Post pobrano z: How to Create an Illustration Inspired by International Day of Persons With Disabilities

In the following steps, you will learn how to create a simple illustration inspired by the International Day of Persons With Disabilities. 

For starters, you will learn how to set up a simple grid and how to easily add or remove anchor points from a path. Moving on, you will learn how to add text on a path, how to stylize it, and how to easily mask it. Using basic stroke techniques and the Rounded Corners effect, you will learn how to create most of that wheelchair logo. Finally, you will learn how to add a simple background, some subtle shading, and a smaller piece of text on a path.

For more inspiration on how to adjust or improve your final text effect, you can find plenty of resources at GraphicRiver.

1. How to Create a New Document and Set Up a Grid

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 850 in the width box and 860 in the height box, and then click that More Settings button. Select RGB for the Color Mode, set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click Create Document.

Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). You will need a grid every 10 px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid, and enter 10 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. Try not to get discouraged by all that grid—it will make your work easier, and keep in mind that you can easily enable or disable it using the Control-„ keyboard shortcut.

You can learn more about Illustrator’s grid system in this short tutorial from Andrei Stefan: Understanding Adobe Illustrator’s Grid System.

You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Don’t forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

2. How to Create the Wheelchair Wheel

Step 1

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and focus on your Toolbar. Remove the color from the fill and then select the stroke and set its color to R=37 G=170 B=227. Move to your artboard and simply create a 300 px circle—the grid and the Snap to Grid should make it easier.

Make sure that your shape stays selected, focus on the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), and set the stroke weight to 60 px.

Step 2

With your shape still selected, go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points twice. Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the seven anchor points highlighted in the first image, and remove them using the Delete button on your keyboard.

Make sure that the resulting path remains selected and return to the Appearance panel. Click that „Stroke” piece of text to open the Stroke fly-out panel, and then check the Round Cap and Round Join buttons.

3. How to Add Text on a Path and Stylize It

Step 1

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 330 px circle, and place it exactly as shown in the following image. The color attributes are not very important.

Step 2

Make sure that your 330 px circle is still selected, pick the Type on a Path Tool, and simply click on the edge of your selected shape. This will allow you to add text along your path.

Add the „INCLUSION MATTERS” piece of text, make it white, and open the Character panel (Window > Type > Character). Select the Insaniburger font, and set the Size to 45 px and the Tracking to 75. 

Next, you need to adjust the position of your text. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A) and simply drag that middle bracket from the outside to the inside of your circle. This should move your text inside the circle. Use that same bracket to move your text along the path as shown in the following image.

Step 3

Make sure that your text is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel, and add a new fill using the Add New Fill button. Select it and set the color to R=27 G=34 B=88.

Step 4

Make sure that your text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel. Add a second fill, drag it below the existing one, and select it.

Set the color to R=27 G=34 B=88, lower its Opacity to 30%, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag both Scale sliders to 101% and set the Move-Vertical slider to 0.2 px, enter 1 in that Copies box, and then click OK.

Step 5

Make sure that your text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel. Add a third fill, drag it below the existing ones, and select it.

Set the color to R=27 G=34 B=88, lower its Opacity to 30%, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, click OK, and then go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 3 px Radius and click OK.

Step 6

Make sure that your text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel. Add a fourth fill, drag it below the existing ones, and select it.

Set the color to R=27 G=34 B=88, lower its Opacity to 15%, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter the attributes shown in the following image and then click OK.

Step 7

Make sure that your text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel. Add a fifth fill, drag it below the existing ones, and select it.

Set the color to R=27 G=34 B=88, lower its Opacity to 20%, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter the attributes shown in the following image and then click OK.

Step 8

Select your blue path, make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F), and bring it to front (Shift-Control-]). With this copy still selected, go to the Appearance panel and set the stroke color to white.

Select this white path along your text on a path, open the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency), and click the Make Mask button. In the end, things should look like in the third image.

4. How to Create the Background

Step 1

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create an 870 x 880 px shape. Fill it with R=27 G=34 B=88, send it to back (Shift-Control-[), and make sure that it covers your entire artboard.

Step 2

Reselect your blue path and replace the blue with white.

5. How to Create a Human Silhouette

Step 1

Pick the Pen Tool (P) and create a simple path about as shown in the following image. Once again, the grid and the Snap to Grid will help. Add a 60 px stroke for this new path, make it white, and don’t forget to check the Round Cap and Round Join buttons.

Step 2

Make sure that the path created in the previous step is still selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 30 px Radius and then click OK.

Step 3

Using the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\), create a 120 px horizontal path, and place it as shown in the following image. Add a 60 px stroke for this new path, make it white, and don’t forget to check the Round Cap button.

Step 4

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a 100 px circle. Fill it with white and place it as shown below.

6. How to Add Subtle Shading and a Second Text on a Path

Step 1

Reselect your white circle along with the three white paths and Group them (Control-G).

Step 2

With your group still selected, apply the three Drop Shadow effects (Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow) shown in the following image.

Step 3

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 220 px circle, and place it exactly as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Make sure that your 220 px circle is still selected, pick the Type on a Path Tool, and add the „DECEMBER 3RD” piece of text along your selection. Make it white, use the text attributes shown below, and use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to adjust the text location as shown below.

Congratulations! You’re Done!

Here is how it should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future projects. Don’t hesitate to share your final result in the comments section.

Feel free to adjust the final design and make it your own. You can find some great sources of inspiration at GraphicRiver, with interesting solutions to improve your design.

Post pobrano z: Art Therapy: Paint What You Feel

Do you remember how it felt to paint something as a child? It was a very messy activity, but it was such fun to get creative with all those colors! Well, at least until you started to expect something from your art, for example to picture an object realistically and to get your teacher’s approval. The process of painting then became less important than the end result.

Today, you may feel paralyzed just thinking of taking a brush again. It’s so hard to paint something, and you don’t want to make a fool of yourself! But the truth is, it’s very easy to paint. Children do it, don’t they? Children don’t think about the future so much, and they don’t make plans—they just enjoy the moment. This lets them paint without any anxiety and fear of judgment, and this is something you can learn from them!

But what can you paint without analyzing and planning? The answer is: your emotions. It’s not only relaxing, but it’s also healthy to acknowledge what you feel and allow yourself to feel it without judgment. The best thing about it is that you can’t do it wrong. Nobody can tell you what such a painting is supposed to look like—only you. Keep reading if you want to learn how to start!

This tutorial is part of the Art Therapy series. It teaches you how to
use art for relaxation and fun, without putting too much pressure on
yourself.

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: What It Is and How It May Help You
  Monika Zagrobelna

What You Will Need

For painting:

• A set of paints—you can use anything you can get, but the best, in my opinion, are acrylics. You can usually get a set of 12 tubes in a stationery shop quite cheaply, as it’s considered a beginner’s set. They blend nicely, dry fast, and can be applied thickly on the paper. Watercolors can be more easily available, but they’re not so easy to play with.
• A few brushes—at least a big, wide one, and a smaller one. The big ones are really expressive, so they’re perfect for this exercise.
• Two sheets of thick paper—you don’t need to buy special, expensive paper for painters if you don’t want to. An art pad with thicker sheets should do just fine, though if you want to keep the painting afterwards, you may need to put it inside a clip frame to straighten it.
• A glass of water—water makes the acrylics smoother, and you’ll also want to clean your brush every time you switch to another color. Just make sure to keep it away from the glass you drink from!
• Paper towels—to clean your brush after taking it out of the water, as well as for emergency cleaning.

