In my previous post I showed you how you can create seamless pattern brushes in Illustrator . Today I talk about two very simple shapes I’ve used in the pattern examples: a simple flower shape and decorative curl. Some of you might find this a bit too basic, but I thought it might be useful for people who are just starting out with Illustrator.

Pattern brushes in Illustration… Honestly? It’s something I hardly (read ‘never’) use. That’s just because I haven’t looked into this feature and now that I have I truly believe in its powers. Ever since I started writing Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials, I come to the conclusion that I know and use so little of certain features that can really save me a lot of time. When I’m writing these tutorials, I always take time to explore and experiment a lot to get to know and understand these features better and to see how far I can go. Sometimes, depending on which feature of course, I’m only scratching the surface. It’s good to question the different ways or techniques to accomplish the same result. Without further ado, here is my version of how you can use seamless Illustrator pattern brushes with outer corner tiles...

South by Southwest Interactive (Austin, TX - US) was really a blast as usual. This year Cindy Li, Leslie Jensen-Inman and I decided to enter a panel with the title “Color Angels, Episode 1: Colors: It’s Not Black and White”.  Our session was about exploring the challenges in color combinations as a key to successful website designs. Advice on what tools you’ll need in your arsenal to be inspired. Navigating through cultural and accessibility differences in color and showcasing some of the best uses of color the web has to offer…

One of the Duoh! dot com illustrations called Grafiek Grafik Grafico has this special shape which I thought would be ideal for a tutorial.

Verner Panton, considered to be the most influential Danish furniture and interior designer of the 20th century has also created some very inspiring patterns during his career. You know by now that I have a healthy interest in patterns to analyze them and trying to come up with new ideas.

Today’s post is a brief one because the past week and the coming weeks are just so busy for me I can’t find the time to write a more extended article. Still, I hope some of you will find what I share is valuable.

Color management, it sounds complicated and technical and it is one of the most difficult aspects of graphic design. Getting color right early in the workflow, and keeping it right to the end, is increasingly critical. It is not easy to get color right across all media and as a designer we deal with this almost daily. Consistency at every step of the workflow—from capture to computer screen to ink on paper can be though when each camera, scanner, and printer records or outputs colors a bit differently.

In my previous Illustrator tutorial I showed you how you can create a diamond flower using different transparency modes. With this tutorial we’ll stay within the same area of spirographs. Today’s article is completely inspired by Mr. Spirograph himself Andy Gilmore. His work is stunning and very inspirational. He does magic starting from simple shapes and ends up with a remarkable complex composition. I e-mailed Andy to ask permission if I could write a tutorial on one of his creations. Andy replied that it is always interesting to see the many ways that an image can be built. Let’s get started.

On regular occasions I get e-mail from readers to ask if I still use Billings since I reviewed version 2.5 back in 2007. The answer is yes but I moved over to Billings 3, a new version released a few months ago. If you aren’t familiar with Billings, it is a time tracking and invoicing/estimate application for Mac OS X.