STEP #1:
Many of you are jumping over from YouTube, looking to download our Brushes and Resource Folders. Download our Adobe Illustrator Brush Libraries, Comic Halftones, and BMP Textures.
STEP #2:
Once you have downloaded and extracted the folders, Brushes, Halftones, and Textures are ready to be used in Adobe Illustrator. Save all files to an external hard drive or cloud-based storage.
STEP #3:
After downloading, start with our Beginner and Resource Guides to understand how to apply Brush Libraries, Comic Halftones, and T-shirt Textures in Adobe Illustrator.
Cartoon Brushes are my go-to brushes for Professional Logos, Cartoons, Mascots, and Branding. Use Cartoon Illustrator Brushes with the Pen, Pencil or Paint Brush Tools to Apply different Line Variation to your Vector Artwork. (Cartoon Brushes include Updated Cartoon, Cartoon 2, and Original Cartoon Brush Libraries).
Hand Painted + Comic Strip Brushes to get a lived-in feel back into your Vector Art. Comic Strips and Hand Painted are painted based on some of my favorite artists and cartoonists. These brushes are designed to look ready for the Sunday Paper. (Comic Brushes include Updated Comic Strip, Hand-Painted, Paintbrush, and Fine Liner Brush Libraries).
Jittery Hand, Caffeinated Cartoonist + Rough Ink Brushes to Mimic Paper Bleed and Caffeine. Designed to be a little less stiff with your vector art. Use these Brush Libraries to get a distressed or ink bleed style back in your own Vector Artwork. (Mascot Brushes include Updated Caffeinated Cartoonist, Rough Ink, and Jittery Hand Brush Libraries).
SAVING BRUSHES: Open All of the Brushes Libraries in Adobe Illustrator. (File - Open). Have your Brushes Panel Open. Under Window - Brushes. Click on Each Illustrator Document and Open the Brushes Menu in the Brushes Panel. Scroll down to Click on Save Brush Library. Default Location = User Defined.
OPENING BRUSHES: Under Window - Select Brushes. In the Brushes Menu, drop-down to Open Brush Library. Hover over it and select "Other Library." A Normal Open Dialogue Box will appear to select any Brush Library to use in Illustrator. Almost all of our step-by-step tutorials on YouTube use this method.
Halftones and Pattern Fills are extremely easy to use. They are designed for easy application just like any basic color fill but they have Halftones. Halftones are seamless and scaleable. Each Halftone can be recolored or scaled up or down to fit your own artwork or to change the scale of the pattern itself.
Halftones Pattern Fills just like you would on a regular Color Swatch. Apply the Halftones using the Blob Brush and Live Paint on your Designs or Comics. Halftones are very flexible since they are Pattern Fills, you can scale them up to get more Chunky Halftones or shrink them down to get a more Subtle Texture.
Halftones and Pattern Fills do have a transparent background. Patterns can be recolored in the Patterns Panel to match the desired look of your artwork. The Halftones and Pattern Fills do have a transparent background so that you can layer them with your Flat Color and Cast Shadow Layers.
RESIZING HALFTONES: Draw out a rectangle and select a Halftone Pattern Fill from the Swatches Panel. With the Shape Selected, double click on the Scale Tool. Check Transform Patterns Only and adjust the Scale up or down under Uniform %.
OPENING HALFTONES: Pattern Fills and Halftones are Adobe Illustrator Files. The goal is to Open + Copy + Paste the Swatches into the Working Artboard. The Pattern Fills (Swatches) will automatically populate into your Swatches once you Copy - Paste.
Grunge Distressing Textures to Apply Opacity Masks to your Own Original Artwork and T-shirt Designs. Use BMP Textures to apply Grunge and Distressing Effects to your Artwork and Designs to use with the Transparency Panel and Opacity Masks for Adobe Illustrator. Great for t-shirt distressing using BMP Textures and Opacity Masks to show the garment color on your Own Original Artwork.
Paper Distressing Textures to use along with the Transparency Panel to create soft texture overlays for your own original artwork. This is great for those of you who are using Textures for Web, Print, and Social Media Sites. Use Textures with a combination of Color Swatches, Transparency, Blending Modes, and Clipping Masks to create a subtle texture overlay on your print or web exports.
Crack Distressing Textures to Apply Opacity Masks to your Own Original Artwork and T-shirt Designs. Use BMP Textures to apply Cracks and Distressing Effects to your Artwork and Designs by Applying Opacity or Transparency Masks for Adobe Illustrator. Created for T-Shirt distressing using your own Original Artwork and Opacity Masks to show through to the garment color.
RESIZE ARTWORK: If you are building in a smaller scale you will need to resize your artwork before applying textures. I recommend duplicating the layer or copying and pasting to a new artboard. Select All - Group. Use the Properties Panel to transform your original Artwork or Design to fit Printer Requirements.
FILE - PLACE: Once you have grouped and resized (if needed) your own finished original artwork, you are ready to bring in the BMP Textures. Under File - Place Textures into your working Artboard. Scale to Fit over your entire design. To use Textures with Opacity Masks you will need to Group and Scale your Finished Artwork before Applying.
"I appreciate your videos. I have been an illustrator user for years and have my own ways of doing things. It's great to see other ways of using tools and learning tricks I didn't know were available! It's also good to see you doing the same thing as me in other instances, confirming I'm on the right track!"
"Brilliant video. So much great info packed in here. I'm just getting started drawing cartoons with my Wacom tablet, and this was a huge help. Thumbs up and thanks!"
"Keep up the good work Jason. I’ve been doing Lynda.com tutorials for a few months now and I got more out of your videos than what I’ve received at Lynda. Keep it up and Thank You!!"
"Thank you loads! Compared to other tutorials, yours are just really well-explained and easy-to-follow. Can totally see that you've got a passion for what you're doing and that's just wonderful! 🙂 Keep it up, you're doing an amazing job."
"You are definitely one of the best teachers I've found dealing with start to finish creative process. Great work!!!"
"Awesome tutorial! I don't think I've picked up something so easily from someone who knows what they are doing. I managed to draw my first vector art and it was a joy! Great work keep it up!"