Adobe Illustrator Advanced Pattern Techniques - Masterclass

See what is ahead of you in this section - you'll see some examples of the whimsical designs we'll be making and learn some of the techniques we'll cover.

Learn to make a simple diagonal line pattern using a whimsical wiggly line.  You will learn to draw a diagonal line with the pencil tool and learn some key Pencil tool settings. Then you'll use the Pattern Make tool to create the basic pattern. See how to adjust the lines to make sure they line up exactly – this can be tricky (but it really needs to be accurate) - so I'll explain in detail how to do this. Once the pattern is complete, see how it looks when  used to fill a shape.

Now the first pattern is made, learn how to turn the original pattern into one that has the lines closer to each other by coping and rotating the original line.

Then learn how, once you've got a pattern element that works as a repeating pattern, you can edit the line to change how it flows without compromising the overall pattern.

At the end of this lecture you'll have multiple patterns made from the original line and without having to make any complex adjustments.

Turn a wiggly line pattern into a cross hatch pattern – all without drawing a single line! There is a special way of doing this and you'll learn how to do it in this lecture.

This lecture also reinforces the use of the Pencil tool to redraw lines easily and the Smooth tool for reshaping lines.

You will learn to recolor the actual pattern elements so that your crosshatch pattern is comprised of colored lines and then use the Recolor Artwork feature to change the colors in the colored pattern. As we work with the Recolor Artwork tool you'll see how it works in a unique way when used with patterns.

Make a loopy line pattern using the Pencil tool to draw the loops and join up the loops to make your pattern swatch.

Learn some tips and techniques for testing your line before you commit to doing a lot of work on getting the pattern perfect. And see an issue with the Eraser tool not functioning inside the Pattern Make interface and a tool that does work that you can use instead.

Also in this lecture you'll learn to use some of the options in the Pattern Options dialog to help you assess your overall pattern design and you will also learn how to control the movement in a single anchor point by entering values by hand so the placement is accurate to fractions of a pixel.

In this lecture I'll show you how to solve the problem of lines that don't join (because they aren't drawn at a 45 degree angle) and a simpler way to draw the loopy lines if you're having trouble with them. I'll show you how to create a template line to use to rotate your line into the correct angle and how to create a simple set of guide lines to use to draw the loopy lines.

Learn how to turn the loopy line pattern into a sheet of scrapbook paper. You will learn how to create the correct size document, fill it with the pattern, and then expand the pattern to get to the elements in it.

You will see how to clip the design to the page and then use the Live Paint tool to color individual elements in the pattern to give you a fun whimsical design. This, of course, is not a repeating pattern any more, but with scrapbook paper, that doesn't matter.

You will see how to neaten your final file so that the elements are organized and tidy in the layers palette and you'll learn how to save it as a file that can be sold as a scrapbook paper page. These techniques can be applied to other designs, of course, too.

See what's ahead in this section. I'll be teaching this pattern a little differently to the other patterns in this course. Instead of simply showing you how to make the pattern, I'll step through my thought process and the planning behind making this pattern - from printing an example of it, through working out where the repeats are, and how it can be reproduced in Illustrator. Then we'll go ahead and actually make it and recolor it.

Learn how to turn a picture of a pattern into a pattern design. I will show you a picture of a 'Y' shape geometric pattern and step you through my thought process for recreating this pattern in Illustrator.

This is a two step process - the first step is to workout what the pattern swatch will look like - just what is needed to make a seamless repeat. The second step is determining how to draw it - and my first and second ideas failed for being either impossible to create in Illustrator or unreliable in terms of creating it accurately. I finally came up with a third approach which was repeatable and reliable which is the one we'll create in the following lectures.

Create a hexagon grid upon which to build this Y shape geometric pattern. This lecture explains how to create custom grids to use to draw elements accurately and to scale. The grid is based on a hexagon shape that you'll create and then duplicate to make the final grid.

In this lecture you will learn to draw the shapes you need for the pattern using the grid you made as a guide. You will learn to check the shapes to make sure that they are correctly aligned to the grid. And you will learn how to recolor the shapes you've drawn by using the Recolor Artwork tool.

Once you've made your shapes and arranged them, you'll see how to create a rectangle to mark out the area that is your pattern swatch and you'll create the pattern swatch.