For the tutorial:

• A pencil
• A drawing compass
• A ruler

Before you start creating, make sure your workspace is not prone to staining. Place some spare sheets of paper under your „canvas” to have full freedom of painting—you won’t have to slow down close to the edges. Children don’t care about these things so much, but it may be hard for you to fully enjoy the activity if you’re worrying about making a mess!

Colors and Emotions

Although emotions are not visual and they don’t have any colors, we can associate certain colors with certain feelings. Some become linked by our experience, while others may be programmed in our mind before we’re even born. Synesthetes also find it very natural to describe feelings as colors.

I’ll show you a popular description of the meaning behind the colors, but keep in mind that various cultures assign different meanings to colors, so it’s not really a universal description—just a popular one. You can use this list to confront your own notions about colors and feelings, which can be especially useful if you’ve never done that before.

Black

It’s the color of mystery, but it also symbolizes all the darkest feelings: grief, despair, sorrow. Just as black can’t get any darker, these feelings can’t get any deeper. Black covers everything just as these dark feelings can stop you from feeling anything else. Black can also be used to hide what you really feel—emotions you’re ashamed of or the ones you don’t want to acknowledge. It’s the color of domination and isolation.

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  Create a Dark, Emotional Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  Jenny Le

Grey

It’s the color of neutrality, dullness, but also apathy, numbness. Grey is more neutral than white, because it’s neither dark nor bright. It can symbolize indecisiveness, the fear of choosing a side, of appearing too bold or even of being visible at all. It can be a symbol of depression, of all the colors-emotions reduced to similar shades of grey—a state not as dark as the sorrow of black, but a constant tiredness of not feeling anything at all. On the other hand, grey can symbolize stability and rationality, especially when put next to vibrant colors.

• 
  Contrast Correction
  How to Make Local Contrast Adjustments With Curves in Adobe Photoshop
  Marie Gardiner

Red

It’s the color of energy, passion, ambition, but also desire and love. It symbolizes fierce feelings that come quickly and overwhelm you with their power, guiding you towards a certain goal that becomes more important than everything else. Red is about feeling „with all your heart”, be it love or anger. It also symbolizes sexual attraction and danger.

• 
  Nature
  How to Make a Beautiful Mesh Rose From Scratch in Adobe Illustrator
  Vladimir Galantsev

Orange

It’s like a more rational, calmer type of red. It symbolizes joy and optimism; it can be about motivation, but without the blinding effect of red. It’s about cooperation, social activities, the power of working together, and also extrovert energy. Orange can also symbolize instinct and reckless acting.

• 
  Character Design
  How to Create a Cute Cat Character in Adobe Illustrator
  Andrei Marius

Brown

Brown is really nothing else than dark, desaturated
orange, but because it’s the color of ever-present dirt, humans tend to treat it as
one of the main colors. Brown, like the ground, symbolizes stability,
permanence, reliability, and conservatism, but also dirtiness and foulness.

• 
  Drawing
  How to Draw Grass, Ground, and Rocks
  Monika Zagrobelna

White

It can be considered a default color. It symbolizes spiritual purity, light, perfection, innocence. A white sheet of paper is perfect before you put anything on it; it’s good and complete on its own. Therefore, white is all about feeling confident and calm, without any stress to be something else. Every color can get neutralized by adding white to it, making their feelings calmer and less overwhelming. White is the color of enlightenment and spiritual awakening; a symbol of perfect contentment and balance between all the other colors (which create white when put together).

• 
  Ink
  How to Draw a Perch With White Ink on Black Paper
  Eugenia Hauss

Yellow

It’s the color of joy, enthusiasm, happiness, and general cheerfulness. Yellow is the brightest of hues, and as such it symbolizes the optimism that brightens everything put next to it. On the other hand, yellow can also symbolize stubbornness and cowardice.

• 
  Fan Art
  How to Create a Yellow Brick Road Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose

Green

It’s the color of hope, youthfulness, spirit, and also balance, calm, and safety. Green is the color of natural growth, of doing the things the right way, of harmony and peace. It’s the symbol of life and being alive in general. It also have negative connotations like jealousy, spite, and maliciousness.

• 
  Text Effects
  How to Create a Nature-Inspired Peter Pan Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose

Blue

It’s the color of rationalism, wisdom, loyalty, and stability. It symbolizes calm, faith, and trust. It can be associated with conservatism, dutifulness, and introversion. It represents the mind rather than emotions; following logic rather than the gut. But it’s also associated with sadness, „feeling blue”, melancholy.

• 
  Gradient Mesh Tool
  How to Create a Night Sky With Clouds Using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop
  Vladimir Galantsev

Purple

It’s the color of magic, mystery, of the extraordinary. It can symbolize creativity, independence, going against the flow, spirituality, imagination, but also pride, immaturity, narcissism.

• 
  Spirit Day
  How to Create a Furry, Purple Spirit Day Mascot in Adobe Photoshop
  Monika Zagrobelna

Pink

It’s the color of recklessness, lightheartedness, of being silly and immature, but also of kindness, caring, gentleness, romantic love, and femininity. It symbolizes delicate, „quiet” feelings, as well as being detached from reality.

• 
  Patterns
  How to Create a Cute, Playful School Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
  Yulia Sokolova

How to Create Your Emotional Color Palette

What colors do your emotions have? Let’s find out! There are so many emotions that it may be hard to tackle them all, so we’re going to use a simplified model—Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions.

This exercise helps understand the emotions you may not even be aware of, and get a better insight into your inner state.

Step 1

Take one sheet of your thick paper. Place your drawing compass in the middle and draw a circle.

Step 2

Put the compass on the circle and mark the same distance outside of it. Then put the compass in the center again and draw a bigger circle through the mark (if you do it properly, it will be twice as big, but it’s not really necessary to do it so precisely).

Step 3

Repeat the previous steps to create one more circle.

Step 4

Take the ruler and pencil, and draw a line across the smallest circle. Sketch it lightly—it’s just a guide line!

Step 5

Draw another line, perpendicular to the other.

Step 6

Draw two more lines to divide each quarter into halves.

Step 7

These were guide lines for the lines we actually need. Draw them now by cutting each triangle in half. These are the final lines, so you can press harder.

Step 8

Connect each end of the triangle with the outer circle using the ruler.

Step 9

Time to put the emotions in there! In Plutchik’s model, the center is taken by the most intense emotions, and they get gradually weaker towards the biggest circle. Fill the center with:

• Rage
• Loathing
• Grief
• Amazement
• Terror
• Admiration
• Ecstasy
• Vigilance

The order is important!

Step 10

Now add the secondary emotions:

• Rage →
  anger →
  annoyance
• Loathing → disgust → boredom
• Grief → sadness → pensiveness
• Amazement → surprise → distraction
• Terror → fear → apprehension
• Admiration → trust → acceptance
• Ecstasy → joy → serenity
• Vigilance → anticipation → interest

There are also tertiary emotions, combined from the two others:

• Annoyance + interest = aggressiveness
• Interest + serenity = optimism
• Serenity + acceptance = love
• Acceptance + apprehension = submission
• Apprehension + distraction = awe
• Distraction + pensiveness = disapproval
• Pensiveness + boredom = remorse
• Boredom + annoyance = contempt

Notice that in this model the antagonistic emotions are placed opposite to each other—for example, joy-sadness, anger-fear, etc.

