Post pobrano z: How to Replace the Sky in a Photo in Affinity Photo

Mother Nature can create stunning environments, placed on the most ideal of backdrops. But let’s face it, a lot of the time we end up stuck with a gorgeous landscape right below a bland blue or gray sky. 

What do we say to the drab skies of nature? Not today! In this Affinity Photo tutorial, we are going to be learning all about how to replace skies, and we’ll look at just how much changing out a sky can affect the overall mood of a photo.

I will be covering all the basics of replacing a sky in Affinity Photo, whether you want to add some clouds, incorporate color, or do a full-blown background swap. 

Follow along with us over on the Envato Tuts+ YouTube Channel:

What You’ll Need

To complete this project, we are using the following resources:

• Girl On Beach
• Strange Stormy Clouds
• Beautiful landscape of Lanzarote Island
• Sky background
• Death Valley, USA
• Milky Way Galaxy

Find more resources on Envato Elements!

1. How to Add Clouds to a Sky

First, let’s look at the quickest way to change out a sky, which is to add clouds! This method will work best for shots where the sky is just a little too flat and could use some detail. In this example, we will be adding a bit of a twist to our clouds. But the technique is the same, whether you want a cloudy blue sky photo effect or a straight-up twister. 

Step 1

Start by dragging and dropping the Strange Stormy Sky stock image onto the canvas, over our original beach image. Crop the image to add a bit more room for the cloudy sky. 

Step 2

Make sure the horizon line of each photo matches up reasonably closely. You can temporarily bring down the Opacity of the storm clouds if needed to line everything up. 

Step 3

Next, add a Layer Mask to the storm clouds. Then, with a large, soft, round Brush, mask out the bottom half of the cloud image.

As both photos have a grey hue to them, they will blend beautifully with each other. With this method, I suggest choosing a sky that is similar in tone to the original image if you’d like to save some time on blending. 

Step 4

Finish blending the two images by adjusting the color, brightness, and contrast of both the clouds and the original image if needed.

Here, I darkened and upped the contrast of both the base image and clouds using a Brightness/Contrast layer, while also desaturating the base image using a black and white gradient map adjustment layer. 

I then committed to the „storm of the century” vibe by adding both green and blue hues to the image with a Color Balance and S curve Curves layer. 

Brightness/Contrast Settings 

• Brightness: -38%
• Contrast: 19%

Gradient Map Settings 

• Black to White 
• Opacity: 47%

Color Balance Settings 

• Red: -33%
• Green: 51%
• Blue: 59%

Curves Settings 

2. How to Create a Sunset Photo Effect

Next, I am going to amp it up a notch by creating a substantially more dynamic sky mixed with a reflective surface.

Step 1

First, let’s crop our beach image to increase the sky, and I’ll opt for less land, so we have an equal mix of sky, water, and earth. 

Step 2

Now, I am going to drop in my sky replacement. Once again, just like in the previous image, line up the horizons! 

Step 3

Add a Layer Mask just as we did with the last sky, only this time we are going to be a bit more precise with our masking.

I am still going to use a soft brush, but it’s much smaller. I am blending the horizon line almost seamlessly with the new sky. 

Step 4

Duplicate the sky image, delete the layer mask, and set the layer to Overlay. Bring down the layer Opacity to 50%. 

Next, add a new Layer Mask to the sky, masking out all but the top quarter of the water. 

Step 5

Now, repeat that same step, only this time setting the layer to Soft Light.

Again, delete and then add a new Layer Mask to the duplicated sky. Mask out any area of the sky that is touching the land or the frothy white parts of the water. 

Step 6

Let’s finish this beautiful beach day off by bringing the stark blue of the sky into both the water and land using a Color Balance layer.  

Color Balance Settings

• Red: -16%
• Blue: 53%

3. How to Extract a Mountain Range 

When quick blending and layer mode magic won’t do the trick on their own, you may have to remove one sky altogether to place the other. Compositing is also the ideal solution if you are going for something more stylistic, surreal, or fantasy inspired! 

Step 1

As with the last image, we want there to be a bit more sky than before, so crop the canvas to give us more vertical space. 

Step 2 

Now, let’s extract the sky of the original image. The best results would come from masking out the sky by hand using just a simple Brush and Layer Mask combo. However, use your preferred method for extraction! For a quick extract job, I like to rely on the Refine Mask tool.

Use the Flood Select Tool to create a quick selection and mask of the sky.

Step 3

Then, clicking on the mask, Right Click > Refine Mask to refine and smooth the mask out. 

