I am traditionally a fine art designer - what that means is my background comes from freehand drawing (still lifes and human forms) print making, painting, etc. Because Adobe Illustrator is so cool, yet so rigid, I needed to find a fine balance between my sketchbooks and beautiful Vector Art. I present to you (drum roll please…) The Pencil Tool.

Now this is not just any pencil tool in the tool kit - its a fine tuned vector forming machine! For a while there I was doing a lot of Photographic Rotoscoping for projects - actually I still employ these pricipals today - all the time. What I learned is that Pencil tool needs some love - If you double click on the Pencil toolin Illustrator you can set the Tolornce, Roundness and Threshold for editing purposes.Try using the settingsbelow - or create one that fits your Drawing style. Combine this technique with a WACOM tablet - and watch out Picaso - its on - vector style!

Here is an example of a photo that I Rotoscoped. Love you Grandpo!

There are no secrets on the web anymore. Information is at our fingertips and for the most part it is all publicly accessible. Truth in point, I have personally learned a majority of my skills as a graphic artist and web developer through freely available information on the web. I did not attend an exclusive Arts College; in fact I went to Seattle University, a Jesuite Institution known for its Humanities, Engineering, Nursing and Law. I did have an amazing education. I graduated with a BA in Visual Arts in the scope of traditional fine art techniques: figure drawing, arcylic painting, sculpture, and print. My art professors were fountains of knowledge and theories with real world experience. This collegiate scope and fine art background is the foundation for my work today. Unfortunately, as a creative artist in the field of graphic design and web development my university studies did not fully apply. Enter the self paced world of trial and error. Along the way to perfecting web design skills I found numerous avenues of guidence including friends, books and of course the internet.

I have been an active participant in the design tutorial community for many years now. One area I thought could use some special attention was the development of skills needed to be a successful creative graphic artist. I have decided to launch Designer-Tutorials.com a collective of graphic arts and web design tutorials focusing on the areas of Offline Print Media, Prepress Production, Logo Design, Photography Techniques, Website Design, Website Development, Motion Graphics and New Media. This website is my personal contribution to the arts community aimed at teaching fellow artists or aspiring artists the skills and techniques being practiced by today’s industry professionals.

Although I may add a few tutorials here and there, my goal is to set up a community platform where fellow artists can submit quality design related tutorial content and their work will be featured on the website. If you have a tutorial that you would like to submit, please register and upload your content. In order to keep only high quality and relative tutorials, we will have a human review of the submissions before posting the content to our website. Thank you in advance for your participation and enjoy the ride!

Description: This tutorial will show you how to create a realistic diamond using Adoble Illustrator.

In this tutorial you will need:
- Adobe Illustator CS or higher
- About 30 minutes

Step 1: Tracing the Template

You can download the Template and Completed Jewel here

Open up the template file in Adobe Illustrator

Before we get too far ino this project, lets set up our work space. Make sure to have Rulers turned on.

Click -> View -> Smart Guides (this allows us to intersct our diamond at the anchor points as well as adhere to some simple geometry)

Create a new Layer -> Lock the orignal layer so that you can trace over the top of this image without accidently editing it. Alternatively, you can select the Layer and make it a Template layer.

Our goal here is to create a new layer for each facet of the Diamond. We trace a single facet of the diamond template using a 2pxl stroke. After we finish tracing it, lock the layer and continue until you have completed the right half of the diamond.

The reason we are only tracing half of this image is because we can save time and ensure accuracy by copying the completed half image and pasting it on the top of the original. Then we Group the selection and move it to the left until the Smart Guides intersect in the middle.

You should have something like this compiled into 24 seperate layers.

Step 2: Color by numbers

OK - so this part is fairly easy and fun. First we want to create a simple gradient that we can use over and over again.

Click on the Gradient Tool -> Select a nice fuschia color and add it to the gradient selector -> Then add a light fuschia to the opposite end of the spectrum -> Add white inbetween the 2 colors and you should have something like this…

Now for the part… Lets get coloring.

Select each Facet layer -> Click on the Gradient Swatch -> this will fill each selection with the fuschia gradient. You can does this fast and repetative or for a more realistic look -> try using varying angles of the gradient inside each facet.

Your image should look similar to this:

At this point we want to Group our new diamond and getprepare for the final touch of magic.

Step 3: Putting the pieces together

What we want to do now is complete the diamond and turn it into a jewel. With the diamond Group still selected -> Copy and Paste in Front (cmd+F on Mac) -> Rotate 90 degrees -> Use the Smart Guides to help alaign the Diamond to the underlying diamond -> Repeat the process 2 moretimes until the diamond rotates completely forming the base of the jewel.

There is one trick here I would like to note. The jewel looks more realistic if you bring the 1st Grouping and the 3rd diamond grouping to the forground, leaving the 2nd and 4th to be layered behind these two images. -> Select 1st group -> Right Clight -> Arrange -> Bring Forward -> Repeat for the 3rd group.

Select the Rectangle Shape tool -> Again using the Smart Guides -> find the Ancher Intersect of the upper left 2 diamonds -> Drag the rectangle to the opposite lower right 2 diamonds.

You can use the same Gradient or adjust the colors to be more towards the white value -> Using the gradient tool -> drag diagnal from upper left to lower right of the new rectangle -> In the Layers Properties dialog box -> Select “Lighten” (you can experiment with opacity and other layer effects for some fun results)

Step 4: Prepare for Press

Next lets prepare this jewel for print. We neeed to convert the strokes to outlines. You are all set - Enjoy your new Bling-Bling Jewelry.

Check out how this concept was adopted into a logo design for Cynthias Jewelry Box - the place for bridal and pageant jewelry.

The intention of this project is to share ideas, stories, events and guidance relating to the Fine Art of Graphic Design and Web Development.

Enjoy your visit and come back often. We plan on updating this section regularly - you can also add our syndication to your own personal RSS Reader. - click the RSS link at the bottom of the page.

Sincerely,

Brian Gonzales