233, 244), (153, 158, 163) and (218, 218, 218). Select all three of these shapes and align horizontally to the center of the art board. 41. Next create a rectangle 55px wide and 50px in height and center horizontally to the art board. Go to Effect > Warp > Arc and give it a bend of 8% then click OK. This should do fine so now go to Object > Expand appearance and then drag it below the “lid” we created earlier. Now give it a linear gradient fill using colors: (76, 83, 84); (233, 233, 234), (153, 158, 163) and (218, 218, 218). 42. Copy this shape and Paste in Front four times. Then holding Alt/Cmnd drag the edges in slightly then release and do the same dragging up so you have a shape now thinner but taller than the original. Keeping it selected hold Shift and select the shape behind it. Alt/Cmnd click on Minus Front in the Pathfinder palette and then Expand. Change opacity to 33% and change Blend Mode to Screen. 43. Draw an ellipse roughly the same size as pictured and then move it to the left. Select the third copy you made of the section behind it and then in the Pathfinder select Minus Front. Set this new shape to an opacity of 40% and give it a Blend Mode of Multiply. Finally draw another ellipse similar to the one pictured, select it and the final copy of the main portion behind it the Alt/Cmnd click the Intersect button in the Pathfinder. Change this shape’s opacity and Blend mode to previous shadow you created by using the Eyedropper Tool (I). 44. Group all of these new shapes together, position them correctly and send them to the back.

Creating the Start/Stop Button

45. For the start/stop button we can simply make a copy of the piece we just did. Holding down Alt/Option, drag it to the left. Since it’s grouped together you’ll need to double click on it in order to edit what’s inside. First delete the ridges as we don’t need those. Then remove the bottom shadow and side highlights. Use the direct selection tool, draw a rectangle to select the bottom three points and the entire ellipse all together. While holding shift, nudge them all down about 3 times. 46. Select the top part of the start button and use the Eyedropper Tool (I)to match it’s gradient with the bottom section. Copy and paste in front. Now draw a curved as pictured using the Pen Tool (P). In the Pathfinder window make sure this new shape and the copy beneath it are selected then choose Minus Front. The gradient of the new shape will need to be adjusted so use the Gradient Tool (G) to drag it so that it is the same width as everything else. Now go to Color Guide panel and click in the top right hand corner for the option Recolor Artwork. This opens up a new box and near the bottom select Global Adjust then make the Luminosity 50%. Click OK. Double click anywhere on the art board to exit Group Editing. 47. Select the button once more and then in the tool bar double click the Scale Tool. Make sure Uniform is the default and enter a value of 70% and hit OK. 48. Now when that’s done, simply rotate it about 40 degrees and position it.

Finishing Touches

49. For the last part of the the stopwatch, we need to just add that metal ring at the top. For this have the Ellipse Tool (L) selected and click on the art board–preferably away from the main design. When the dialogue box appears enter 140px for both values. With it still selected make an offset path of -22px and click OK. Select both circles and in the Pathfinder hit the Minus Front button. Fill with gradient using colors: (218, 218, 218), (153, 158, 163) and (76, 83 84) with an angle of -90. Make a copy and Paste it Behind, then double click on the Scale Tool. Enter the value 103% and hit OK. Select the front shape and give it a radial gradient with colors: (218, 218, 218), (153, 158, 163), (76, 83 84); (233, 233, 244); (129; 133; 138) and (218, 218, 218). 50. Keep it selected, copy and past in front twice. Then drag the front copy down so that the top intersects roughly with dark gradient in the middle. In the pathfinder, select Minus Front. Set the fill to white and then ungroup it by right clicking on it and selecting Ungroup. Set the top piece’s opacity to 65% and the bottom to 55%. 51. Repeat step 50 where you copied the original ring except this time drag up from the bottom. Minus front again changing the fill to a dark gray (102, 102, 102). They ungroup and set the top shape to 25% and the bottom to 45% opacity. Select all of the ring and group. Center it horizontally and drag it to the correct position. 52. Next we’re going to make a clipping mask. Do this by drawing a rectangle taller than the width of the ring but the same width as the piece the ring will go behind. Now draw an ellipse which is the same thickness as the ring and about 3 or 4px wide. Line the center of the ellipse to the the edge of the rectangle you just made. Duplicate and drag is to the opposite end. When it’s in position select both plus the rectangle you drew and then Minus Front in the pathfinder. 53. Draw a circle slightly larger than the ring and send it behind the shape you just created. One again go to pathfinder and select Minus front. This new shape is what you’ll use as a clipping mask. Select it and the ring behind it then hit Ctrl/Cmnd + 7 on the keyboard to clip it. For the final touches you can add a shadow by drawing an ellipse approximately the same width as the stopwatch. Set it’s fill to white then duplicate this shape, fill it with a gray of your liking and then from the Object menu choose Blend > Make. For a more better blend you can also select the outer ellipse using the Direct Selection Tool and set it’s transparency to 0. To download the source file for this tutorial, you will need to login as a member. Sign up today to access all exclusive members content! [The article is for Basic Members only. Login or sign up now to read the whole article.] [The article is for Premium Members only. Login or sign up now to read the whole article.] Vector Diary

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Creating a Tattered Parchment

designerbooster — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 08:37:45 +0000

Today, in this all new Adobe Illustrator tutorial, we will be learning how to create a very popular illustration; old tattered parchment. There are many beautiful illustrations that seem to be complicated to create, but they are actually not. This is the main purpose of this tutorial, to show you how easily some of these can be achieved. We will deform some basic shapes and objects, combine them, and perfectly complete the whole illustration with some decorative elements and gradients. This is what we will be creating.