Step 4

You can use the Select > Grow/Shrink function to get rid of any pesky unwanted edges as well, if needed. Set the Radius to -1 px and then mask out the selection. 

This is an excellent method to use when your image will be more of a backdrop, as opposed to the main focus, or you need to mock something up quickly. Otherwise, zoom in real close and mask that bad boy out by hand! 

Go ahead and place the new sky behind the mountain range for now as well. 

4. How to Create Sunrise Lighting Effects

Next up, let’s lay down our highlights. You will likely do the bulk of your highlights on layers set to Screen, but you can also play with other layer modes like color dodge, soft light, or overlay. The Curves layer is also a great tool to use for creating or enhancing highlights!

Step 1

Create a new layer, set to Screen, and paint some ambient light focused on the horizon line.

Keep the brush very large with a low Flow rate so you can build up the color slowly. Color pick a color from the new sky—in my case, pale yellow and orange colors.

Step 2

Repeat this step on a layer clipped inside your landscape to help connect and blend the two images.

The lighting on this layer will be more focused if you have a rising sun or any bright light source as I do.

Step 3

Repeat the above step behind the mountainscape as well.

Every landscape will be different, and every sky a different time of day! If you are unsure how you should paint in your lighting, look up some references of a similar environment to get a better idea!

5. How to Create Shadow Effects

For shadows, I recommend the use of layers set to Multiply, Soft Light, and the use of Brightness/Contrast and Curves adjustment layers. 

Step 1

Let’s start with a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer clipped into the mountains to darken everything and lower their contrast, as shaded areas will usually have less contrast than lit areas.

Brightness/Contrast Settings

• Brightness: -84%
• Contrast: -42%

Step 2

Next, go in and mask out all the areas where the light source would be hitting.

Use the original lighting to guide you—and keep in mind that you may be able to skip this step if the light in your image is not as intense as it is in this particular image!

Step 3

You can also paint in shadows using just a brush on a layer set to Multiply. I like to set the layer Opacity to 50%, but it depends on how deep you want your shadows to be.

When painting shadows, avoid using black as shadows are hardly ever flat black. Instead, use a darker, desaturated version of the color you are painting on. For instance, I could use dark brown on these mountains.

Blue is also an excellent color to choose in this particular scene. Blue and orange are contrast colors, so they pair very well together. 

Step 4

Now, one of my best friends when it comes to compositing landscapes is the layer Blend Options.

Here you can tell a layer how much it should show up on light or dark areas. I don’t want these shadows to cover and darken the highlights of the image beneath, so I can drag the point on the right-hand curve to control the range of light.

The further I pull, the less it will show on the lighter areas of the image beneath. You can further refine this by adding more points to the curve and adjusting them. 

You can also use this tool to pinpoint highlights or color. It’s a tool best learned by just playing with it and seeing what it can do!

6. How to Create a Sunset Color Grade

Finally, it always helps to add a few adjustment layers over top everything to tie it all together. 

Step 1

First, let’s add an S curve for some added contrast, along with bringing up the blues and reds in the shadows.

Curves Settings

Step 2

Next, create a masked Color Balance adjustment layer adding blue to the outer edges of the image and one to bring more oranges into the innermost area of the image. 

Color Balance Settings

• Red: -25%
• Green: -20%
• Blue: 22%

Step 3

Finally, create a second masked Color Balance adjustment layer, bringing more yellows and reds into the innermost area of the image. 

Color Balance Settings

• Red: 23%
• Green: -28%
• Blue: -77%

And There You Have It!

While sometimes adding in a few fluffy white clouds will do just the trick, don’t be afraid to try changing up the whole mood of a photo by switching from a bright blue sky to a set of ominous clouds rolling in. Or create an entirely new alien atmosphere full of stars and planets. Every photo has a story to tell, and you can change the whole narrative just by choosing one sky over another! The sky is not the limit after all!

So, as always, keep experimenting with different techniques and practicing, and don’t forget to post your version below, along with any questions, comments, or critiques!

Looking to learn more? Why not check out the following photo manipulation tutorials:

• 
  Adobe Photoshop
  How to Create an Abstract Diamond Lens Effect in Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Minimalist La Llorona Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Honey Bee Themed Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Surreal Stitched Portrait in Adobe Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

Post pobrano z: How to Replace the Sky in a Photo in Affinity Photo

Mother Nature can create stunning environments, placed on the most ideal of backdrops. But let’s face it, a lot of the time we end up stuck with a gorgeous landscape right below a bland blue or gray sky. 

