Adobe illustrator paint brush tutorials

Keep Selected. Edit Selected Paths. Determines how close your mouse or stylus must be to an existing path to edit the path with the Paintbrush tool. This option is only available when the Edit Selected Paths option is selected.

You can also remove a brush stroke by selecting the Basic brush from the Brushes panel or Control panel. You can convert brush strokes into outlined paths to edit the individual components of a brushed path. Illustrator places the components of the expanded path in a group. Within the group are a path and a subgroup containing the brush stoke outlines. You can create and customize calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern, and bristle brushes depending on your requirement.

For scatter, art, and pattern brushes, you must first create the artwork. The artwork cannot contain gradients, blends, other brush strokes, mesh objects, bitmap images, graphs, placed files, or masks.

For art and pattern brushes, the artwork cannot contain type. To achieve a brush-stroke effect with type, create an outline of the type and then create a brush with the outline. For pattern brushes, create up to five pattern tiles depending on the brush configuration , and add the tiles to the Swatches panel.

You can make the brushes you create available for every new document by adding the brush definition to the New Document Profile. For more information on new document profiles, see About new document profiles. You can specify different options for the different types of brushes. To change the options for a brush, double-click the brush in the Brushes panel. For art brush you can set the stroke width along with flipping, colorization, and overlapping options.

For pattern brush, you can set the scaling options along with flipping, fitting, and colorization options. Determines the angle of rotation for the brush. Drag the arrowhead in the preview, or enter a value in the Angle box. Determines roundness of the brush.

Drag a black dot in the preview away from or toward the center, or enter a value in the Roundness box. The higher the value, the greater the roundness. Determines the diameter of the brush. Use the Diameter slider, or enter a value in the Diameter box. Select one of the following options:. Creates a brush with random variations in angle, roundness, or diameter.

Enter a value in the Variation box to specify the range within which the brush characteristic can vary. For example, when the Diameter value is 15 and the Variation value is 5, the diameter can be 10, or 20, or any value in between. Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the pressure of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used with Diameter.

It is available only if you have a graphics tablet. Enter a value in the Variation box to specify how much more or less than the original value the brush characteristic will vary. The lighter the pressure, the more angular the brush stroke. Stylus Wheel. Creates a brush that varies in diameter based on manipulation of the stylus wheel. This option is intended to be used with an airbrush pen that has a stylus wheel on its barrel and with a graphics tablet that can detect that pen.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the tilt of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used with Roundness. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect how close to vertical the pen is. Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the bearing of the pen.

It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect the direction in which the pen is tilted. Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on how the drawing stylus pen tip is rotated.

It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect this type of rotation. The colors that a scatter, art, or pattern brush paints depend on the current stroke color and the colorization method of the brush. To set the colorization method, select one of the following options in the Brush Options dialog box:. Displays colors as they appear in the brush in the Brushes panel.

Choose None to keep a brush the same colors as in the Brushes panel. Displays the brush stroke in tints of the stroke color. If you use a spot color as the stroke, Tints generates tints of the spot color. Choose Tints for brushes that are in black and white, or when you want to paint a brush stroke with a spot color. Tints And Shades. Displays the brush stroke in tints and shades of the stroke color. Tints and Shades maintains black and white, and everything between becomes a blend from black to white through the stroke color.

Because black is added you may not be able to print to a single plate when using Tints and Shades with a spot color. Choose Tints and Shades for brushes that are in grayscale. Uses the key color in the brush artwork, as shown in the Key Color box. By default, the key color is the most prominent color in the art. Everything in the brush artwork that is the key color becomes the stroke color.

Other colors in the brush artwork become colors related to the stroke color. Hue Shift maintains black, white, and gray. Choose Hue Shift for brushes that use multiple colors. To change the key color, click the Key Color eyedropper, move the eyedropper to the preview in the dialog box, and click the color you want to use as the key color.

The color in the Key Color box changes. Click the eyedropper again to deselect it. Controls how closely objects follow the path independently on each side of the path. The higher the value, the farther the objects are from the path. Rotation Relative To. Sets the angle of rotation for scattered objects relative to the page or the path. Creates a brush with random variations in size, spacing, scattering, and rotation. This option is available only if you have a graphics tablet.

Enter a value in the rightmost box, or use the Maximum slider. Pressure uses the Minimum value for the lightest tablet pressure and the Maximum value for the heaviest pressure. When you choose this setting for Diameter, the heavier the stroke, the larger the objects. This option is available only if you have a graphics tablet that has a stylus wheel on its barrel and can detect input from that pen.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the bearing of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used to control the angle of brushes.

Adjusts the width of the art relative to its original width. You can specify the width using the Width option slider. The art brush Width pop-up menu has pen tablet options for adjusting scale variation, such as Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation.

If you use the Width tool on a particular Art brush stroke instance, all the tablet data is converted to Width points. Brush Scale Options. Preserves proportions in scaled art. Determines the direction of the artwork in relation to the line. Click an arrow to set the direction: to place the left side of the art is the end of the stroke; to place the right side of the art is the end of the stroke; to place the top of the art is the end of the stroke; to place the bottom of the art is the end of the stroke.

Flip Along or Flip Across. Pick a color for the stroke and method of colorization. You can select from different colorization methods using this drop-down list. Segmented art brush is an ability to define a non-stretchable portion at the ends of an art brush. The art enclosed between the guides is the only portion of the brush that stretches or contracts to make the art brush fit the path length. Scale Adjusts the size of tiles relative to their original size.

