Getting Started With Illustrator

Getting started with Illustrator
Ahh, Illustrator; the promised land. Free from the hackles of bitmap… stretch out your
vectors until you run out of screen….and beyond. How many times you wanted to take a
piece of design and make it bigger How many times did somebody say! "hey could you
make that like…#$ times bigger% &ou can' (ot with raster art though. It needs to be vector.
)hich brings us to a first issue. *ust what the heck are vectors Aside from stuff related to
rockets and missiles and such, vectors +when speaking about graphics, are scalable pieces of
art. A notable difference between raster and vector would be that you can "stretch% a piece of
vector art as much as you want without having ugly -aggies invade your drawing. .he
technical e/planation is out there…but for now suffice it to say that vectors can be scaled up
without loosing 0uality.
And what better piece of software for creating vector art than Illustrator .here1s a reason
Illustrator is the standard when it comes to vector art. And that reason is that +at least for
now, I22 is the best there is. It1s used by the best artists in the field. .hat doesn1t mean you
have to be afraid of it. It looks menacing at first 3 all new things are. If you have a little
e/perience with 4hotoshop it looks somewhat familiar…but there1s all sorts of things that
don1t do what you think they1re supposed to. .he pen tool for instance. 4eople sing praises to
it, you1re supposed to learn how to use that first …but words like "5e6ier curves% sound a
little like made up sci7fi lingo and you -ust can1t get the gist of it. .he gradient tool is another
weird appliance. )hy isn1t there a comfy slider8picker combination like in 4hotoshop *ust
how do you make a bloody gradient It1s -ust weird. ..9r is it As a wise man said 3 there1s a
reason for everything. A little patience and industriousness will take you a long way 3 any
day.
9ne thing needs to be established from the very beginning. Illustrator may be a wonderful
tool. 5ut it -ust that 3 a tool. It doesn1t teach you how to think, how to draw or how to be an
artist. For those things you need to go to an art school. Illustrator helps you get your art done
faster, better rendered, easier and generally makes the whole process a lot smoother…but you
can achieve similar results with -ust a few :rayolas and paper.
)hy then do you need to spend a lot of time learning how to work with Illustrator when you
can do it 3 cheaper 3 with -ust a few sheets of paper and colored pencils )ell, because it
gets you there faster for one 3 we are after all living in the age of speed. It may not improve
your artistic skills but it makes your art digital, and it makes it scalable'
(ow that we got that out of the way 3 let1s focus on the real reason you1re reading this!
actually learning to work with Illustrator. .here are a lot of things you could begin with.
)hen you first open up illustrator 3 you see a familiar +if you know a little 4hotoshop,
interface. At first glance you might even say they1re twins. .hey are 3 in a way… but -ust
like brothers there are lots of differences that become apparent only after you get ac0uainted.
.he "godfather% of all tools on I22 is the pen tool . It and its minions 3 the "Add 8;elete
anchor point % tools and ":onvert Anchor 4oint % tool rule over everything. He has a
"wife% 3 the ";irect <election % tool . All other things are related to the fruits of its labor.
2et1s forget for a while the other tools and focus on the offspring of the pen tool. .he pen tool
produces paths. A path looks like a thin brush stroke…but is not. As its name says it1s a
"path% 7 a direction and itinerary for anything you may choose to assign to it. .hink of a path
like a route traced on a map. &ou can either take a bus on that route, or a bicycle, or a car…or
a plane. &ou can do a lot of things with and to a path. &ou can stroke it with a brush. &ou can
fill it +even if it1s not a closed curve, you can use it to give direction and motion to a
paragraph of te/t, to a series of other paths and so on.
4aths fall into several categories. .hey can be ruler straight, bent to an angle, curved 3 which
can in turn be a closed curve, an open curve… All these sound much more complicated than
they are. *ust like the words "5e6ier :urves% 3 which is another way of naming our paths.
.here1s a complicated e/planation for the term of course. In the =$1s a guy named 4ierre
5e6ier developed a cubic e0uation to use in :A; operations. It was later used by Adobe as
the basis for their 4ost <cript drawing model. .he math is available in the Adobe 4ost<cript
references for the interested. However, one can play with 5e6ier curves without really
understanding the math behind it. It1s -ust like turning on the light. (o real need to know how
electricity works 3 you -ust push the button.
)hat you do need to understand before working with paths is that paths have to be defined
somehow. )hat defines a curve )ell actually a lot of tortured mathematical formulae. 5ut
for our needs we will use the convenient handles that the nice guys at Adobe put there for us.