What do we say to the drab skies of nature? Not today! In this Affinity Photo tutorial, we are going to be learning all about how to replace skies, and we’ll look at just how much changing out a sky can affect the overall mood of a photo.

I will be covering all the basics of replacing a sky in Affinity Photo, whether you want to add some clouds, incorporate color, or do a full-blown background swap. 

Follow along with us over on the Envato Tuts+ YouTube Channel:

What You’ll Need

To complete this project, we are using the following resources:

• Girl On Beach
• Strange Stormy Clouds
• Beautiful landscape of Lanzarote Island
• Sky background
• Death Valley, USA
• Milky Way Galaxy

Find more resources on Envato Elements!

1. How to Add Clouds to a Sky

First, let’s look at the quickest way to change out a sky, which is to add clouds! This method will work best for shots where the sky is just a little too flat and could use some detail. In this example, we will be adding a bit of a twist to our clouds. But the technique is the same, whether you want a cloudy blue sky photo effect or a straight-up twister. 

Step 1

Start by dragging and dropping the Strange Stormy Sky stock image onto the canvas, over our original beach image. Crop the image to add a bit more room for the cloudy sky. 

Step 2

Make sure the horizon line of each photo matches up reasonably closely. You can temporarily bring down the Opacity of the storm clouds if needed to line everything up. 

Step 3

Next, add a Layer Mask to the storm clouds. Then, with a large, soft, round Brush, mask out the bottom half of the cloud image.

As both photos have a grey hue to them, they will blend beautifully with each other. With this method, I suggest choosing a sky that is similar in tone to the original image if you’d like to save some time on blending. 

Step 4

Finish blending the two images by adjusting the color, brightness, and contrast of both the clouds and the original image if needed.

Here, I darkened and upped the contrast of both the base image and clouds using a Brightness/Contrast layer, while also desaturating the base image using a black and white gradient map adjustment layer. 

I then committed to the „storm of the century” vibe by adding both green and blue hues to the image with a Color Balance and S curve Curves layer. 

Brightness/Contrast Settings 

• Brightness: -38%
• Contrast: 19%

Gradient Map Settings 

• Black to White 
• Opacity: 47%

Color Balance Settings 

• Red: -33%
• Green: 51%
• Blue: 59%

Curves Settings 

2. How to Create a Sunset Photo Effect

Next, I am going to amp it up a notch by creating a substantially more dynamic sky mixed with a reflective surface.

Step 1

First, let’s crop our beach image to increase the sky, and I’ll opt for less land, so we have an equal mix of sky, water, and earth. 

Step 2

Now, I am going to drop in my sky replacement. Once again, just like in the previous image, line up the horizons! 

Step 3

Add a Layer Mask just as we did with the last sky, only this time we are going to be a bit more precise with our masking.

I am still going to use a soft brush, but it’s much smaller. I am blending the horizon line almost seamlessly with the new sky. 

Step 4

Duplicate the sky image, delete the layer mask, and set the layer to Overlay. Bring down the layer Opacity to 50%. 

Next, add a new Layer Mask to the sky, masking out all but the top quarter of the water. 

Step 5

Now, repeat that same step, only this time setting the layer to Soft Light.

Again, delete and then add a new Layer Mask to the duplicated sky. Mask out any area of the sky that is touching the land or the frothy white parts of the water. 

Step 6

Let’s finish this beautiful beach day off by bringing the stark blue of the sky into both the water and land using a Color Balance layer.  

Color Balance Settings

• Red: -16%
• Blue: 53%

3. How to Extract a Mountain Range 

When quick blending and layer mode magic won’t do the trick on their own, you may have to remove one sky altogether to place the other. Compositing is also the ideal solution if you are going for something more stylistic, surreal, or fantasy inspired! 

Step 1

As with the last image, we want there to be a bit more sky than before, so crop the canvas to give us more vertical space. 

Step 2 

Now, let’s extract the sky of the original image. The best results would come from masking out the sky by hand using just a simple Brush and Layer Mask combo. However, use your preferred method for extraction! For a quick extract job, I like to rely on the Refine Mask tool.

Use the Flood Select Tool to create a quick selection and mask of the sky.

Step 3

Then, clicking on the mask, Right Click > Refine Mask to refine and smooth the mask out. 

Step 4

You can use the Select > Grow/Shrink function to get rid of any pesky unwanted edges as well, if needed. Set the Radius to -1 px and then mask out the selection. 