Step 11

Time to color the emotions! take a look at the primary emotions in the center and try to feel what color they have to you. You’ll probably find some that you can get straight from the tube. Put them in their place.

Step 12

Other emotions, especially the secondary ones, may need mixing to get the proper color. Fill the whole wheel, coloring each emotion as you see fit. Don’t worry if some get repeated, or if you need to guess others because you don’t feel the color clearly—it’s your wheel, and you can fill it any way you want!

How to Paint Your Emotional Landscape

Now you know something about your emotions and the colors you assign to them. Time to start painting! Painting your emotions has many benefits:

• You don’t need to feel pressure about being „good enough”, so you can fully relax.
• You can better understand your emotional state at the moment.
• You can change your mood by using the colors for emotions you want to feel (especially if you’re susceptible to suggestion).
• You can experiment and have fun, with no expectations about the outcome.

Obviously, I can’t tell you exactly how to paint such a painting, but I can suggest a direction. See how I’ve created my own mood painting to understand what it’s about.

Step 1

I’ve started in the center with something optimistic and pleasant to my eyes. I didn’t paint anything specific—just a few strokes that felt nice under my brush, to better understand how it works and what to expect from various movements.

Step 2

I’ve added another patch of color, this time playing with the shape of the strokes. Their direction and thickness can be just as expressive as the color itself. Keep in mind you can adjust the level of blending by controlling the wetness of the brush.

You don’t need to stick to the colors you’ve placed on the wheel. You can use it as a palette, but after that exercise you should simply feel what colors are pleasant to you, and which have negative connotations you’d prefer to avoid.

Step 3

I’ve added a huge blob of yellow, painting „waves” and covering the previous elements with it. Because why not? Nothing can stop me!

Step 4

You can get very expressive by adding the paint directly to the „canvas”. This will force you to use the whole amount, and you can create nice, strong strokes with it.

Don’t be afraid to paint over the edges—even if you limit yourself all the time, allow yourself to feel more open here and now.

Step 5

You can blend various patches of colors with a wet brush.

Step 6

Using two colors at once can give you fantastic results as well!

Step 7

You can paint on a previous patch of color. The effects will be different depending on the wetness of the surface—play with it to see for yourself!

Step 8

There’s no happiness without sadness, so I decided to add a pinch of negative emotions to this landscape. It may look out of place first…

… but you can balance it with other colors. This reminds me that we can’t be happy and enthusiastic all the time—negative feelings are just the way our body says something’s wrong. Sadness is normal—it’s just a part of ourselves, not an enemy to fight and get rid of. If you feel „black”, don’t be afraid to add it—instead, see how you can make it a natural part of the landscape.

Step 9

Fill the whole scene this way, playing with colors, the shapes of the strokes, and the amount of paint.

Step 10

A smaller brush will let you add interesting accents here and there.

Beautiful!

Just looking at my mood painting makes me feel good and relaxed, and the thick strokes are so nice to touch. I hope you achieved the same pleasant effect with my guidance! If you want to try other relaxing art activities, don’t forget to check the other parts of the series:

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: What It Is and How It May Help You
  Monika Zagrobelna

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: How to Draw a Mandala
  Monika Zagrobelna

• 
  Drawing Theory
  Art Therapy: How to Draw a Stick-Figure Comic
  Monika Zagrobelna

You can also enjoy simple tutorials created for people with little or no experience at drawing:

• 
  Food
  How to Draw an Apple
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Nature
  How to Draw a Leaf Step by Step
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Food
  How to Draw 10 Different Varieties of Berry
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Drawing
  How to Draw a Bird Step by Step
  Eugenia Hauss

Post pobrano z: Art Therapy: Paint What You Feel

Do you remember how it felt to paint something as a child? It was a very messy activity, but it was such fun to get creative with all those colors! Well, at least until you started to expect something from your art, for example to picture an object realistically and to get your teacher’s approval. The process of painting then became less important than the end result.

Today, you may feel paralyzed just thinking of taking a brush again. It’s so hard to paint something, and you don’t want to make a fool of yourself! But the truth is, it’s very easy to paint. Children do it, don’t they? Children don’t think about the future so much, and they don’t make plans—they just enjoy the moment. This lets them paint without any anxiety and fear of judgment, and this is something you can learn from them!

But what can you paint without analyzing and planning? The answer is: your emotions. It’s not only relaxing, but it’s also healthy to acknowledge what you feel and allow yourself to feel it without judgment. The best thing about it is that you can’t do it wrong. Nobody can tell you what such a painting is supposed to look like—only you. Keep reading if you want to learn how to start!

This tutorial is part of the Art Therapy series. It teaches you how to
use art for relaxation and fun, without putting too much pressure on
yourself.

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: What It Is and How It May Help You
  Monika Zagrobelna

What You Will Need

For painting:

• A set of paints—you can use anything you can get, but the best, in my opinion, are acrylics. You can usually get a set of 12 tubes in a stationery shop quite cheaply, as it’s considered a beginner’s set. They blend nicely, dry fast, and can be applied thickly on the paper. Watercolors can be more easily available, but they’re not so easy to play with.
• A few brushes—at least a big, wide one, and a smaller one. The big ones are really expressive, so they’re perfect for this exercise.
• Two sheets of thick paper—you don’t need to buy special, expensive paper for painters if you don’t want to. An art pad with thicker sheets should do just fine, though if you want to keep the painting afterwards, you may need to put it inside a clip frame to straighten it.
• A glass of water—water makes the acrylics smoother, and you’ll also want to clean your brush every time you switch to another color. Just make sure to keep it away from the glass you drink from!
• Paper towels—to clean your brush after taking it out of the water, as well as for emergency cleaning.

For the tutorial:

• A pencil
• A drawing compass
• A ruler

Before you start creating, make sure your workspace is not prone to staining. Place some spare sheets of paper under your „canvas” to have full freedom of painting—you won’t have to slow down close to the edges. Children don’t care about these things so much, but it may be hard for you to fully enjoy the activity if you’re worrying about making a mess!

Colors and Emotions

Although emotions are not visual and they don’t have any colors, we can associate certain colors with certain feelings. Some become linked by our experience, while others may be programmed in our mind before we’re even born. Synesthetes also find it very natural to describe feelings as colors.

I’ll show you a popular description of the meaning behind the colors, but keep in mind that various cultures assign different meanings to colors, so it’s not really a universal description—just a popular one. You can use this list to confront your own notions about colors and feelings, which can be especially useful if you’ve never done that before.

Black

It’s the color of mystery, but it also symbolizes all the darkest feelings: grief, despair, sorrow. Just as black can’t get any darker, these feelings can’t get any deeper. Black covers everything just as these dark feelings can stop you from feeling anything else. Black can also be used to hide what you really feel—emotions you’re ashamed of or the ones you don’t want to acknowledge. It’s the color of domination and isolation.

