Create a Christmas, Knitted Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator _ Vectortuts+

12/28/13 Create a Christmas, Knitted Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator | Vectortuts+

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Create a Christmas, KnittedText Effect in Adobe IllustratorAndrei Marius on Dec 24th 2013 with 5 Comments

Tutorial Details

Software: Illustrator

Difficulty: Beginner

Completion Time: 1 hour

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Final Product What You'll Be Creating

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This entry is part 22 of 23 in the Christmas Illustration Content Session - Show All

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In the following steps you will learn how to create a knitted text effect in Adobe Illustrator. For starters youwill learn how to setup a simple grid and how to create a set of art brushes. Next, using these little brushes,

some basic grouping techniques and two Transform effects you will create the main knits. Moving on, using abunch of Transform effects and a simple rectangle you will create the knitted background and text. Finally,taking full advantage of the Appearance panel and using two raster effects along with some basic blending

techniques you will learn how to add the subtle fabric texture.

1. Create a New Document and Setup a Grid

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Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 600 in thewidth box and 673 in the height box then click on the Advanced button. Select RGB, Screen (72ppi) and

make sure that the Align New Objects to Pixel Grid box is unchecked before you click OK.

Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). You will need a gridevery 1px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, enter 1 in the Gridline every box and 1

in the Subdivisions box. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with thesize and position of your shapes. Do not forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit >

Preferences > Units > General. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.



2. Create Four Art Brushes

Step 1

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and focus on your Toolbar. Remove the color from the stroke then select the

fill and set its color at R=141 G=198 B=63. Move to your artboard and simply create a 2 x 9px rectangle,the Snap to Grid should ease your work.

Make sure that this green shape stays selected, open the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes) and simply

click the New Brush button (pointed by the little, blue arrow in the following image). Check the Art Brushbox an click OK to open up the Art Brush Options window. Enter the properties shown in the following

image, name it "green" then click the OK button. In the end your green art brush should show up in the

Brushes panel.

Step 2

Make sure that your squeezed circle is still selected and replace the green used for the fill with R=255

G=222 B=23. Using this yellow shape, create a second art brush and name it "yellow".

Step 3

Make sure that your squeezed circle is still selected and replace the yellow used for the fill with R=246 G=72B=48. Open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and add a second fill for this orange shape

using the Add New Fill button (pointed by the little, blue arrow in the following image). Select this new fill,



set its color at white (R=255 G=255 B=255) and go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -0.5pxOffset, click OK and return to the Appearance panel.

Make sure that the white fill stays selected, open the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency),

lower the Opacity to 50% and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Using this orange shape, create anew art brush and simply name it "orange".

Step 4

Make sure that your squeezed circle is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel, select the bottom fill

and replace the existing color with R=246 G=192 B=168.

Keep focusing on the Appearance panel, select the white fill, go to the Transparency panel and increasethe Opacity to 100%. Using this beige shape, create a new art brush and simply name it "beige". Once you

can see all four art brushes inside your Brushes panel you can remove the squeezed circle from your

artboard.

3. Create the Main Stitches

Step 1

Pick the Pen Tool (P), create an 8px, vertical path and focus on the Appearance panel. Make sure that

there is no color set for the fill then select the stroke and add the "orange" art brush from your Brushespanel. Keep focusing on this little path, switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the bottom anchor

point and simply drag it 3px to the right. In the end things should look like in the second image.

Reselect the path made in this step and go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Check the Horizontal boxand click the Copy button to create a horizontally flipped copy. Select this newly created path and simply

drag it 2px up and 4px to the right. In the end things should look like in the fourth image. Select both shapes

made in this step and Group them (Control-G). Move to the Layers panel, double-click on this new group

and simply name it "Orange".

Step 2

Reselect your "Orange" group and make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F). Move to the Layerspanel, double-click on this new group and rename it "Beige". Select the two paths inside this second group

and replace the "orange" art brush used for the stroke with the "beige" art brush. Make sure that your

"Beige" group is selected and drag it a few pixels to the right as shown in the following image.



Step 3

Reselect your "Orange" group and make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F). Move to the Layers

panel, double-click on this new group and rename it "Yellow". Select the two paths inside this third groupand replace the "orange" art brush used for the stroke with the "yellow" art brush.

Reselect your "Beige" group and make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F). Move to the Layers

panel, double-click on this new group and rename it "Green". Select the two paths inside this fourth group

and replace the "beige" art brush used for the stroke with the "green" art brush. Make sure that your "Yellow"and "Green" groups are selected and drag them a few pixels down as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Reselect your "Green" group and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 1 in the copies

box, drag the Move-Horizontal slider at 8px, click OK and go again to Effect > Distort & Transform >

Transform. Again, enter 1 in the copies box, drag the Move-Vertical slider at 7px and click OK. In the

end things should look like in the following image.

4. Create the Background Stitches

Step 1

Set the fill color at R=206 G=32 B=8, grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and simply click on your artboard to

open the Rectangle window. Enter 602 in the Width box and 675 in the Height box then click the OK

button.

