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Day 19: Using the Symbol Tools
Symbols help you to create repeated design elements easily. First, you will need to create a symbol which acts like a master copy. New instances you created are linked with the master copy. Once you update the master copy, the instances will automatically update the graphic but retain all the transformations made to the symbols.
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Day 18: Photorealism with Gradient Mesh
Gradient Mesh allows you to create shapes with gradients. And many artist has been able to create photo realistic drawings of people, products and vehicles just by using Gradient Mesh. Here is an example of photorealistic artwork by Halim Ghobane. If you don’t believe your eyes, the gradient mesh line will show the answer.
Day 17: Blending Shapes & Colors
Illustrator Blend Tool does the trick of creating smooth transition between objects. You can blend open paths to create line effects and blend shapes to create realistic shadings. There are many creative things you can do with the Blend Tool and you will definitely be using it a lot in your illustrations.
Blend Effects
Here are some quick interesting stuff you can do with blending.
Realistic Shadings
With smooth blends you can create realistic shading which cannot be done with gradient.
Day 16: Basic Text
The type tools allows some simple common text formatting. You will learn about columns, wrap text and text on a path. This will help you create aesthetic type effects on brochures and newsletter covers.
Typing Text Using Point Text
To create a point text, simply click once on the artboard using the Type Tool and type out your text. Point text only allows you to write a one line text without any text wrap.
Day 15: Transforming & Moving Objects
In this lesson, you will learn how to quickly resize and rotate objects using the Transform functions. I will be showing some useful transform tricks to create random rotating objects using Transform Each function.
Resizing Objects
Method 1: Select the object with Selection Tool and the bounding box will appear. Select the corner handle and resize while holding Shift to constrain proportion.
Day 12: Transparency & Graphic Styles
Transparency effects open the door for designers to create eye catching effects. You can add transparency to drop shadows or apply blending modes to objects to enhance your illustrations.
Adding Transparency
You can add transparency in Illustrator by lowering the opacity of objects so that underlying artwork becomes visible. Go Window>Transparency to open up your Transparency Window. Stack a few objects and set it to a lower opacity of 50% for the underlying color to show through.
Day 11: Editing Objects, Layers & Groups
As you start working on complicated illustrations, layers will start to build up. And you will have to group and arrange them so that you can move and edit the layers easily. I will show you an example of an illustration I did so that you can see how I name and group my layers.