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  Create a Dark, Emotional Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  Jenny Le

Grey

It’s the color of neutrality, dullness, but also apathy, numbness. Grey is more neutral than white, because it’s neither dark nor bright. It can symbolize indecisiveness, the fear of choosing a side, of appearing too bold or even of being visible at all. It can be a symbol of depression, of all the colors-emotions reduced to similar shades of grey—a state not as dark as the sorrow of black, but a constant tiredness of not feeling anything at all. On the other hand, grey can symbolize stability and rationality, especially when put next to vibrant colors.

• 
  Contrast Correction
  How to Make Local Contrast Adjustments With Curves in Adobe Photoshop
  Marie Gardiner

Red

It’s the color of energy, passion, ambition, but also desire and love. It symbolizes fierce feelings that come quickly and overwhelm you with their power, guiding you towards a certain goal that becomes more important than everything else. Red is about feeling „with all your heart”, be it love or anger. It also symbolizes sexual attraction and danger.

• 
  Nature
  How to Make a Beautiful Mesh Rose From Scratch in Adobe Illustrator
  Vladimir Galantsev

Orange

It’s like a more rational, calmer type of red. It symbolizes joy and optimism; it can be about motivation, but without the blinding effect of red. It’s about cooperation, social activities, the power of working together, and also extrovert energy. Orange can also symbolize instinct and reckless acting.

• 
  Character Design
  How to Create a Cute Cat Character in Adobe Illustrator
  Andrei Marius

Brown

Brown is really nothing else than dark, desaturated
orange, but because it’s the color of ever-present dirt, humans tend to treat it as
one of the main colors. Brown, like the ground, symbolizes stability,
permanence, reliability, and conservatism, but also dirtiness and foulness.

• 
  Drawing
  How to Draw Grass, Ground, and Rocks
  Monika Zagrobelna

White

It can be considered a default color. It symbolizes spiritual purity, light, perfection, innocence. A white sheet of paper is perfect before you put anything on it; it’s good and complete on its own. Therefore, white is all about feeling confident and calm, without any stress to be something else. Every color can get neutralized by adding white to it, making their feelings calmer and less overwhelming. White is the color of enlightenment and spiritual awakening; a symbol of perfect contentment and balance between all the other colors (which create white when put together).

• 
  Ink
  How to Draw a Perch With White Ink on Black Paper
  Eugenia Hauss

Yellow

It’s the color of joy, enthusiasm, happiness, and general cheerfulness. Yellow is the brightest of hues, and as such it symbolizes the optimism that brightens everything put next to it. On the other hand, yellow can also symbolize stubbornness and cowardice.

• 
  Fan Art
  How to Create a Yellow Brick Road Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose

Green

It’s the color of hope, youthfulness, spirit, and also balance, calm, and safety. Green is the color of natural growth, of doing the things the right way, of harmony and peace. It’s the symbol of life and being alive in general. It also have negative connotations like jealousy, spite, and maliciousness.

• 
  Text Effects
  How to Create a Nature-Inspired Peter Pan Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
  Rose

Blue

It’s the color of rationalism, wisdom, loyalty, and stability. It symbolizes calm, faith, and trust. It can be associated with conservatism, dutifulness, and introversion. It represents the mind rather than emotions; following logic rather than the gut. But it’s also associated with sadness, „feeling blue”, melancholy.

• 
  Gradient Mesh Tool
  How to Create a Night Sky With Clouds Using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop
  Vladimir Galantsev

Purple

It’s the color of magic, mystery, of the extraordinary. It can symbolize creativity, independence, going against the flow, spirituality, imagination, but also pride, immaturity, narcissism.

• 
  Spirit Day
  How to Create a Furry, Purple Spirit Day Mascot in Adobe Photoshop
  Monika Zagrobelna

Pink

It’s the color of recklessness, lightheartedness, of being silly and immature, but also of kindness, caring, gentleness, romantic love, and femininity. It symbolizes delicate, „quiet” feelings, as well as being detached from reality.

• 
  Patterns
  How to Create a Cute, Playful School Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
  Yulia Sokolova

How to Create Your Emotional Color Palette

What colors do your emotions have? Let’s find out! There are so many emotions that it may be hard to tackle them all, so we’re going to use a simplified model—Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions.

This exercise helps understand the emotions you may not even be aware of, and get a better insight into your inner state.

Step 1

Take one sheet of your thick paper. Place your drawing compass in the middle and draw a circle.

Step 2

Put the compass on the circle and mark the same distance outside of it. Then put the compass in the center again and draw a bigger circle through the mark (if you do it properly, it will be twice as big, but it’s not really necessary to do it so precisely).

Step 3

Repeat the previous steps to create one more circle.

Step 4

Take the ruler and pencil, and draw a line across the smallest circle. Sketch it lightly—it’s just a guide line!

Step 5

Draw another line, perpendicular to the other.

Step 6

Draw two more lines to divide each quarter into halves.

Step 7

These were guide lines for the lines we actually need. Draw them now by cutting each triangle in half. These are the final lines, so you can press harder.

Step 8

Connect each end of the triangle with the outer circle using the ruler.

Step 9

Time to put the emotions in there! In Plutchik’s model, the center is taken by the most intense emotions, and they get gradually weaker towards the biggest circle. Fill the center with:

• Rage
• Loathing
• Grief
• Amazement
• Terror
• Admiration
• Ecstasy
• Vigilance

The order is important!

Step 10

Now add the secondary emotions:

• Rage →
  anger →
  annoyance
• Loathing → disgust → boredom
• Grief → sadness → pensiveness
• Amazement → surprise → distraction
• Terror → fear → apprehension
• Admiration → trust → acceptance
• Ecstasy → joy → serenity
• Vigilance → anticipation → interest

There are also tertiary emotions, combined from the two others:

• Annoyance + interest = aggressiveness
• Interest + serenity = optimism
• Serenity + acceptance = love
• Acceptance + apprehension = submission
• Apprehension + distraction = awe
• Distraction + pensiveness = disapproval
• Pensiveness + boredom = remorse
• Boredom + annoyance = contempt

Notice that in this model the antagonistic emotions are placed opposite to each other—for example, joy-sadness, anger-fear, etc.

Step 11

Time to color the emotions! take a look at the primary emotions in the center and try to feel what color they have to you. You’ll probably find some that you can get straight from the tube. Put them in their place.

Step 12

Other emotions, especially the secondary ones, may need mixing to get the proper color. Fill the whole wheel, coloring each emotion as you see fit. Don’t worry if some get repeated, or if you need to guess others because you don’t feel the color clearly—it’s your wheel, and you can fill it any way you want!

How to Paint Your Emotional Landscape

Now you know something about your emotions and the colors you assign to them. Time to start painting! Painting your emotions has many benefits:

• You don’t need to feel pressure about being „good enough”, so you can fully relax.
• You can better understand your emotional state at the moment.
• You can change your mood by using the colors for emotions you want to feel (especially if you’re susceptible to suggestion).
• You can experiment and have fun, with no expectations about the outcome.

Obviously, I can’t tell you exactly how to paint such a painting, but I can suggest a direction. See how I’ve created my own mood painting to understand what it’s about.

Step 1

I’ve started in the center with something optimistic and pleasant to my eyes. I didn’t paint anything specific—just a few strokes that felt nice under my brush, to better understand how it works and what to expect from various movements.

