Adobe Illustrator Advanced (2023): Drawing and Coloring

Name: Adobe Illustrator Advanced (2023): Drawing and Coloring
Author: Stephen Steinbach

Create dynamic illustrations with the advanced drawing and coloring tools in Adobe Illustration 2023

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Stephen Steinbach, and in these lessons, I want to show you how to use some of the advanced drawing and coloring tools in Adobe Illustrator 2023. So to begin, let's look at some of the advanced features for the pen tool. So for this example, I just have a font that I've created an outline for, and I've added some guides, so just make sure that your rulers are being shown here and you just basically slide the guides. You can make guides at an angle just by creating a line, for example, and creating a line, and with that selected, you can go to view guides, and you can make a guide like that. Okay, so what I've done here is I've added guides to the extremities. So this guide is the extremity here and here, and you don't have to use guides, but it does make sure that you put the points in the correct position. So what you're looking for is if you look at this, you can see this bezier is completely vertical, and this one is completely horizontal. So a lot of times if you're using the pen tool, you might start kind of going like this and going in different directions, and the beziers are not organized. So we want to make sure that we have organized beziers. So I'm going to lock this layer, and then I'm going to add a new layer here, and I'll call this path. And you can do this several ways. One way would be to come with holding the shift key and dragging this way, and then holding the shift key going in this direction to get that perfect bezier. So there's another way to do this, and I'm going to show you a different technique, and what I'm going to do here is go to my fill and turn that off, and just give myself a stroke like so. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to just use the pen tool, and not have any bezier at all when I first start so I'm just looking to start here and I'm just going to click on different places here. At the very bottom where this guide hits the shape here, and that's going to be right about there, and then where this guide hits this shape would be about here, and then another one here, another one there, there, I'm going to go all the way around. And I don't care if they overlap. Okay, then there'll be another one here, here, here. At the bottom, you can see where the icon changes to close the loop. Okay, so all we have to do now is use this tool right here, the anchor point tool, and we'll just start here and we're going to just slide this out. And then what you want to do is once you create the bezier, you want to hold the shift key and drag that out like so, and you can also see that I can use the arrow tool to bring that in if I put that in the wrong position. And I'll do a couple of these and get them kind of close for now. And let's just do a couple of these here. And this one is going to be a little tricky because I'm going to have to come up on this and come this way, and then I'll use the shift key and bring that back like that. And let's come this way holding the shift key is what's important. Okay, and then this one here will create it and then let's bring that up. Okay, this one. Make sure you don't cross it backwards so holding the shift key. On this one you have to kind of create it, and then we'll break that tangent. So these, these might not have one so this one and again will be down this way, probably. And I need to move that over a little bit. So with the anchor point tool, hold the shift key straight down, and then just hold the shift and bring that back down. And then come across here. So this way gives you a little bit more flexibility and control, a little bit more time consuming, but you're going to get a better precision. Move these around what you want to make sure is when you do these they're completely flat. And just by clicking on it you can reset the bezier, but then you can change the weighting on one side just by moving that over. So you can see here with a little bit of tweaking. I've got a little bit to do here, but I can really get precise. And then if you use the white arrow tool you can also do that, and you can slide these around as well holding the shift key to continuing to adjust these gear and holding the alt key will break the tangent as well. And then with this selected you can use the arrow key to make fine adjustments. In the next lesson I want to show you how to use the pencil tool. Thanks for watching.

Advanced Provider : Stephen Steinbach 12 Lessons · 55m in English

Course Description

Graphic designers use many different workflows for creating advanced Illustrations. Knowing how to customize the pen and pencil tools is important for precision illustration. In this course, you’ll learn how to use the paintbrush and blob brush tools to add dynamic colors to a graphic. The blob brush is a great tool for adding a hand-painted effect to a graphic illustration. You will also explore how to create advanced duplications, along with how to use the reflect and reshape tools. The ability to align objects is an essential skill for graphic designers, and we’ll show you how to work with smart guides and Illustrator’s align tools. Finally, we’ll explore how you can use the Transform Each tool to affect multiple duplicates of the same shape.

In this course, we’ll explore advanced settings for the pen and pencil tools in Adobe Illustrator 2023. We’ll show you how to use the paintbrush and blob brush tools to add dynamic colors to a graphic. You’ll also be introduced to advanced coloring tools, and we’ll discuss how to illustrate using duplication techniques. Then you’ll learn how to work with smart guides and align tools to prepare and arrange a graphical presentation.

What You'll Learn

Customize the advanced settings of the pen and pencil tools for precision illustration
Use the paintbrush and blob brush tools to add dynamic colors and a hand-painted effect to a graphic
Apply advanced coloring tools, hand coloring, and advanced patterns
Create advanced duplications using the reflect and reshape tools
Arrange and align objects with smart guides and Illustrator's align tools, including aligning to artboards
Use the Transform Each tool to affect multiple duplicates of the same shape

Key Takeaways

Knowing how to customize the pen and pencil tools is important for precision illustration.
The blob brush is a great tool for adding a hand-painted effect to a graphic illustration.
The ability to align objects is an essential skill for graphic designers.
Smart guides and align tools help prepare and arrange a graphical presentation.
The Transform Each tool can affect multiple duplicates of the same shape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You'll learn advanced settings for the pen and pencil tools, how to use the paintbrush and blob brush tools to add dynamic colors, advanced coloring tools, duplication techniques, and how to work with smart guides and align tools to prepare and arrange a graphical presentation in Adobe Illustrator 2023.

Who is this course for?

It is for graphic designers who use different workflows for creating advanced illustrations and want to develop precision illustration and coloring skills in Adobe Illustrator 2023.

What coloring tools does the course cover?

The course covers the paintbrush and blob brush tools for adding dynamic colors, hand coloring, advanced coloring techniques, and advanced patterns, with skills in color management and color mixing.

What duplication and alignment skills are taught?

You'll learn to create advanced duplications using the reflect and reshape tools, use the Transform Each tool on multiple duplicates of the same shape, and align objects using smart guides and Illustrator's align tools, including aligning to artboards.