A path has a few defining elements! .wo endpoints 3 which is really understandable because
every line must have a beginning and an end…unless it1s a circle +but we1re getting there
later,. If our path is a straight line we1re stopping here. 5ut if it1s a curve we need something
more. .he "bends% in our path are given by anchor points. Anchor points are the places where
we can decide which way our curve will bend. .hey look like little empty s0uares and they
have > handles. &ou can do all sorts of things with an anchor point and > handles. &ou can
select the anchor point +with the direct selection tool, and move it or modify it …
.ake a look at it!
A little e/ercise is needed before all else. <o what I want you to do is open up Illustrator +if
it1s not already open, and create a new document. For this e/ercise you will only need the
pen tool family and the direct selection tool. ?/pand the pen tool bo/ +if you click and hold
on the pen tool you should see the other tools in the family and be provided with a small
triangle to a side that allows you to tear off the bo/,. ;o the same with the direct selection
tool and move the tool bo/es closer. (ow pick the pen tool and click once anywhere on
your canvas. .hen move the mouse a little and click again. &ou should now have a straight
line. If your path doesn1t look like my "<imple path% does in the pic then it must be because
I22 added stroke and fill to the path by default. )e don1t need those yet so we1ll get rid of
them. At the bottom of the tool bo/ you should see > larger s0uares 3 like those in my pic 7 in
the lower left corner. :lick on the slashed button that will remove the fill, then click on the
stroke s0uare to select it and then click again the slashed button that will remove it too. If you
hold your mouse pointer over various tools the bubble help should tell you which is which
+like the "(one% in my pic.,
Important note: If at any time you will click on your canvas outside of your anchor points
you will lose your path. It1s still there but it1s invisible. .o bring it out you only need to pick
the ;irect <elect tool and click and drag like you would use the mar0uee selection in
4hotoshop. ;rag over an area that is likely to include the general location of your path.
&ou1ll see it appear again 3 with all anchors selected. ;rag a "mar0uee% on the endpoint or
anchor point you wish to select. (ote you can also see all the shapes in your file if you click
":trl@&% 7 it will bring out the "outlines% view. At any time you can press ":trl@&% again to
get into normal vieving mode or "preview% mode as I22 calls it.
(ow you should finally end up with a clean path. 4ick the ;irect <elect tool and click on
any of the endpoints to select it. Hold your mouse button down and move it around. <elect
the other endpoint and move it around. Aood. (ow for more complicated stuff. 4ick the "Add
anchor point % tool and click anywhere on your path. &ou should see another little s0uare
like the endpoints. 9nly since it1s not on one end of the path 3 we can1t call it an endpoint 3
we1ll call it an anchor…. because of another reason that will soon become apparent. 4ick the
;irect <elect tool and click on your anchor point. And move it around like you did with
the endpoints. &ou will notice you made a bent line. 2et1s curve it. 4ick the :onvert Anchor
4oint tool and click on your anchor point. Hold and drag. (o matter the direction. As long
as you start from the anchor point 3 it will output symmetrical curves. 9ne thing you need to
reali6e at this point that your path is now split into segments. .he split point being…you
guessed 3 the anchor point. As soon as you add another 3 you get another segment. <egments
act like little paths. If you drag with the :onvert Anchor 4oint tool from an anchor point and
then click and drag -ust one of the handles 3 it will act as an endpoint for that segment. It will
"move% independently from the other handle. However if you click on an anchor point1s
handle with the ;irect <elect tool +while the anchor point is selected 3 meaning both
handles are visible, you will notice that you can modify the segment 3 the length of the curve
7 independently from the other segment. If you try to alter the direction you will see that the
handles move at the same time. A good trick that will save you a lot of clicks later on is to
make the anchor point, click on it with the :onvert Anchor 4oint , create handles, then
click on one handle only, move it and pick the direct select tool . :lick on that handle with
it 3 move it 3 and then click on the anchor point. &ou1ll see the other handle 3 for the
ad-acent segment. Bove that one too with the direct select tool and you get a nice pointed,
curvaceous split. I said earlier we1re going to get to a closed curve. A circle is a closed curve
for instance. 5ut any other curve that loops back onto itself is a closed one. .o get a closed
path 3 simply curve your path and click again on the endpoint you created first. &ou have to
click e/actly on the first endpoint 3 or else you1ll -ust be creating a new anchor point. A
closed curve8path must have at least one anchor point. 9nce you closed your path 3 you can
use the point where you closed down the path as a regular anchor point 3 but you will have to
use the :onvert Anchor 4oint tool on it first 3 -ust click it and drag 7 you1ll get handles.