Step 2

I’ve added another patch of color, this time playing with the shape of the strokes. Their direction and thickness can be just as expressive as the color itself. Keep in mind you can adjust the level of blending by controlling the wetness of the brush.

You don’t need to stick to the colors you’ve placed on the wheel. You can use it as a palette, but after that exercise you should simply feel what colors are pleasant to you, and which have negative connotations you’d prefer to avoid.

Step 3

I’ve added a huge blob of yellow, painting „waves” and covering the previous elements with it. Because why not? Nothing can stop me!

Step 4

You can get very expressive by adding the paint directly to the „canvas”. This will force you to use the whole amount, and you can create nice, strong strokes with it.

Don’t be afraid to paint over the edges—even if you limit yourself all the time, allow yourself to feel more open here and now.

Step 5

You can blend various patches of colors with a wet brush.

Step 6

Using two colors at once can give you fantastic results as well!

Step 7

You can paint on a previous patch of color. The effects will be different depending on the wetness of the surface—play with it to see for yourself!

Step 8

There’s no happiness without sadness, so I decided to add a pinch of negative emotions to this landscape. It may look out of place first…

… but you can balance it with other colors. This reminds me that we can’t be happy and enthusiastic all the time—negative feelings are just the way our body says something’s wrong. Sadness is normal—it’s just a part of ourselves, not an enemy to fight and get rid of. If you feel „black”, don’t be afraid to add it—instead, see how you can make it a natural part of the landscape.

Step 9

Fill the whole scene this way, playing with colors, the shapes of the strokes, and the amount of paint.

Step 10

A smaller brush will let you add interesting accents here and there.

Beautiful!

Just looking at my mood painting makes me feel good and relaxed, and the thick strokes are so nice to touch. I hope you achieved the same pleasant effect with my guidance! If you want to try other relaxing art activities, don’t forget to check the other parts of the series:

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: What It Is and How It May Help You
  Monika Zagrobelna

• 
  Drawing
  Art Therapy: How to Draw a Mandala
  Monika Zagrobelna

• 
  Drawing Theory
  Art Therapy: How to Draw a Stick-Figure Comic
  Monika Zagrobelna

You can also enjoy simple tutorials created for people with little or no experience at drawing:

• 
  Food
  How to Draw an Apple
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Nature
  How to Draw a Leaf Step by Step
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Food
  How to Draw 10 Different Varieties of Berry
  Eugenia Hauss

• 
  Drawing
  How to Draw a Bird Step by Step
  Eugenia Hauss

Post pobrano z: New Course: Make Great Presentations Quickly With PowerPoint Templates

If you want to make a better impression with your PowerPoint presentations, you should check out our new course, Make Great Presentations Quickly With PowerPoint Templates.

What You’ll Learn

In this short course, instructor Andrew Childress will show you how to create a professional PowerPoint presentation using The X Note template, which is a great example of a professional template that reduces the hard work of building a compelling presentation. 

Learn how to use the power of a good template in Microsoft PowerPoint to bring together an engaging presentation quickly!

Watch the Introduction

 

Take the Course

You can take our new course straight away with a subscription to Envato Elements. For a single low monthly fee, you get access not only to this course, but also to our growing library of over 1,000 video courses and industry-leading eBooks on Envato Tuts+. 

Plus you now get unlimited downloads from the huge Envato Elements library of 400,000+ creative assets—including a wide range of elegant PowerPoint templates. Create with unique fonts, photos, graphics and templates, and deliver better projects faster.

Post pobrano z: New Course: Make Great Presentations Quickly With PowerPoint Templates

If you want to make a better impression with your PowerPoint presentations, you should check out our new course, Make Great Presentations Quickly With PowerPoint Templates.

What You’ll Learn

In this short course, instructor Andrew Childress will show you how to create a professional PowerPoint presentation using The X Note template, which is a great example of a professional template that reduces the hard work of building a compelling presentation. 

Learn how to use the power of a good template in Microsoft PowerPoint to bring together an engaging presentation quickly!

Watch the Introduction

 

Take the Course

You can take our new course straight away with a subscription to Envato Elements. For a single low monthly fee, you get access not only to this course, but also to our growing library of over 1,000 video courses and industry-leading eBooks on Envato Tuts+. 

Plus you now get unlimited downloads from the huge Envato Elements library of 400,000+ creative assets—including a wide range of elegant PowerPoint templates. Create with unique fonts, photos, graphics and templates, and deliver better projects faster.

Post pobrano z: How to Draw a Festive Winter Landscape With Glowing Lamps in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector evening winter background!

If you want to skip the tutorial and just use this background with some other awesome elements, purchase the Christmas Evening Winter Landscape from GraphicRiver!

1. How to Draw the Background

Step 1

Let’s begin by using Mesh for a bit!

Start by drawing a rectangle and filling it with #4B6471 color and create a Mesh grid for this shape by manually placing nodes with the Mesh Tool (U).

Once your Mesh grid is done, begin coloring it by selecting the bottom row of nodes and the bottom middle node and changing their color to #8A9BA2.

Continue this step by coloring the nodes on the top and on the sides with #253B4B and the middle nodes of the second row from the top with #385260.

Finish by changing the color of the bottom nodes to #D2DAD9.

Step 2

Let’s move on to drawing the snow hills!

Draw a #F6F7F2 rectangle, and then place some Mesh nodes with the Mesh Tool (U). Move said nodes to create a wavy shape out of the rectangle, trying to recreate the screenshot below.

Finally, color the selected nodes with #D0DFE4. The first hill is done!

Step 3

Draw the second hill following the same instructions as before and using these colors:

1. #E1EBEC
2. #C0D1D8
3. #F6F7F2

Step 4

Finally, draw the third hill in a similar fashion.

1. #CBD8DE
2. #F4F6F1

Step 5

Place the hills on top of each other, with the first one being in the front and the third one being in the back.

Make them overlap to match the screenshot!

Step 6

Place the hills on the bottom of the background!

2. How to Draw the Lamps

Step 1

Let’s move on to drawing the lamp.

Draw half an outline of it by using the Pen Tool (P), and then use Object > Transform > Reflect and click Copy to obtain the second half. Move them close to each other for now.

Step 2

Select the two halves and use Unite in the Pathfinder panel to create a united outline for the lamp.

Step 3

Using the Pen Tool (P) and some small ellipses (Ellipse Tool, L), draw the transparent surfaces of the lamp.

Lay the shapes on top of the outline, select all, and use Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel to „crop” them out.

Step 4

Select the result and apply a Linear, #2A1800 to #DFCFD9 to #2A1800 Gradient to it.

Step 5

Using the Pen Tool (P), draw a decorative swirl as can be seen below.

In the Stroke panel, change the Stroke Profile to the one below.

Step 6

Draw a little ellipse and add it to both ends of the curve.

Selecting the curve, go to Object > Expand Appearance, and then select all objects and Unite them in the Pathfinder panel. Change the result’s color to #453A2E.

Step 7

Attach the lamp to our decorative part.

Step 8

Let’s draw the lamppost! Use Mesh, just as we learned before.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #7F7460
4. #5A503E

Step 9

Draw the second part of the lamppost similarly.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #362C1B
4. #796F5A

Step 10

Draw the base.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #665B48
4. #3B2E22

Step 11

Draw a #110600 rounded shape, and then bend it with Effect > Warp > Arc, using -20% Bend.