Setting Up the Elements for the Basic Shape

We will start with some simple rectangles. Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tool Panel and create rectangles as shown in the picture below. Just make sure to create the lower rectangle slightly larger than the upper. Now we need to distort the rectangles a little bit. To do that we will need a few extra anchor points. Grab the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) from the Tool Panel and add anchor points in the middle of each rectangle. Select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the Tool Panel, select the each individual anchor points (we have just added) and nudge them towards center, as shown below. With the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C) try to make new corners less sharp. Just click on the anchor point and drag its handle downwards (or to the right, depending on which anchor point you are editing). You should end up with something like this. You will notice that some parts of the rectangles have changed position. Make sure to correct all the flaws that may cause any problems with the smoothness. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tool Panel and create ellipses as pictured below. Make sure to match the edges properly. Now we will make some adjustments to the ellipses we have just created. The point is to create the effect of rolled up parchment on the ends. First select the lower parts of the illustration (the purple shape with two green ellipses) and bring them to the Front (Shift + Ctrl / Cmd + ]). This way it will look like the upper part of the parchment is folded back and the lower part is rolled up the front. Now select the upper part of the illustration (the red shape and two ellipses) and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Unite button. It will turn the shapes into one object. Make sure the new object stays behind the yellow shape. Lets adjust the upper part of the yellow shape. We have to make both shapes (green and yellow) look connected. To do this we will need the Direct Selection Tool (A) again. Select it in the Tool Panel and select the left upper anchor point. We will move it to the left (where the green shape starts to curve). As you can see, we didn’t accomplish all we needed with previous step. We will try harder to make it look like rolled up parchment. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the lower part of the handle and place it as shown in the picture below. This will give the impression of rolled effect we were looking for. Repeat the previous step for the right side of the illustration as well. You should end up with something like this. Now it’s time to adjust lower part of the illustration. Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) both green ellipses. Select the purple shape and the copy of the green ellipse on the left, then under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Minus Front button. Now we have one green ellipse left on each side. Remove the Fill color and set the Stroke color to any color you wish (color is not important). Now we need to remove some anchor points. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select two anchor points and remove them by hitting the Delete key on your keyboard. You should end up with something like this. Repeat the previous step for the ellipse on the right side as well. Now we need to connect the paths on both sides and use them to create a new shape. To do that grab the Pen Tool (P) from the Tool Panel and just click on the end points of those paths. Remove the Stroke color and set the Fill color to any solid color. Grab the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) from the Tool Panel and add the anchor point to the new shape as it’s shown below. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) grab the new anchor point and move it downwards, in order to hide the unwanted part of the green shape. Basically, this is the shape of our parchment. Feel free to play around with position of the anchor points, add new ones or remove some (if needed). You might improve the look.

Creating the Rips

We are moving on on the next step, creating the rips in the sides of the parchment. We will need to create small shapes that we will be using to cut from the parchment in several places. The creation process is quite simple. Grab the Arc Tool from the Tool Panel and click somewhere on the Artboard. The Arc Segment Tool Options window will popup. Leave all settings at the default and hit the OK button. This way we have created a curved path. Make sure to set the Stroke color (to any color you like), and the value for stroke to 10 pt. We will also have to change the shape of the stroke. Under the Stroke Panel (if the Stroke Panel isn’t visible you will find it under Window > Stroke) set the Profile to Width Profile 5. This way you can create different shapes. Just try to experiment with Stroke settings to get the look you want. To be able to create the rips we will need to expand the Stroke we have just created. Select the arc, and under Object select Expand Appearance. Place the new shape, we have just created, where the end just partially covers the edge of the parchment. Feel free to rotate it, if needed. Select the new shape and the yellow shape (parchment), and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Minus Front button. It will create a small rip. Repeat this step a few times to create several more rips. Just place them randomly all over the folded parchment. You should end up with something like this.

Applying Gradients

Get ready to apply some nicely colored gradients to our folded parchment. We will combine linear and radial gradients in order to create a nice realistic look. So let’s get started. For the largest part of the parchment we will be using a radial gradient. The radial gradient will help us create a nice color transition, especially in the upper segment. We will be using a large radius on the radial gradient in order to follow the shape of the page. We will use similar gradients for the other parts of the illustration as well

Creating the Details

There is one interesting detail we can create. Since the parchment is old, some of the parts can be ripped a bit more then others. So let’s create one of them. Since we have a few ripped edges pick one to adjust a bit more. Grab the Line Tool (/) from the Tool Panel and create a straight line as shown in the image. Select the largest part of the parchment and the line we have just created, and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Divide button. It will cut off the small part of the parchment. Rotate the small segment and place it as shown in the picture below (you can change it’s Fill color just to avoid any mistakes). Now we need to adjust the edges in order to make it look like this part is really connected to the large part of the parchment. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) adjust the position of the anchor points and their handles until you reach a desirable look. We will need to adjust the left edge of the large part of the parchment as well. To try to make it less sharp. Now let’s try to connect those parts in order to make them look like one solid piece. Feel free to add and remove anchor points and change the positions and angles of their handles if needed. Just try different things until you create something you really like. Our illustration will look much better after we apply a nice gradient. To make the whole illustration even more authentic we will create a small shadow underneath the folded segment we have just created. Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the large part of the parchment. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tool Panel and create an ellipse as pictured. Select the large part of the parchment and the ellipse we have just created, and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Intersect button. It will create an irregular shape that will follow the left edge of the illustration. Make sure to place the folded segment of the parchment on the top (Shift + Ctrl / Cmd + ]). Beside that try to adjust the red shape a little bit, in order to blend the shadow nicely with the rest of the illustration. You can do this part after applying the radial gradient if it’s more comfortable for you. To create a shadow we will be using the radial gradient with a really big radius. This will allow us to manipulate the shadow the way we want it. Under the Transparency Panel set the Blend Mode to Darken. It will make the white color transparent and the dark color will become a nice shadow. You should end up with something like this.

Creating the Ornament Brush

In this part of the tutorial we will create a nice ornament brush that will be applied to both sides of the parchment. Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tool Panel and create a square (don’t forget to hold the Shift key on the keyboard in order to create a perfect square). Make sure to rotate it 45 degrees. Under Object select Path > Offset Path. Set the value for Offset to -35. It will create a smaller rectangle in the middle of the big one. Select both rectangles and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Minus Front button. It will create a hole in the middle of the larger rectangle. Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the new shape, scale it down a little bit and place it as it is shown below. Repeat the previous step to create a smaller element for the left side as well. Grab the Pen Tool (P) from the Tool Panel and create a random path. Under the Stroke Panel set the value for Stroke to 50 and Profile to Width Profile 1. Don’t forget to expand the new shape (to turn it into an editable object). Select Object > Expand Appearance. Group (Ctrl / Cmd + G) all the elements. Duplicate (Ctrl /Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the group of elements we have just created a few times and place the copies as pictured below. Drag and drop the group in to the Brush Panel. Make sure to check the Art Brush option in Brush Panel. Inside the Art Brush Options make sure to set the Colorization Method to Tint and hit the OK button. Now we need to apply the brush to our rolled up parchment. We will need the Pen Tool (P) for that. Grab it from the Tool Panel and draw the path as like it has been done in the below. Just try to adjust it to follow the parchment’s edge. When you are satisfied with the path apply the brush we have created in the previous step. After applying the brush feel free to adjust the Stroke size and the position of the path as you desire. Now, grab the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) from the Tool Panel and add anchor points as shown in the following picture. With the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) remove the end anchor point. We will do the same thing for the lower part of the brush. Let’s create the same ornament for the right side of the illustration. Select the path with the applied brush and under Object select Transform. Set the Axis to Vertical and hit the Copy button. It will create another path as a mirror image. Place it on the right side of the parchment. As you can see we have to make a few adjustments to both sides of the illustration. To be able to do that we need to turn both paths into editable objects. Select them both, and under Object select Expand Appearance. We will try to fix the left side first. Ungroup (Shift + Ctrl / Cmd + G) the ornament. Now we need to trim some elements and we will start with the one placed exactly over the ripped part of the parchment. Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the large shape of the parchemnt. Select the copy and the squared element from the ornament brush and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Intersect button. The other squared element that overlaps the parchment we will simply place underneath the fold from the tear in the side. We will repeat this for other parts of the illustration as needed. After adjusting all of the parts of the ornamentation you should end up with something like this. Now we can apply a nice color to our ornament, a bit darker than the color of the parchment. Group (Ctrl / Cmd + G) all of the elements of the ornamentation on each side of the parchment and apply a nice linear gradient to them. We can also create a small shadow on the lower part of the parchment. Select the lower part of the parchment which rolls up and duplicate it (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F). Then move the copy a bit upwards. Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the large shape of the parchment as well. Select both copies and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Intersect button. Place the new shape underneath the rolled up part of the parchment and change its Fill color to #A17640. Feel free to adjust the shape of the shadow if needed. And voila! We are done.

