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How to Create a Summer Vacation Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Summer Vacation Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

Final product image
What You’ll Be Creating

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a summer vacation illustration in Adobe Illustrator. To be more exact, we will create an image of a woman sitting on a bunch of suitcases. We will use basic shapes, warp effects, and the Scissors Tool to create our illustration. This tutorial is broken down into clear, simple steps, making it suitable for beginners.

If you love vacation and travel and want to find tons of amazing images online, then go to GraphicRiver. They have an amazing selection of images there, including some vacation ones.

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Create the Woman’s Head and Hat

Step 1

After opening your Adobe Illustrator, let’s start to create the woman, beginning with her head. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an ellipse that is almost a circle. Delete the stroke color if you have one, and set the fill color shown below.

Then we want to give her a smiley mouth, so draw an ellipse again and set a white fill color. Add a new ellipse overlapping this one—it should cover just the top part of the previous ellipse. In the image below, you can see how the shapes need to overlap each other. They’re marked with a black stroke, which you don’t actually need in your illustration.

Select the two white ellipses, go to the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder), and click on the Minus Front button. You’ll end up with a crescent shape, which is the smiley mouth!

how to create the head and mouth

Step 2

Sunglasses are a mandatory attribute of summer vacations, and we will start to create them by using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Set a dark grey fill color and no stroke.

While keeping it selected, go to Effect > Warp > Bulge. A new dialogue window will pop up, where you want to enter the options presented below. Then press OK. The first lens of the sunglasses is ready.

Now we want to create another lens for the sunglasses. Select the first one and, while holding the Shift and Alt keys on your keyboard, move this shape to the right. Holding these two keys will help you to create a copy (Alt), which will be perfectly aligned horizontally (by the Shift button).

Now we want to create the bridge of the sunglasses. Press the Swap Fill and Stroke button on the Tools panel (Shift-X), and the fill color you had will transform into the stroke color. That’s exactly what we need. Hit the Arc Tool and draw a curve between the two glasses. Now the sunglasses are ready!

how to create the glasses

Give them to the woman, who looks more like an alien now!

how to place the glasses

Step 3

We will create the woman’s hair from a few parts. First, draw an ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L). Be sure you delete the stroke color and set the necessary fill color.

While keeping it selected, go to Effect > Warp > Arc and in the new dialogue window enter the options shown below. Then, press OK.

Finally, expand this shape (Object > Expand Appearance). As we will rotate this shape later on, we must expand it first in order not to deform it.

how to create the front hair

Step 4

After this, place this shape on the woman’s head. Notice that it has to stay behind the glasses. After you’ve placed the left part of the hair on the woman’s face, select the glasses, cut (Control-X), and place them over the hair (Control-F).

So now we have the left part of the hair, and we want to create the right part. Select the left part and hit the Reflect Tool (O). Then, while keeping the Alt key pressed, click on the woman’s forehead. A new dialogue window will pop up, where you need to enter Axis Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and then press Copy. You’ve just created a vertical copy of the left part to get the right part.

Finally, we want to create the hair at the back. Draw a darker ellipse behind the head using the Ellipse Tool (L). Remember, to place something behind everything, you need to cut it (Control-X), and then place it behind (Control-B).

The last effect we must apply to the back hair is the Inflate effect. While keeping the back hair selected, go to Effect > Warp > Inflate, and then enter the options shown in the image below.

how to create the front and back hair

Step 5

After that, we are going to create the hat. Using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw a red ellipse on the woman’s forehead. Warp it (Effect > Warp > Arc), and enter the options shown below.

Finally, add a big red ellipse behind everything. The hat is done!

how to create the hat

2. How to Create the Woman’s Body

Step 1

Let’s start to create the body from a circle. It doesn’t have to be an even circle. While keeping it selected, go to Effect > Warp > Inflate, and enter the necessary options. You don’t need to expand this shape, but you can if you want to (Object > Expand Appearance). If you do not want to expand, it means you can edit the options later in the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance).

