In this intermediate-advanced illustrator tutorial, we’ll learn how to make a 3D newspaper icon in Adobe Illustrator. This tutorial is based on the news icon in my <shameless plug> Formida icon set </shameless plug>, and was made in CS3.

We’ll be using the pen tool to create our basic background shapes, adding some shadows, color and shading to give the newspaper a sense of bulkiness and, uh, floppiness. And then we’ll use Illustrator’s Envelope Distort feature to mold the newspaper content to its background. This is the icon we’ll be making:

You should already have a basic understanding of how to use the pen tool and the direct selection tool (white arrow), how to apply color and gradients, and how to move, copy, and import objects and text boxes.

SECTION 1: PAGES

The first thing we’re going to do here is create a series of stacked “pages” to form our newspaper background. To each page, we’ll apply a light white-light gray gradient, and then we’ll apply a drop-shadow to each page to give the illusion of depth. Let’s get started.

Grab your pen tool, and draw a shape like the one below. This will be the top page of your newspaper. The color doesn’t matter at the moment. Mine is green so it can be seen easily. Note how the bottom bows out slightly.

Click on your shape so that it’s selected. Then click over to the gradient tool. You want to apply a light gray-dark gray linear gradient on the shape. The color is very important here, as an unrealistic color will make an unrealistic-looking newspaper.

My gradient colors are:
1. Light gray: #F7F4F5
2. Middle gray: #DDDCDC
3. Dark gray: #878585

Below is what my shape looks like with the gradient originally applied, then correctly aligned. After I’d created the correct gradient, I had to try several times to “realign” the gradient on the shape, so that the bottom dark gray lined up with the angle of the newspaper.

To realign a gradient, make sure the shape is selected. Select the gradient tool. Drag in a line over the top of the shape in the direction you want the gradient to go. This will reposition the gradient.

Now to apply a drop shadow. Select the shape, and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. You probably want your drop shadow to be lighter than you think you do. The human eye picks up very subtle variations, so you’re drop shadow shouldn’t be too in-your-face. My settings, and results, look like this:

The trick to making a fully filled out newspaper is duplicating the finished front page you made, altering it slightly by re-aligning the gradient, and altering its shape slightly so that you appear to have multiple pages. This is my finished blank newspaper:

This stack looks like a filled out 3D object. But when we break it apart into its individual pages, we start to see how easy it is to construct a nice looking paper. Here are each of the 6 pages of the newspaper, from front to back:

Your gradients don’t have to look exactly like mine, but they should be varied.

To start duplicating pages like this, select the first page we made, Page 1. Ctrl + C to copy, and Ctrl + V to paste that copy onto the screen. Using your direct selection tool, select just the top-right corner of the copy and change it by dragging it outward, pulling it in, or changing its curve ever so slightly. Do the same for the top-left corner.

With the new page still selected, select your gradient tool, and re-align the page gradient as desired. Then, with your page still selected, right click > Arrange > Send to Back, and position Page 2 behind page 1. Repeat. Adjust page corners as necessary for the desired effect.

You might want to remove the drop-shadow from the last page by selecting the last page (Page 6, in my case) going to the Appearance palette, selecting the drop-shadow field, and dragging it to the trash. If you can’t see the appearance palette, go to Window > Appearance.

Once your pages are stacked and arranged, you’ll want to add some very light shadows to the front of the page to simulate light page folds, and make the newspaper appear to be a little floppy. These will look unrealistic until we drop the newspaper content on top of everything, but bear with me here.

First, using your pen tool or the arc tool, create two curved lines across the newspaper – one thin, one thick. They should be dark gray in color.

Select the smaller arc, and set the opacity (under the Transparency panel) to 63%. Then, go to Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I set my gaussian blur to 17.0 pixels, but your blur will depend on the relative size of the object in your document.

Select the larger arc, and do the same. The opacity on my larger arc is 55%, with a gaussian blur of 42.0 pixels. Select the appropriate blur and opacity settings for your own strokes, so that when you’re done, you have something like this:

Okay, that’s it for the pages and backing. In the next section, we’ll talk about laying in some content.

With Christmas right around the corner, we Illustrator users are sure to get a pile of requests for holiday artwork. This tutorial was inspired by a set of candy cane icons I recently made for an upcoming project.

I created this lesson for intermediate Illustrator users. You will need to know your basic tool sets and how to use Illustrator’s color and gradient functions in order to complete this tutorial. I work with Adobe Illustrator CS3, but you should be able to follow along with any of the CS-series Illustrator versions.

Step 1: Create a custom brush

The tool set for this step is:

First things first, let’s set up our artboard to make life a little easier on ourselves. Go to the View menu, and make sure that Show Grid is turned on. Then, also in the View menu, enable Snap to Grid.

