Results For: brushes
Why Should I Use Brushes in Illustrator?
Before learning how to make pattern brushes, it’s good to understand exactly what they are and why/when to use them. Pattern brushes are a very powerful feature in Illustrator and offer many benefits: Improve file organization Speed up work flow Decrease time for editing/changing details Simply put, Pattern Brushes are repeating pattern tiles along a […]
How to Use and Load Custom Brushes in Illustrator
Brushes in Adobe Illustrator are a great option for anything that repeats linearly and this Illustrator tutorial will show you the basics of how to use brushes for beginners. Some simple examples of brushes for fashion design essentials are stitching and zippers, but they’re great for other fashion flat details such as studs along a belt, or to emulate ruching […]
How to Recolor Brushes in Illustrator
Brushes in Illustrator are a great way to emulate many different fashion related items including stitching, rhinestones and sequins. They’re easy to control and manipulate, and in this tutorial, we’ll go through how to change the color of brushes in Illustrator. The example below is shown with pattern brushes, but works with art and scatter […]
How to Load Brushes, Swatches, Styles & Symbol Libraries in Every Illustrator File
You may already know how to save custom libraries for things like swatches, symbols and brushes to use over and over again in your Adobe Illustrator workspace. But did you know you can create a master template file with these libraries so you don’t have to reload libraries each time you work in AI? If you sketch tons of […]
Ruching, Ruffles & Puckering with Pattern Brushes
Pattern brushes are an amazing feature in Illustrator and their use will make many tasks easier and more efficient. Learn how to make a very simple one to draw ruching and puckering.
Quilted Down Effect Using Brushes & Patterns in Illustrator
Tutorial video plus a vector download including a fashion flat, pattern brush & repeating pattern for quilting.
Adobe Illustrator Shortcuts for Color and Repeating Patterns (with animated GIFs!)
When you’re working with color and repeating patterns in Adobe Illustrator, it’s frustrating to feel like everything takes FOREVER! Chances are, you just don’t know the right Illustrator shortcuts for fashion. Learning these simple tricks will help cut your design time in HALF. Which is why I put together my best and top 23 shortcuts […]
How to Draw A Metallic Zipper in Illustrator (with the pull and stop in ONE brush!)
Drawing zippers in Illustrator is TEDIOUS! And if you want to add a gradient to make it metallic? You CAN’T do that in brushes! In this tutorial, you’ll learn exactly how to: Create your ENTIRE zipper in one brush – including the pull, stop, stitching and more! The quick metallic “hack” effect for brushes (since […]
Illustrator Shading Tutorial: Make Your Fashion Drawings 3D with Folds and Shadows
Shading and shadows make your fashion drawings STAND OUT! But it can be a fight to do this in Illustrator and make your drawings look more 3D. Chances are? It’s because you don’t know the simple tricks to do this! In this tutorial, you will learn: How to draw organic shapes for shading and shadows […]
How to Create Lace Trim in Illustrator
With a few simple tricks, you can mock up realistic lace trim in Illustrator (and a bit of Photoshop). Bonus trick? You can even change the color of your lace (even though it’s a photo) directly in Illustrator. Not what you wanted? Here’s how to create a lace repeating pattern swatch. In this tutorial, you […]
How to trace a photo of a garment in Illustrator
If you’re not a good hand sketcher and can’t draw from your head (like me), you may need to trace a photo. This tutorial will show you step by step how to trace a photo of a garment using simple tricks in Adobe Illustrator.
How to Back Save Newer Illustrator files to Open in Older Versions
You’ve probably seen one of these error messages before: “The file was generated by a new version of Illustrator. Would you like to import this file? Some data loss may occur.” “Can’t open the illustration. The file was generated by a newer version of Illustrator and cannot be opened. Please resave it in a format […]
How to Sketch Fashion Flats Faster with these 5 Illustrator Shortcuts
Simple tricks to help speed up your Illustrator workflow…because sketching fashion flats doesn’t have to take forever. In this video, you will learn how to: 00:52 Add stitching to your fashion flat with this simple hack 02:37 Create stylized movement lines by changing one setting 04:19 Change the width of a path from thick to […]
How to Recolor Artwork in Illustrator (pattern swatches too!)
It’s very easy to recolor artwork in Illustrator – including pattern swatches, brushes, or just solid blocks of color – if you know the right tricks. This tutorial will show you exactly how to do all of that. Learn how to quickly make multiple colorways of your fashion flat sketches, repeating pattern swatches, or even entire […]
4 Ways to Sketch Fashion Flats in Illustrator
Technique 1: Sketch Fashion Flats by Copying Path Segments This first sketching technique will show you how to copy a path segment in Illustrator to to create a fashion flat with seams that line up perfectly. While this Illustrator fashion sketching method creates very tidy flats with paths that abut perfectly, it’s not my favorite. It lacks flexibility to change curves […]
Where to Save Custom Brush, Symbol, Swatch or Style Libraries in Illustrator (for Mac & PC)
If you use custom libraries for brushes or other assets in your Illustrator workspace (symbols, swatches, graphic styles, etc), it’s easy to make sure they appear right off the drop down menu as long as you know where to save them. By default, this is not where they are saved and you have to manually search […]
How to Draw Ruffles, Ruching & Gathers in Illustrator with a Brush
In Illustrator, it’s easy to emulate ruffles, ruching, elastic and gathering with brushes. This is by far one of the more underutilized brushes I see, finding that most fashion designers draw ruffles manually one by one. This tutorial will go through a few different techniques to easily create a basic ruffle brush to use […]
How to Draw a T-Shirt in Illustrator (the right way)
I discovered a flat sketch of a t-shirt in the Adobe Illustrator application folder…and when I opened it, I was pretty unimpressed with how the fashion sketch was drawn and assembled. Simply put, the quality was subpar for Adobe’s high standards. In this step by step video tutorial, I’ll show you how to use some best practices to draw […]
How to Draw Stitching & Seam Allowance in Illustrator (accurately!)
Using Illustrator’s offset path feature allows you to do exactly that – create new paths that are offset from existing paths. These are great shortctus for drawing stitches (dashed lines) along the edge of seam lines on fashion flats, appliqué, patches and more. In the tutorial below, I’ll show you how to add stitching to straps on a bag tech sketch. […]
Where Are the Pantone Colors in Adobe Illustrator?
This tutorial will show you how to load any Pantone swatches in your Adobe Illustrator workspace including paper (Coated, Uncoated, etc) and cotton (TCX / TPX) books. This is a great way to mock up fabric for your clothing line in Illustrator. Q: Where do I find the Pantone colors in Illustrator? A: It depends on what Pantone book […]