Conclusion

Today we have shown one of the easiest ways to create a rolled up piece of antique parchment. There are many other things you can try to create or even tweak in order to improve on the illustration. Parchment thickness is one of them. Just be creative and feel free to use a different approach in the creation process. Feel free to leave your thoughts and alterations . Noupe

Illustrator Tutorial: Create A Snazzy Retro Badge

designerbooster — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:39:43 +0000

This tutorial will help you create a vector retro badge or emblem. Particularly, in this year, the number of websites using these as attention grabbers is increasing, and it is being touted as a design trend that is not very likely to cease anytime soon. So, it becomes very important as a designer to know how to create these badges. Having these in your arsenal is sure to grab some eyeballs! So what are we waiting for, let’s get started. Note: The Ctrl equivalent for Macintosh computers is Command or Cmd. And the Alt equivalent is the Option key. 1. Alright, let’s start off with the usual drill. Create a new document. I have started with an artboard of width and height of 1000px. Also, it helps to have Smart Guides turned on. They are very helpful for aligning elements on the artboard. If you haven’t already enabled them, hit Ctrl + U or go to View > Smart Guides. Now, with the Ellipse Tool (L) click anywhere on the artboard and in the pop up window, hit 280px in both width and width. 2. Now, click on the circle to select it and then change its Fill to white. Since this tutorial will be dealing a lot with different effects and such, it helps to have your Appearance Panel open. Hit Shift + F6 or alternatively, go to Window > Appearance. Add a stroke to the circle and change its weight to 2pt. You can use the Appearance panel to make these changes, as shown in the image. 3. With the circle selected, go to the Appearance Panel and hit the first button from the bottom-left to add a new stroke. Click on the word “Stroke” to change its settings. Now add in the values as shown in the image. Make sure that the new stroke is below the previous stroke. If it isn’t then drag it below the previous stroke. 4. With the circle selected go to Effect > Distort and Transform > Zig Zag and enter the values as shown in the image. 5. Let’s round off the spikes. Again, with the circle selected, go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and enter a radius of 2 px. You would have observed in the previous step that there was an option to “Smooth” the points. Yes, that could have been done, but, having manual control on how smooth you want it to be is much better, which you could only achieve with this step. 6. Copy the circle by hitting Ctrl + C and paste it in front by hitting Ctrl + F. Now, select the new circle and change its dimensions by using the toolbar on the top (You can view it only after selecting any element.) Also, don’t forget to click on the link so as to make sure that the dimensions are equal and proportional. 7. Let’s modify this new new circle. With the Appearance Panel, select both the “Stroke” and delete them using the trash bin icon below as shown in the image. 8. Let’s give this new circle a different color. With it being selected, either use the Fill Square from the Tool bar or you can directly change the Fill using the Appearance Panel as shown in the image below. The color values are also given in the image for reference. 9. In the Appearance Panel, hit on the “New Fill” button to add a new fill. Also navigate to the Swatch Libraries Menu by clicking on the down pointing arrow next to the fill content (as shown in image). This would bring out a pop out menu. Click on the bottom-left first icon to go to “Swatch Libraries Menu”. From there, choose the “Diamond” texture by going to Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphic_Textures. 10. Now, set this new fill on overlay with 48% opacity. You can do this by clicking on the right pointing arrow next to the word “Fill”. Then with this Fill selected go to Effect > Texture > Grain and set both, Intensity and Contrast to 100. 11. Again, copy the circle by hitting Ctrl + C and paste it in front by hitting Ctrl + F. Now, select the new circle and change its dimensions by using the toolbar on the top. 12. With the Appearance Panel, add a new stroke to this new circle. Also change the existing bottom fill to values shown in the image. 13. Now, click on the texture fill. Let’s modify it. Again, just edit it (don’t add a new fill). Navigate to “Swatch Libraries Menu” as mentioned before. From there, go to Patterns > Decorative > Decorative_Geometric1 and select “Crosses Color”. Change the opacity from 48% to 10% and delete the grain effect. 14. Copy the new circle again, paste it, and change the dimensions of the latest circle again by using the toolbar on top. 15. Using the Appearance Panel, edit the stroke and the base fill. And yet again edit the texture fill to “Diagonal Lines” from Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures and set the opacity to 34%. Change the “Overlay” to “Normal”. 16. Copy and paste the latest circle. Adjust the dimensions so that they are less that the previous circle by a small margin. In the Appearance Panel, delete everything except the “Stroke” and adjust it accordingly as shown in the image. This trick creates a cool “ring of dots”. 17. The base of our badge is done, let’s move on to add features to its face. Let’s start off by adding some text. Using the Type Tool (T) click anywhere on the artboard and type in anything that fancies you. I’ve typed in “League”. Adjust the Font, the Font style and the Font size accordingly as shown in the image. Change the Fill, if you wish. 18. With the text selected go to Effect > Warp > Arc Upper and set in the values as shown in the image. We are warping the text so that it fits nicely in the circular structure of the badge. This is editable, so even after warping you can easily edit the text. 19. Let’s add a good drop shadow to this text so as to make it look 3D. With the text selected, go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and set in the values as shown in the image. 20. Now put this text on the badge and align it as shown in the image. One neat trick by using Shift + Arrow keys to nudge the text by 10px. You can also select both the circle and the text by holding down Shift and clicking on both these elements. Then, using tools on the top, click on “Horizontal Align Center” to horizontally align the text centrally in relation with the circle. 21. Let’s move on to add some decorative elements on our badge. Start off by creating a star using Star Tool. Click on the Star Tool and drag out a star onto the Artboard. Hold down Shift to get a proportionate star and use the arrow keys to adjust how many points you wish to have. Duplicate this star (by clicking on it and then dragging it while holding Alt). Using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the top point of the duplicated star and nudge it using Shift + Up arrow to nudge it in measures on 10px upwards. I’ve nudged it 70px. 22. Again duplicate the duplicated star and the turn it upside down by selecting it and going to Object > Transform > Reflect, choose “Horizontal” and click OK. 23. Align them as shown (Smart Guides will show you where their commmon centres are). Also you might have to change the stacking order so as to have the original star on top on the other stars. Use Ctrl + [ to push an element down and Ctrl + ] to pull an element up. 24. Make two copies of these stars and align them with the badge as shown in the image. Scale them accordingly as you wish. 25. Draw some basic rectangular shapes using the Rectangle Tool (M) and make two copies of this. Use the image below for reference. 26. Align these to the badge as shown. You will probably have to scale them. But, you can position them wherever you wish, however big you wish. 27. Add some extra text. I’ve added “of” with the font “Lobster 1.3″ at 35pt. Also, I’ve applied a basic drop shadow (Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow). Place them between the rectangles we made, Use the image for reference. 28. Using the Pen Tool (P) and Rectangle Tool (M) draw some shapes as shown in the image below. For now, set their stroke to black and fill to white. 29. Graphic Styles in my opinion is the best feature in Illustrator. You can apply a set of styles to any shape, path or text which also remains editable. Like Layer Styles in Photoshop, but, better and more flexible. Now, let’s create two graphic styles that we will apply to our shapes later. So, start off with any shape and modify its Fill and Stroke as shown in the image. 30. Add a new fill to this shape and again navigate to “Swatch Libraries Menu” and go to Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures and select “Diamond”. Set this fill on overlay. 31. Let’s add some drop shadows to give it a 3D effect. So, select the shape and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and hit in the following values. 32. We’ll give it another drop shadow, so in the appearance panel, duplicate the Drop Shadow and edit it and just edit the color as shown in the image. Make sure that this drop shadow is below the previous drop shadow. 33. Now open up your Graphic Styles Panel by going to Window > Graphic Styles or you can alternatively hit Shift + F5. Select the shape again, and click on the “New Graphic Style” button on the Graphic Styles Panel. Voila! There you have it, you can then apply this Graphic Style to any other shape/path/text. 34. Now, onto our second graphic style. It is pretty similar, just delete the texture fill and change the base fill’s color to white. Then again add this to the Graphic Styles Panel. 35. Apply the first Graphic Style to the ribbon shapes we made. Don’t apply it to the two mini triangles, just change their fill and delete their stroke. Now align all those shapes as shown in the image below. 36. Align the ribbon onto the badge as shown in the image below. To move around the whole ribbon and not just any single shape, just select all the elements of the ribbon and group them by hitting Ctrl + G. Also don’t forget to change the stacking order of “of” so that it appears above the ribbon. 37. Add text, I’ve used “ChunkFive” font here (I’ve used “Liberator” font in the final image.) Now, select the text and apply the second graphic style to this text. Align it over the ribbon as shown. We’re done! or are we? 38. Not yet! Let’s add a finishing touch to the badge (which is not exactly needed). Import the badge over to Photoshop as a Vector Smart Object and then duplicate it. Select the top layer and go to Filter > Artistic > Colored Pencil and play around with the settings. Then, set this top layer on overlay and reduce the opacity to your need. And we’re done! Vector Diary