Then select your rounded rectangle tool. I like to set my corner radius to about 8px. Draw a rounded rectangle like the one shown below. You can see that my rectangle is 3 grid columns wide, and 6 grid rows tall – it doesn’t matter how large you make yours, but keep to generally similar proportions.

Copy the rectangle multiple times, until you have a row like the one below. It’s very important that the rectangles are aligned properly and spaced at exactly the same distance apart. Grid snapping should make aligning them easy.

Turn off Snap to Grid in your View menu.

Select all the rectangles in the row by dragging a box around all of them with your selection tool, or by clicking each one while holding down the Shift key. Then, select your Shear tool, and skew the rectangles so that they’re slightly tilted.

Again, select all of the (now tilted) shapes in the row, and drag the whole row into your brush panel. In the “New Brush” selection window that appears, choose Art Brush, then click “OK”. Then, in the next menu, be sure to choose tints in the Colorization section. If you don’t select “tints”, you won’t be able to change the colors of this stroke later on.

You should now see a new brush pop up in the panel. Everything else should be fine as-is.

You can now delete the row, and everything else, on your art board – your brush is saved in your brush panel. Now would be a good time to save your document, if you haven’t already.

Step 2: Create your shapes

The tool set for this step is:

Okay, with our brush done, we can move on to making our basic candy cane shape. In this step, I’m going to be using the pen tool, but I know that not everyone knows how to use it well. If you’re more familiar with other tools (like shapes + Pathfinder, or the brush tools), it’s fine to use those instead. The goal is just to get a candy-cane shape that is created with a stroke, and no fill.

If you’d like to give the pen tool a go, or you already know how to use it, go ahead and follow the diagram below to draw your candy cane shape.

When you’ve finished drawing, select and copy your candy-cane shape. You should now have two of them, so your artboard should look like mine:

Step 3: Color, size and position

Apply the new custom brush you made to one of your candy cane shapes by selecting one of your shapes, then clicking the brush in the layers palette. Change the stroke width until you’re satisfied that the shapes look vaguely candy-cane-stripey. After that, change the stroke color to white. I’ve put my white candy cane on a green background below so you can see it clearly, but you don’t need to do the same.

Okay, you’ve got the stripes – set them aside. Take your other candy cane shape, and turn the stroke color to red. Make the stroke nice and thick (mine’s 40pt), and add rounded ends to your stroke by clicking the “round cap” button in your illustrator panel. Below is the progression of shapes, as well as a little diagram of how to add rounded ends to your strokes.

Select your red candy cane. Go to Object menu > Path > Outline Stroke. Then click on your white candy cane. Go to Object menu > Expand appearance. This converts your strokes and brushes to actual shapes.

Set your white striped candy cane on top of your red candy cane. If you try to do this and the white stripes are set behind the red, right-click on the white and in the menu that appears, go to Arrange > Bring to Front.

Resize the red and white as necessary.

On the next page, you’ll learn to add shading, gloss, and effects.

You’ve probably seen Photoshop prompts that ask you whether or not you’d like to rasterize your text, shapes or layers. Hard to give Photoshop an answer when you don’t know what rasterizing is, exactly. The Wikipedia article on the topic is unusually unhelpful, stating, “Rasterization or Rasterisation is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format (shapes) and converting it into a raster image (pixels or dots) for output on a video display or printer, or for storage in a bitmap file format.”

Riiight… So let’s see if we can clear that up for all you Photoshoppers.

What does rasterizing text mean in Photoshop?

I’ll skip all the technical details about rasterizing and pixel counts and display ’cause hey, who cares? Basically, when you rasterize a layer, you turn it into a picture that can no longer be edited the way it was created.

For example, if you rasterize text, it’s no longer text. It’s a picture of text. After it’s rasterized, you can no longer use the type tool to change what you wrote. You now have to treat that rasterized text as a picture, using an eraser tool to erase parts of it, or using the color tools to change its hue.

If you still don’t understand, imagine the difference between typing the word “Hello!” in a text file, and painting the world “Hello!” on a canvas. With the text file (unrasterized text), you can select each letter with your cursor, make it bold, change the font, etc… the text is treated like text. If you paint the word on a canvas, you can’t use a cursor or text tool to manipulate that word. You have to paint over it or erase it to change it. Rasterizing text is like converting a text document to a painting.

What about rasterizing a shape?

With shapes, it’s essentially the same thing. If you rasterize a shape, it’s no longer an entity whose edges can be edited or manipulated using the shape tools – it becomes a solid, flat picture of a shape. In Photoshop, while something is still a shape, you can’t erase it using the erasers, but you can erase a rasterized shape.