This is an excellent method to use when your image will be more of a backdrop, as opposed to the main focus, or you need to mock something up quickly. Otherwise, zoom in real close and mask that bad boy out by hand! 

Go ahead and place the new sky behind the mountain range for now as well. 

4. How to Create Sunrise Lighting Effects

Next up, let’s lay down our highlights. You will likely do the bulk of your highlights on layers set to Screen, but you can also play with other layer modes like color dodge, soft light, or overlay. The Curves layer is also a great tool to use for creating or enhancing highlights!

Step 1

Create a new layer, set to Screen, and paint some ambient light focused on the horizon line.

Keep the brush very large with a low Flow rate so you can build up the color slowly. Color pick a color from the new sky—in my case, pale yellow and orange colors.

Step 2

Repeat this step on a layer clipped inside your landscape to help connect and blend the two images.

The lighting on this layer will be more focused if you have a rising sun or any bright light source as I do.

Step 3

Repeat the above step behind the mountainscape as well.

Every landscape will be different, and every sky a different time of day! If you are unsure how you should paint in your lighting, look up some references of a similar environment to get a better idea!

5. How to Create Shadow Effects

For shadows, I recommend the use of layers set to Multiply, Soft Light, and the use of Brightness/Contrast and Curves adjustment layers. 

Step 1

Let’s start with a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer clipped into the mountains to darken everything and lower their contrast, as shaded areas will usually have less contrast than lit areas.

Brightness/Contrast Settings

• Brightness: -84%
• Contrast: -42%

Step 2

Next, go in and mask out all the areas where the light source would be hitting.

Use the original lighting to guide you—and keep in mind that you may be able to skip this step if the light in your image is not as intense as it is in this particular image!

Step 3

You can also paint in shadows using just a brush on a layer set to Multiply. I like to set the layer Opacity to 50%, but it depends on how deep you want your shadows to be.

When painting shadows, avoid using black as shadows are hardly ever flat black. Instead, use a darker, desaturated version of the color you are painting on. For instance, I could use dark brown on these mountains.

Blue is also an excellent color to choose in this particular scene. Blue and orange are contrast colors, so they pair very well together. 

Step 4

Now, one of my best friends when it comes to compositing landscapes is the layer Blend Options.

Here you can tell a layer how much it should show up on light or dark areas. I don’t want these shadows to cover and darken the highlights of the image beneath, so I can drag the point on the right-hand curve to control the range of light.

The further I pull, the less it will show on the lighter areas of the image beneath. You can further refine this by adding more points to the curve and adjusting them. 

You can also use this tool to pinpoint highlights or color. It’s a tool best learned by just playing with it and seeing what it can do!

6. How to Create a Sunset Color Grade

Finally, it always helps to add a few adjustment layers over top everything to tie it all together. 

Step 1

First, let’s add an S curve for some added contrast, along with bringing up the blues and reds in the shadows.

Curves Settings

Step 2

Next, create a masked Color Balance adjustment layer adding blue to the outer edges of the image and one to bring more oranges into the innermost area of the image. 

Color Balance Settings

• Red: -25%
• Green: -20%
• Blue: 22%

Step 3

Finally, create a second masked Color Balance adjustment layer, bringing more yellows and reds into the innermost area of the image. 

Color Balance Settings

• Red: 23%
• Green: -28%
• Blue: -77%

And There You Have It!

While sometimes adding in a few fluffy white clouds will do just the trick, don’t be afraid to try changing up the whole mood of a photo by switching from a bright blue sky to a set of ominous clouds rolling in. Or create an entirely new alien atmosphere full of stars and planets. Every photo has a story to tell, and you can change the whole narrative just by choosing one sky over another! The sky is not the limit after all!

So, as always, keep experimenting with different techniques and practicing, and don’t forget to post your version below, along with any questions, comments, or critiques!

Looking to learn more? Why not check out the following photo manipulation tutorials:

• 
  Adobe Photoshop
  How to Create an Abstract Diamond Lens Effect in Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Minimalist La Llorona Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Honey Bee Themed Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Surreal Stitched Portrait in Adobe Photoshop
  Abbey Esparza

Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Brush in Illustrator

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  How to Make a Texture Brush in Illustrator

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• 

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Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Brush in Illustrator

  Learn to create a custom paint brush, a scatter brush and a texture brush in Adobe Illustrator, using nothing more than some basic geometric shapes and effects.
• 

  How to Make a Texture Brush in Illustrator

  Have you always liked to draw using texture or grunge brushes? Why not create your own vector Illustrator brush? What if I’ll tell you that it’s easy and…
• 