Go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 12

Color the shape with Mesh.

1. #413629
2. #6F6452
3. #54493A

Step 13

Resize copies of the shape.

Step 14

Put the post together and add the rings we just created.

Step 15

Finally, attach the actual lamps to the top.

3. How to Light Up the Lamps

Step 1

Now that we’ve drawn the outline, it’s time to put lights in these lamps!

Begin by drawing a narrow ellipse and adding a Radial, #FFFF7F to #000000 Gradient to it.

Step 2

Put another copy of that ellipse on top and tweak the Transparency options, selecting Screen and 79% Opacity.

Create a copy of the result, rotate it, and make it smaller.

Step 3

Draw a very narrow ellipse with the same Gradient as before.

Step 4

Add a copy on top, creating a cross. Change its Opacity to 61% and Transparency to Screen.

Step 5

Draw a circle, using the same Radial Gradient. Again, use Screen, now with 95% Opacity.

Step 6

Create a flare by placing all the elements on top of each other.

Step 7

Draw a final ellipse for the light, using Screen and a Radial Gradient from #FFFFFF to #FFB500 to #000000.

Step 8

Place the first flare behind the lamp outline and the final ellipse on top of it.

Step 9

Add the lights to both lamps.

Step 10

Create a few copies of the lamp for the upcoming landscape.

4. How to Add the Trees and the Snow

Step 1

Let’s begin drawing the trees!

Learn how to draw the branch we will be copying in the second section of this tutorial. Now draw the trunk, fill it with #544E48, and start adding copies of the branch to it as shown below.

Step 2

Add more branches to complete the tree.

Step 3

Create a copy of the branches without the trunk and draw another one.

Step 4

Add more branches to the second tree.

Step 5

Draw a highlight with a #FCFC98 to #000000 Radial Gradient, change the Opacity to 70% and Transparency to Screen.

Step 6

Create copies of the trees and add the highlights behind them.

Step 7

Place the trees and the lamps onto the background.

Step 8

Draw two identical circles. Fill one with #ACB99A and the second with a #020200 to white Radial Gradient.

Set both circles’ transparency to Screen.

Step 9

Place the green circle under the gradient, and then select both and use Make Mask in the Transparency panel. Check both Clip and Invert Mask.

Step 10

Add these highlights on top of the background.

Step 11

To add snow, refer to this tutorial.

Step 12

Draw a rectangle on top of everything to „frame” all the content you want to be seen in the final picture.

Step 13

Select all elements and right-click, after that selecting Make Clipping Mask.

Step 14

You’re done!

Awesome Work, You’re Now Done!

What now? You can try any of my other tutorials from my profile, or check out my portfolio on GraphicRiver, as well as the original vector we recreated in this tutorial.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and I would be super happy to see any results in the comments below!

Post pobrano z: How to Draw a Festive Winter Landscape With Glowing Lamps in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector evening winter background!

If you want to skip the tutorial and just use this background with some other awesome elements, purchase the Christmas Evening Winter Landscape from GraphicRiver!

1. How to Draw the Background

Step 1

Let’s begin by using Mesh for a bit!

Start by drawing a rectangle and filling it with #4B6471 color and create a Mesh grid for this shape by manually placing nodes with the Mesh Tool (U).

Once your Mesh grid is done, begin coloring it by selecting the bottom row of nodes and the bottom middle node and changing their color to #8A9BA2.

Continue this step by coloring the nodes on the top and on the sides with #253B4B and the middle nodes of the second row from the top with #385260.

Finish by changing the color of the bottom nodes to #D2DAD9.

Step 2

Let’s move on to drawing the snow hills!

Draw a #F6F7F2 rectangle, and then place some Mesh nodes with the Mesh Tool (U). Move said nodes to create a wavy shape out of the rectangle, trying to recreate the screenshot below.

Finally, color the selected nodes with #D0DFE4. The first hill is done!

Step 3

Draw the second hill following the same instructions as before and using these colors:

1. #E1EBEC
2. #C0D1D8
3. #F6F7F2

Step 4

Finally, draw the third hill in a similar fashion.

1. #CBD8DE
2. #F4F6F1

Step 5

Place the hills on top of each other, with the first one being in the front and the third one being in the back.

Make them overlap to match the screenshot!

Step 6

Place the hills on the bottom of the background!

2. How to Draw the Lamps

Step 1

Let’s move on to drawing the lamp.

Draw half an outline of it by using the Pen Tool (P), and then use Object > Transform > Reflect and click Copy to obtain the second half. Move them close to each other for now.

Step 2

Select the two halves and use Unite in the Pathfinder panel to create a united outline for the lamp.

Step 3

Using the Pen Tool (P) and some small ellipses (Ellipse Tool, L), draw the transparent surfaces of the lamp.

Lay the shapes on top of the outline, select all, and use Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel to „crop” them out.

Step 4

Select the result and apply a Linear, #2A1800 to #DFCFD9 to #2A1800 Gradient to it.

Step 5

Using the Pen Tool (P), draw a decorative swirl as can be seen below.

In the Stroke panel, change the Stroke Profile to the one below.

Step 6

Draw a little ellipse and add it to both ends of the curve.

Selecting the curve, go to Object > Expand Appearance, and then select all objects and Unite them in the Pathfinder panel. Change the result’s color to #453A2E.

Step 7

Attach the lamp to our decorative part.

Step 8

Let’s draw the lamppost! Use Mesh, just as we learned before.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #7F7460
4. #5A503E

Step 9

Draw the second part of the lamppost similarly.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #362C1B
4. #796F5A

Step 10

Draw the base.

1. –
2. #100804
3. #665B48
4. #3B2E22

Step 11

Draw a #110600 rounded shape, and then bend it with Effect > Warp > Arc, using -20% Bend.

Go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 12

Color the shape with Mesh.

1. #413629
2. #6F6452
3. #54493A

Step 13

Resize copies of the shape.

Step 14

Put the post together and add the rings we just created.

Step 15

Finally, attach the actual lamps to the top.

3. How to Light Up the Lamps

Step 1

Now that we’ve drawn the outline, it’s time to put lights in these lamps!

Begin by drawing a narrow ellipse and adding a Radial, #FFFF7F to #000000 Gradient to it.

Step 2

Put another copy of that ellipse on top and tweak the Transparency options, selecting Screen and 79% Opacity.

Create a copy of the result, rotate it, and make it smaller.

Step 3

Draw a very narrow ellipse with the same Gradient as before.

Step 4

Add a copy on top, creating a cross. Change its Opacity to 61% and Transparency to Screen.

Step 5

Draw a circle, using the same Radial Gradient. Again, use Screen, now with 95% Opacity.

Step 6

Create a flare by placing all the elements on top of each other.

Step 7

Draw a final ellipse for the light, using Screen and a Radial Gradient from #FFFFFF to #FFB500 to #000000.

Step 8

Place the first flare behind the lamp outline and the final ellipse on top of it.

Step 9

Add the lights to both lamps.

Step 10

Create a few copies of the lamp for the upcoming landscape.

4. How to Add the Trees and the Snow

Step 1

Let’s begin drawing the trees!

Learn how to draw the branch we will be copying in the second section of this tutorial. Now draw the trunk, fill it with #544E48, and start adding copies of the branch to it as shown below.