Premium Tutorial: Photorealistic Diamond

designerbooster — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:41:16 +0000

This tutorial will take you through the process of creating a realistic diamond. Through this tutorial, you will learn how to use the mesh tool effectively. Also, you will learn a unique technique of drawing variety of objects with dynamic effects. This tutorial will be fun and easy for beginners. A prior knowledge in using the pen tool as well as in creating fills and strokes will be great for the succeeding steps. After this tutorial, you will gain insights on drawing a vector diamond, which can be used in advertising posters or magazines. Difficulty: Intermediate – Advanced tutorial Requirements: Adobe Illustrator

What will you get?

Instant download of PDF e-book (53 pages, 153 steps)
Comes with Ai file for easy reference
Detailed step by step tutorial to create a photorealistic diamond

Tutorial Screenshots:

Vector Diary

jQuery Mobile Tutorial: Creating a Restaurant Picker Web App

designerbooster — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:46:46 +0000

With an increase in the number, diversity and complexity of smartphones, more and more companies want to have their own mobile app, but creating a native app can be pretty expensive. It requires special skills, as well as special coding tools, and then there is also the need to build an app per platform (Android, iOs, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, etc). All of this figures in to a higher price tag for the app development. Another solution for developers is then to create something called web-apps: HTML CSS apps, which users can access from their browsers. They are cross-platform, and cross device. The jQuery framework has been around the web for a while now, but the jQuery base technology was basically designed for browser apps. jQuery Mobile is a framework based on jQuery that enables web designers to create web-apps that are optimized for use on a mobile device (Smartphone and tablets). The framework is touch optimized, uses responsive layout so that elements will automatically adapt on different device sizes, and supports a range of different platforms and devices. In this jQuery Mobile tutorial, we will create a nice demo app from scratch, to show some of the things that can be easily done using this powerful tool. Before we start, you might want to download the files, or see a demo, or flash the qrcode for a direct demo on your mobile :

The Concept of the Mini App: Restaurant Picker

We will create an application that will enable the user to choose a restaurant based on what they want to eat tonight, the town where they want to eat and other user’s ratings of the restaurants. The jQuery Mobile mini app we’re creating will be called “Restaurant Picker”. Please note that this is only the front development, you will of course need a server and a database if you want to create a real app. Also note that jQuery Mobile uses Ajax navigation, so you’ll need to put the files either on a local server (xampp, mamp, etc) or on a real server to make the demo work properly.

Wireframing Our Application.

In order to see where we are going, we will first draw some wireframes to see what each screen of the app will look like.

Home Screen : Choose a Plate

On the first screen we will put the logo of our application. We will then give the user a choice between different plates. Each choice comes with an image illustrating the plate, and each is a link that will lead to the second page where the user can choose the town.

Choose a Town

On the second screen, the user can choose the town where they want to eat. The towns are displayed in a list of clickable items. Beside each town there is a bubble that gives the user the number of restaurants available for the chosen plate in this town. Since the list of towns can be pretty long, we will provide a filter so that the user can quickly search for a town at the end of the list. The title bar will use the branding of the application, and a “back” button that user can click to go back to the previous step. When the user clicks on a town, they are lead to the page where they can choose a restaurant.

Choose a Restaurant

The user can now choose in which restaurant he wants to eat. The application displays a list of restaurant with a little image, the name, and the number of rating stars the previous users gave to this restaurant. The title bar will use the branding of the application, and a “back” button that user can click to go back to previous step. The user can then click on a specific restaurant, to see the details.

