078-TV

Tutorial.

077-Tasty Burger

Tutorial.

076-Spiral

I drove past a building that had a cool brick pattern this morning. I recreated it then started playing with color and blending modes. This is how it turned out. Rather Andy Gilmore.

075-Daily

Fun with strokes and brushes.

074-Money

Saw this article at the ministry of type and thought I would try drawing some money-looking type with simple Guilloche patterns. Hand drawn M.

073-Magnolia 4

Finally finished.

072-Magnolia 3

Slowly but surely.

071-Magnolia 2

Making progress.

070-Magnolia 1

I always thought magnolia blooms were made to be drawn in Illustrator I have just never done it until now. I found this great photo of Magnolia Soulangeana as a reference.

069-Mix-Up

Was listening to The Mix-Up by the Beastie Boys and got lost. It was a fun ride. All vector, Victor.

068-Muse

Saw this cover for a Muse CD by La Boca on their blog and thought I would try and recreate it in Illustrator.

067-Emperor

Was turned on to LaBoca.  Awesome geometric style. Totally inspiring. I thought I would try to recreate some of their stuff in Illustrator. For the texture, I made a blend of two stroked circles of about 50 steps, then gave it an opacity mask and used splattery brush strokes to reveal the concentric circles in certain areas. A cool way to add texture.

066-Cardboard

Thought I would try to make some vector cardboard.

065-Comic Serifs

It was much funnier in my head.
I took Comic Sans and widened the vertical parts of the letter forms and added some serifs. Still looks like crap.

064-Twill

Followed this interesting tutorial. Plaid = easy. Twill plaid = more difficult. I am really liking changing colors with Edit -> Edit Colors -> Recolor Artwork.
Font: Bauhaus

063-Drippy

Saw this graphic and got inspired. It is not as 3d as I would like it but it gets the point across.
Font: Edwardian Script

062-365

061-Ribbon

Followed this tutorial today and embellished it a bit. Used Envelope Distort again. It's a powerful tool. I am realizing that the word "envelope" is not the noun like the thing that you put letters or documents into and mail but is actually the verb that means to enclose or encase completely. It makes much more sense to think of it in this way.

060-Hood

Went snowboarding on Mt. Hood yesterday and got inspired.

059-Safari

Followed this tutorial. Got the job done.

058-Abstract2

Basically just experimenting with linear gradients and blending modes from this tutorial. Once again all vector.
Font: Rockwell Extra Bold

057-Abstract

Watched this tutorial today. Was surprised to see how many tutorials are on YouTube. This blew my mind. Such a cool effect and way to achieve it. All vector.

056-Deep Numbers

Checked out this website and got inspired. Hand drawn numbers and no extrusion effect.

055-Caramel

Another tutorial. Amazed at how simple it was to create something this cool and vector.

054-Wavy Halftone

Followed a cool tutorial tonight. Basically created a halftone from a linear gradient, live-traced it then manipulated it. Used Envelope Distort for the first time.

053-Peeling Letters

Saw this website and got inspired.
Font: Bodoni Old Face Bold

052-Pattern

Just playing around.

051-Drop Cap E

First attempt at a drop-cap. Harder than it looks especially if you are not inspired.

050-Depth

Simple study in depth.  The shadows really help.

049-the final frontier

Another doodle during a long meeting. Space. Pencil on black paper.

048-spirograph

Followed this tutorial tonight. The hardest part was making the color pallet. I also have a new hero, Andy Gilmore.

047-Sketchy Trees

My first non-vector post.
Doodling during a meeting. Abstract trees, hills and sun. Pencil on black paper.

046-Another Stripe

Made something like the white shape at work today. Thought I would try running a stripe over, under and through it tonight. I'm digging the one pixel strokes for subtle shadows and hi-lites.
Font: Myriad Pro Bold

045-3d Lighted Text

Followed this tutorial. It took too long and I don't think I did it right and am not happy with the results. It happens. Did notice that using a complex gradient mesh significantly increases your file size.
Font: Avant Garde

044-Pie

I ran across a pie chart this weekend and liked the way it showed depth by using only hilights and shadows. Tried to recreate it in Illustrator.

043-Coffee

Hardest thing about this was not drinking my model.

042-Blueprint

Another tutorial tonight. Gets the job done. Used a gradient mesh as a mask which is a pretty cool idea.
Font: Zurich BT Ultra Black

041-Rays

Found this Photoshop tutorial and thought I'd try and do it with all vectors instead.
Font: Bureau Agency Bold

40-Kiwi

Another tutorial. Some symbols, some brushes, a few raster effects.

039-Rope

Ran across this tutorial about how to make a climbing rope pattern brush. Very cool (as long as you don't let the ends show). Feeling a little weird about basing my numbers off of the font Giddyup.

038-Weber

Started this on Saturday when I was grilling some chicken skewers. Another study in simple shapes but with some reflections this time. Vector on the left, photo on the right.

037-Battery

Followed this tutorial. Opacity masks are cool but cumbersome.

036-Pencil

Not much to say here. Some basic shapes and a few shadows.

035-New

Ran across the book cover for New Typographic Design and got inspired. Found out that to extrude two or more objects at the same time in the same way, they need to be a compound path first.
Fonts: Helvetica Neue 45 Light, 77 Bold Condensed

034-Inspiration

Saw these desktop wallpapers and got inspired. I don't understand why the shapes get all effed up after you expand the extrude effect. Vector texture in the background, too.
Font: Myriad

033-Swirls

This took way too long to have it turn out like this–a mess. Followed this tutorial on swirls. Did learn about the Feather effect and replacing the spine in a blend. Good stuff to know.