Finally, add the neck using the Rectangle Tool (M), by creating a small rectangle under the head. You don’t actually need the stroke that is shown below.

how to create the body and neck

Step 2

To create the dress, we need a white fill color and the Rectangle Tool (M). The black stroke you see below is presented just for better visibility, and you don’t actually need it in your final illustration. So draw a rectangle and then apply the Bulge effect to this shape (Effect > Warp > Bulge).

how to create the dress

Step 3

Place the upper part of the dress on the woman’s body.

To add the first strap, draw a small rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (M) with white fill color and no stroke. Place the strap on the left shoulder and rotate it a little bit to the left.

Select the left strap and hit the Reflect Tool (O). Then, while keeping the Alt key pressed, click just under the woman’s neck. A new dialogue window will pop up, where you need to enter Axis Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and then press Copy. Remember that the stroke is there only for better visibility. Now she has two dress straps.

how to create the straps

Step 4

Add a tiny ellipse where the hand should be. Then take the Direct Selection Tool (A), and select the top and bottom anchor points on the ellipse. Pressing the Up Arrow on your keyboard, move these anchor points up just a little. Remember, you don’t need the black stroke.

Now we want to create another hand. Hold down the Shift and Alt buttons together and move the hand to the right using the Selection Tool (V). You just created the hands!

how to create the hands

Step 5

After that, we are going to create the bottom part of the woman. Draw an ellipse which should overlap the upper part of the dress.

Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select its left and right anchor points and move them down using the Down Arrow on your keyboard.

Select all of the dress parts (the two straps, as well as the upper and bottom parts) together (you should hold the Shift button to select two or more objects). Go to the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder) and press the Unite button. Now you should have one shape instead of four.

how to create the dress

Step 6

Let’s create the left leg. Draw an ellipse, place it where the leg starts, and then rotate it to the right.

Add a rectangle as shown in the image below. While keeping this rectangle selected, go to Effect > Warp > Arc Upper and enter the options shown below.

To finish off the leg, add four tiny ellipses as toes. And as before, make sure that you do not have the black stroke.

how to create the leg

Step 7

Select the whole leg and group it (right-click > Group) so you can move it later on.

Then create a vertical copy of the left leg to get the right one. By using the Reflect Tool (O), you can do this. Now the woman is ready!

how to create the another leg

3. How to Create the Suitcases

Step 1

Let’s create the first suitcase. First, draw a light blue rectangle.

Create a copy of it in front and shrink it down from the top and bottom until you get a very thin rectangle. Set the fill color shown for the new thin rectangle.

Hit the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw a tiny yellow rounded rectangle on the left side of the thin rectangle. Add one more rounded rectangle over it, which should be darker.

Select the two yellow rounded rectangles and, while holding the Shift and Alt buttons, move the rounded rectangles to the right.

Then, add two blue circles as shown in the image below. If you want to have an even circle, hold down the Shift key while creating it.

how to create the first suitcase

Step 2

Now we are going to create the handle of the suitcase. Delete the fill color and set the stroke color shown below. Draw a rounded rectangle.

Grab the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the marked places. You just cut off the upper part of the rounded rectangle. Delete the upper part because you don’t need it. This will be the handle.

how to create the handle

Place the handle on the suitcase. Feel free to adjust the size of the handle.

how to place the handle on the suitcase

Step 3

Place the woman on the first suitcase.

how to place the woman on the suitcase

Step 4

Create another blue rectangle for the second suitcase. It has to be bigger than the first one.

Now you need to switch on the Smart Guides (View > Smart Guides). Set the yellow fill color shown below and hit the Ellipse Tool (L). After that, while holding down the Alt key, start to create a circle exactly on the corner of the rectangle. The Alt key will help you to draw it from the center of this circle, and the Smart Guides will help you to draw the circle exactly on the corner of the rectangle.

