Premium Tutorial: Illustrator Seamless Patterns

By
Tony Soh
-
13
3329

illustrator seamless patterns

Secrets of Making Illustrator Seamless Patterns

If you ever tried making your illustrator seamless pattern, you probably have failed to make it tile perfectly. Things get even harder when the pattern is random and chaotic.

In this tutorial, I will show you my own unique technique of creating seamless patterns and tiles effortlessly. I will start with a leaf and show you how to create a pile of leaves with different shades. After that, I will reveal my trick to make it tile seamlessly. With this technique in hand, you will be able to create your own wallpaper patterns.

Difficulty: Basic - Intermediate tutorial
Requirements: Adobe Illustrator

What will you get?

    • Instant download of PDF e-book (10 pages)
    • Easy to follow with screenshots
    • Learn about using Symbol Sprayer
    • Discover the trick to create perfect seamless patterns
    • Learn to use illustrator pattern swatches to create repeated tiles
    • Source file for easy reference
    • 30 days money back guarantee if not satisfied

Tutorial Preview:

13. Finally, we will need to copy the top to the bottom. Select the top bunch of tiles and go to Object>Transform>Move. The trick is to set the Vertical Position to a negative value of the square's height. So set Horizontal: 0mm and Vertical: -100mm. Click copy after that.

14. Now our four corners are covered and it will tile seamlessly. Be careful not to touch the leaves that overlap the edges of the square guide. We have some excess leaves sitting outside the square that we van use to fill the empty spaces in the tile. Drag those leaves and start filling inside the square. Make sure the new leaves you inserted don't overlap the edges of the square.

15. Here is my final tile. Note that the tones are quite evenly spread out. This will make the tile look even when you tile it. Select your pile of leaves and group it by pressing Ctrl/Command+G.

16. Open up your Layer Palette(Windows>Layers). You will notice that there is a lock beside our square guide layer as we have locked it in Step 7. Unlock it by clicking on the lock. Drage the square layer below our grouped leaves.

17. Duplicate a new square layer of the square guide by dragging it to the New Layer icon below the palette. Fill the new layer with dark green to cover up the white background.

18. Select our square layer by clicking on the circle icon beside it. The crucial step to make it tile is as follows. Set the Fill and Stroke to none as shown. This will tell illustrator that this is the grid of the tile. Also, make sure this layer is below the grouped leaves and green background. Select all 3 layers by holding Ctrl/Comman and click the circle icon beside the grouped leaves and green background. Finally, group it all together by pressing Ctrl.Command+G.



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13 COMMENTS

  1. fantastic! thanks so much for making this available… patterns have always thrown me, so this tutorial will come in handy. i look forward to your other premium tutorials!

  9. I want to make seamless patterns with complex swirls and flowers (I have something like what I want to make as the background to my website now). I have downloaded and purchased many.. but want to make something similar to what I use as my background (swirls and dashes on a large scale that). Will this tutorial help me create something like that?

  10. Hi Lolly, this tutorial will teach you how to make the 4 edges tile with your pattern. But for your pattern, you will still need to know how to use illustrator to draw the swirls and dashes. For such a complicated pattern, I will work on the edges and use my tiling technique to make sure they tile before working to the center of the tile.

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