  How to Make a Watercolor Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  Always wondered how to make a watercolor brush in Illustrator, but never knew exactly where to start? Today you’ll learn how easy it is to create a vector…
• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create a Pencil Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a pencil pattern brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Flag Bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a flag bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Coconut Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Learn to create a fun coconut text effect that will make you dream of a tropical vacation.
• 

  How to Create a Cactus Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to create a cactus text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  Create a Baseball-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  For all of you sports fans out there, this tutorial will teach you how to create a baseball-inspired text effect. You’ll start by preparing the text, then…
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• 

  How to Create a Letter Characters Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

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Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Brush in Illustrator

  Learn to create a custom paint brush, a scatter brush and a texture brush in Adobe Illustrator, using nothing more than some basic geometric shapes and effects.
• 

  How to Make a Texture Brush in Illustrator

  Have you always liked to draw using texture or grunge brushes? Why not create your own vector Illustrator brush? What if I’ll tell you that it’s easy and…
• 

  How to Make a Watercolor Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  Always wondered how to make a watercolor brush in Illustrator, but never knew exactly where to start? Today you’ll learn how easy it is to create a vector…
• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create a Pencil Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a pencil pattern brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Flag Bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

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• 

  How to Create a Coconut Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Learn to create a fun coconut text effect that will make you dream of a tropical vacation.
• 

  How to Create a Cactus Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to create a cactus text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  Create a Baseball-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  For all of you sports fans out there, this tutorial will teach you how to create a baseball-inspired text effect. You’ll start by preparing the text, then…
• 

  How to Create a Cherry Pie Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Follow this tutorial and learn how to create a delicious cherry pie text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Letter Characters Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps, you will learn how to create a fun letter characters text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

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• 

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• 

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• 

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• 

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• 

  Create a Baseball-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  For all of you sports fans out there, this tutorial will teach you how to create a baseball-inspired text effect. You’ll start by preparing the text, then…
• 

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• 

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  In the following steps, you will learn how to create a fun letter characters text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Brush in Illustrator

  Learn to create a custom paint brush, a scatter brush and a texture brush in Adobe Illustrator, using nothing more than some basic geometric shapes and effects.
• 

  How to Make a Texture Brush in Illustrator

  Have you always liked to draw using texture or grunge brushes? Why not create your own vector Illustrator brush? What if I’ll tell you that it’s easy and…
• 

  How to Make a Watercolor Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  Always wondered how to make a watercolor brush in Illustrator, but never knew exactly where to start? Today you’ll learn how easy it is to create a vector…
• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create a Pencil Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a pencil pattern brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Flag Bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a flag bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Coconut Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Learn to create a fun coconut text effect that will make you dream of a tropical vacation.
• 

  How to Create a Cactus Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to create a cactus text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  Create a Baseball-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  For all of you sports fans out there, this tutorial will teach you how to create a baseball-inspired text effect. You’ll start by preparing the text, then…
• 

  How to Create a Cherry Pie Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Follow this tutorial and learn how to create a delicious cherry pie text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Letter Characters Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps, you will learn how to create a fun letter characters text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

Keep
drawing and learning with these recommended tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Brush in Illustrator

  Learn to create a custom paint brush, a scatter brush and a texture brush in Adobe Illustrator, using nothing more than some basic geometric shapes and effects.
• 

  How to Make a Texture Brush in Illustrator

  Have you always liked to draw using texture or grunge brushes? Why not create your own vector Illustrator brush? What if I’ll tell you that it’s easy and…
• 

  How to Make a Watercolor Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  Always wondered how to make a watercolor brush in Illustrator, but never knew exactly where to start? Today you’ll learn how easy it is to create a vector…
• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create a Pencil Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a pencil pattern brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Flag Bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps you will learn how to create a flag bunting Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Coconut Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Learn to create a fun coconut text effect that will make you dream of a tropical vacation.
• 

  How to Create a Cactus Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to create a cactus text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  Create a Baseball-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  For all of you sports fans out there, this tutorial will teach you how to create a baseball-inspired text effect. You’ll start by preparing the text, then…
• 

  How to Create a Cherry Pie Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  Follow this tutorial and learn how to create a delicious cherry pie text effect in Adobe Illustrator.
• 

  How to Create a Letter Characters Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

  In the following steps, you will learn how to create a fun letter characters text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Post pobrano z: How to Make a Pickle Pattern Brush in Illustrator

Always
wanted to create a brush, but never knew exactly how to do it?

Well,
if you love unique creative brushes and you want to learn how to make
a brush in Illustrator, then this tutorial is perfect for you. It will take you through the entire process of drawing, saving, and
applying the brush.

