Illustrator One-on-One: Mastery

Introduction

• Welcome to this One-on-One course
• Previously on Illustrator One-on-One

31. Shortcuts and Customization

• Becoming a lean, mean illustration machine
• Installing custom dekeKeys shortcuts
• Loading and using dekeKeys
• Welcome to the dekeKeys PDF docs
• Three out of the hundred custom shortcuts
• Still more time-saving shortcuts
• Creating your own custom shortcuts
• Tool, transparency, and panel shortcuts
• Creating your own custom Toolbox

32. Blend Modes and Opacity Masks

• The many ways to blend colors
• Adjusting the opacity with shortcuts
• Blending modes: Multiply and Screen
• The other modes: Overlay thru Luminosity
• My dekeKeys blend mode shortcuts
• The effect of color space on blending modes
• A few advanced blending mode tricks
• Applying blending modes in the Appearance panel
• Creating auto-inverting type
• Carving dynamic holes with Knockout Group
• Knockout Group option and dynamic attributes
• Using the Isolate Blending option
• Introducing the opacity mask
• Putting an opacity mask into use
• Applying blending modes to entire layers
• Adding Photoshop pixels to an opacity mask
• Finishing up the tattooed face
• Exporting transparency to Photoshop

33. The Brushes Panel

• Painting with path outlines
• Introducing the Brushes panel
• Applying and editing a calligraphic brush
• Scaling and colorizing art brushes
• Applying and customizing scatter brushes
• Formatting and editing brushed type
• Designing your own custom art brushes
• Creating and testing your art brushes
• Refining a brush to fit ends and corners
• Expanding, filling, and stroking a brush
• Type On A Path tool vs. text as an art brush
• Distorting art type with the Width tool
• Infusing your artwork with a pattern
• Painting with bristle brushes

34. Seamlessly Repeating Patterns

• Patterns let you be free
• Creating a pattern
• Introducing the Pattern Editing mode
• Saving a copy and undoing a big mistake
• The better way to duplicate a pattern
• Moving a pattern inside its container
• The three tile types: Grid, brick, and hex
• Using the Pattern Tile tool
• Designing a real-world tessellation
• Measuring the exact size of a hex tile
• Creating complementary pattern elements
• Adding representational pattern elements
• Drawing a triangular cartoon eye
• Further developing pattern elements
• Creating a pattern with a keyboard shortcut
• Constructing a seamless denim pattern
• Making your denim pattern look like denim
• Creating a pattern brush with auto corners
• Creating custom start and end tiles

35. Gradient Mesh

• Photorealistic painting at its best
• Introduction to gradient meshes
• Using the dedicated Mesh tool
• Creating a basic gradient mesh
• Isolating a mesh object
• Deleting unwanted, invisible mesh points
• Releasing a gradient mesh
• Converting mesh points from cusp to smooth
• Sharpening or smoothing color transitions
• Assigning a mesh to a bendy shape
• Converting a linear gradient to a mesh
• Converting a radial gradient to a mesh
• Painting soft objects with a gradient mesh
• Combining a mesh with a compound path
• Expressing surface contours with a mesh
• Painting contoured highlights
• Blending multiple mesh objects
• Using gradient meshes to cast shadows

36. The Puppet Warp Tool

• Why redraw when you can reposition?
• Introduction to the Puppet Warp tool
• Setting your own custom pins
• Hiding pins, path edges, and the mesh
• Warning: All changes are final
• Disabling content-aware pins
• Constraining and twisting pins
• Using the Expand Mesh value
• Using Puppet Warp for small, complex objects

37. Charts and Pictographs

• The pleasures and pitfalls of graphs
• Graphing numerical data
• Importing a tab-limited spreadsheet
• Modifying data to create a category axis
• Reformatting text and numerical values
• Adjusting the graph type settings
• Creating and applying a graph design
• Setting the column type to repeating
• Recreating a graph at the proper size
• Customizing your legend

38. Logos and Specialty Text

• Illustrator’s logo-making features
• Making a logo from one character of type
• Creating a logo of interwoven rings
• Weaving your rings into a larger ring
• Whittling your paths with the Scissors tool
• Gradient type and dynamic strokes
• Using the Touch Type tool
• Two ways to warp type
• Creating letter-shaped gradients
• Painting reflections onto letterforms
• Multicolor fonts: Trajan Color Concept
• Using stylistic sets

39. Applying 3D Effects

• The five advantages to 3D in Illustrator
• Introduction to the three kinds of 3D in Illustrator
• Working in 3D space: Pitch, yaw, and roll
• Lighting and shading a 3D object
• Beveling the edges of a 3D extrusion
• Creating live, editable 3D type
• Adding cast shadows to 3D type
• Understanding the 3D Revolve effect
• Using 3D Revolve to create a soda can
• Mapping a logo or other art onto a 3D object
• Enhancing 3D artwork with faux 3D effects
• Combining a stroke with 3D Revolve

Conclusion

• Until next time