Restaurant Details

The restaurant’s details view is composed of three parts: restaurant details, contact details, and the establishment’s user rating. The restaurant details will display a short description of the restaurant, some plates, a picture and a link to their website if they have one. The contact details will display the address of the restaurant, and an image of a Google map that will locate the restaurant in the town. A link enables the user to open Google maps (either using the browser or the Google map app if available depending on the device) to locate the restaurant on the map. Another link will dial the restaurant phone number directly on the mobile device so that user can place a reservation. The last part of this view is a select box, where the user can rate the restaurant.

Building the web-application base

Now that we’ve see the direction that we are heading, we can begin digging a little bit into the code.

Some jQuery Mobile Basics

First let’s take a look at what the header of our first HTML page will look like :









Restaurant Picker

The first thing to notice is the “new” HTML5 doctype. jQuery Mobile makes a heavy use of the data- HTML5 attribute to add some elements in the DOM to style the page, so we will need an HTML5 doctype to make it all work nicely. The second thing to notice is the meta name=viewport tag. We will use this meta tag to gain better control of our viewport. Without this tag, the browser will squeeze our layout in the whole page, and it will look ugly and very tiny. With width=device-width we will use our device width, making the app fit the whole size of the device without being squeezed. The initial-scale property controls the zoom level when the page is first loaded and we will set it to 1, meaning no zoom in or out when page is loaded. Then we will call our CSS files. In older jQuery Mobile versions the CSS was in one file, but in the newer version they made a distinction between the structure and the actual design (colors, gradients etc) which makes it easier to create custom styles. We then need to load our jQuery, and jQuery Mobile JavaScript code at the end, since it needs the jQuery library to work.

What You’d Like to Eat: First Page

Now let’s take a look at the HTML code of our first page, in this exercise we will call this page index.HTML









Restaurant Picker 





 What would you'd like to eat? 



   Some Sushis

   A Pizza 

   A Kebap

   A Burger

   Some Nems 

   Something more traditional

jQuery Mobile makes the distinction between HTML documents and pages. A jQuery Mobile app can be composed of one HTML document with multiple pages in it, using the data-role=“page” attribute each page is linked using anchors; or of many documents, each one having its own data-role=”page” linked using “normal” links. In our case, we will go for creating one HTML document per page. So first we will open our body, and create our page using

We will then open a content division, in which we put the branding of the app, and our first title followed by the list of different plates. To create a jQuery Mobile list, we will put the data-role=”listview” attribute on our

that contains an link will be automatically converted in a link list item by jQuery Mobile. To add the image, we simply add an image inside our < a href> link, and jQuery Mobile will do the work for us: it will display it on the left part of the list. Pretty easy. The data-transition=”slidedown” creates the transition between two pages. You can find more transitions in the official documentation. Here is what our first page looks like:
In Which Town Do You Want To Eat: Second Page
We will name the second page choose_town.HTML . Here is the HTML code, explanation of the tricky parts follows. Note that the header won’t change.
```
 Restaurant Picker







 In which town do you want to eat? 



 Amiens  3  

 Bastia  2  

 Belfort  5  

 Bordeaux  1 

…
```
We changed the id, so that jQuery Mobile can understand that this is another page. Notice that we used the data-add-back-btn=”true” on the page div, this will enable the Ajax back navigation and automatically add a back button to our title bar. To create our title bar, we will create a div element, with the data-role=”header”. To add a filter to our list, we will simply put data-filter=”true” on the ul element defining the list. Note that this is a filter that will filter the items of the list, and is not a search bar. The last trick will be creating the little bubbles on the right of list elements, and we will do that by creating a span with the class and the numbers in it. And here is how the second page will look:
Choose a Restaurant: Third Page
We will name this page choose_restaurant.HTML and below is what the HTML code will look like.
```
 Restaurant Picker







 Please choose a restaurant.



   Le Mouffetard
  4 stars 

   Chocolate bar 
  4 stars 
 

   Restaurant Diona
  1 star 
 

   Tai Shan
  3 stars 
 

   Arcade
  2 stars 
 
```
This page is pretty similar to the first one, except for the title bar and the notation of the customer. We already saw how to create a title bar in previous section. For the customer rating, we add a p element with two classes: .classement is mutual to all the elements and will enable us to style this element with little stars, and then we use the class .one, .two, .three and .four to make the distinction between how many stars the customers gave to the restaurant. We will later in the article see how to style this in a nice way, but for the moment, we’ll leave it plain text. Here is our third page:
Restaurant Details: Fourth Page
This page called restaurant.HTML is the trickiest of all, mainly because it has lots of elements on it. We will split the code in three parts: the restaurant description, the contact details, and the user rating. Here is our full HTML code.
```
	
		 Restaurant Picker
	 

	
	
		
		 Le Mouffetard
		  Restaurant bar in the center of Strasbourg
		 On the menu: 
			
				 Milkshake with chocolat
				 Planchettes 
				 Leek pie 
			
		
		
		
		 See our website
		
	

	

	
		
		 Contact us
		30 Rue des Tonneliers
		 67000 Strasbourg	
		
		
		
		
	

	
		 Find us on Google Maps 
		 Call us 
	
	

	
	
	 User rating 
		
	
	
	
```
For the restaurant details, we used the build in two column elements of jQuery Mobile. To create a two column block, we create a block with two child blocks. To create a nice button for the website, we added the data-role=”button” to the a href element, and a rel=”external” so that jQuery Mobile knows that Ajax should not used to open this link, but that this is an external link. For the contact details, we once again used the two column trick. What’s to emphasize here are the buttons. The data-icon=”maps” and data-icon=”tel” will enable us to add custom icons to those buttons. The interesting part about adding a GoogleMap link, is that some mobiles will be able to detect it, and will ask the user if they want to open them using the browser; if the Google maps app is installed on the device. The other interesting part is the href=tel:0388161072 protocol. This won’t work on a classic browser, but Smartphones will be able to open this link in the phone dial box, to directly call the number. The last part is the user rating. For this we will use a simple select menu. The data-native-menu=”false” enables us to style the select using jQuery Mobile, so that we will be able to add some nice stars here too. Here again you will notice that we added the one, two, three, four class for further styling. And here we have a fully functional jQuery Mobile webapp. But this app looks very “JqueryMobile-like”, so we now have to give it a little more styling to make it look nicer.
Next up on Page Two: Adding Some Style
The tutorial is not quite finished yet! There is more to learn over on page two. Noupe

Tutorial – Design a Surreal Greenery Scene in Photoshop

designerbooster — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:39:15 +0000

In this tutorial we will be creating a Surreal Greenery effect on an open book. Its very easy to make this Greenery scene by following the simple steps here. So lets get started…

Tutorial Details:

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Difficulty: Intermediate Estimated Time: 1 – 2 hrs

Final Image

Tutorial Resources:

Here are the sources used

Thanks for all those people who made these awesome images. Pls take permission from those owner if you’re using it for any commercial purpose.

