Illustrator Need to Knows

Being a Graphic Designer means constantly learning new skills and refreshing old ones. I have been taking the time recently to brush up on my Adobe Illustrator skills. For me, that has meant going back through my book that I originally learned from( Adobe Illustrator CS3: Classroom in a Book) and scouring the interwebs to refresh old tricks, like from these blogs for beginners, such as the Illustrator Beginner's Series from our friends at Illustration Info, and hunt for new tricks, like from this set of tutorials for the slightly intermediate, at klethegr8. Yesterday I renewed the knowledge of how and when to use the Object tool called Flatten Transparency. I would like to share my renewed knowledge of this tool with you.

The Flatten Transparency tool will convert any stroke from a line into an object with a fill and a stroke. Convertible objects also include dotted/dashed lines and brush strokes. The stroke could be drawn with many tools, including the pen, the pencil, and the paintbrush tools.

Make sure you are using the Selection Tool by either finding it at the top of the toolbox as a black arrow or by pressing V on your keyboard.

To use the Flatten Transparency tool, first select the stroke that is desired to be made into an object with a fill and stroke by clicking on it with the left mouse button using the Selection Tool. After the selection has been made, click on Object with the left mouse button from the main menu at the top of the screen and scroll down to and click on the Flatten Transparency option.

When the dialogue box appears, slide the vector bar all the way up to 100% and click on OK. Leave all of the other presets as is for now. The stroke has officially been turned into an object with a stroke and fill.

If you have stray lines within the object, like I did, open the Pathfinder tool panel and click the merge tool. To find the Pathfinder tool, click on Window in the top main menu with the left mouse button. Scroll down to and click on Pathfinder, also with the left mouse button. Once the Pathfinder Tool Panel is open, locate the merge tool at 3rd from the left on the bottom of the Pathfinder tool. Click on it. Any stray lines within the object you just made will disappear.

One way to make sure it is the merge tool, hover over the icon with the mouse and the alt tag will pop up that says Merge.

That is how you turn a stroke into an object with a fill and stroke. I am going to assume from here on in that you have gotten used to how to use the mouse for selecting purposes as well. I hope I have shared some knowledge with you today and thank you for visiting.

What are some of your favorite graphic design tutorials or tricks?

Blast Off!

Much enthusiasm crowded the likes of my living room yesterday evening. I was delighted when nine new faces showed up to my "hang out and draw and talk about throwing awesome art/music charity events" meeting. It was elating l to throw around conversation and streams of thought with other like minded, talented artists. Those ideas have been rattling around in my brain for years!

We touched on topics such as what name as an art/music/production/promotion/design company that we would throw events under and what kinds of things we would like to do artwise as a group. I am excited to see what we come up with!

We are off to a great start and will be working hard during the next couple of months to be putting on a show featuring several local electronic music artists, affordable artwork availailable at a pocket friendly price, artists producing live art, and attendee participation artwork as well.

A portion of the artwork that we sell at and after the events will go to support different charities. The first show we will throw will support the victims of the recent Haitian Crisis. I look forward to having a blast while supporting the world!

To those who showed came and conquered the night it was a pleasure meeting you all and I look forward to working with you.(!) And I cannot wait to toss around some artwork next week at ...what hall? See you then!

My Graphic Design Inspiration

It took me a while to realize that I should be doing graphic design for a living. I did many front covers for orchestra recitals as a high schooler. I did a few concert posters in the short time that I attended my first college. This picture that I cut out of who knows what magazine around that time period of my life has been an inspiration to me as a designer.

What is your most notably inspirational image as an artist or designer?

Luscious Lab Think Tank

I have been starting to grab the attention of members of the art world in regards to a Monday night pow- wow that I have been hosting as of late. Main activities are, but not limited to, creating art and talking about hosting art and music based events. The events will showcase local electronic music and art talent. There has been talk of showcasing live artwork (traditional and digital). The locations of the events have yet to be determined. The featured artist will have digital recreated posters available for sale to the event attendees. A percentage of the money brought in by the posters will go to the charity of the artists choice. I am going to be the first featured artist. My show is going to benefit the Haitian Crisis and will take place in early spring. Promotionally, I have still been tossing around the name Luscious Lab. There is a hint of sex and mystery. Two things I think are sure to draw a crowd. I look forward to meeting all the new energy! More details soon to come.

I am looking for some forward thinking artistic participation. Particularly those with , those with art. Please contact me if you are interested. If there is any interest in showcasing artwork, deejaying, or creating live art please feel free to contact me. I am also looking for those with lighting experience and interest.

Keep in touch!

If you were a featured artist in my show, what charity would you want to benefit and why?

Flowing Creative Juices

There's nothing to get your creative juices flowing like a good font! As I was going through my past design work and organizing files, I came across an InDesign document that needed a font repair. The one font that I thought may be enjoyable to some of you out there is named Solange. As I downloaded it for the second time, I remembered how much I enjoy this font and fell in love with it all over! I was reading the blurb from the author and how nice it was of him to allow the world to share it. Then I decided to share it with you! I hope you enjoy! We here at The Jill would love to hear what some of your favorite free fonts are!

Jill of All Trades

Hello. My name is Jill and I have many different talents and interests. Welcome to my page. I am an artist, a graphic designer and an aspiring promoter. This is my website that will display all of those interests, and maybe others as time and interest allows.

Today I am working on really deciding what size I would like my posters to be to printed at. I am turning all of my artwork into CMYK color prints for now, but in the future will have more intricately designed prints, like Giclee style prints. But for now I am going to stick to CMYK with my friends at DKM Screenprinting and Signs.

For every different poster that I sell, I will be giving 10% of everything I earn to select different charities. I want to make a difference in others lives by simply giving what I can to those in need. That is very important to me. The charities that I have decided to support so far are NPR (National Public Radio). I always want to donate to their fund drive when they have it and never have. This is my way of saying thank you for your unfiltered news and music. A few more charities that I will be supporting are Action Ohio Coalition for Battered Women, Children's Miracle Network, and the Conscious Alliance, just to name a few.