Creating cartoon icons in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and CS4 is a great way to produce your own art, which you can then upload to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. They can express whatever image or avatar you deem fit to represent you and your interests. Rather than using stock images that are filled with avatars used by countless others on the Web, creating cartoon icons offers a more distinctive representation online.

1. Switch to Outline mode. This allows you to see your sketch as you draw. Create vector paths using the pen tool. Finish completing your basic vector shapes.
2. Step 2

   Use the Preview mode. This allows you to see how your artwork looks with everything filled in and enables you to assess any overlapping line work.

3. Step 3

   Create flat color by using a Global Swatch to make certain that all the shapes are using the same color. Duplicate your art with multiple art boards so that you can make changes to different aspects of your icon for any reason, which can range from certain parts of your figure being out of proportion to a desire to try different color swatches. You can create multiple art boards by double-clicking the Art Board tool. Select the art board that you would like to duplicate and alt-click as many times as you want. This will create as many art boards you need.

4. Step 4

   Save a copy of the line art layer for backup. Select all the shapes to erase unwanted portions of your line art.

5. Step 5

   Export your artwork to a .png file or a .jpeg file and upload it to a social networking site.

Textures are commonly used in graphic design and web design. Although you can find free textures online, it takes time and sometimes you can’t find one that fits your need. Often, you can find the perfect texture but you have to pay premium prices to buy it from a major stock image website. So, what do you do when you need a texture but can’t get it? Make it! Adobe Illustrator is a very powerful tool and provides a way to create realistic textures, such as a corkboard texture, from scratch.

1. Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. Set the art board (canvas) size to “800×600″ and make sure the color mode is in RGB. Set the fill color to a light brown color. For best results, choose something such as “#BF8F56.” Grab your shape tool and make a rectangle that fills the entire art board. Your rectangle will probably have an automatic 1-point black stroke, but you don’t want that. Go back to your mouse pointer tool and select the rectangle. Change the stroke color to transparent.
2. Step 2

   Click on the “Effects” drop-down menu in the menu bar and find “Texture > Texturizer.” In the dialog box that appears, choose “Texture: Sandstone.” Set the “Scaling” slider to 170 percent and the “Relief” slider to 7. Then hit “OK.”

3. Step 3

   Keep the rectangle selected and open the “Effects” drop-down menu again. This time, select “Pixellate > Crystallize.” Set the “Cell Size” slider to 10, and hit “OK.” Make sure the rectangle is still selected, and in the “Edit” menu, select “Copy.” Then open the “Edit” menu again and select “Paste in Front.”

4. Step 4

   Select the rectangle you just pasted and go to the “Effects” menu once again. Find “Texturizer > Craquelure.” Set the “Crack Spacing” at 60, the “Crack Depth” at 2 and the “Crack Brightness” at 8. Hit “OK” to apply the effect. Then set the object’s “Opacity” slider to 55 percent. Export your file as a JPG or similar format for use in graphic design projects.

CorelDRAW is a design software that allows you to edit and create your own images from scratch. It is comparable to Adobe Illustrator. If you are running CorelDRAW on your home computer and need to import it into a different system running Adobe Illustrator you do not need to convert the file because Adobe Illustrator is capable of running and editing a wide range of files, including CorelDRAW.

1. Click “File” and select “Save” to save the CorelDRAW file you are working on. Make sure your file can open in Adobe by saving it as a CorelDRAW file, then saving the document again, this time as a .jpg file. Adjust the file format by clicking “File,” “Save” and select the pull-down arrow next to “Format.” In the format options chose .”jpg.”
2. Step 2

   Launch Adobe Illustrator and click “File,” followed by “Open.” In the open screen you can select the CorelDRAW document you saved. The latest version of Adobe Illustrator (CS4, as of January 2010) should open the file.

3. Step 3

   Click “File,” then “Open” again if the file does not open. Earlier versions of Illustrator are not able to process and open the other file format.

4. Step 4

   Select the “.jpg” file you saved and click “OK.” The image imports into the main viewing area of the program.

Illustrator’s Blend tool allows you to blend one shape into another shape. These instructions apply to Adobe Illustrator 8. Procedures for other versions may vary.

1. Open or create a new document from the File menu.
2. Step 2

   Choose Show Tools from the Window menu.

3. Step 3

   Create an object using any of the drawing tools. Add color as desired.