STEP 1 (Create New Document)

Let’s start by creating a new document. Set the dimensions of the canvas to 3200 × 2000px.

STEP 2 (Creating sky background)

Open and drag the sky image into canvas and place it as shown below. Then duplicate the sky layer with transform selection (Ctrl +T), right click on selection, select Flip vertical and change the mode of the layer to Multiply and reduce its Opacity to 50%. The result will be like this.

STEP 3 (Arranging Book)

Open and drag the Book image into canvas and erase surrounding part of the book

STEP 4 (Creating Grass Land)

Open the Grass land image and select the grass land area using Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and paste it into canvas. Then shape it using warp transformation (Edit > Transform > Warp) Using same method arrange the grass on other side of book as well. After arrangement the image will look like this Let’s workout at the edges of the book to give realistic look. Take Clone Stamp Tool (S) and select default brush (Fuzz ball) 192 and make values as shown below Then give values in shape dynamics as shown below Then give values in Scattering as shown below Using this brush shape clone the grass in uneven shape across book edges as shown below After cloning the entire book edges the image will look like this. Create a new layer using Soft Round Brush (B) with black color and brush across middle and edges of the book. Change the layer mode to Soft light and reduce opacity to 50%. Its just to make the texture dark at the middle and edges.

STEP 5 (Composing with Other Stuff)

Open and drag the Train Track image into canvas and erase the remaining part of image except the track. Using transform selection (Ctrl +T) place it as shown below Then open and drag the Windmill image into canvas and erase the remaining stuff except the windmill. Place it as shown below Then open and drag the Tree image into canvas then erase the root part of the tree using Eraser Tool(E) as shown below Take a new layer and create an uneven shape under the tree using Lasso Tool(L) and fill it with black color (To give shadow for tree). slightly erase the edges using Eraser Tool(E) as shown Then open and drag the Elephant image into canvas and erase the remaining part of image except the Elephant. And place it as shown Now open and drag the Crane image into canvas and erase the remaining part of image except crane. Then duplicate the crane layer and place them as shown

STEP 6 (Creating Rainbow)

We are almost done, lets add a beautiful rainbow. In the Gradient Editor make changes as shown below Then create a new layer below the book layer and draw rainbow shape with the Gradient Tool(G) as shown Then using Eraser Tool(E) erase the bottom part and change the layer mode into Screen and reduce the opacity to 30%. Now the effect will look like this. We have finished creating our surreal greenery scene. Below you can see the final result of this tutorial.

Final Image

You can download high resolution image for wallpaper. I hope you enjoyed and found it useful. I look forward to your opinions and questions in the comment section below. Web Design Blog, Web Designer Resources

Premium Tutorial: Photorealistic Watch

designerbooster — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:37:00 +0000

Learn how to create an amazing photorealistic watch in this new premium tutorial. This tutorial is written for intermediate illustrator users to attain an expert level in illustration. In this tutorial, you will get an indepth knowledge about creating objects with photorealism. Let’s see how to create a photorealistic watch in this tutorial. Difficulty: Intermediate – Advanced tutorial Requirements: Adobe Illustrator

What will you get?

Instant download of PDF e-book (42 pages, 125 steps)
Comes with Ai file for easy reference
Detailed step by step tutorial to create a photorealistic watch

Tutorial Screenshots:

[The article is for Premium Members only. Login or sign up now to read the whole article.] Related posts:

Vector Diary

Create A Mixed Media Piece From A Hand Drawn Illustration In Photoshop

designerbooster — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:40:24 +0000

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

Learn how to work with textures/patterns, even creating your own custom halftone pattern.
Learn digital painting techniques, and learn to understand correct lighting and shadowing.
Learn how to master the minor details of your piece to create an outcome with more depth and substance.
Learn how to build up multiple layers of coloring to correctly tint and blend your image.
& Much More!

Learn how to work with textures/patterns, even creating your own custom halftone pattern. Learn digital painting techniques, and learn to understand correct lighting and shadowing. Learn how to master the minor details of your piece to create an outcome with more depth and substance. PSDFan

Illustrator Tutorial: Holland Tulip Field

designerbooster — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:38:09 +0000

This tutorial will show you how to create a beautiful Holland landscape filled full of colorful tulips and a traditional Dutch windmill. We will start by creating a red tulip flower with the Gradient Mesh tool and then make yellow and purple color variations of the tulips. Then we will create the windmill using simple gradients and solid fills and finally we will arrange all the elements to complete our landscape. I have included steps that are crucial to get the desired look assuming that the user is familiar with basic Illustrator drawing and coloring tools. So let’s start creating!

Drawing the Tulips

1. Let’s begin with the red tulip flower. Draw a flower petal with the Pen tool (P) as shown and fill it with a red middle tone in the petal. I have filled #F1643A. Select the petal and create a gradient mesh by selecting Object > Create Gradient Mesh from the main menu. In the resulting dialogue box enter values as shown. 2. To give dimension to the petal, select specific nodes of the petals with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and color them in shades of red. I have also shifted some nodes by selecting them with the Direct Selection tool and using the up and down arrow keys. Add deeper red to nodes in the dark as shown above and add lighter colors to the highlighted parts of the petal. You can add new nodes wherever you feel appropriate by clicking the petal using the Mesh tool (U). 3. Right click the petal we just created and select Transform> Reflect. In the resulting dialogue box select the options as shown and click the Copy button. This creates a copy of the petal and flips it. Arrange the new petal in front of the first one. Add some darker shades to the overlapped petal for visual separation. Draw the other petals with the pen tool as shown and apply the gradient mesh tool to each petal using your judgment. Color them such that the highlighted portions stand out and the darker portions recede. Our red tulip is ready! 4. We will now create the yellow and purple variations of the flower. I have converted the red petals to yellow and purple by gradually selecting nodes and recoloring them. For the yellow tulip select the darkest nodes and fill them with a deep orange like #F26C26. For the middle tone use #F9EC31. Make the highlighted nodes white. 5. Repeat the same process for the purple tulips using shades of purple. For the purple middle tone I have used #C8187F. For the darker nodes I have used #82153C and for the highlights I have used white. The tulips are now ready!