.he ne/t step is to use the pen tool to create curves "on the fly.% 9nce you understood the
above +e/perimenting is the only way, you1ll be able to use the pen tool to click and drag…in
such a manner that you will get nice flowing curves from the first try. And if you need to
ad-ust it 3 well 3 you1ll know how to handle the handles…
I reali6e these sound complicated. 5ut believe it or not 3 that is the most complicated thing
you1ll have to deal with in Illustrator. 9nce you mastered the paths 3 the rest is -ust fill and
stroke….and a little effects here and there. 5ut those are easy. .he hard part is getting the
"feel% of paths. .hey are comple/ but once you e/periment with them you1ll see it1s easier
than it sounds. It may also be boring and long. 5ut if you want immediate results 3 use the
:rayolas.
Illustrator - Color - Part 1
.he first part of this tutorial deals with color and is not intended solely for Illustrator. .he
information here is good to know +even if sounds a bit boring, no matter what application you
use to create your art. .he second part deals with setting up colors and swatches for
Illustrator. )e won1t go into what e/actly color is. .hat is a more complicated matter than it
sounds. ?verybody knows what colors are… right 5lue like the sky, green like the grass and
so on. .he way your eyes perceive color is another matter altogether. &ou1ll come across a
few terms when dealing with colors in applications like Illustrator or 4hotoshop…and many
many others. .erms like "hues% or "tints% or "blends% and even menacing sounding acronyms
like :B&C or DA5.
A very 0uick introduction to color theory would be this!
.here are E primary colors 3 red, blue and yellow. If you mi/ those > at a time you get
secondary colors 3 green, orange and purple. If you mi/ a primary with a secondary you get a
tertiary color. Areen and 5lue for instance give you :yan. <o far it1s pretty straightforward.
From now on it gets more comple/. :olors can be cool! blues and greens and violets 7 and
warm! yellows, reds, oranges. If a color makes you think about summer 3 it1s warm 3 if it
makes you think about winter or frostbite 3 it1s cool. 9ther colors are neutral 3 they don1t
make you think in terms of temperature. 2ike browns and grays.
.ints are colors that have white mi/ed in them. As soon as you add white to a color you made
a tint. <hades are -ust like the name says 3 shadows 3 and it takes black to make one. :olors
are furthermore separated into other classes! analogous colors +colors that are close to each
other on the spectrum, for instance greens and yellows, and complementary colors 3 colors
that are e/act opposites on a colorwheel 3 like reds and cyans or blues and yellows. 9ut of
these combinations come color schemes.
5ut enough about color theory. .he above are very simplistic e/planations to a very comple/
sub-ect. .here are a lot more in7depth tutorials that cover color theory; if you1re really into it
you1ll find them. .ake a look at my picture.. it shows what I tried to e/plain so far!
&ou do need to understand the difference between DA5 and :B&C. .hese being the ma-or
working color modes of Illustrator +and any other self7respecting application,.
RGB means RedGreenBlue 3 and it1s what monitors +and .Fs, use to output color.
CMYK means CyanMagentaYellow5lacK .hey used "C% for black because "5% was
already taken by "5lue.% :B&C colors are used by printing machines +the big ones, and are
present in any printed paper you ever held. )hy are DA5 colors used by monitors and
:B&C by printers It1s easy enough 3 a monitor is a device that emits light. As such, red
green and blue phosphors 3 the "lights% in the monitor are combined to make all the other
colors. In a monitor1s case red and green and blue are added in various "0uantities% to make a
certain color. It1s easy to do so. It1s not so easy in the case of paper however. 4aper is not
emitting light 3 it1s not plugged in. 4aper is absorbing light. 9r more to the point light is
"shone% on the paper and bounces back to the eye. <o while a monitor1s color space is
additive +because one color is added to another to make a third, a printer1s color space is
subtractive. &ou obtain blue for instance by subtracting cyan from magenta and red by
subtracting yellow from magenta. .his is why paper needs :B&C input. )hile in theory the
same colors can be obtained in both working modes DA5 and :B&C, their spectrums +the
total number of colors, differ. )hich is to say that :B&C "sees% more colors in some areas
than DA5 and less in others. .he same is valid for DA5. 9n top of it all 3 the human eye sees
a whole lot more colors than both working modes 3 about E times more colors. <o how
e/actly do you make peace between DA5 and :B&C Illustrator +and some other apps,
offers another choice 3 spot colors. <pot colors are colors that are not :B&C process colors.