Use the pattern piece you've created to fill a shape so you can test that the pattern works. You will also see how to adjust the pattern size and color.

There is a potential problem in making some of these patterns for users of Illustrator CC2018 and Illustrator CC2019 and possibly later versions of Illustrator too.

The issue is that the 'no fill no stroke' rectangle that defines the boundary of the pattern isn’t actually 'no fill/no stroke' even though it looks like it is.

If you have this issue, then your patterns won't work as they are created. You have to remove any of the 'phantom' effects attached to the rectangle that are causing the pattern to fail.

In this lecture I'll explain what is happening, show you a problem pattern and show you how to resolve the issue.

In this section you will learn to make a tartan or plaid pattern that can be easily recolored to make additional colorways.

Learn why it is handy to find a reference image to use when making your tartan. I'll show you where I found an image to use, and in the resources area is a link to that image so you can use it too if you like.

I'll explain how to bring the photo into Illustrator and how to crop it to isolate the area that contains the elements which are needed to create the pattern swatch.

Learn how to assemble the plaid pattern elements using a series of rectangles. You will also learn how to sample colors to use from the reference image to use for your own design as you build the individual pieces.

I'll explain how to space shapes so they abut each other exactly using the Align options and how to scale your initial design to make a square, even if it isn't one right now.

Learn how to turn a set of vertical lines into a plaid pattern by duplicating the lines, rotating them, and blending them together. The blend effect is created by making a pattern of diagonal lines which you'll use to 'poke holes' in the top set of shapes so you can see through them to see the lines below. This might sound complex but it's pretty easy to do and it gives a result which looks surprisingly fabric like.

Learn how to use the Recolor artwork tool to recolor your plaid pattern to make additional color ways quickly and easily and without having to remake the entire pattern.

See how to take the basic elements you have already created and rework them to make additional plaid patterns including a pattern with some additional dimension in the areas that previously were a single solid color.

In this section you will learn to make an Ikat inspired pattern which encompasses using the Wrinkle tool in Illustrator to make the feathered edges of the shapes for the design elements.

In this lecture we'll explore the basics of Ikat designs. It's important to understand the basic elements of an Ikat design so you see what is going to need to be done to reproduce the look in Illustrator.

The Wrinkle tool in Illustrator is going to be key to making Ikat patterns but out of the box it doesn't work very well. I'll show you how to access the Wrinkle tool options and how to configure it so it wrinkles lines in a way that we can use to make our Ikat designs.

See how to make a basic diamond shape and apply an Ikat look to is using the Wrinkle tool. This shape will become the basic element we'll use to make our pattern from. I'll also explain how you can maximize your chance of this working successfully on slow computers by shutting down unused programs and even rebooting your computer before you begin work.

Learn to use the Pattern Make tool to make your final Ikat pattern swatch and then fill a shape with your newly built Ikat pattern.

Learn how to add a background into a pattern swatch so it is included in the swatch. By doing this we can then recolor the pattern using the Recolor Artwork tool to make multiple swatches and color ways of the basic design.

Learn what is ahead in this section - learn what terrazzo is and see some of the types of patterns you can create following along with the lectures in this section.

Learn to take a photo (I used one which you can also download from Unsplash.com) to quick start your terrazzo pattern. You will see how to use a filter in Illustrator to quick start making the tiles for your terrazzo pattern. Once the filter is run you will use Live Trace to convert the tiles into objects that you can make your pattern with.

Learn how to clean up the shapes that you made in the previous lesson and then randomly adjust the size and placement of the shapes so that you get a more organic look to the tiles. Make the pattern using the Pattern Make tool and test to see the edges can't be seen. Fill a shape with your pattern.

You will see how to create a terrazzo pattern from a texture. I used a free vector texture which I will give you the link for the download. You'll see how to download the texture, how to extract the files, and open the element in Illustrator. See how to find what is inside the Illustrator file and how to remove what you don't want to leave what you do want.

Learn how we will remove any objects that aren't contributing to the pattern which are left over from the original trace and that the designer didn't remove. We will pare down the file to leave just a few shapes that we can use. Then we'll resize the shapes to create something more interesting. And move the shapes randomly to break up the edges in the design in preparation for creating the pattern.