Step 2

Add more branches to complete the tree.

Step 3

Create a copy of the branches without the trunk and draw another one.

Step 4

Add more branches to the second tree.

Step 5

Draw a highlight with a #FCFC98 to #000000 Radial Gradient, change the Opacity to 70% and Transparency to Screen.

Step 6

Create copies of the trees and add the highlights behind them.

Step 7

Place the trees and the lamps onto the background.

Step 8

Draw two identical circles. Fill one with #ACB99A and the second with a #020200 to white Radial Gradient.

Set both circles’ transparency to Screen.

Step 9

Place the green circle under the gradient, and then select both and use Make Mask in the Transparency panel. Check both Clip and Invert Mask.

Step 10

Add these highlights on top of the background.

Step 11

To add snow, refer to this tutorial.

Step 12

Draw a rectangle on top of everything to „frame” all the content you want to be seen in the final picture.

Step 13

Select all elements and right-click, after that selecting Make Clipping Mask.

Step 14

You’re done!

Awesome Work, You’re Now Done!

What now? You can try any of my other tutorials from my profile, or check out my portfolio on GraphicRiver, as well as the original vector we recreated in this tutorial.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and I would be super happy to see any results in the comments below!

Post pobrano z: New Course: Gravit Designer Quick Start

Introducing Gravit Designer—a completely free vector design application launched earlier this year. It’s available in the browser as well as on Linux, Mac, ChromeOS and Windows, making it arguably the most accessible application of its type in the world.

If you want to get to know all the ins and outs of this exciting new design app, try our new course, Gravit Designer Quick Start.

What You’ll Learn

Gravit is packed with professional-level features that position it as the next big up-and-coming graphics app. Whether you’re a UI designer, an illustrator, or any other kind of digital artist, Gravit could quickly find a regular place in your design workflows.

In this course, instructor Kezz Bracey takes you through all of Gravit’s key features and major strengths, showing you how to get productive fast.

Here are some free lessons from this course, as a preview of what you can expect:

Interface Overview

In this video, you’ll get an overview of the most important elements of the Gravit interface. Discover each main section and some of the key settings you’ll work with in Gravit.

 

Path Creation

Gravit brings its own collection of path creation tools, offering some functionality uncommon in other applications. In this video you’ll discover the options you have available to you and how to use each one.

 

Shape Tools Overview

Gravit includes some very powerful shape creation functionality that lets you make all kinds of interesting and complex forms. In this video, you’ll learn about the shape drawing tools included, and how you can work with the modifiers of each one.

 

Take the Course

You can take our new course straight away with a subscription to Envato Elements. For a single low monthly fee, you get access not only to this course, but also to our growing library of over 1,000 video courses and industry-leading eBooks on Envato Tuts+. 

Plus you now get unlimited downloads from the huge Envato Elements library of 400,000+ creative assets. Create with unique fonts, photos, graphics and templates, and deliver better projects faster.

Post pobrano z: Typography: The Anatomy of a Letter

Learn the basics of typography in this quick video!

Typography: The Anatomy of a Letter

The more we communicate, the closer we become. Typography inspires us by reminding the world of a simpler time without connection. As designers and artists, we can carry that fascination into our work by studying the makeup of letters.

Start with the basics with this quick video below. Learn the anatomy of a letter.

Common Typography Terms

Familiarize yourself with these terms to get a better handle on typography.

Baseline

The invisible line letters rest on.

Stem

A single vertical stroke upwards to create letters like L or F. Connect one stem to another using a crossbar detail, like the letter H.

Ascender/Descender

Letters with downward strokes that extend past the baseline have Descender strokes. Alternatively, if the stroke moves upward and away from the main body of the letter, we call that the Ascender stroke.

Upper/Lowercase Letters

Uppercase letters are capital letters. Lowercase letters are smaller ones. Use uppercase letters for names and places, and lowercase letters for casual settings and more readability.

X-Height

For lowercase letters, the X-height is the main body of the letter.

Counters and Spine

Fully or partially closed spaces found in letters like O, A, and B. If the letter isn’t fully closed, then it’s an Open Counter.

Ear and Shoulder

An Ear is a decorative detail that pokes out from letters like g. A Shoulder is a bumped curve seen in letters like m and n.

Serif vs. Sans Serif

Serif types feature extended stroke details also known as feet. These details are missing in Sans Serif styles.

Learn More About Typography

Typography is an art form every designer can admire. Continue exploring your interest in typography to build your skills over time.

Get Amazing Design Resources

Want to create videos like this? Download the resources used in this video:

• Sweethart Font
• Blackboard Patterns
• 50 Human Anatomy Line Icons
• Beasty Font

Check out these tutorials to learn more from our experts:

• 
  Typography
  What Is Typography?
  Melody Nieves

• 
  Typography
  5 Typography Secrets to Transform Your Designs
  Grace Fussell

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Set of Snowflake Icons in Adobe Illustrator

Since winter is just around the corner, I thought it would be nice to welcome it by creating a small set of snowflake icons, using some of Illustrator’s most basic geometric shapes and tools.

Now, you can always expand the pack by heading over to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great selection of winter-themed icons just waiting to be picked.

That being said, make sure you grab a hot cup of that almond choco-latte, and let’s jump straight into it.

1. How to Set Up a New Project File

Assuming you already have Illustrator up and running in the background, bring it up and let’s set up a New Document (File > New or Control-N) using the following settings:

• Number of Artboards: 1
• Width: 800 px
• Height: 600 px
• Units: Pixels

And from the Advanced tab:

• Color Mode: RGB
• Raster Effects: Screen (72ppi)
• Preview Mode: Default

2. How to Set Up a Custom Grid

Since we’re going to be creating the icons using a pixel-perfect workflow, we’ll want to set up a nice little grid so that we can have full control over our shapes.

Step 1

Go to the Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid submenu, and adjust the following settings:

• Gridline every: 1 px
• Subdivisions: 1

Quick tip: you can learn more about grids by reading this in-depth piece on How Illustrator’s Grid System Works.

Step 2

Once we’ve set up our custom grid, all we need to do in order to make sure our shapes look crisp is enable the Snap to Grid and Snap to Pixel options found under the View menu, which will transform into Snap to Pixel each time you enter Pixel Preview mode (if you’re using an older version of the software).

Now, if you’re new to the whole “pixel-perfect workflow”, I strongly recommend you go through my How to Create Pixel-Perfect Artwork tutorial, which will help you widen your technical skills in no time.

3. How to Set Up the Layers

Once we’ve set up our document, it would be a good idea to structure our project using several layers, since this way we can maintain a steady workflow by focusing on one icon at a time.

That being said, bring up the Layers panel, and create a total of five layers, which we will rename as follows:

• layer 1: reference grids
• layer 2: first snowflake
• layer 3: second snowflake
• layer 4: third snowflake
• layer 5: fourth snowflake

4. How to Create the Reference Grids

The reference grids (or base grids) are a set of precisely delimited reference surfaces, which allow us to build our icons by focusing on size and consistency.

Usually, the size of the grids determines the size of the actual icons, and they should always be the first decision you make once you start a new project, since you’ll always want to start from the smallest possible size and build on that.

Now, in our case, we’re going to be creating the icon pack using just one size, more exactly 64 x 64 px, which is a fairly large one.

