Nora Brown Design

New tutorial : a vector creature

This creature isn't feeling well.

This week I completed a tutorial in the vector drawing program Adobe Illustrator (as opposed to the last two in the raster-based Photoshop). Honestly, I’m not sure why I chose this one. I was feeling icky Sunday, so my result is a little uglier and unhappier than the tutorial’s.

I did learn a bit about the Pucker and Bloat tools and effects, and the difference between filters (which remain editable) and effects (which, once they are applied, are no longer editable.) If you ask me, having so many items duplicated (as both filters and effects) in Illustrator seems unnecessarily complicated.

Most useful though was a simple keyboard shortcut—holding the alt/option key while drawing a with the pencil tool will force the path to close. Very handy!