After you’ve created one circle, using the Selection Tool (L) and while holding down the Shift and Alt keys, move this circle to the right, on the right corner of the rectangle. Then, move them to the two bottom corners of the rectangle.

Now we will use the rectangle to cut off the unnecessary parts, which are the ones not touching the rectangle. So create a new copy of the rectangle in front (Control-C, Control-F). You now have two rectangles in front of each other, but we want the second rectangle to be in front of the circles. While keeping the second rectangle selected, cut it (Control-X), and place it in front of everything (Control-F). Select it with all four circles. While keeping the five shapes (rectangle and four circles) selected, press the Intersect button on the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder).

how to create the second suitcase

Step 5

Using the same technique as for the handle of the first suitcase, create another handle for the second one using the Scissors Tool (C). Note the color and shape difference.

how to create the another handle

Step 6

Make a thin, dark rectangle in front of the second suitcase as you did for the first one. Add two small yellow circles as shown below. 

Delete the fill color and set a white stroke color. Take the Line Segment Tool (/) and draw two lines as shown in the image below.

Finally, place the handle you created for the second suitcase on it.

how to create the second suitcase

Add the second suitcase to the image.

how to place the second suitcase

Step 7

Before we start to create the third suitcase, let’s create one little detail: a keyhole. Start with a yellow rectangle. You can use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to take the yellow color you used before in this tutorial.

Add another rectangle at the bottom of the first one. Select the two of them and press the Unite button on the Pathfinder panel. You’ve got one shape from two.

After that, take the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) and delete the anchor points marked in the image below. You’ve got a trapeze shape.

Add a circle on top of the previous shape. And the keyhole is done!

how to create the keyhole

Step 8

Let’s start to create the third suitcase. Create two rectangles: one dark blue, and a second thin one in an even darker blue shade.

Add a rounded rectangle.

Add the keyhole on the rounded rectangle.

While holding down the Shift and Alt buttons, move the rounded rectangle and the keyhole to the right. Add two tiny circles for even more detail. 

Create a copy of the previous handle and place it on the third suitcase. You do not need to change the color of this one. It’s done!

how to create the third suitcase

Place the third suitcase under the second one.

how to place the third suitcase

4. How to Create the Anchors and Background

Step 1

We are going to create the anchor. Delete the fill color and set the stroke color shown below. Draw a circle.

Add a vertical line using the Line Segment Tool (/). Add a small horizontal line to give your anchor more detail.

Make a copy of one of the previous suitcase handles and change its stroke color. Place it as shown below.

how to create the anchor

Step 2

Draw a square. Just as you used the Shift button to create an even circle, you need to use it while creating a square too.

Rotate it 45 degrees. While the square is selected, hit the Selection Tool (V) and, while holding down the Shift button, start to rotate. The Shift helps you to rotate it exactly 45 degrees.

Using the Scissors Tool (C), cut off the upper part of the square to get a v-shape.

how to create the detail for the anchor

Step 3

Place the v-shape on the bottom of the previously created shapes to get the anchor.

Make one more copy of the v-shape and place it as shown. Create another copy of the v-shape and place it on the other end, forming the anchor.

how to finish creating the anchor

Step 4

Create a copy of the anchor and change its color to red.

how to create another anchor

Place the anchors on the suitcases.

how to place the anchors

Step 5

For the background, create a blue square with 850 px Width and Height, by using the Rectangle Tool (M). First, take the tool, and then click on your artboard and enter the necessary options.

how to create the background

Place the background behind (Control-X, Control-B) everything you created before, creating a summer-themed image.

how to place the background behind everything

Step 6

To make this image even more appealing and summery, you can add some tropical leaves, which you can learn how to create in one of my previous tutorials. 

how to place the palm leaves

Awesome Work, You’re Done!