2ike 4antone. .hese are special colors that printers1 people can buy in cans and use for an
e/act match. .he reason many digital creators use 4antone colors is that the spectrum is
slightly larger than both DA5 and :B&C spectrums. It encompasses both. However,
4antone colors are more e/pensive than :B&C process colors +simply because instead of
buying G cans of paint 3 cyan, magenta yellow and black, you have to buy additional cans 3
with the 4antone colors,. If price is a big issue when creating a piece of digital art try to steer
away from 4antone and stick to good old :B&C.
&ou know how astronauts going out to space say there1s no picture that can describe the
actual landscape they see 9r proud Irish saying their impossibly green grass has hues no
photograph can do -ustice to
.hey1re right'
In any case it is important to understand that :B&C colors will not show as they really are
on your monitor because the monitor can only use DA5 to output them. )hen working in
Illustrator I personally prefer to work in :B&C because you never know when you might
need to print it and if you try to convert from DA5 to :B&C some colors may alter.
9ther terms you may come across are Halftone and ;uotone. .hey mean very different
things. Halftone is the process used by printers to vary the apparent intensity of color on
paper. In order to understand about this you need to understand how offset printing works.
)e already spoke about :B&C colors. )ell 3 any piece of digital art you produce is
separated into G parts. 9ne for every color. At the printer house they call those "plates%
because each of the G colors gets a plate +aluminum or plastic or something else, that is
etched with acid or any other method so that your image +-ust the :yan part for instance, is
"carved% onto the plate. .he process is then repeated for magenta, yellow and black. .he
plates are then smeared with paint according to their color 3 cyan paint for the cyan plate and
so on. .he paper on which your drawing will finally reside will pass over each of the plates
and from each will get an amount of paint. )hen combined, the G colors will trick your eye
into believing there are many more. )hich gets us back to halftones. Halftoning means that
tiny beads of paint are put on the paper on a grid. .he "dots% can be smaller or larger 3 the
grid can also vary in angle. .he smaller the dots of paint and the larger the grid 3 the lighter
the color will seem to be in intensity. .he larger the dots and the higher the apparent
intensity. Arids are arranged differently for all G colors so that when combined they overlap
and make a pattern the eye perceives as your image. )hen you count how many halftone
lines there are in an inch on the paper you get the 24I measure. 24I means lines per inch 3 or
screen lines per inch. 24I is the term for image resolution when speaking about print stuff 3
-ust like 44I +pi/els per inch, is the measure for digital images. As an e/ample 3 regular
newspapers use a resolution of HI 24I. )hich means you can see the dots patterns +halftones,
with the naked eye 3 if you look closely you1ll see them,. 4latesetters can print up to >$$ 24I
which means the resolution is so much higher.
;uotone on the other hand is a name the press people gave to multitone printing. ;uotone
means > inks +or E in which case it1s "tritone% or G when it1s "0uadtone%, will be used to
output the image. ;uotone images re0uire spot colors to be used 3 4antone usually. How
does it work 7 A monotone image +# ink, with a dark color is tinted +overprinted, with a
lighter one to tone it … and that1s it.
Illustrator - Color Part 2
9k 3 how does Illustrator deal with color 9ne thing you need to know is that if you come
from 4hotoshop and you hardly ever used swatches before… now1s the time to start using
them. .he less colors you use in Illustrator 3 the better. <watches sure come in handy for this.
Illustrator deals with colors differently.
Proess olors 3 these are combinations of :B&C inks in various amounts. .hey1re the
cheapest to use and are best suited when you have a -ob that needs lots and lots of colors.
2ike photos imported into Ill.
!pot olors 3 are special inks. As you know from the first part of the tutorial 3 there are more
spot colors than simple process ones. Jse spot colors when your -ob has few colors or the
actual shade is critical +like a company logo,.
Glo"al # non-glo"al olors 3 Illustrator lets you say whether a process color is global or non
global. )hat does it mean :olors which are assigned the "global% attribute get updated. <ay
you have a -ob where you use a lot of red shapes… and you need to change all of them. &ou
open up your file, change the "global% red to a different value and voila 3 all throughout your
file 3 all the red shapes are now updated. &ou don1t need to hunt down every little shape 3
-ust modify one handy swatch. (on global colors don1t update 3 they stay the same.
Demember that swatches really are your friends. )hen you start a new -ob you can use any of
a bunch or swatch libraries that the people over at Adobe made readily available. *ust click
the tiny triangle on the swatch panel to con-ure up some more. .here1s even lots you can
download at the Adobe e/change site. And not -ust simple color themes. .here1s gradients
and patterns too. If you want to use your own colors, you1ll notice that any new color you add
to your -ob becomes a swatch. &ou can use a previous color easily without having to pick it
up from the canvas 3 -ust look for it under swatches. It should be among the last ones down.
