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FEBRUARY 13, 2004 Creating Custom Brushes for Illustrator, Part 2
5. Choose Object > Transform > Scale. Set the value to 10 percent.  [an error occurred while processing this directive]6. In the Transparency palette, set the blending mode to "Multiply." And that's it for our basic object. Now we need to use it to create our multi-bristled nib. 7. Drag your newly created object to the Symbols palette to create a new symbol.  8. In the Tools palette, double-click on the Symbol Sprayer tool.  This will call up a dialog for you to adjust the behavior of the Sprayer. We want a fairly dense spray, so use the values you see below.  9. Now, making sure you have your newly created symbol selected in the Symbols palette, start spraying. The farther apart you make your symbols when you spray them, the rougher your final brush will look. For this example, I'm going to keep things in a fairly tight circle with just a few strays near the edges.  10. You're essentially done with your nib. But, if you wish, you can modify it further to create some additional texture, clumping, randomness or what have you. For example, the Symbol Stainer tool can be used to vary the shade of your group of symbols. Spray it near an edge to get a bit of a gradient effect. (Note that only the luminosity of the stain will matter when we're through. The color itself will have no impact.) You could also use the Symbol Scruncher, which will produce nibs with darker centers, or the Symbol Shifter tool, which will allow you to randomize the arrangement of the elements of your nib. Or you could just try them all out for some variation.  Once again, there are many ways to come up with complex shapes in Illustrator. The method presented above is only one. You should experiment with other methods to come up with your own unique nibs as well. The three important things to remember when doing it are that the objects should be complex; they must be composed entirely of vector objects; and they can't contain any raster effects or gradient fills. The more you experiment with the complete process, the more you'll get a feel for good nib design. Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Related sites: • Creative Mac • Digital Media Designer • Digital Producer • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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