Contemporary Wallpaper Art Illustrator Tutorial

Create a grafitti contemporary wallpaper art with splashes and motifs. This quick illustrator tutorial will show you how to draw florals and create ink splatters effects. Combine them all to create a stunning contemporary master piece
1. Create a new document. You may use any rectangular size you want. I’ve chosen A4 landscape so that I can print it out.
2. Create a new layer & name it as “background”. Draw a rectangle around the entire document fill the rectangle with C:1 M:0 Y:11 K:6 (#ECECD9).
3. Next I created a floral shape. Follow the steps below to see how I did it.

5. After you are done with creating the shape, go to Object > Flatten Transparency and click Ok. Select the shape and apply a gradient from light to dark pink (Magenta: 55 and Magenta: 100). Duplicate it as shown below. Name  the Layers Floral 1 & 2.

6. If you have a high-resolution photoshop brush which is big in width, you can copy & paste it in Illustrator. Now trace the brush image, go to Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options select Detailed Illustration. Play around with threshold unless you get a satisfactory result, click Ok. Next fill it with C:0 M:63 Y:24 K:0 (#F37F93) and reduce the opacity to 20%.

7. We need to add a grunge splatter to the image. If you have a nice grunge vector you can use
that. Or, follow step 4 but this time use a splatter brush. Fill it with C:0 M:55 Y:15 K:0 (#F48FA6). Name the layer “Grunge Splatter”.

8. Go to Window >Symbols Libraries > Default Symbols > Print. Then drag “Rosette” symbol into the document. Scale it and place it as shown below. With the Rosette selected, go to Object > Flatten Transparency. Click Ok. Change the color to black and reduce the opacity to 40%.

9. Add a new layer. Create a big circle then apply a white to orange (C:0 M50 Y: 87 K:0) gradient set the opacity mode to screen. Now duplicate this circle to create a splatter like effect all over. You should have a white spatter effect.

10. Create some more similar splatter effect as shown in the image below. Fill the circled splatter with 100% yellow and set the opacity to soft light.


11. Now duplicate the layer “Grunge Splatter” and scale it by 80-90% and set the opacity to color burn. This would help in highlighting the cut-out image.
Go to Window > Symbols Libraries > Flowers now drag “Red Rose” symbol from the window to the document. Place it on left side, may be you would want to scale it a bit. Now with the symbol selected go the Object > Flatten Transparency and click Ok. Now with the object selected press D on your keyboard. Now go to stoke window and change the stoke to 0.5.

12. I found this beautiful photo on shutterstock which inspired me to create this wallpaper. Cut out the image in photoshop and place it in illustrator. Make sure you image is centered. Change the opacity to darken. Duplicate the layer & set the opacity to color dodge. Now your image should look something like that.

13. Create a shape as shown below.




14. Once done, fill the object with white background & give it a 1pt stoke. Duplicate the shape to match the below image. Place the object in a way that it covers the cut out image.

15. I downloaded a vector from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/16/swirls-flowers-circles-a-free vector-graphics-set. I choose a nice curvy swirl from the vector and combined it with my earlier shape.


16. Finally, add a flower vector to the right of the girl to match with the rose vector on the left. Follow step 11. And, we’re done.

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Create a Feather Brush and Set of Detailed Wings in Illustrator

In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to create a feather art brush. You’ll then learn how to use it to create a set of angel wings, which can be added to your illustrations.

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INTRODUCTION

It’s a common element in fantasy style art to have a set of wings. Ranging from bird like wings to epic angel wings, they can communicate a sense of freedom. Let’s learn to create a feather art brush, then use it to create a set of angel wings, which would work great in your next fantasy, vector illustration.

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STEP 1

Create a new Art Brush by creating a slim black triangle with the Pen Tool (P), and then drag and dropping it into your Brush Palette. Select New Art Brush, change the Colorization Method to Tints, and click on OK.

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STEP 2

Using the Free Transform Tool (E) rotate the triangle 90 degrees so the flat base is at the bottom. Change the fill color to a medium gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=30).
Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the triangle. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), move one of the points in the base of the triangle and change the fill color to a light gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=10).
Repeat this process while creating a darker triangle on the other side of the shape with a darker gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=60). Once you have the three shapes, Select All (Command + A) and Group them (Command + G).