?very new document will come with a "clean% +-ust the defaults, swatch palette. If you need
a color you know you used in a document 3 open that one up 3 and either import the color 3
or simply saw the swatches.
9k. (ow about gradients. Aradients are like :hihuahuas. <ome are cute and make you say
"aaw% and some are horrible and shaky and make you wish you had an e/tra large <aint
5ernard to feed it to. 5evels are in the same category …but that1s another story. In principle
Illustrator deals with gradients about the same way as 4hotoshop. 5ut there1s a few
differences that make them a bit awkward at first.
If we take a look at the gradient panel. &ou1ll notice the field ne/t to ".ype% is empty. 5efore
you can apply a gradient to an ob-ect 3 you need to tell Illustrator what type it is 3 2inear or
Dadial. And even so 3 the ob-ect in cause needs to be selected first +not the ob-ect1s layer 3
we1re not inside 4hotoshop here, &ou need to have your ob-ect "active% 3 selected and then
choose a type of gradient. &ou1ll see that your ob-ect is now a nice black8white gradient..
white on the left…black on the right…and no way to move further. If you try and click on
either white or black to change it…all you get is the color panel with a gradient for that.
;on1t despair. It1s both easier than you thought and more comple/ that you hoped for. &ou
can get the gradient tool and change the direction of the gradient by clicking and dragging
over your ob-ect -ust like in 4hotoshop. 5ut what about changing the colors As I said earlier
3 easier than you thought. *ust click on a swatch from your friendly palette and ..drag it into
your gradient. If you drag it e/actly over either white or black 3 you replace those. If you
drag it somewhere over your gradient 3 you add that color to it. .o remove a swatch from the
gradient 3 -ust click on it and drag it away.
Also depending on which is topmost at the moment +fill or stroke, you add your gradient to
either the ob-ect1s fill or to its stroke. &ou1ll also notice one more thing. If you made an
ob-ect, filled it with a gradient and then you make another 3 the gradient "sticks% to it too.
.his is valid for most attributes you add to an ob-ect 3 everything you do ne/t 3 has the same
attributes as the previous. &o can ad-ust this default feature but it really helps most of the
times. If you don1t need the gradient to the second ob-ect.. -ust fill it with whatever you want.
.here1s one more thing about gradients. .hey work as a transparency mask too. &ou know
how you can make a layer mask in 4hotoshop to blend stuff smoothly &ou can do the same
in Illustrator with gradients. I made this rather corny painting +all with default gradients and a
default pattern stroke, and a simple linear white to black gradient on top. .he gradient must
be the topmost ob-ect.
)hat we are about to do is use the gradient to mask the "painting,% If you select the gradient
and place it on top of the painting you1ll see that my gradient is about half the height of my
"painting.% It will not cover all of it and you1ll see why.
And this is the result. About half my painting 3 and masked. )here I used to have white on
my gradient 3 the "painting% is visible 3 and where it was black 3 it1s now transparent. Cinda
like 4hotoshop.
5ut where1s the other half Aah 3 you see 3 any mask also functions as a clipping path. How
cool is that &ou kill two birds with one stone. In illustrator you can make a clipping path
from any ob-ect 3 as long as it1s on top of other ob-ects and all are selected. If you want to
place the gradient as a transparency mask for all the ob-ects 3 -ust make the gradient ob-ect
big enough. 5ut you can have that same ob-ect as a mask too. It can be any shape and it also
functions with raster images.
&ou can import a photo of ..say a cloudy sky 3 and use any ob-ect with a gradient as a
clipping mask and as a transparency mask. &ou can blend stuff you never imagined. If I had a
photo under my painting they would now be blended. Jse your own imagination and there1s
no limit to what you can do.
.his about completes the beginner tutorials. .here1s many things to say and Illustrator is
huge. 5ut this is what books are for. &ou may want to invest in a book or an actual class 7
always a great place to start…if these picked your interest.
Ma$ing a logo
I know this is supposed to be an Illustrator tutorial…and it is. 5ut since it1s about logos 3
let1s talk a little about what makes a logo good. First of all a logo must be simple enough to
remember. (obody wants to frown and s0uee6e his or her brains out to figure what your logo
means. It1s a small drawing that represents something not an IK test. <o you either need to
make your drawing as sketchy as possible or as recogni6able as possible. If you want a car in
your logo 3 don1t draw the decals and name of manufacturer on the tires. It only needs to be
recogni6able as a car. .here1s loads of speciali6ed literature out there dealing with this. I1m
only giving common sense advice. 5ut for the love of Aod don1t use a globe or a crescent
moon. .hose two are for some strange reason the most used of all. ;on1t know why since
they1re horrendous.