You
will learn how to create a pickle brush and how to save it correctly
as a new pattern brush by following a few tips and tricks that you will
be able to apply to other Adobe Illustrator brushes as well.

And
if you are a fan of the Rick and Morty animated series, we will give
this text effect a unique twist by creating a Pickle Rick Pattern
Brush as well. Both brushes are easy to use, and this fun text effect
will be ready in no time. If you are excited about this, then let’s
start!

Expand
your brushes library by going to GraphicRiver, where you’ll find a great
selection of brushes in various styles, shapes, and themes. Also,
check out the text effects section, where you’ll find plenty of
inspiration and resources for your projects.

1. How
to Open a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and,
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. How
to Create the Basic Pickle Shape

Step
1

Grab
the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and enter 44 x 132 px
as the dimensions of the rectangle. Color it with green.

Keep
this shape selected and go to the Transform panel. Enter 20 px in all
four Corner Radius fields in order to create the rounded corners.

Step
2

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the rounded rectangle to get a copy of it (the gray shape), and then
move it 7 px to the right by pressing the Right Arrow key on your
keyboard seven times.

Copy
and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
the green rounded rectangle again to make another copy. Keep this
copy selected along with the gray copy and press Minus Front on the
Pathfinder panel. Color the shape obtained with a darker shade of
green, and this will be the shadow on the left side of the pickle.

Step
3

Now,
we will add a few bumps to create that recognizable pickle
look. Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a few semicircle shapes on the
edges of the pickle. Make them of different sizes to ensure a more
realistic result for the final Illustrator brush (1).

Now,
select only the pink shapes on the upper right side along with the
green rounded rectangle and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel. I
will name the resulting shape “pickle body” (2).

After
that, select the blue shapes on the left side along with the shadow,
and press Unite on the Pathfinder panel again. I will name the newly
obtained shape “pickle shadow” (3).

Step
4

Select
the two shapes obtained in the previous step and then Copy and Paste
in Front (Control-F)
to make copies of them. Press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge
them, and you will get a new pickle shape. Give it a 1 pt
Stroke using black and select the Round Join option in the Stroke
panel. I will name this shape “pickle outline”.

Step
5

Next,
take the Pen Tool (P) and draw two curved paths at the top of the
pickle as creases. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black and Width
Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing at the bottom of the pickle and apply the same
settings.

Step
6

Now,
focus on one of the bumps and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw two short
paths as shown in the close-up. Give them a 1 pt Stroke using black
and Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

Do
the same thing for the other bumps in order to add details, but not
necessarily for all of them.

3. How
to Define the Sections of the Pattern Illustrator Brush

Step
1

Creating a brush in Illustrator, especially pattern brushes, can be
easy if you take into consideration the three sections that define a pattern brush: the start, the side, and the end. If we do this ahead of time
and not just at the end, we make the process of saving the brush pain-free once we get to that stage, and we’re less likely to make
mistakes.

Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an 80 x 136 px rectangle which will
cover the pickle entirely. Leave a little more space on the left side
of the pickle for the shadow. With the rectangle still selected, go
to Object > Path > Split Into Grid and choose 3 Rows. Hit OK
and the rectangle will be divided into three equal parts.

Step
2

Notice
how the separation between the start and the side of the pattern brush
goes through one of the bumps. We don’t want this. It is better to
cut the brush sections between the bumps where the pickle is
straight.

Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points indicated and
move them upwards, right above the bump (2).

Select
the other points indicated and move them a little downwards in order
to make the start and end sections of the brush of about the
same size (3). The side of the brush (the middle part) will be
longer.

4. How
to Add Details to the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path on the right
side of the pickle, as shown in the image below. Give it a 3 pt Stroke using a lighter shade of
green and Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. This will create a
main highlight on the pickle.

Step
2

Let’s
add more details. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw
four random ellipses on the pickle. It’s better to not place them on
the blue lines but only inside the start, side, and end sections of
the brush. Fill them with a slightly darker shade of green and apply a
1 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in the Stroke panel. Two
of the ellipses have no fill color, just the black stroke applied.

Step
3

Still
using the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N), draw a bunch of random
curved paths on the pickle. Give them a 0.5 pt and 0.75 pt Stroke
using black and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Step
4

Zoom
in on one of the paths that you drew in the previous step and draw
a shorter path inside it. Give it a 0.5 pt Stroke using a lighter
shade of green and Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.

Repeat
the same thing for two or three more paths in order to add little
highlights on the pickle.