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STEP 3

The next step you’re going to need to Draw Behind. You can either click on the circled button below on the toolbar or hit Shift + D on your keyboard. While selected any future strokes and shapes will be drawn behind the previously drawn object.
Using the Paintbrush Tool (B), select your triangle brush and set it to 0.25pt stroke weight and set the stroke color to medium gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=30).
Imagine the three tone triangle as the spine to the feather. To help make it easier to draw the strands of the feather, draw the bottom of the feather just above the bottom of the spine. Repeat the same strands towards the top, however not placing them at the very top. Then to assist further, draw some strands in the middle.

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STEP 4

Using the same stroke settings, draw in further strands between your guides. Don’t worry if they are not completely uniform as it will look more organic if there are some strands which are close to each other or even cross over.

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STEP 5

Back to the Pen Tool (P), change the stroke color to null and the fill color to light gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=10). Starting from the bottom strands of the feather, draw around the strands, connecting as many as you can to create a background to the strands.

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STEP 6

While the background to the feather shape is selected, go into the Appearance panel. Set the stroke as 2pt and align to outside of the shape. Change the Opacity to 10% and the Blending Mode to Multiply.

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STEP 7

Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the feather shape and remove the stroke appearance from it. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), cover half of the feather where your highlight line on the stem is at. Drag the shape above the copied feather shape.
Minus Front using the Pathfinder options, while the rectangle and feather shape are selected. Then change the fill color of this portion to a dark gray other than what you had, but not too dark that you can’t see the strands you previously drew (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=20).

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STEP 8

Change the drawing mode to Draw Normal by selecting the button on the toolbar or hitting Shift + D on your keyboard. This will mean any new strokes will be drawn on top of each other.
Set the Paintbrush Tool (B) with your triangle brush to: stroke weight 1pt, stroke color of a light gray (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=20). Now change the Blending Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 50%. Draw strokes on the lighter side of the feather. Double over some of the strokes to give more highlights and subtle variation in the tone.

STEP 9

Change the Blending Mode now to Multiply and Opacity to 35%. Draw strands on the darker side of the feather as before.

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STEP 10

Select one of the strands you’ve just created and go to Select > Same > Stroke Weight and then Group the strands (Command + G).
Drag the newly created group below the group you made for the spine of the feather.

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STEP 11

Select all (Command + A) and then Group (Command + G) all the elements together. Drag and drop the group into the Brush palette and select New Art Brush.
Due to the size of the brush created, I’ve changed mine to 30% of the original size. Change the direction of the brush so the start of your stroke is the base of the feather and the tip is the last point of your stroke. Now change the Colorization Method to Tints and click OK.

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FEATHER BRUSH CONCLUSION

Your brush is now complete and can be altered to give tints of color and to increase the contrast of the brush depending on how dark your colors are.

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CREATING A SET OF WINGS

Now that you’ve created your detailed feather art brush, you can use it to construct a variety of stylized wings. I’m going to show you simple way to create a set of stunning wings.

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STEP 1

The general rule with constructing wings is to work in layers of feathers. The feathers on the top of the wing will be finer and shorter… the lower layers will be wider and longer. So working on this theory I’m going to construct this set of wings shown below.
For each of the layers of feathers I have Grouped them (Command + G) to make it easier to work with later on.

I’m using the stroke color for my feathers of a gray with a hint of blue (C=55, M=45, Y=30, K=0).
Tip: Place a color behind your wings so you can make sure you have no gaps between the top parts of the wing.

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STEP 2

To give each layer of feathers more definition, add a transparent linear gradient black to black set to Multiply under each one.

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STEP 3

Lock the gradients, then using the Direct Selection Tool (A), click on some random feathers and alter their color subtly. I recommend lightening the feathers towards the top slightly, therefore the lower feathers would be altered to look a little darker.

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STEP 4

Unlock the gradients and then Select All (Command + A). Then Copy (Command + C) and Paste (Command + V).
Now reflect the wings by going to Object > Transform > Reflect, select Vertical, and click on OK.

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STEP 5

In the Brush palette, drag and drop the feather brush onto the New Brush icon. This will duplicate the brush. Then double-click on your copied feather, tick the box Flip Across, and then click on OK.

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STEP 6

Select the groups from the mirrored wing and apply the copied feather brush. Now with the Direct Selection Tool (A), select individual feathers and alter their placement, length, and angle so they don’t look mirrored.

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CONCLUSION

Thanks to the time spent on creating your feather brush, you can create a variety of wings in no time at all. If you’d like to learn more about the structure of a wing, I highly recommend this Wing Tutorial via Fatal-Mantis85. The final wings are shown below.