Anyway, back to our Illustrator tutorial. 2et1s make a couple of logos that are nicer looking
than any crescent or globe could ever hope to be. Dight. )e1ll fire up old Illustrator and get
to it. )e1ll be making > logos. 9ne a little retro looking and another more "modern.%
.he first one is for this imaginary company called ".he Anti0uated <hipping <ociety.% )hat
we need for an anti0uated shipping line is an anti0uated ship. I searched Aoogle for old boats
and found some nice postcards of old French sardine fishing ships. <o I traced one of those.
By advice is to use the pen as much as possible and forget about the auto trace tool. Auto
trace gives very bad results most of the times, offers very little control and besides, the more
you use the pen tool the more e/perience you gain in making smooth fast lines.
(ow that we have a ship… what1s the most corny, postcard7like instance in which you can
see a sailship )hy against a huge orange sun of course. <o I made a huge rising sun, a few
reflections and a few waves … and we have a nice postcard like picture. .he waves and
reflections are -ust pen tool scribbles and the sun is a simple circle of which I cut a portion.
:olors 3 global night blue and orange. )hat the logo now needs in order to become a logo is
the name of our fictitious company.
Illustrator is famous for its te/t on a path ability, a feature that was unknown in 4hotoshop
until lately. I1m not going to use that. I could have made it in 4hotoshop. )hat I1m going to
use is a feature that 4hotoshop offers in a very rudimentary form. .he envelope distort wrap'
)e1ll use that not because te/t on a path wouldn1t have worked -ust as fine but because it will
make a nice entry for what we can do with the envelope distort and it sets the ground for the
other logo we1ll be making.
<o we1ll choose a nice, a bit dated7looking, all caps font to write down the name. .hen we1ll
distort it to fit the sun. 9ne thing you need to know about the ?nvelope distort is that as
opposed to the 4hotoshop option 3 you can actually edit the contents after you1ve applied it.
.hat makes a world of difference doesn1t it )e won1t need it for the first part but we will
use it for the second logo -ust to show off.
Aood 7 now that we have the te/t 7 on to the most important part… the envelope. )hich is
e/actly what the name suggests 3 a container of sorts that envelops our ob-ects. For this
simper logo 3 we1ll use a default setting 3 one I said is also present in 4hotoshop. :lick on
the type ob-ect to select it 3 then go to 9b-ect 3 ?nvelope ;istort 3 Bake with )arp
+<hortcut is Alt@<hift@:trl@),. )e1ll go with the default "Arc% warp. )e1ll only need to
push the " 5end% slider a bit to get it to match our "sun% curve.
All right 3 (ow we have a logo. As I said in the beginning 3 it1s not something you couldn1t
have done in 4hotoshop. )ith the notable e/ception of being vector 3 our logo could have
been done -ust as easily in 4<. However, it did set the beginning steps for the second part of
my tutorial 3 which you1d find much more difficult in any raster application.
Perspeti%e - Part 1
4erspective is awesome. It adds depth and a certain "something% that makes designs nice.
:ombine this with a "vector look% and we have the makings of greatness…or at least the
makings of cuteness. ?ver see those servers on hosting templates 9r the pretty colorful E;
icons )e1re going to make something like that. It1s not that difficult and it sure is
impressive.
Illustrator :< has this great feature called "?/trude and 5evel.% 5asically what it does is
make E; ob-ects out of your paths. It1s nowhere near as comple/ as a real E; application but
the basics are there. It also adds perspective to the ob-ects created. However in order to learn
something you first need to learn the basics. It1s like in school when you learn to add and
subtract and divide and multiply. 4ocket calculators do it much faster and are more reliable…
but you have to know how. <o what we1re going to do in the first part of the tutorial is learn
how to make a > point perspective the hard way +very useful if you don1t have Illustrator :<
or if you want to use it inside 4hotoshop or even on paper, and in the second part of the
tutorial we1ll learn how to cheat and do it fast and dirty.
)e1ll open a new document and start making our ob-ect. )e1ll do the server bo/ thinghy.
