Creating Brushes with Artlandia SymmetryWorks Home Vector vs Raster? Tips and Tutorials Resources Northlite Designs Cards & Prints Gallery Expression About Me Contact Me Using … … SymmetryWorks you can create symmetry based designs for webpages, wallpaper, fabrics, quilting, and tiles—but did you know you can also use it to create some really great brushes? If you don’t have the Artlandia SymmetryWorks plugin for Illustrator, you can download a demo from Artlandia . It will only apply one symmetry of the plugin’s …

Tips and Tutorials Resources Northlite Designs Cards & Prints Gallery Expression About Me Contact Me Using Artlandia SymmetryWorks you can create symmetry based designs for webpages, wallpaper, fabrics, quilting, and tiles—but did you know you can also use it to create some really great brushes? If you don’t have the Artlandia SymmetryWorks plugin for Illustrator, you can download a demo from Artlandia . It will only apply one symmetry of the plugin’s choice per Illustrator session, but it will give you an idea of how the brushes are done. Constructing the Pattern Tiles This tutorial was done using Adobe Illustrator 10. Artlandia SymmetryWorks is a new filter that also works with Illustrator 9, and this tutorial will work with version 9 also. We’ll use a petal shape for this tutorial but any shape will work—experiment and try others. There is no end to the brushes you can create! We’ll start by drawing a petal shape with the pen tool. First turn the grid on by going to View > Show Grid to aid in drawing the petal. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides and Grid to set the grid options. Settings: Grid every 72 pixels, 8 subdivisions Stroke: any color Fill: None Activate the Pen tool. 1. Click and drag up and to the right at point 1. 2. Move the pen over 8 squares, at a 90° angle and click. Drag the mouse up and to the right about 3 squares. 3. Click under the top line of the petal the approximate distance away equivalent to the width you want the finished petal to be and drag up and left. 4. Click on point 1 to close the shape. If you like, you can turn off the grid now by going to View > Hide Grid. Select the stroke and go to the object menu. When you install Artlandia SymmetryWorks, a new menu item appears on the Object menu. You’ll also have a new palette on the artboard called SymmetryWorks. Object > SymmetryWorks > Make The pattern is created, using the last used option. (Also note that you can at any time go to Object > SymmetryWorks > Release to release the pattern.) This one is the Six Rotations pattern, with tiling set to 1 x 1. Experiment with different patterns. For a brush it is probably best to keep it fairly simple, but experimenting is the best way to find out! I like the flower look of this one so that’s what I’ll use for my brush. Below you can see how hovering the mouse over the pattern reveals the control points. Now you can also tell which petal is the original, since any edits to the petal itself need to be made to the original one. Right: When you are using more than one copy in the tiling options, you can edit the pattern by using these points and the direct select arrow (A) to select one point and manipulate it. This allows you to change the placement of the tiled copies in relation to each other….. To fix this, hold down the alt key and drag a second copy of the original pattern to the brushes palette and drop it in the first empty slot. The pattern brush options will open again and you can see the corner tile has been added to the tiles. Click OK. When asked to Apply to Strokes or Leave Strokes, click the Apply to Strokes button. The new tile is also added to the brush preview in the brushes palette, and the corner tiles are updated on the square. These are brush basics in Illustrator; if you want more detailed information about creating pattern brushes with Illustrator 9 and 10, I have a tutorial on my Illustrator Tips and Tutorials page. Enjoy! Try the Celtic Brush tutorial using Artlandia SymmetryWorks .

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