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Swirly Border Design

Swirly Border Design in Illustrator CS4

1 [CREATE A ROUNDED RECTANGLE]
Choose File>New, select Basic RGB from the New Document Profile pop-up menu, and click OK. Click-and-hold on the Rectangle tool in the Toolbox, select the Rounded Rectangle tool from the menu, and click once on the artboard. A dialog will open where you can manually enter the dimensions for your rounded rectangle. Enter a Width of 725 pt, a Height of 285 pt, and set the Corner Radius to 15 pt. Click OK.

2 [APPLY FILL & STROKE TO SHAPE]
With the shape created, we need to change the color. Open the Swatches panel (Window>Swatches) and choose the brown swatch labeled R=117 G=76 B=36 for the Fill color of the shape. In the Control panel, set the Stroke color to none.

3 [CREATE SMALLER ROUNDED RECTANGLE]
With the Rounded Rectangle tool, click on the artboard once more. This time set the Width to 650 pt, the Height to 225 pt, and keep the Corner Radius at 15. Click OK. This will create a similar shape that’s a bit smaller than the first.

4 [APPLY FILL TO NEW SHAPE; ALIGN SHAPES]
In the Swatches panel, choose the tan swatch labeled R=199 G=178 B=153 for the Fill color of this shape. Set the Stroke color to none. Switch to the Selection tool (V) and select both shapes. Use the alignment icons in the Control panel to center the shapes: Horizontal Align Center and then Vertical Align Center.

5 [COPY SMALLER RECTANGLE; PASTE IN BACK]
Press Shift-Command-A to deselect the shapes, and then use the Selection tool to select just the front smaller rectangle. Choose Edit>Copy to copy this shape to the Clipboard. Now choose Edit>Paste in Back to place the duplicate one level behind the smaller shape but in front of the larger shape.

6 [SELECT FIRST TWO SHAPES AND LOCK]
While this new shape is still selected, hold down the Shift key and drag a selection from outside the shapes into all of the shapes. This will select the two other shapes and deselect the one inner shape. Then go under the Object menu, under Lock, and choose Selection. This will lock these shapes in place so we don’t change or move them accidentally.

7 [SELECT CENTER SHAPE]
Now drag over the shapes once more. You should only be able to select the inner shape that’s in between the locked shapes. You can test this by dragging the object to the side just a bit to make sure the other shapes are locked. Simply press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) to undo the move.

8 [SET OPTIONS FOR TWIRL TOOL]
In the Toolbox, click-and-hold on the Warp tool and select the Twirl tool from the menu. Double-click this tool in the Toolbox to open the Twirl Tool Options dialog. Here you can change the brush size and intensity, among other things. Change the Intensity to 40%. For the brush size, enter a starting value of 125 pt for both the Width and Height. Click OK.

9 [TWIRL THE CENTER SHAPE]
This next step can be a bit tricky and it may take a few tries. It did for me. Anyway, start at the upper-left corner and position the cursor so it’s about two-thirds over the shape. Then click-and-drag the Twirl tool up and to the left. The twirl will start the moment you click and will change as you drag. Try this a few times to get a feel for it. As I said, it may take some practice.

10 [CREATE RANDOM TWIRLS AROUND THE SHAPE]
You’ll notice that the twirl direction is counter-clockwise by default. To reverse the direction, simply click to start the twirl and then immediately hold down the Option key (PC: Alt key). Continue to randomly twirl different areas around the shape, varying the directions as you go. You can also vary the size of the brush by pressing-and-holding the Option key (PC: Alt key) and clicking-and-dragging. Add the Shift key to maintain the brush’s proportions.

11 [CHANGE TO OVERLAY; ADD DROP SHADOW]
Select the swirly object, and then open the Transparency panel (Window>Transparency). Change this object’s blend mode from Normal to Overlay. As an optional step, go under the Effect menu, under Illustrator Effects, and choose Stylize>Drop Shadow. Depending on the shape and size of your swirls, the shadow settings will vary.

12 [ADD TEXTURE TO FRONT SHAPE]
Go under the Object menu and select Unlock All. Select the front shape. Go under the Effect menu, under Photoshop Effects, and choose Texture>Texturizer. Select Sandstone for the Texture drop-down menu, set the Scaling to 200%, Relief to 5, Light position to the Top Left, and click OK. All that’s left is to add text or whatever elements you would like inside your new really cool, swirly border design.

Final Result

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