Step 1

Start by locking all but the “reference grids” layer, and then grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 64 x 64 px orange (#F15A24) square, which will help define the overall size of our icons.

Step 2

Add a smaller 56 x 56 px one (#FFFFFF) which we will position on top of the previous shape, since it will act as our active drawing area, thus giving us an all-around 4 px padding to work with.

Step 3

Select and group the two squares together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut, and then create the remaining grids using three copies (Control-C > Control-F three times) spaced 28 px horizontally from the original. Once you have all the reference grids, group (Control-G) and then center align them to the underlying Artboard, making sure to lock the current layer before moving on to the next one.

5. How to Create the First Snowflake Icon

Assuming you’ve successfully managed to create the little reference grids, move on to the next layer (that would be the second one), and let’s kick off the project by creating the first flake.

Step 1

Create the vertical section of the snowflake using a 52 px tall 4 px thick Stroke line with a Round Cap, which we will color using #7FD7E5 and then center align to the empty active drawing area.

Step 2

Switch over to Pixel Preview mode (Alt-Control-Y), and then draw the v-shaped crystal formation using a 4 px thick Stroke (#7FD7E5) with a Round Cap, which we will position as seen in the reference image.

Step 3

Create the bottom
detail using a copy (Control-C >
Control-F) of the one that we’ve just finished working on, which we will horizontally
reflect (right click > Transform >
Reflect > Horizontal) and then position on the opposite side of the
active drawing area. Once you’re done, select and group all three shapes
together using the Control-G
keyboard shortcut.

Step 4

Create the flake’s
vertical section using a copy (Control-C
> Control-F) of the one that we’ve just grouped, which we will rotate at
a 90º angle using the Rotate tool (right click > Transform > Rotate > 90º).

Step 5

Add the left diagonal
section using another copy (Control-C
> Control-F) of the vertical one, which we will rotate at a 45º angle (right click > Transform > Rotate > 45º), as seen in the
reference image.

Step 6

Make sure that the
rotated shapes are perfectly snapped to the Pixel Grid by switching over to Pixel Preview mode (Alt-Control-Y)
and then individually selecting and positioning them back onto the grid with
the help of the Direct Selection Tool
(A).

Step 7

Finish off the current
snowflake by creating the right diagonal section using a copy (Control-C > Control-F) of the one
that we’ve just finished
working on, which we will vertically reflect (right click > Transform > Reflect > Vertical). Once you’re
done, select and group (Control-G)
all of the strokes together before moving on to the next one.

6. How to Create the Second Snowflake Icon

Assuming you’ve finished working on the
first icon, move on to the next layer (that would be the third one), and let’s start
working on our second snowflake.

Step 1

Create the vertical
section using a 36 px tall 4 px thick Stroke line with a Round Cap,
which we will color using #7FD7E5 and then center align to the underlying
active drawing area.

Step 2

Add the top and bottom end sections using two 8 x 8 px circles with a 4 px
thick Stroke (#7FD7E5), which we
will position as seen in the reference image.

Step 3

Draw the two detail segments using a 4 px thick Stroke (#7FD7E5)
with a Round Cap, using the
reference image as your main guide. Take your time, and once you’re done, select
and group (Control-G) all of the
current shapes before moving on to the next step.

Step 4

Create the flake’s horizontal section using a copy (Control-C > Control-F) of the shapes
that we’ve just grouped, and then rotate them using a 90º angle (right click >
Transform > Rotate > 90º).

Step 5

Finish off the current icon by adding its diagonal sections using a copy
(Control-C) of the ones from the previous
snowflake, which we will paste (Control-F)
onto the current layer, making sure to align them as seen in the reference
image. Once you’re done, select and group (Control-G)
all of its composing shapes, before moving on to the next one.

7. How to Create the Third Snowflake Icon

By now you know the drill, so make sure
you’ve positioned yourself onto the next layer (that would be the fourth one),
and let’s jump straight into it.

Step 1

Start by creating the
center section of the snowflake using a 12
x 12 px circle with a 4 px thick
Stroke (#7FD7E5), which we will
position in the center of the third reference grid.

Step 2

Start working on the vertical section, by creating a 16 px tall 4 px thick Stroke
segment (#7FD7E5) with a Round Cap,
which we will position onto the circle’s top anchor point as seen in the
reference image.

Step 3

Turn on Pixel
Preview mode (Alt-Control-Y),
and then draw the top v-shaped segment, using a 4 px thick Stroke (#7FD7E5) with a Round Cap,
making sure to start from the vertical segment’s top anchor point and go all
the way up to the active drawing area’s top edge.

Step 4

Take a couple of moments and draw the remaining
segments, making sure to maintain a 4 px gap between their end anchor points, and 8 px between their center ones. Once you’re done, select and group
(Control-G) all four shapes together
using the Control-G keyboard
shortcut.

Step 5

Create the vertical section’s bottom segment using a copy of the shapes that we’ve just grouped, which we will horizontally
reflect (right click > Transform >
Reflect > Horizontal) and then position on the opposite edge of the
active drawing area.

Step 6

Finish off the snowflake by adding its
horizontal section using a copy (Control-C
> Control-F) of the vertical segments that we’ve just created, which we
will rotate at a 90º angle (right click > Transform > Rotate >
90º).  Once you’re done, select and
group (Control-G) all the shapes
together, before moving on to the next icon.

8. How to Create the Fourth Snowflake Icon

We are now down to our fourth and last
icon, so make sure you position yourself onto the fifth layer, and let’s wrap
things up!

Step 1

Start by making a
copy (Control-C) of the snowflake
that we’ve just finished working on, which we will paste onto the current
layer and then ungroup (right click
> Ungroup), removing some of its details as seen in the reference image.

Step 2

Adjust the length of the vertical segment by
selecting its top anchor point with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and then dragging it upwards until its
top end touches the active drawing area’s outer edge.

Step 3

Create a copy (Control-C > Control-F) of the v-shaped segment, and position them 4 px from one another, at a distance of 4 px
from the vertical segment’s top anchor point. Once you’re done, select and
group (Control-G) all three shapes
together, before moving on to the next step.

Step 4

Create the snowflake’s bottom segment using a
copy of the one that we’ve just finished working on, which we will horizontally
reflect (right click > Transform >
Reflect > Horizontal) and then position on the opposite edge of the
active drawing area.

Step 5

Add the horizontal section using a copy (Control-C > Control-F) of the two
vertical segments, which we will rotate by 90º (right click >
Transform > Rotate > 90º).

Step 6

Take a couple of moments, and draw the top-left
diamond shape using a 4 px thick Stroke (#7FD7E5) with a Round Join, which we will position 10 px from the active
drawing area’s top-left corner.

Step 7

Finish off the snowflake, and with it the
project itself, by adding the remaining diamonds using three copies (Control-C > Control-F three times)
which we will horizontally and/or vertically reflect (right click > Transform > Reflect > Vertical and/or Horizontal) and then position as seen
in the reference image. 

Take your time, and once you’re done, select and group
(Control-G) all of the icon’s
composing shapes together before hitting the save button.

Great Work!

There you have it, fellow snowflake lovers, a nice and easy tutorial on how
to create your very own icon set, using nothing more than a few strokes
and geometric shapes.

As always, I hope you had fun and managed to
learn something new and useful during the process.