Congratulations on finishing this tutorial and creating an image. And again, for more inspiration, art, ideas, and much more, check out GraphicRiver. They really have a river of images! I’m sure yours is ready to be presented to all the people! 

Hopefully you enjoyed this tutorial and learned something new. As you can see, it is very easy to create images in Adobe Illustrator.

See you next time!

final
CSS

Creating a Bar Graph with CSS Grid

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Post pobrano z: Creating a Bar Graph with CSS Grid

If you’re looking for more manageable ways to create bar graphs, or in search of use cases to practice CSS Grid layout, I got you!

Before we begin working on the graph, I want to talk about coding the bars, when Grid is a good approach for graphs, and we’ll also cover some code choices you might consider before getting started.

Preface

The bar is a pretty basic shape: you can control its dimensions with CSS width, height, number of grid or table cells, etc. depending on how you’ve coded it. As far as graphs go, the main thing we want to control is the height of the bars in the graph.

Controlling height with Grid cells (like here) is convenient for designs where the height is incremental by a fixed value — no in-betweens. For example, signal bars in phones or when you don’t mind setting a lot of grid rows to better control the bar height down to its smallest value, like IRL graph paper.

Five vertical purple bars that get progressively taller from left to right like a signal indicator on a cell phone.

For my graph, I want gradient bars as well as vertical and horizontal axes labels. So, to make it easy, I have decided to control the bar height with gradient sizing, and determine the number of grid rows based on the number of vertical axis labels I want.

Also, other than the contents for the graph — bars, axes labels, and captions — there’ll be no data present in the HTML, like data about bar colors and dimensions.

data-* attributes are used to provide that sort of information in HTML. But I didn’t want to switch back and forth between HTML and CSS while coding, and decided to completely separate the content from the design. It’s totally up to you. If you feel like using data-* might benefit your project, go for it.

I’ve created a diagram below that you might find useful to refer to while reading the code. It depicts the graph and the grid that contains it. The numbers represent grid lines.

Four gold cylindrical bars on a graph where the y-axis goes from 0 to 100 in increments of 10 and the x-axis is labeled with different smiley face emoji.

Let’s code this thing.

The HTML

Grid can automatically place items in top-bottom and left-right directions. To take advantage of that, I’m going to add the graph contents in the order y-axis labels (top-bottom), bars, and x-axis labels (left-right). This way, I only need to write the HTML markup and the CSS will place the bars for me!

<figure aria-hidden="true">
    <div class="graph">
        <span class="graphRowLabel">100</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">90</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">80</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">70</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">60</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">50</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">40</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">30</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">20</span>
        <span class="graphRowLabel">10</span>
        <div  class="graphBar"></div>
        <div  class="graphBar"></div>
        <div  class="graphBar"></div>
        <div  class="graphBar"></div>
        <div  class="graphBar"></div>
        <span><sup>Y </sup>&frasl;<sub> X</sub></span>
        <span class="graphColumnLabel">😊</span>
        <span class="graphColumnLabel">😄</span>
        <span class="graphColumnLabel">☺️</span>
        <span class="graphColumnLabel">😁</span>
        <span class="graphColumnLabel">😀</span>
    </div>
    <figcaption>Made with CSS Grid 💛</figcaption>
</figure>

<span class="screenreader-text">Smiling face with squinting eyes: 10%, grinning face with squinting eyes: 65%, smiling face: 52%, grinning face with smiling eyes: 100%, and grinning face: 92%.</span>

Note: If you’re interested in accessibility, know that I’m not an accessibility expert. But when I tried to make the bars accessible, screen reader experience simply sucked. Using aria-labelledby wasn’t that good either. So, I added a text description of the graph and hid it from the visual display. That made the reading much more natural.

The CSS

This is where the magic happens.

/* The grid container */
.graph {
  display: grid;
  grid:  repeat(10, auto) max-content / max-content repeat(5, auto);
  /* ... */
}

We’ve defined eleven rows and six columns in our grid with these two little lines of CSS: ten automatically sized rows and one sized to its „maximum content”; one column sized to its „maximum content” and five automatically sized. CSS Grid is a beautiful thing.