Also learn how to save the project so you don't overwrite the original file you used to extract the shapes from.

See how to recolor the shapes you have made using a script. I'll show you where to find the script to use, how to download and install it, and then how to use it to recolor the design. This script is a very handy one to use and you'll probably find it handy as you work on other projects in the future.

Once the script is installed, see how to use the script to select random shapes in the project so you can recolor them. The script makes short work of recoloring thousands of objects in a random way.

You will also learn a quick way to find color schemes to use. Once you've created your pattern you will see how to recolor the pattern using the Recolor Artwork tool.

See how to find, download, install, and run a script which will help you find and remove objects which are very small and which you don't want in your design. You'll see how to determine what is too small and how to use the script to isolate and remove these elements.

Note that this script can be used for other purposes and it will also find large objects so you can isolate and remove those too.

Learn what is ahead in this section. You will see the two patterns that we will make - one is a pattern made up of a single very small flower that we'll create ourselves. The second is a pattern made up from a number of small elements. To speed up the process we'll use some free to download objects. The focus will be on making ditsy patterns without having to do a lot of tedious work.

Learn to make a grayscale shape you can use to make your ditsy pattern. Creating this simple grayscale design will make it easy for you to recolor the object later on as well as to make it a single color, if desired.

You will learn how to make a half drop repeat from your pattern elements. See how to size it correctly and how to ensure that there are no overlapping objects in the pattern.

See how squinting at the screen will help you find issues with the pattern which need fixing, and then learn how to fix them. You will also see how to identify where elements are in the design so you can move them and how to avoid seeing seams in the design.

See how to use the Color Themes panel to find color schemes to use to recolor the flowers. See how to remove excess colors and how to use the saved themes to recolor your pattern to shades of a single color and to multiple different colors.

**** Please note that the file I used for this class isn't available any longer. I have linked a few different files as alternatives. Download and use the .EPS files that are inside the zip file. Make sure to Ungroup elements if they are in large groups of objects to be able to use them.***

In this lecture you will download a file of elements you can use to make a ditsy pattern. You will see how to separate out the elements to use for your design. Once isolated you are ready to duplicate the shapes and move them around as a starting point for making your ditsy pattern.

See how to create a set of objects to act as fillers for the design and how to duplicate them and place them ready to use.

Then learn how to adjust the objects to ensure that they don't overlap. See how to create additional objects and how to give the basic design a random look.

See how to turn your large swatch into a repeating pattern using the Pattern Make tool. As you work you will see how to adjust the edges and other elements in the pattern to ensure that the repeat isn't obvious.

Once the pattern swatch is made, I'll show you how to edit the pattern to fix any issues that you find later on.

This section covers the use of some sophisticated pattern making templates that will take your pattern making skills to a new level. You will learn how to download, open and navigate the templates, how to use them to make your patterns and how to extract a vector pattern swatch from the template. 

We'll start this series of lectures by locating and downloading a set of free Illustrator templates that you can use to create interesting repeat patterns. These patterns will be far more sophisticated than those that the Illustrator Pattern Make tool can produce.

I'll explain how you can extract and use these templates.

We'll look at a few of these templates to discover how they work – where the objects will be repeated and reflected to make a final design. I'll show you my website where I have a series of images showing how each of the pattern templates repeat and how the shapes will be reflected in them. You can use these images to see how the templates will work for you so you can choose the templates that will work best for your designs.

Learn how to open and work with one of the MadPattern templates. You will see how to view the contents of the templates in the Layers palette and see what elements you can safely hide and which elements you must leave visible.

You will also learn which layer to use to create your art on. This is a crucial step in using these templates.

I'll show you how to start creating elements for your design using the Pencil tool and how to position the elements inside the design area. I'll also show you how to add some dots using the Blob Brush tool.

By the end of this lecture you will have a simple pattern design created and ready to extract and use.

Learn how to save a vector pattern swatch from the template design. You will see how to locate the small artboard in the design and to extract its dimensions before deleting it.

Learn which layers to unlock prior to expanding your design. Then learn how to make a no fill/no stroke rectangle the exact size required to use for your pattern swatch and how to place it behind the pattern design.

Once this is done, you will see how to create a vector pattern swatch from your design and how to test it to make sure it works correctly.

