How to Make a Door Paneling Effect in Adobe Illustrator

The vector graphics software package Adobe Illustrator does not have a wood grain effect to make door paneling in one step. However, you can use Adobe Illustrator's shape, fill and pencil tools to create your own door paneling effect and use a clipping mask to transfer the effect to other objects. The benefit of creating the door paneling effect in Illustrator is that the object with this effect can be resized and stretched and still retain its sharpness, because it is a vector graphic.

How to Make a Seamless Offset Pattern in Illustrator

There are many ways to create seamless patterns in Illustrator, but I’ve found many of them to be too simple and limiting, or even worse, too complicated. Through practice and experimentation, I’ve found a method that gives me the creative flexibility I’m looking for, but is also easy enough to be achieved in minutes instead of hours. Try it Now>>

Creating a Vector Face in Illustrator

Let’s take the mystery out of creating a vector face using Illustrator. Although there is no single way of doing it, I will guide you step-by-step from sketch to the finished illustration using the magnificent Pen Tool. No reference photos will be needed, just your vivid imagination and drawing skills combined with a basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator. Try it Now>>

Mastering Opacity Masks in Illustrator

Behind the Mask, Part 2

In Part 1 of Behind the Mask, we examined how to make masks in Adobe Illustrator. While masking presents a variety of uses, there is still one aspect I have not yet addressed. There's a little something called an opacity mask. Many designers may have never heard of it. Try it Now>>

Creating Envelopes in Adobe Illustrator

By Sheila Pen, Shutterstock Submitter

If there is one thing I really love about Adobe Illustrator, it has to be reshaping objects with an “envelope.” Real envelopes are pretty boring things -- you can only use them for mailing letters. But in this tutorial, you'll discover just how powerful and versatile Adobe Illustrator’s “Envelope Distort” is for reshaping almost anything. Yes, anything -- it's amazing! You'll be stuffing envelopes all day long, because the first thing to remember is whatever you put inside an envelope, you will be able to distort. This includes raster graphics, objects drawn with the pencil and brush tools, paths, gradient meshes and even unexpanded text, linear gradients and objects that have had 3D effects applied to them. It is really a powerful tool, so let's dive in and get started by creating the envelope.

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