The graph bars need to cover the grid from the first row to the second-to-last row since we are using the last one for the x-axis labels. I gave the bars 100% height, and grid-row: 1 / -2; which means „span the items from first horizontal grid line till the second last.”

/* A grid item */
.graphBar{
  height: 100%;
  grid-row: 1 / -2;
}

The bars also have linear gradient going upwards. The size of the colored portion of the gradient is the indicator of bar’s height, which in turn is taken from each bar’s own CSS rule as a custom variable.

/* A grid item */
.graphBar{
  /* Same as before */
  background: palegoldenrod linear-gradient(to top, gold var(--h), transparent var(--h));
}

To control the width of the bars and the space between them, I use a fixed width and centered them with justify-self: center;. You can instead use grid-column-gap to create gaps between columns if you want. Here’ the full code that pulls everything for the bars together:

/* A grid item */
.graphBar{
  height: 100%;
  grid-row: 1 / -2;
  background: palegoldenrod linear-gradient(to top, gold var(--h), transparent var(--h));
  width: 45px;
  justify-self: center;
}

Did you notice the CSS variable (var(--h)) in there? We need to specify the exact height of each bar and we can use the variable to determine the height of the background gradient in terms of percentage:

.graphBar:nth-of-type(1) {
  grid-column: 2;
  --h: 10%;
}
.graphBar:nth-of-type(2) {
  grid-column: 3;
  --h: 65%;
}
.graphBar:nth-of-type(3) {
  grid-column: 4;
  --h: 52%;
}
/* and so on... */

That’s it! after styling, the graph looks like this:

See the Pen CSS Bar Graph with Grid by Preethi (@rpsthecoder) on CodePen.

There are a few demo-specific styles in here but everything we’ve covered so far will get you the basic framework for a bar graph. The y-axis labels I created are positioned on top of the grid lines for a slightly cleaner layout. I got the cylindrical shape and the cross-section edges of the bars by using border-radius and elliptic pseudo elements, respectively. Without them, you’ll get a straight up rectangular bar.

The post Creating a Bar Graph with CSS Grid appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

Adv

4 Ways to Improve Quality Assurance

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Post pobrano z: 4 Ways to Improve Quality Assurance

A lot of people tend to think of quality assurance and quality control to be the same but they are not. They may be used interchangeably but there’s a vast difference between the two.

Quality assurance is more inclined towards looking at how processes are performed and products standards are met, while quality control is about inspecting how the process is going through. For a business to run smoothly, both factors need to be paid attention to.


Fooling around by Jippen Jooste

Quality assurance is necessary to ensure that products and services are made and delivered at their best. It helps in keeping existing customers loyal for a long time. Moreover, it helps improve workflow, eliminate mistakes, and more importantly, ensure that only quality products reach the market. This is very important because a business can take a serious hit if it produces poor quality products as such a move can affect its brand and cause it to fail.

Quality assurance is often done with software to figure out weaknesses in the quality of products. These weaknesses are then eliminated by adapting the preventive measures.

In short, quality assurance is the tool used to assure that the quality of products is highly maintained. Businesses need to do this to be able to stay ahead of the pack.

Moreover, they also need to Protect Your Data, continue to come up with newer and better products at affordable rates to ensure that they grow. Now without much ado, let’s have a look at four ways to improve quality assurance:

1. Inspect Products for Performance

It’s not smart to let teams work on their own without any monitoring. There’s a window for error and people working in the quality assurance departments need to understand that. Regular performance checks on employees and products being manufactured should be conducted. It helps to figure out errors and mistakes if there are any.

Early performance inspections will help give you enough time to correct errors and mistakes before the final stage of manufacturing is completed. Waiting for the last moment will cost more money, more time and will even result in a waste of resources and efforts.

