Here are some tutorials on making your own custom art brush in illustrator. These are just the beginning, the possibilities are truly endless.
Continue reading
the Illustrator Art Brushes 4 ways
Posted in Uncategorized
A perfect heart
Finding a tutorial for drawing a perfect heart was proving quite a challenge until I found this one. The steps below are based on Deke’s tutorial.
Continue reading
Sexy Pull Quotes pt.1
I think pull quotes are great because they typically use pure typography to draw interest into magazine articles. If the typefaces we have chosen stir us emotionally, these discrete instances of pure type should send shivers down our readers spine.
This tutorial will introduce the technical steps and considerations needed to set up compelling pull quotes in InDesign. Although set up for one specific layout approach, the steps and considerations can be tailored to meet many design needs.
Continue reading
Sexy Pull Quotes pt.2
In the first part of this tutorial we set up a document and placed a text frame that held a pull quote. In this second part we’ll add the sexiest part of pull quotes – the actual quote marks – and customize how they look.
Continue reading
Don’t Break the Grid redux
There is an unfortunate dearth of InDesign tutorials online – good ones at least – and when you find one that addresses the software as well as design it is always worth sharing. I found this one a while back and liked it quite a bit, but I thought it needed a bit of a rewrite for my students.
Continue reading
Imposing a document with InDesign
There is no imposition function within InDesign, but with a little creativity using the FILE > PRINT BOOKLET we can create a document that can made into a PDF and then printed and assembled into a saddle-stitched book.
Continue reading
Color replacement using the HUE blending mode
For this tutorial we’ll be using the HUE color mode to replace an image’s color without affecting the underlying contrast or luminosity.
Continue reading
Grids, Guides, Proportions and InDesign Math
You can get obsessed with grids. Grids act as the skeleton or backbone of most design work and are considered integral to the process of balancing aesthetics with information exchange. Grids are beloved by some and bemoaned by others – some find the rigid parameters invaluable to harmonious design, others find it limiting and constricting. I find myself falling somewhere in the middle – there’s an inner geek inside of me that loves to find a clever way to break up space, but there also the anti-establishment side of my personality that likes to break rules and push the boundaries. For that reason, I like using grids as I see it as an opportunity to act as both lawman and outlaw, I can be both the cops and the robbers.
Continue reading
A Digital Watermark
This tutorial will provide some tips on creating a digital watermark, making alpha channels and using layer adjustments. There are endless variations on this so it would be in your best interest to give yourself time to experiment and play around with settings you like.
Unheralded Moments of the Creative Process
When we think about the Creative Process, we typically think about the more positive or at least productive aspects: visioning, execution, decision making, consideration, experimentation. These are all skills that are the focus of classes at school and in furthering our professional professional development. This is critical knowledge for us creative folk.
But what of negative aspects of the creative process, the one’s which on the surface don’t feel as if they are productive: failure, discouragement, procrastination, justification? They all factor into how ideas move forward (although some may make us feel as if we’re moving backwards – or want to give up all together) and should be embraced as skills as the aspects listed above.
As this collection of thoughts expands through these blog posts, I hope to explore all of the aspects of the creative process and certainly welcome the input of friends and strangers alike to help me elaborate on them.