.ake the pen tool and try and make a path similar to mine. .o keep things simple we1ll only
use L$ and GI degree angles. *ust keep <hift pressed to restrict the paths. And -ust click 3
don1t click and drag or you1ll be making curves instead of straight lines. )e1ll only need half
of our border 3 the rest we1ll duplicate and reflect. .o duplicate a path or ob-ect in Illustrator
you can select it then copy and paste the windows way +:trl@: 7 :trl@F, or you can copy it 3
:trl@: and pastre it in place 3 :trl@F 3 this will paste e/actly in the same location as the first
ob-ect +very useful feature,. ;o this 3 then go to 9b-ect 3 .ransform 3 Deflect 3 choose
"Fertical.% .hen move the reflected shape a little to the right until you have something like
my picture and -oin the endpoints 3 like the pic shows. &ou should now have a nice closed
path representing an outline of our server bo/. &ou can even fill the shape with a color if it
helps you. I1ll do mine blue7grey.
<o let1s start putting things in perspective +I know, I know 3 clichM.,
First we1ll use the free transform tool +?, to perspective distort our ob-ect. It1s a little tricky to
get it right. &ou need to start dragging with the tool from the corner of the bounding bo/ +not
from a side handle, then when the thing starts distorting 3 you press :trl, Alt and <hift and
keep them pressed so that the distortion will occur symmetrically. If you1ve been successful
you should have come up with something like my drawing.
&ou now need to learn about another great feature of Illustrator! guides. Ah but 4hotoshop
has guides too right )ell not this kind of guides. In illustrator you get bent or even curved
guides. Any path you create has what it takes to become a guide 3 it1s -ust a mouseclick
away. <o in order to add E; perspective to our bo/ thinghy we1ll grab the 2ine <egment .ool
+shortcut is , and starting from a random point we1ll pass through every corner on the left side
+the first path we made,. ;on1t stop at the corner 3 go beyond it 3 as much as you can 3 it
helps if you 6oom out a little. &ou shouldn1t have either fill or stroke active so in order to see
the lines bring out the outlines view +:trl@&, while you1re doing it. )hen you passed
through all the corners select all the line segments with the selection tool +F, and get ready
for magic. Dight click and select "Bake Auides% from the conte/t menu. .hat1s all there is to
it. 9nce you finished press :trl@& again for the pi/el preview.
For the other end we already have two perspective lines. <o we1ll simply continue the upper
and lower lines with line segments until the segments meet. )here they meet we will have
our secondary point. And starting from that point pass through all the corners of the +initially,
reflected shape. I think you won1t be very surprised to see that the segments will unite the
corners on both sides… )hen you have your segments… make them guides too. .he guides
can be hidden and show -ust like in 4hotoshop +:.D2@;, which is very useful.
From now on it gets a lot easier. )hat we1ll do is copy and paste in place our shape. .hen
resi6e the original shape and move it to the left so that it coincides with our guides. 2ock the
pasted shape in the layers palette so that you can move the first easier.
From now on it1s as easy as "connect the dots.% )hich is e/actly what we1ll do. )e1ll lock
everything in the layers palette and start making shapes with the help of our guides. .o help
you out Illustrator has this awesome feature called "<mart guides% &ou can turn it on with
:.D2@J. )hat it does is tell you when you are near a guide or an angle.. it even tells you
the angle..and helps with the snapping. 5ear in mind that you need some illusion of light for
the E; to look realistic so .. make the shapes darker 3 or lighter according to the lightsource
position you prefer. .his is what I did in my pic 3 I made simple shapes and filled them with
color 3 then on top I added a highlight 3 which is -ust another white shape.
)e have to do something about the "face% of our server. It1s gotta have some features too. <o
we1ll use another cool feature to give the face a frame first. Jnlock your ob-ect 3 the face 3
and click on it to select it. .hen go to 9b-ect 3 4ath 3 9ffset 4ath 3 and choose a negative
value 3 minus something. .he actual number depends on how big your document is 3 -ust try
and see what fits best. )hat this does is duplicate your path but smaller. <o 3 do it again 3
and change the color of the first offset path. )e now have a frame. &ou can now use your
imagination to add shapes on the frame to coincide with the lighting you chose. I only put
some highlights but you can be as detailed as you wish.
Anyway 3 to make a long story short, with the help of my guides, and a few e/tra vertical
guides +which can be con-ured by dragging from the ruler bars on the side of the canvas -ust
like in 4hotoshop, I added some more details. 9h 3 I also added some more perspective lines
and made them guides…
.he more guides you have 3 the more details you can add. It looks frightening but once you
6oom in 3 you1ll see it1s only helpful.