2. Take Customer Input

The best way to improve quality assurance is to take customer complaints seriously. No business can shine and thrive if they keep on disappointing customers with the products they sell or the services they offer. The trick lies in conducting customer surveys and learning about the areas where you can improve. For example, most customers these days want to know how businesses protect data and apps. This is important with data breaches becoming a common occurrence.

If your customers appear to be concerned about this factor, you can educate them about how you ensure the safety of their data to satisfy them. Customer feedback can be taken in a variety of ways such as online surveys, walk-in forms etc.

3. Conduct Tests Right From The Beginning

Many businesses wait until all requirements are met to finally conduct a QA test to ensure everything is right. However, it is recommended to begin taking tests right from the initial stages so that problems can be found and corrected in the beginning.

The best part of conducting tests, in the beginning, is that it will reduce cost on a huge scale because you won’t be dealing with large-scale problems at the end.


Crunching by William Iven

4. Automating Where Possible

There are many ways to improve quality assurance and automating processes where applicable is one of them. This is done by using a quality management software that monitors all processes.

There are many benefits of doing so. It does not only help you save time and money, it also improves customer loyalty as the use of such tools improve overall quality. QA can differ for different businesses but the end-goal remains the same.

Featured image by Jefferson Santos

Adv

Why it is Fundamental for Businesses to be Creative with Apps in 2018

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Post pobrano z: Why it is Fundamental for Businesses to be Creative with Apps in 2018

The business landscape is a rapidly changing one, a fact that rings especially true when it comes to the manner in which people communicate and expect to be able to access the offerings of big companies.

In the past, companies in sectors like retail, gambling, and even travel, had to adapt to ensure their customers were able to make use of visually appealing websites that were also easy to navigate and frustration-free from start to finish. The aim was to ensure that customers felt they were getting a great customer experience online, in precisely the same manner as they would expect solid customer service in physical stores. Nowadays though, especially in the EU following the introduction of GDPR (which has impacted upon apps as well as websites), it is proving difficult to retain loyal customers through a website presence alone.


Circles Photo by Ashley Kirk

Indeed, with sites as huge as MSN having failed in the past before seismic events like GDPR to keep up with the times, we could start to see a similar experience in the near future if businesses fail to realize the importance of having a creative and engaging app, something that has the potential to keep customers loyal to a brand.

Not just a waste of screen space

The buzz surrounding apps is perhaps not quite as noisy as it was at the height of their publicity back in 2016, especially as growth in using them has slowed slightly, but there is no denying the fact that they are still a vital element for many businesses. There may well be millions (perhaps even tens of millions) of apps that are redundant, but companies that push creativity as part of their app design process are keeping apps at the forefront of their marketing efforts.

This importance is particularly telling in crowded marketplaces like the iGaming world, where having the right app can be the difference between success and failure. In such crowded marketplaces, brands that fail to have an engaging app that allows players to game on the go and take advantage of timely offers can prove to be make or break. For companies like Lottoland, who spend time and money on making apps and websites that are geo-location specific, having this extra outlet that can allow consumers to stay up to date with their winnings wherever they are in the world without being near a computer means that they can attract loyal customers who end up wanting to stay with them for longer.

More than just games

The iGaming world may be an example of an industry where apps can prove the difference between success and failure, but it isn’t the only one. In fact, a recent list of the top ten apps used includes none from the world of gaming; not even Pokemon Go or Candy Crush get a look in. What this shows is that the big tech players like Facebook, Snapchat, and even Google are all aware that the way people browse and use the internet has changed, meaning that a more personalized approach through an app is going to be a more positive experience for a consumer than a blanket approach on a mobile site.
Photo by Christian Wiediger
With this in mind, companies looking to get the fundamentals right in 2018 should make sure that they don’t just have an app created as a gesture, but one that really makes their customers want to download and use it every day.

Featured image by Rami Al-zayat

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