If you’re using Adobe Illustrator CC2019 then there is an issue with the Expand Appearance option when creating your pattern swatch. The issue is that it is not available to use when expanding these pattern templates – it's an acknowledged issue but has not yet been fixed. There are a couple of possible solutions – one is to revert to Illustrator CC2018 when using these templates. The other is to follow the slightly different steps I'll set out in this video to expand the pattern and make the pattern swatch.

Learn what is ahead in this section where we will be making seamless repeating vector textures in Adobe Illustrator.

We'll look at issues you will encounter when making these patterns, how to create them from objects shipped with Illustrator and from objects you download free online. In addition this section covers the use of the Crop feature in the Pathfinder palette and the use of Clipping paths.

Before we begin to make texture patterns with seamless repeats in Illustrator it's time to look at some issues when cropping shapes that comprise a fill and an outline. I'll show you the issues and how you can avoid them by Expanding a shape before you crop it.

I'll also show you how you can replace a clipping masked object with the actual cropped shape. These techniques will help you understand some of your options when cropping shapes.

See how to source some content to use for a texture pattern using one of the built in brushes that are shipped with Illustrator.

You will add the brush to a line in Illustrator, size the line and then expand the brush stroke to get the elements from it. You will then crop it to a fixed shape that we will use in the next lecture to make our seamless texture pattern swatch.

See how to break up the design so it can be used to make a seamless tile. This approach to making patterns can be used to make a texture pattern swatch in any version of Illustrator.

It is, in fact, how patterns used to be made before Illustrator's Pattern Make tool appeared.

I am using it here because I think it's the easier way of making this texture pattern and it is a more robust method to use for older computers.

See how to use the Group Selection tool and the Knife tool to fix any elements which are creating obvious seams in the design.

You will see how to move elements around, change the look of some elements, and duplicate others to fill in gaps.

The ultimate goal being to hide the seams in the design.

Now that we have made the texture pattern let's see how it looks at work.

You will learn how to create a second artboard, how to size it and how to fill a shape on that new artboard with the new seamless texture.

Learn to make a seamless texture from the design we created earlier in this Section. This is an alternative approach to the one we just worked through. It is only applicable to Photoshop CS6 and CC (the Pattern Make tool is not available in earlier versions).

You will see some of the disadvantages of using this tool and how to configure the look of the screen so you can see things more clearly.

Then see how to make a seamless repeating texture using this tool.

It is possible to make some seamless repeating textures in Illustrator without doing much work at all on them. This will be the case when you are working with a very open scattered texture.

I'll show you how to choose a free texture to download and use from Vecteezy.com. I'll show you how to remove any elements which are going to be obvious in the design and then how to create the texture as a seamless repeating pattern.

I'll show you how to test the design, fix any issues and then replace the saved pattern with your new one.

Learn how to turn a complex vector texture image into a seamless repeating pattern. You will see the workflow involved in doing this so you can determine if it will be worthwhile attempting (it can be a very complex process).

I'll show you how to dissect a document downloaded from Vecteezy that could be used for a seamless repeating texture. You will see what parts of the file can be used in the pattern and what can't and how to work with the individual pieces in the file – in places changing how the shapes are filled to make them useable.

Vector texture files that you download won't always have the effects built into them that I'm showing here, but if they do, you'll see how to edit them to render them usable to make seamless repeating texture patterns from.

See how you would take the large vector texture from the previous video and make it into a seamless repeating texture pattern.

I'll show you the workflow for creating a pattern like this including how to cut up the various elements that go up to make the texture into four pieces each and place them in their final positions to make the pattern.

Then see how to combine the various elements into individual groups and fix up the seam areas so they aren't visible and obvious.

This is a very complex pattern to make and will take some time, but it is doable as you will see in this lecture.

Learn how to combine one of the seamless vector textures that we've made in this Section with a pattern such as a polkadot pattern to make a single textured seamless repeat pattern.

This lecture covers the situation where you want to texturize a seamless design. Because you cannot place a pattern inside a pattern you need to build this pattern up from scratch.

In this lecture you will learn a workflow for creating a "pattern within pattern effect" – in our case we're combining a polka dot pattern with one of our seamless repeating textures to make a seamless repeating pattern.

Well done! You have now completed this course. Learn where you can go to from here with your Illustrator learning.