Working with Illustrator ‘Art’ Brushes: Options and Adjustments

Working with Illustrator ‘Art’ Brushes: Options and Adjustments

In this tutorial, I’m going to cover several things that effect the
way we use Illustrator brushes. Remember, there are 4 types of
Illustrator brushes, and this tutorial will be covering “Art” brushes.
There are many things that effect the way your brush stroke will take
form, and I hope by the end of this tutorial, you have a better idea of
what you can tweak to get the results you’re looking for when using your
art brushes.





1. Document Size


This one might be a little obvious, but the same stroke size will appear smaller as the document gets bigger.



2. Stroke Weight


Another obvious but necessary mention. The same brush can appear much different by simply changing the stroke size.




3. “Scale Strokes and Effects” Option


In the Transform palette, there is an option to “Scale Strokes and
Effects.” When turned on (checked), Illustrator will adjust the Stroke
weight as you scale things up and down, often leading to undesirable
results.



Scale Strokes and Effects on:



Scale Strokes and Effects off: Illustrator will scale the path itself, but retain your current Stroke Weight.



4. Color Options


Illustrator Art Brushes have individual options that can be set
within the brush itself. One of these options is colorization method. To
open the art brush options, double click on the brush itself from the
“Brushes” palette. Note: You must double click from the original Brushes
palette, not one that you loaded. If you don’t see your brush in the
Brushes palette, just click on it once from your loaded palette, and it
will appear in the Brushes palette.

If you’ve ever downloaded an Illustrator brush, and you weren’t able
to change the color, this is why. In order to change the color of your
brush strokes, you need to select a colorization method. I recommend
“Tints,” as this will allow to simply change it to any color you like,
but you’ll just have to play around with it and see what you think works
best for you.



5. Proportional or Not Proportional


This one can sometimes save the day if you feel like your brush just
isn’t coming out right. The “Proportional” option is another individual
brush setting. Just like above, open the brush options by double
clicking on your brush from the Brushes palette.



When you enable the “Proportional” option, Illustrator will keep the
aspect ratio of the original brush when applying it to your path. Think
of it as “Constraining Proportions” when scaling an image. You might
notice in the example below what a big difference this option can make,
especially apparent on the round end of the stroke below.



There are other brush options that you can play with, but most of the
others are more helpful for duplication and flipping the orientation of
the brush, more than actually adjusting during application. So there
you have it, the 5 things I typically rely on when working with
Illustrator “Art” Brushes.


http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/working-with-illustrator-art-brushes-options-and-adjustments