Step
5

Next,
take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small ellipses of different
sizes in the middle of the pickle. Color them with a darker green
(1).

Draw
more ellipses on the right side of the pickle and color them with a
lighter green (2). You can see the result in the image below (3).

5. How
to Create the Shadow of the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Select
the “pickle outline” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it. Select a black fill and
reduce the Opacity to 40%; then move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the
left using the Arrow Keys on your keyboard. Send this copy behind
everything by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back
(Shift-Control-[) (1).

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the first shadow shape to make another
copy. Move it 1 px downward and 2 px to the left using the Arrow keys
on the keyboard again. Keep the black fill color but reduce the
Opacity to 25% (2).

Step
2

Copy
and Paste in Back (Control-B) the second shadow shape to make a third
copy. Move it 1 px downwards and 2 px to the left; then change the
fill color to dark gray and reduce the Opacity to 15% (3).

Let’s do this one more time. Make a fourth copy of the shadow shape, and this time move it 1 px to the left. Keep the gray fill color but
reduce the Opacity to 5% (4).

Step
3

If
the shadow shapes go over the blue rectangle, use the Direct
Selection Tool (A) to select only the corner points at the bottom and
move them downwards a little. The entire pickle must be inside the
blue sections.

6. How
to Finalize the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

We
are getting closer to saving the new Illustrator Pattern Brush, but we
need to prepare it first by expanding it and making some final adjustments.

Select all the stroked paths next to the outline of the pickle and go to
Object > Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills
(1). Now, select the “pickle outline” and go to Object >
Expand to turn it into a black filled shape (2).

Keep
these resulting shapes selected and press Unite in the Pathfinder
panel, followed by Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8).
This will merge all the shapes into one (3).

Step
2

Now,
select the main highlight path and go to Object > Expand
Appearance. Do the same thing for all the detail paths on the pickle in
order to expand them, and we are ready to save this brush in Illustrator.

7. How
to Save the Pickle Pattern Brush

Step
1

Before
you continue, make a copy of the entire pickle and keep it for later
use.

Illustrator brushes can be tricky to save and may require a few tries until you are happy with the result, but let me show you how easy it is to save this brush.

Select
everything on your artboard and Rotate 90 degrees in the Transform
panel. Group (Control-G) all the shapes that make up the pickle, and
then make two copies behind. You should have three pickles on top
of each other and three blue rectangles.

Step
2

Select
one of the pickles along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. This will cut the pickle, and you will obtain
the start section of the pattern brush. Drag it into the Swatches
panel to save it (1).

Next,
select a copy of the pickle along with the middle rectangle and press
Crop again. This will cut the side section of the pattern brush for
us (2). You don’t need to save this one in the Swatches panel.

Select
the second copy of the pickle along with the last rectangle and press
Crop again. You will obtain the end section of the pattern brush.
Drag it into the Swatches panel to save it (3).

Step
3

Select
the middle section of the pickle and drag it into the Brushes panel
to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window,
this section will automatically appear under the Side Tile (1). Type
a name for the brush, and let’s change some settings.

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 1 from the drop-down
options, which is the first section saved in the Swatches panel.

As
the End Tile (3), select New Pattern Swatch 2 from the drop-down
options, which is the last section of the pickle saved in the Swatches
panel.

Finally,
under Inner Corner Tile (4), select Auto-Centered. Hit OK and your new Illustrator brush is now saved and ready to use.

Step
4

Let’s
test the newly saved brush. Use the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush
Tool (B) to draw any path on your artboard and give it a 1 pt Stroke
using the Pickle Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Fun, right?

8. How
to Create the Face of Pickle Rick

Step
1

Pickle
Rick is
the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez from the famous animated series
Rick and Morty, who turns himself into a pickle just as he and his
family are about to attend a therapy session.

Let’s
start his face with the eyes. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two
circles of about 40 x 40 px and arrange them next to each other. Fill
them with the color indicated and also apply a 1 pt black Stroke.
While both circles stay selected, go to Effect > Distort &
Transform > Roughen and apply the settings shown in order to
distort the shapes slightly.

Step
2

Still
using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a tiny black circle in the center of
each eye as the pupils. Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a curved
path under each eye followed by the nose path. Give them a 1 pt black
Stroke and select the Round Cap option in the Stroke panel.

Step
3

Continue
to draw the shape of the mouth filled with dark green. Also apply a 1
pt black Stroke and select the Align Stroke to Outside option in the
Stroke panel.

