Pen, Text Effects, Illustrations and a Craft

I need a lot more experience to become comfortable with the pen tool in Illustrator & with using my Wacom tablet (I just have the Bamboo tablet for now). So my original idea was to start with an illustration series and draw all my daughters’ pet shop animals. However, after spending 2.5 hours on the first animal, I decided I needed to do some simpler tutorials in Illustrator – maybe I could work up to drawing a pet shop animal in 15 minutes.

I had some variety this first week with my daily designs, here’s how it went…

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4

Tools: Wacom tablet & the Pen tool [in Illustrator]

Time: 2.5 hours

I did feel slightly more comfortable with the pen tool after completing this illustration.

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4

Tools: Wacom tablet & paintbrush in Illustrator

Time: 15 min.

My deer looked pretty lonely on the white background & we’ve had lots of snow and freezing weather here, so I thought a Spring (read: warm) landscape would warm up both the deer and myself. I removed the scarf (allowing you to see some detail of the deer that had previously been covered) and did a quick landscape with the paintbrush in Illustrator. I wish this is what it looked like here!!

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4

Tools: Photoshop brushes from Designfruit

Time: 15 min.

This is a seamless background tile that I created for a web design project. I used photoshop brushes from Designfruit and was able to create this background fairly quickly – with just having to make minor adjustments so the background tiled across seamlessly.

Tools: This tutorial, 10×10 scrapbook paper, 10×10 art canvas, mod podge, sponge brush, blow dryer

Time: apprx. 15 min. for each canvas

I came across this tutorial last year & wanted to create these canvas wall arts for my daughters’ room. I had already painted the sides of the canvases, but I thought this would be a great time to finish them. I really don’t have a total on the amount of time it took me. However, when I was applying the mod podge and the paper, it took me about 6 min. each, so I’m sure that you could create one of these in 15 minutes – but you would have to space that time out to allow the paint and then mod podge to dry.

I thought the tutorial was great. I had some trouble placing the papers on and had too many air bubbles. However, I found that if I gently placed the paper on the canvas and then started pressing down in the very center of the paper and kept pressing down while moving my hand in a circular/spiral motion outward, it really helped on eliminating those bubbles. I also found that if I allowed the canvas/paper to dry a lot longer than 5 minutes, this also prevented air bubbles – allowing to dry completely worked best. After they were dried completely, then I covered them with a coat of mod podge & I did use the blow dryer to help smooth out any small air bubbles.

This project was a pretty easy project and I am thoroughly pleased with how they turned out – I can’t wait to go hang them on my daughters’ wall!

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4

Tools: pucker and bloat in Illustrator & Wacom tablet

Time: 15 min.

I just spent some time today “doodling” in Illustrator. I wanted to play with the pucker and bloat tool, which is very fun and versatile, and I ended up with this retro design.

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4

Tools: This tutorial

Time: 15 min.

I came across the tutorial for this project & wanted to learn how to create a colorful & stylish text effect. This was a lot of fun!

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4

Tools: This tutorial

Time: 15 min.

I have always wondered how to create the woodgrain look that so many designers using. I had no idea how simple the steps are to create the look!