4. Step 4

   Draw a second object and add color as desired.

5. Step 5

   Activate the Blend tool – the icon of a square turning into a circle.

6. Step 6

   Click on an anchor point in the first object.

7. Step 7

   Drag the cursor and click on an anchor point in the second object. A blend of objects appears based on the colors and steps that you stipulated.

Adobe Illustrator, a vector drawing software application, features the ability to build up your drawing in “layers.” Layers let you organize complex artwork, helping you improve your workflow efficiency. Layers can contain one or more objects, such as lines, ellipses, and photos. The layers (and objects in a layer) can be reordered, copied, protected, renamed, selected, and grouped. Layers have long been a feature of Illustrator. The techniques and features discussed here are available in other versions of Illustrator.

1. Create a new document (File | New). For a good basic setup to use for this example is to set the Size to “800×600″ and the Profile to “Basic RGB.”
2. Step 2

   Find the Layers palette on your screen. If necessary, open it by selecting Window | Layers. There is one layer named “Layer 1.”

3. Step 3

   Select the Rectangle tool and set the fill to yellow. Draw a rectangle. The outline and resize handles are blue, matching the blue layer color box next to “Layer 1″ on the Layers palette. Each layer is created with a different selection color.

4. Step 4

   Draw two or three more rectangles anywhere on the artboard. The Layers palette shows a preview thumbnail image of the layer.

5. Step 5

   Click the arrow to the left of “Layer 1″ on the Layers palette. A list of each object in the layer is displayed. Click the circle to the right of one of your listed rectangles to “target” (select) that rectangle. Click the target button for “Layer 1″ to select all your rectangles.

6. Step 6

   Double-click the “Layer 1″ title. The “Layers Option” window appears. Change the name to “Rectangles.” Click “OK.” The layer is now titled “Rectangles.”

7. Step 7

   Click the “Create new layer” button at the bottom of the Layers palette. A new layer, called “Layer 2″ is created. Use the Ellipse tool draw a few blue-filled circles, overlapping the rectangles. Change the layer name to “Circles.” Drag the “Circles” layer below the “Rectangles” layer to reorder the layers. Make sure the black arrows that appear as you drag point at the line below “Rectangles” before letting go of the mouse button.

8. Step 8

   Create a new layer, named “Shapes.” Drag the “Circles” layer to the “Shapes” layer. Let go of the mouse when the little black arrows point at the middle of the “Shapes” entry on the Layers palette. Repeat with the “Rectangles” layer. Now “Rectangles” and “Circles” are grouped under “Shapes.”

9. Step 9

   Click the eye icon (“Toggles Visibility”) on the left side of the “Rectangles” layer to hide the your rectangles. Click it again to show the rectangles.

If you are sending your artwork to a printer, you will need to produce color separations. Printers divide colored artwork into four plates: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (often referred to collectively as CMYK). The process of dividing the artwork is called color separating. The films made from the plates are called separations. These instructions apply to Adobe Illustrator 8. Procedures for other versions may vary.

1. Calibrate your monitor. Consult your instruction manual for help if needed. By calibrating, you match (or attempt to match) the color seen on screen with the printer’s outputted color.
2. Step 2

   Compare colors in your artwork before and after the calibration.

3. Step 3

   Select overprint options for any colors that you want to be transparent. Fills and strokes in Illustrator appear opaque and knock out the color beneath. Overprinting prevents this from happening. Choose Overprint Black under Color in the Filter menu.

4. Step 4

   Create a trap to compensate for misregistration on the press. Misregistration causes gaps to appear between overlapping colors. By creating a trap, you prevent this gap from appearing. To create a trap between two simple objects, select the topmost object, then using the Stroke palette (choose Show Stroke under the Window menu), set the stroke width to somewhere between 0.6 and 2.0. Display the Attributes palette from the Window menu and check the Overprint Stroke.

5. Step 5

   Set the printing bounding box and the crop marks.

6. Step 6

   Set separation options. Choose Separation Setup from the File menu, then set options. Click OK.

7. Step 7

   Print separations.

In this Adobe Illustrator tutorial you will learn tips for creating a silhouette. One of the fastest growing trends in graphics design is the silhouette. It is eye catching, versatile and not as difficult as most people think. Illustrator and a little knowledge of the Pen tool and you are ready to start creating silhouettes from your favorite images. Follow the simple steps below for some fun little Adobe Illustrator training.