For the tooth, draw a V-like path but rounded at the tip. Give it a pale
green fill color and a 1 pt black Stroke. Follow the shape of the
mouth and draw similar paths next to each other to obtain the
top teeth. Draw and apply the same appearances for the bottom teeth
as well.

Step
4

Next,
draw the shape of the tongue on the right side of the mouth. Fill it
with the color indicated and apply a 1 pt black Stroke.

Select
the shape of the mouth and then Copy and Paste in Place
(Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set
this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Keep this copy selected along
with the teeth and the tongue, and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7).

Step
5

Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a curved path on each side of the mouth.
Give them a 1 pt black Stroke with the Round Cap option selected in
the Stroke panel (1).

Continue
to draw a C-like shape above the eyes. Give it a blue fill color and
a 1 pt black Stroke (2). The final thing to add is a random shape on
the upper left side filled with bright green (3).

9. How
to Create the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

First,
grab the copy of the pickle that I said to make earlier in the
tutorial (1) and start to remove some of the details on the top half in
order to create an empty area (2).

Now,
grab Rick’s face and go to Object > Expand Appearance followed
by Object > Expand to turn all strokes into fills. Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the face and scale it down
until it fits inside the empty area you just created (3).

When
you are happy with the placement of the face, select only the indicated points of the blue rectangles with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move
them downwards, until they’re under the mouth. The entire face must be inside
the start section of the brush (4).

Step
2

Let’s
make a few adjustments, and then we are ready to save this pattern
brush next to the other Illustrator brushes.

Focus
on the shadow shape and use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) to add
three extra points next to the mouth. Switch to the Direct Selection
Tool (A) and modify the shadow a little by moving these points,
following the left side of the mouth (1).

Next,
select the main highlight shape and change the fill color to a darker
shade of green; then make it a little thinner by dragging the
bounding box with the Selection Tool (V).

While
this shape stays selected, grab the Knife and cut the shape following
the right side of the mouth; then move the end points up to the black
outline of the mouth as shown in the close-up (2).

10. How
to Save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush

Step
1

The process of saving this brush is the same as before. Select
the new pickle along with the blue rectangles and Rotate them 90
degrees in the Transform panel. Make two copies of the pickle behind
so that we have a pickle for each rectangle (1).

Now,
select the pickle along with the first rectangle and press Crop in
the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain the start section of the
pattern brush, which is the head of Pickle Rick. Drag it into the
Swatches panel to save it (2).

Follow
the same technique and cut the side section (3) and the end section
of the brush as you did for the first pattern brush earlier in the
tutorial (4).

Step
2

Select
and drag the middle section of the pickle into the Brushes panel to
save it as a New Pattern Brush. Type a name for the brush and notice
that the middle section already appears under the Side Tile (1).

As
the Start Tile (2), select New Pattern Swatch 3 from the drop-down
options, which is the head of Pickle Rick saved earlier.

As
the End Tile (3) select New Pattern Swatch 4, and as the Inner
Corner Tile (4) select Auto-Centered from the options available. Hit
OK to save the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush in the Brushes panel.

Step
3

Let’s
test it by applying it to a random path drawn with the Pen Tool (P)
or the Paintbrush Tool (B). Looks great!

11. How
to Create the Pickle Text Effect

Step
1

Now that we have the two Illustrator brushes already saved, here is how to make the text effect quickly and easily. 

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) to draw paths as letters and compose the
word “PICKLE”. Stroke all of them with the Pickle Pattern Brush
and keep the Stroke Weight at 1 pt. Drag two guide lines above and
under the text effect to make sure the letters are about the same
height, making small adjustments if needed.

Step
2

Replace
one (or more) of the strokes with the Pickle Rick Pattern Brush to make this
text effect more fun.

Step
3

As
an extra touch, you can add a small stem to the pickle letters. Draw
the shape of the stem and color it with the same green as the pickle’s body. Also apply a
2 pt black Stroke using Width Profile 6 in order to maintain the
same outlined style.

The
stem could be a part of the pattern brush if you include it in the
Start Tile before saving it, but then all the stroked paths will have
the same stem, and this is not the look we want for the text effect.
In this case, the two stems are just extra additions.

Congratulations!
You’re Done

Here
is the final image of the pickle text effect with the face of Pickle Rick as a creative addition. I hope this tutorial was
fun for you and that you learned some new things today. Now you have the
knowledge to make other creative Adobe Illustrator brushes and use
them in your projects.

Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this pickle text effect with us.
We would love to see it.

Expand
Your Text-Effect Designing Skills!

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