Next, you need to center this red rectangle, so open the Align panel (Window > Align). Set the aligning toArtboard (open the fly out menu and go to Show Options if you can’t see the Align To section as shown in

the following image) then simply click the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center buttons. In

the end your rectangle should cover the entire artboard as shown in the following image. Move to the Layers

panel, double click on this red rectangle and name it "bg".

Step 2

Select your "Orange" group and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this group stays selected



and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 74 in the copies box, drag the Move-

Horizontal slider at 8px, click OK and go again to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. This time

enter 97 in the copies box, drag the Move-Vertical slider at 7px and click OK. In the end things should

look like in the second image.

Step 3

Select your "Beige" group and make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F). Place this group copy as

shown in the first image and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 74 in the copies box,

drag the Move-Horizontal slider at 8px, click OK and go again to Effect > Distort & Transform >

Transform. This time enter 1 in the copies box, drag the Move-Vertical slider at 7px and click OK. In the

end things should look like in the second image.

Step 4

Reselect the "Beige" group with the two Transform effects and duplicate it (Control-C > Control-F). Selectthis copy and simply drag it 35px down as shown in the following image.

Step 5

Select the original "Beige" group, place it as shown in the first image and go to Effect > Distort &

Transform > Transform. Enter 36 in the copies box, drag the Move-Horizontal slider at 16px and click

OK. In the end things should look like in the second image.

Step 6

Reselect all three "Beige" groups and duplicate them (Control-C > Control-F). Drag these copies down and

place them as shown in the following image.

5. Create the Knitted Text



Step 1

Multiply the "Green" and the "Yellow" groups then use these copies to make your letters. You should be able

to build most of these letters using ten knits vertically and six knits horizontally. Only for a small numbers of

letters (e.g. M N W) you will have to use seven knits horizontally.

Step 2

Use your imagination along with the "Yellow" and "Green" groups to create your entire text.

Step 3

Select all the paths inside your "Green" and "Yellow" groups. Focus on the Appearance panel and replace

the existing art brushes used for the stroke with the "beige" art brush. In the end things should look like in the

following image.

6. Add the Fabric Texture

Step 1

Reselect your "bg" rectangle, make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F) and bring it to front (Shift-

Control-] ). Move to the Layers panel, double click on this new shape and name it "texture".

Step 2

Make sure that your "texture" shape stays selected and focus on the Appearance panel. Select the fill,

replace the existing color with black, lower its Opacity to 8%, change the Blending Mode to Multiply andgo to Effect > Artistic > Film Grain. Enter the properties shown in the following image and click OK.



Step 3

Make sure that your "texture" shape stays selected, focus on the Appearance panel and add a second fillusing that same Add New Fill button. Select this new fill, make sure that the color is set at black, change its

Blending Mode to Multiply and go to Effect > Distort > Diffuse Glow. Enter the properties shown in

the following image and click OK.

Step 4

Make sure that your "texture" shape stays selected, focus on the Appearance panel and add a third fill using

that same Add New Fill button. Select this new fill, open the Gradient panel (Window > Gradient) and

simply click on the gradient thumbnail to add the default black to white linear gradient. Keep focusing on the

Gradient panel, set the Angle at 90 degrees then move to the gradient sliders. First, select the left one and

set the color at black (R=0 G=0 B=0) then select the right one and set the color at R=206 G=32 B=8.Make sure that the right slider is still selected, focus on the Opacity box (from the Gradient panel) and set it

at 0%. Return to the Appearance panel, make sure that the third fill is still selected then move to the

Transparency panel. Lower the Opacity to 15% and change the Blending Mode to Color Burn.

Step 5

Make sure that your "texture" shape stays selected, focus on the Appearance panel, select the top fill and

duplicate it using the Duplicate Selected Item button (pointed by the little, blue arrow in the following

image). Select this new fill, focus on the Gradient panel, set the type at Radial and click the Reverse

Gradient button. Move to your artboard, grab the Gradient Tool (G) and stretch that radial gradient as

shown in the following image. Check out this short video if you’re not familiar with the Gradient Tool (G).

Step 6

Focus on the Layers panel, reselect your "Orange" group and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow.

Enter the properties shown in the left window (in the following image), click OK and go again to Effect >Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the properties shown in the right window (in the following image), click OK

and you’re done.

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Congratulations! You’re Done!

Here is how it should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future

projects.

Andrei Marius is VforVectors on Graphicriver

Tags:christmasIllustrationIllustratorText effecttexturewinter

By Andrei Marius

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I'm a self taught vector artist trying to make a living doing something that I like. I spend most of my time

working in Adobe Illustrator, avoiding the Pen Tool and struggling to find the perfect colors. You can find allmy vector experiments at this little website dedicate to Illustrator, VforVectors.com.

http://vforvectors.com/

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Create a Christmas, Knitted Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator _ Vectortuts+