I posted a simple heart vector last week, which I actually had a fair amount of fun making. As I was making it, I noticed how many shortcuts and simple techniques make the process of vector illustration so much easier. I’ve learned a ton of great stuff from Vectips, Vectortuts, and Abduzeedo and wanted to pass along some workflow tips of my own. Have fun.

Oh, I should stress (as though it’s not already obvious), I’m no anatomist.

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No matter what you think of his politics, U.S. presidential cantidate Barack Obama has a pretty incredible marketing and design machine behind him. One strong example of this is his “O” logo. Simple, attractive, symbolic, it’s undeniably an effective logo.

Another aspect of the Obama campaign that is attractive to a lot of American’s is the grass-roots, everybody can be involved attitude that they’ve been trying quite successfully to convey. In honor of that attitude, and just in time for the Democratic Convention, I thought I would show some really helpful Illustrator techniques by making the Obama logo. In this tutorial, we’ll be going over the Pathfinder, Envelope Warps, Opacity Masks, and Gradient Meshes. And we’ll use a drop shadow!

What’s that? You don’t think we can do it? I have three words for you my friend.

Yes. We. Can.

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Last week I posted some desktop wallpaper of a new vector swatch I was working on. Well, the pattern is finally finished, and I’m pretty happy with it. The design is based on a beautiful Indonesian batik fabric I saw and couldn’t get out of my mind. It’s exotic, a little trippy, and a lot of fun to play around with.

I set up three different color schemes: a regal orange and blue, an electric yellow and blue, and a psychedelic green and pink. I also made a bunch of Photoshop patterns from this swatch, if anyone wants those, let me know and I’ll post them.

Batik (from wikipedia.com, emphasis mine)

a wax-resist dyeing technique used on textile. Batik is found in several countries of West Africa, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Mali, and in Asia, such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. However, it is in Indonesia that it is considered a national art form.

Download the Batik Vector Swatch (.ai and Illustrator swatches)

Update: First, the Batik vectors have been updated to fix a few issues with the patterns and include two more color schemes. We’ve also released some Photoshop patterns of these swatches.

If you come up with some cool color schemes, we’d be excited to see them.

GodBless:VQ

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You really lucked out today. For the first time ever, we’re offering free Illustrator pattern swatches. This set is a collection of curved and angled patterns. There are six total: curved and sharp flat b&w, curved and sharp shaded, and curved and sharp windowed.

Patterns are some of the most useful things imaginable, and you guys are a bright bunch, so I’m sure you’ll come up with some neat stuff. Let us know if you do anything worth showing.

Download the Waves and Ridges Swatches (.ai and .ai swatch library)

GodBless:VQ

Hello everyone. I’m glad you could join us on this fantastic day. I thought today I would show you how to make a nice cheerful sun to live with the clouds we made in the last tutorial.

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We’re all big Bob Ross fans here at ClickPopMedia. Today, in the tradition of the Joy of Painting, I am going to show you how to make a happy little cloud.

Welcome back everybody. I sure am glad you could make it out today. Does everyone have their Illustrator warmed up and ready to do some vectorizing? Good.

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