Tulip Stem and Leaves

6. For the stem of the plant draw a slightly bent line with the Pen tool (P) and make the stroke weight 18pts. This will give our stem the desired thickness. Keep the stroke selected and select Object > Path > Outline Stroke from the main menu. Fill the resulting shape with a green gradient as shown. To make the stem a little slender select the top right node with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and shift it a little to the left. Repeat the same with the bottom right node if required. This completes the stem of our tulip plant. 7. Draw the first leaf with a pen tool as shown. Fill the leaf with any color and draw a slightly bent stroke with the pen tool from the tip of the leaf to the bottom dividing it into 2 vertical halves. Select the leaf and the stroke and select Window > Pathfinder > Divide. This will split the leaf into 2 parts and we can now apply different green gradients to each half. Apply gradients with values similar to the stem gradient and make variations in colors to match the leaf colors below. Repeat the same process with the second leaf. 8. To arrange our plant keep the first leaf at the back then place the second leaf on top of it. Arrange the stem behind the front half of the second leaf as shown. The stem now looks as if has grown from between the two leaves. Make sure the bottom nodes of both the leaves and the stem align in a line. This will make our plant look neat. 9. Group the plant we just created and duplicate it 2 times. Arrange the 3 tulips on top of the plant as shown. Our colorful tulip plants are ready!

Creating the Windmill

10. It’s time to create the windmill now! Our windmill has 4 main parts – base, body, head and fan. It is a good idea to create all the parts in different layers for ease of editing. 11. Draw the base and body of the windmill with the pen tool as shown. Draw a vertical dividing line that divides the body and the base into two parts. Select the two shapes and the dividing line and select Window > Pathfinder > Divide. This will divide the base and body of the windmill into two vertical parts each. Delete extra lines if any. 12. Fill each part of the windmill with colors as shown. Then draw a triangular shape over the right side of windmill (for a slight shadow) and fill it with a gradient. Use a darker color like #8A6338 at both ends of the gradient and reduce the opacity of the color at the right end to 0%. This will merge the gradient in the body of the windmill and give our windmill a shadow on its body. 13. On a new layer draw the head of the windmill with the pen tool and fill each part of the head with gradients as shown. 14. With the Ellipse tool (L) draw an ellipse on a new layer to create the centre of the windmill fan. Draw the shapes as shown to give thickness to this centre ellipse. Draw another ellipse at the back to make the base which connects the fan blades. Color the shapes as shown. 15. Draw the fan blades using the pen tool as shown. The part of the fan which is attached to the centre wheel is narrow and it widens at the outer end. Draw all four blades around the centre wheel and fill them with a orange red gradient as shown. To create the black part of the blade, draw a vertical line which is parallel to one side of the fan blade. Then select the line and the blade shape and use Windows > Pathfinder > Divide. In the resulting smaller shape fill #666666. The windmill fan is ready. 16. There are 2 different windows in the windmill. We will create each of them on a separate layer and then place them on the windmill later. Using the pen tool, draw the windows and fill colors as shown. 17. Now that all the windmill parts are ready we will put them together. With the windmill base as the object at the back, place the body over it. Place the windmill fan along with the centre wheel as the topmost object on the windmill head. 18. Duplicate the first window two times and place it on the right side of the windmill body. Refer the final windmill below for the placement and size of windows. Duplicate the second window once and place one of it on the bottom right of the windmill body. Place the other on the windmill head. 19. To create the supports of our windmill, use the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw narrow but long rectangles. Color them in shades of brown and arrange them vertically and horizontally behind the fan blades as per our final windmill below. Group all parts of the windmill. Below is an outline view of the completed windmill for a better idea of placement of objects.

Creating the Background

20. The background of our landscape is made of a bright blue radial gradient for the sky and fresh green linear gradients for the grass. 21. To create the sky, draw a rectangle that covers the entire artboard with the Rectangle Tool (M). Make sure you create the rectangle in a new layer and place this layer at the bottom of the layer stack in the layers panel. Fill the rectangle with a blue radial gradient as shown. 22. Make the top part of the sky a bit darker than the rest of the gradient by adding a linear gradient at the top. Draw a rectangle which covers the width of the artboard and give it a linear gradient as shown. Use a darker blue like # 2989CA at both ends of the gradient and reduce the opacity of the color at the right end to 0%. The new gradient should appear merged with the gradient below. 23. To make the ground we will draw the shapes of the ground with the pen tool first. All 3 shapes should be closed as we have to fill different gradients for each. The shape at the front is the largest and the one at the back is the smallest. This creates an illusion of perspective in the scene. 24. Fill the shapes using the gradient tool as shown.

Arranging the Elements

25. The last step in our tutorial is arranging all the elements on the artboard. For aligning the elements with correct perspective, take a new layer and draw some basic guide lines as shown below. The horizontal line depicts the horizon. The other lines are simply guides for us to arrange the tulip plants. 26. Let’s start with fixing the place of the windmill. Place the windmill on the horizon line at the right of the artboard. The white part of the sky gradient should fall behind the windmill. 27. Now we will create the red tulip patch. The tulips near the windmill will be the smallest and the ones near us will be the largest. Duplicate the red tulip plant to create 4 tulips and arrange them as shown. 28. Duplicate a tulip again, right click it and select Transform > Scale and scale it by 90%. Arrange the smaller tulip behind the first tulip line. Keep scaling and arranging tulips to complete the red tulip rows. You can also horizontally flip some tulips, delete or add leaves to plants for interesting variations. 29. To delete parts of the tulip plants that have come out of the artboard draw a rectangle over the portion to be deleted. Select the tulips and the rectangle and select Windows > Pathfinder > Trim. Delete the unwanted parts. 30. Repeat the same process as the red tulips for the yellow and purple tulips. Delete the layer of the guide lines we have created. The field is ready! The only thing remaining now is enhancing the scene by adding clouds and grass to it.

Adding Grass and Clouds

31. Access the Symbol library by going to Windows > Symbols in the main menu. Click on the ‘options’ icon on the top right corner of the symbols panel and select Open Symbol Library. Select Nature. In the Nature library you will find the clouds and grass symbols. Drag them onto the artboard on seperate layers. 32. Select the grass symbol and click the Break Link button that appears in a row just below the main menu. This will break the link of the symbol and you can edit the symbol freely. Make color and size variations in the grass symbol and arrange it behind the tulips and around the windmill. Make sure the grass at the farthest end is smallest in size. Our beautiful European tulip field landscape is ready! Vector Diary

Tutorial – Creating Awesome Christmas Invitation Poster in Photoshop

designerbooster — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:41:52 +0000

Christmas is one such festival that is celebrated around the globe. As usual this time as well i.e Christmas 2011. We decided to make an awesome invitation poster in photoshop as tutorial. Lets jump in Difficulty: Intermediate Estimated Time: 2 – 3 hrs. FINAL OUTPUT Wallpaper size Download In this tutorial we will learn how to create a Funky Christmas Invitation Poster in the Photoshop. Let’s get started. TUTORIAL SOURCES:

Here are the sources used. Don’t get afraid, we tried to make it cache using many characters

Brushes:

STEP-1 Create a new document with dimention 2400 x 1350 pixels STEP-2 Let’s set the background. Select the Paint Bucket Tool(G), set the Foreground color to #009ec9 and paint the transparent canvas. Take #009EC9 in Color picker STEP-3 Drag Snow Land 1 into canvas and make it as background Erase the sky part of image using Eraser Tool (E ) (Try to use Soft round) Take Color Balance (Ctrl+B) and give the values show below Then it will look like this STEP-4 Drag Snow Hills into canvas and make it as background Duplicate the layer, move it on to right side and flip it horizontally Merge both those layers and drag it down to Snow Land 1 Take Color Balance (Ctrl+B) with Color Levels (-20,0,0) and apply it to layer. Use Eraser Tool(E) to remove those 2 big trees and rearrange few few. Now it will look like this Erase the sky part of image using Eraser Tool (E ) (Try to use Soft round) STEP-5 Drag Snow Land 2 into canvas and place it below the fold Take Color Balance (Ctrl+B) with Color Levels (-20,0,0) and apply it to layer. STEP-6 Let’s build the home now, drag House here. Use Pen tool (P) to delete the background hill part of house and use Erase tool to blend it in snow land Now image will look like this STEP-7 Let’s duplicate the balloon tree by using Pen Tool (P) and paste it at few place randomly Use Erase tool at balloon tree to blend them in snow land. It will look like this, we placed it randomly throughout the snow land. Note: By doing this you will get separate layer for each tree, after arranging in proper places merge all of them into one. In turn it will reduce the file size STEP-8 Let’s bring moon in. Create a new layer and draw round circle with the Elliptical Marquee Tool(M). Fill it with white make it Glow, double click on layer and fill the values as below in layer style Moon will look like this STEP-9 Drag Santa Claus in We just need Santa without that background. So lets use Pen Tool (P) and remove all that unnecessary stuff. Now the invitation will look like this STEP-10 Drag Clouds in and give cloudy effect around moon using Erase tool STEP-11 Now lets play with the important part of invitation i.e Christmas tree. Open the image and take out only the tree using Wand Magic Tool (W ) Copy the tree and paste it in. Resize it and place it in center Take Color Balance (Ctrl+B) with Color Levels (-20,0,0) and apply it to layer. STEP-12 Drag Snow 1 into image and place it at left corner of below fold. Use Pen tool to blend it in existing snow STEP-13 Let’s add Merry Christmas text. Take Merry Christmas image, takeout the text and paste it in front of Christmas tree STEP-14 Now lets bring all those funky characters in. Open all those images one by one and take out the characters using Pen tool and arrange them in proper positions. Each character has got its own layer, now lets club them all into a folder (Select all the character layers and press Ctrl+G) After arranging those character, here is how my image looks I want all those character to be part of celebration. So I just got some stuff (Flowers, Cap, Stick and balls) and gave it in hands, head and mouth of characters. STEP-15 Take out only the banner from banner image below Fill the banner with a single color, extend the thread to hold and place it in such a way that both of those top birds holding it. Take a new layer on top of Banner and use Brush Tool (B) to draw 3 to 4 lines to give fold look according to air flow. Smudge edges of those lines to mix it in banner using Smudge Tool (R) STEP-16 Take the big tree image, take out only the tree using Pen tool and place it on right side. Make it bit dark Take a new layer along with Brush No. 66 (Dry Brush Tip Light Flow) and apply some snow on tree STEP-17 Drag those small Plants and place it at below corners of image. STEP-18 I just added few more character to that tree to make it into reality. STEP-19 I used downloaded brush Splatters to make contact between characters and snow land. Use brush no 999 from Splatters set Create the snow splatters near to the characters specially Panda, Peacock, Donald duck and penguins. STEP-20 Lets give some special power effect to character Tinker Bell. For that take a new document with Background contents as transparent. Take a separate layer with Star shape from Custom Shapes Tool (U ) and fill it with black color. Select star shape and go to Edit > Define Brush Preset Now we got a new star brush in the list of brushes Using this start brush create some stars of different sizes and give lite yellow color. It will look like this Duplicate it and give it to other hand and leg of Tinker Bell. STEP-21 Lets play with shadows of objects and characters. We need to shadows to object and characters according to light source. In this case it coming from moon on top left, so the shadows should fall right to characters. For that create a new layer and paint dark color with soft round Bush Tool (B) The same way give shadow effect to house as well. STEP-22 In the last step lets add falling snow effect using Brush SS-light-beams no 2500. Take a new layer on top of all the existing layers, use white color and bring snow falling effect. Final Image: Here is my Invitation You can download Wallpaper here Web Design Blog, Web Designer Resources

designerbooster » tutorial

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Create a Vector Stopwatch

Creating the Stopwatch Case

Creating the Face

Adding the Seconds

Making the Hands

Reflection

Putting a Lid On It

Creating the Start/Stop Button

Finishing Touches

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Creating a Tattered Parchment

Setting Up the Elements for the Basic Shape

Creating the Rips

Applying Gradients

Creating the Details

Creating the Ornament Brush

Conclusion

Illustrator Tutorial: Create A Snazzy Retro Badge

Premium Tutorial: Photorealistic Diamond

What will you get?

Tutorial Screenshots:

jQuery Mobile Tutorial: Creating a Restaurant Picker Web App

The Concept of the Mini App: Restaurant Picker

Wireframing Our Application.

Home Screen : Choose a Plate

Choose a Town

Choose a Restaurant

Restaurant Details

Building the web-application base

Some jQuery Mobile Basics

What You’d Like to Eat: First Page

Restaurant Picker

What would you'd like to eat?

Some Sushis

A Pizza

A Kebap

A Burger

Some Nems

Something more traditional

In Which Town Do You Want To Eat: Second Page

Restaurant Picker

In which town do you want to eat?

Choose a Restaurant: Third Page

Restaurant Picker

Please choose a restaurant.

Le Mouffetard

Chocolate bar

Restaurant Diona

Tai Shan

Arcade

Restaurant Details: Fourth Page

Restaurant Picker

Le Mouffetard

Contact us

User rating

Next up on Page Two: Adding Some Style

Tutorial – Design a Surreal Greenery Scene in Photoshop

Tutorial Details:

Final Image

Tutorial Resources:

STEP 1 (Create New Document)

STEP 2 (Creating sky background)

STEP 3 (Arranging Book)

STEP 4 (Creating Grass Land)

STEP 5 (Composing with Other Stuff)

STEP 6 (Creating Rainbow)

Final Image

Premium Tutorial: Photorealistic Watch

What will you get?

Tutorial Screenshots:

Create A Mixed Media Piece From A Hand Drawn Illustration In Photoshop

Final Image

What You Will Learn

Illustrator Tutorial: Holland Tulip Field

Drawing the Tulips

Tulip Stem and Leaves

Creating the Windmill

Creating the Background

Arranging the Elements

Adding Grass and Clouds