1. Start up Adobe Illustrator and open the image you want to create the silhouette from.
2. Step 2

   Zoom in so that you can see the shape of the source image very well. To zoom in using shortcuts, hold down the CTRL key while pressing the + or – key.

3. Step 3

   Select the Pen tool (P) from the Tools palette, normally located on the left hand side of Adobe Illustrator.

4. Step 4

   Start in an area of your source image that is easy to see and begin tracing around the image carefully. Make sure you pay close attention to those little details around the edges of your source image. You may need to switch back and forth between straight and curved lines to achieve the desired effect. This can be done by hitting Shift+C on your keyboard, or by clicking on the last anchor point.

5. Step 5

   Continue to outline the image all the way around until you are back at your start point. Close the outline by clicking on the anchor point at your starting point. Once the entire source image is outlined, set the fill color to black.

6. Step 6

   Using the Selection tool (V), select your newly created silhouette. You can cope and paste this into a new document to save it for future use. Go to Edit – Copy (CTRL+C). Create a new document by going to File – New (CTRL+N). With the new blank document open, go to Edit – Paste (CTRL+V) to paste your silhouette.

7. Step 7

   Resize your silhouette as necessary to fit on the new document. You can do this by selecting the silhouette and going to Object – Transform – Scale. Or, with your object selected, you can scale it by clicking one of the corner boxes and dragging. To maintain proper proportions, hold down the shift key while dragging the corner.

Adobe Illustrator, an application developed by Adobe Systems, operates with vector-based graphics. Such graphics contains the text description of an image rather than the actual binary pixels. Adobe Illustrator does not permit direct conversion of its files with the extension “.AI” to a Microsoft Word document. The solution is to convert an AI file into an encapsulated PostScript (EPS) vector graphics file. Microsoft Word fully supports the latter format, allowing you to create a Word document.

1. Log into an account in Windows Vista/7.
2. Step 2

   Launch Adobe Illustrator.

3. Step 3

   Press “Ctrl-O” to open an Adobe Illustrator (.AI) file.

4. Step 4

   Click the menu “File” and “Save as a Copy.”

5. Step 5

   Choose the file type as “Illustrator EPS (*.EPS)” using a drop-down listbox. Then click “Save.”

6. Step 6

   Open Microsoft Word.

7. Step 7

   In Microsoft Word 2007:
   Select the menu tab “Insert” and click “Picture.”

   In Microsoft Word 2003/XP:
   Click the menu “Insert,” “Picture” and “From File.”

8. Step 8

   Navigate to the EPS file stored in Step 5 and click “Insert.”

9. Step 9

   Press “Ctrl-S” to save the Microsoft Word (.DOC) file.

Sometimes you may need to transfer artwork onto multiple artboards or files. Ie: if you are doing a line of packages where the design remains the same but colors change.

Normally, when you paste the artwork onto a new file all of your layers will combine into one. There is an easy way to keep your layers when copying to multiple files.

1. Open an illustrator file that uses multiple layers.
2. Step 2

   Open your layers palette.

3. Step 3

   Click on the layer options (the little arrow and three lines on the top right of the layer pallette).

4. Step 4

   Near the bottom of the option list click on “Paste Remembers Layers”

5. Step 5

   Now, when you paste your artwork into your next file your layers will be retained exactly as is.

   This is very helpful when you are working with die-lines or templates that only require you to change colors or switch out images but keep the rest of the design exactly the same.

While Adobe Illustrator isn’t the first tool one thinks of for printing envelopes, there’s nothing keeping you from doing so, provided your printer driver allows you to specify a manual paper source. You will need to be creative within Illustrator to make the artwork fit the available area, but printing on an envelope is the same as printing on a custom paper size.

1. Open a new piece of art, and specify that the size is Custom and the units are Inches.
2. Step 2

   Enter the dimensions of the envelope you’re using. For a standard business envelope, this would be 8.5 inches wide by 4 inches tall.

3. Step 3

   Create your artwork in the artboard specified. You may wish to leave margins of a quarter of an inch.

4. Step 4

   Load the envelope in your manual feeder in your printer, and in Illustrator, hit “Ctrl+P.” Click on the “Setup” item in the Print dialog box, and specify that the X coordinates be “+4 inches” (or whatever the height of your envelope is). Hit “Done” and then hit “Print”.