Specify the scale using the Scale option slider. The Scale drop-down list for pattern brush tool include pen tablet options for adjusting scale variations, such as Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation. If you use the Width tool on a particular Pattern brush stroke instance, all the tablet data is converted to Width points. Tile Buttons Let you apply different patterns to different parts of the path.

Click a tile button for the tile you want to define, and select a pattern swatch from the scroll list. Repeat to apply pattern swatches to other tiles as needed.

You must add the pattern tiles you want to use to the Swatches panel before you set pattern brush options. Side tile B. Outer Corner tile C. Inner Corner tile D. Start tile E. End tile. Determines how the pattern fits on the path: Stretch To Fit lengthens or shortens the pattern tile to fit the object. This option can result in uneven tiling. Add Space To Fit adds blank space between each pattern tile to apply the pattern proportionally to the path.

Approximate Path fits tiles to the closest approximate path without changing the tiles. This option applies the pattern slightly inside or outside the path, rather than centered on the path, to maintain even tiling. Stretch To Fit B. Add Space To Fit C. Approximate Path. Bristle brush allows you to create brush strokes with the appearance of a natural brush with bristles.

With Bristle brush, you can:. Create natural and fluid brush strokes that simulate the effects of painting with real brushes and media such as water color. Select brushes from a predefined library or create your own brushes from the provided tip shapes such as round, flat, or fan.

You can also set other brush characteristics such as bristle length, stiffness, and paint opacity. When you use Bristle brush with a graphic tablet, Illustrator interactively tracks the movements of the stylus over the tablet. It interprets all aspects of its orientation and pressure input at any point along a drawing path.

A cursor annotator that simulates the tip of an actual brush is displayed when using a tablet and stylus that support rotation. This annotator does not appear when other input devices such as a mouse are used. The annotator is also disabled while using the precise cursors. Use the Wacom Intuos 3 or higher tablet with Art 6D pen to explore the full capabilities of the Bristle brush.

Illustrator can interpret all 6-degrees of freedom that this device combination provides. However, other devices including the Wacom Grip pen and Art brush pen may not be able to interpret some attributes such as rotation. These uninterpreted attributes are treated as constants in the resulting brush strokes. While using a mouse, only x and y-axis movements are recorded. Other inputs, such as tilt, bearing, rotation, and pressure remain fixed resulting in even and consistent strokes.

For Bristle brush strokes, feedback is displayed when you drag the tool. This feedback provides an approximate view of the final stroke. Bristle brush strokes are made up of several overlapping, filled transparent paths.

These paths, like any other filled path in Illustrator, interact with the paint of other objects, including other bristle bush paths. However, the fill for strokes does not self-interact. Therefore, layered, individual, bristle brush strokes build up and interact with each other, but a single stoke scrubbed back and forth in place does not interact with itself and build up.

Create a brush definition by clicking the new brush icon or selecting New Brush from the Brushes panel menu. Select from ten different brush models, which provide a different drawing experience and appearance of bristle brush paths. Brush size is the diameter of the brush. Like a physical media brush, the Bristle brush diameter is measured at the point where the bristles meet the handle the ferrule. Specify the brush size using the slider or directly entering the size in the available text field.

Range can be between 1mm and 10mm. Brush size from the original Brush definition is displayed in Brush preview in the Brushes panel. The bracket keys, [ and ], are used as shortcuts for decreasing and increasing the size, respectively. The bracket keys increase and decrease the size in 1mm increments.

Bristle Length. The bristle length starts from the point where the bristles meet the handle of the bristle tip. Return to your object. Start to paint on it with your new color. Experiment with drawing using your tool brush, and select new brush strokes from the Brushes Window to see how they look on your object. If you are working with geometrical objects, hold down the shift key as you use a brush stroke.

This constrains your stroke to a 45, 90, or degree angle. Return to your Brushes Window and find the small box in the lower left hand corner. Open this box to gain access to your library of brush strokes. This includes "bristles," "artistic" strokes and "arrows," among other types of brushes. Once you choose the type of brush that you want to use from the pop out menu, a box will pop up that shows you all of the types of brushes in that category.

Change your brush stroke by selecting the stroke you have just made with your direct selection tool black arrow at the top of your tool bar. Once you click on the stroke, you will see anchor points that allow you to resize the object.

This is the advantage of using the paintbrush tool in a new layer, because you can change the brush stroke without changing the object. You can also change the size of the brush stroke and the opacity of the object, by using the toolbar. This toolbar sits directly below the Menu toolbar on the top. Experiment with changing the brush stroke size and opacity when your stroke is selected. Create a new layer with each new brush stroke style you decide to use, so that you can change your strokes independently.

The layers will be compressed on your final document. Once you have experimented with the paintbrush tool, begin to use it on professional documents. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. There are 15 versions of Adobe Illustrator. The instructions for accessing and using the paintbrush and other tools differ greatly depending upon the version of Adobe Illustrator that you own.

You may need to go to the "Help" tab to get instructions on where your paintbrush functions are located. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1. In order to ensure that you do not change the original layer of the object, it is a good idea to lock your layer. You can do this by going to the Layers Window and clicking the box to the right of the eye. You can manage your Brush Window by using the buttons at the bottom of the box. When you use a new brush, it will pop up in the window as 1 of your available options.

Click the "x" to remove a selected brush stroke, or choose to add a new brush or delete a brush altogether. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 2. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published.

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