(ow if you group everything +e/cept the guides, and duplicate the group several times3 you
can resi6e it and make it look like you have a room full of servers. .hat1s what I did. .he
fiberoptics cable is another such e/ample 3 what you can do with a bit of fancy footwork and
a lot of perspective guidelines .
Perspeti%e - Part 2
+Illustrator :< re0uired for this tutorial,
Demember what I said about Illustrator :< having this great feature called "?/trude and
5evel% It does' )e1ll take the first path we made for our server ob-ect +or make it again if
you1re like me and didn1t save a copy, and I1ll show you how you can make the E;
perspective in > minutes flat. 9nce you have your shape, fill it and then go to ?ffect 3 E; 3
?/trude and 5evel.
In the window you get, input the following values!
First rotation value +/ a/is,! E
<econd rotation value +y a/is,! minus >N
.hird rotation value ,6 a/is,! minus E
4erspective! #G>
?/trude depth! >I$ pt
:ap! turned on +default,
5evel! none
(ow click on the "Bore options% tab and play with the lightsources 3 add some more 3 I
have G of them of which one is in the back of the ob-ect. Bake sure you have the "4review%
tab ticked so that you can see what you1re doing. If all went well you should have something
like I do.
(ow you1ll see the awesomeness of it. ?ven though it1s now E;, our shape is still editable.
?ach anchorpoint is still draggable and you can curve it… chisel off a piece. ..whatever you
want. )hat I did to my shape! I pushed in > anchorpoints from one side while adding another
two. And then I made a separate shape 3 the "hole% then I selected both of my shapes 3 right
clicked and I picked "make compound path% from the conte/t menu. And this is what I came
up with. :ool huh &ou can of course change the E; values too. In your appearance palette
double click on the "E; ?/trude and 5evel% and edit away…add lightsources, change
perspective, rotation… whatever pleases you.
I know this can1t compare to any respectable E; application. 5ut as I said, it keeps things
vector and it helps a lot. (ow you may be wondering why I put you though all the tortures of
making perspective lines in the first part of the tutorial if we could have done it so easily…
)hile I1d like to blame it on my sadistic nature the truth is that even though Illustrator :< has
some mapping rudiments that allow you to add stuff to the faces of the E; ob-ect, it1s
awkward and unsatisfactory. <o you1ll still need perspective lines to help you add features to
the faces of the ob-ect and of course.. when you have multiple ob-ects on your canvas it1s a
drag on your processor and your brain to keep everything aligned without them. .hat1s why
sliding rulers will never go out of style no matter what.
.here are however a lot of things you can do easily with this feature. )e1re going to make
one such thing! a E; map. <ay you want to show clients how to get to your office and you
want a nice E; area map to put on your site. )e1ll do that ne/t.
I am going to draw a mockup map which we1ll then make E;. )hat I did I made a rather dull
looking map. It looks +I hope, like any other from the thousands on the web… I1m going to
change that and make it nice and appealing… hopefully. 9ne thing you need to do is keep the
elements separate. I made E groups 3 one for the streets, one for the buildings, one with the
round buildings in the middle and one separate path for the grass. .o groups several ob-ects
you need to select them all and press :trl@A. It1s very important 3 you1ll see why in a
moment.
All right 3 now it1s magic time' <elect everything on your canvas +all your groups, with the
selection tool +F,, go to ?ffects 3 E; 3 ?/trude and 5evel and put in the following values!
First rotation value +/ a/is,! NH
<econd rotation value +y a/is,! minus H
.hird rotation value ,6 a/is,! $
4erspective! #>E
?/trude depth! >$ pt
:ap! turned on +default,
5evel! none
For the lights 3 see the picture
)ee, looks like E;' but the crappy thing +for now, is that everything has the same height…
we can1t have that. .his is why I had you make separate groups. )e1ll select -ust the "grass%
for now. :lick on the little circle in the layers palette to select the grass shape and then 3 in
the appearance palette 3 double click on the "E; ?/trude and 5evel% you should now get the
window with the E; stuff. 9n that window 3 put "$% as the value for e/trude depth. Ahh 3
nice. .he grass is now as it should be… (e/t select the "streets% group and do the same 3
only input "#% in the e/trusion depth field. .hat is it 7 nice and clean'
&ou can of course modify the lighting and very important 7 highlight your most important
building +your office or whatever, by changing the color of its shape. .o do this 3 pick the
;irect <election .ool +A, and click on the appropriate shape. .hen choose a different color
from your swatches 3 I made mine a nice custard yellow. And look what a nice thing it turned
out to be.. Hope you guys learned stuff from my tuts…
Bore nice things made with the same techni0ue!