A shape in Photoshop, while it is unrasterized, is a “vector”.

What is a vector?

Again, skipping the techno-babble, a vector shape or image is an image that can be resized however big you want it or however small you want it without it losing its integrity. A vector image is kind of smart. In a way, it stores enough information about itself to let you resize it, and it still keeps its sharpness. A vector circle could be resized to 1000″ x 1000″, and guess what? It won’t be blurry, it will stay perfectly round, and the edges will be as crisp as the day they were born.

What is a raster image?

A raster image is a picture. A flat, stupid picture that doesn’t know much about itself at all. It has a certain number of pixels per inch, and it plans to stay that way. You might be able to re-size it by stretching it out in Photoshop or another program, but the bigger you make it, the blurrier it gets, and if you make it too small, it will be miserably distorted.

As a rule, rasters do a lot better when they’re made smaller than when they’re made bigger.

Jpgs and photos are rasters. Images that you make with your paint brush in Photoshop are rasters. Gifs are also raster images. Any picture that you download online is probably a raster image. It’s a flat picture, and you can’t really edit individual elements of it, because it’s so dumb, it doesn’t even know those elements are there.

Why and when do I have to rasterize my shapes and text in Photoshop?

Depending on what you want to do, you don’t necessarily have to rasterize anything. When you save your final .psd file as a .jpg, .gif or .bmp image, Photoshop basically smooshes all your layers down into one flat raster image for you.

There are certain functions in Photoshop that you can only perform on a rasterized layer that you can’t perform on a vector or text layer. Allow me to illuminate.

Example One: You type some text, then you grab your paint brush and try to paint something. You don’t want to paint ON your text directly, you just want to paint in the Photoshop document you’re making. But you get this error: “This type layer must be rasterized before proceeding. Its text will no longer be editable. Do you want to rasterize the type?”

You’re getting this because Photoshop thinks you want to paint with your paintbrush directly onto the type. Why does it think that? Because you have a type layer selected. The paint brush tool creates raster brush strokes. The type tool creates non-raster text. So you can’t paint onto the letters themselves without first turning them into a raster.

To fix this problem without rasterizing anything, just go to Layer > New > Layer…, and click OK to create a fresh layer. Make sure that new layer is selected in your layers panel, and you can paint on that all you want.

However, if you do want to literally paint directly on your lettering, you must rasterize your type to do that. Then you can paint all over it. But you will no longer be able to edit your type with the text tools. It has become a picture.

Same solution if you want to use the eraser tool to erase your lettering, or apply a filter to your lettering. You cannot apply a Photoshop filter to unrasterized type. But you cannot apply text styles to type that has been rasterized. Why? Again, because it’s no longer type. It’s a picture of type.

Example 2: You’ve made a shape using your shape tools. Now you want to use the Eraser tool to erase part of it. But this error message appears: “This shape layer must be rasterized before proceeding. It will no longer have a vector mask. Rasterize the shape?”

You’re getting this error for the same reason you get the error in example 1. The shape you made with the shape tools is a vector – it is keeping track of enough information about itself to allow itself to be resized without pixellating. But you’re trying to treat it like a flat, inanimate, dumb raster picture.

If you want to use your eraser tool on the shape, by all means, rasterize it. If you’re trying to use your eraser tool on something else, and you keep getting that message, the problem is most likely that in your layers panel, the layer containing your shape is selected instead of the layer you want to be editing. Make sure the layer you want to erase is selected in that panel before you try to use the eraser.

Example 3: You’ve made a shape using your shape tools. Now you want to cut a piece out of it. You make your shape, you select the part you want to cut out, and you try to use Ctrl + X (or Mac / Linux equivalent), and strangely, the color of the shape floods your document.

In this case as well, the right thing to do is go ahead and rasterize that shape. If you’re new to Photoshop, rasterized shapes probably respond in a more intuitive way. Unrasterized shapes don’t.

Anything else I should know about rasterizing?

Because text and shapes can be resized without loosing definition, but rasters can’t, it’s always a good idea to make your text or your shape the size it will actually be before you rasterize it.

Think long and hard before you rasterize your shapes or text, because once you’ve done that, that’s it. It’s a picture. You lose the ability to edit your original in certain ways. What I usually do when I need to rasterize something, but I don’t want to lose my original in case I need to edit it some more, is I make a copy of the layer that needs to be rasterized. I hide one of the layers by clicking the eye icon next to it in the layer palette, and rasterize the other. Then, if I screw up in too dramatic a fashion, I can simply delete the rasterized layer, and start again with my original shape / text.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to make fantastic 3D arrows that work great with logos, presentations, and websites. This tutorial is a bit long, and it’s best to have some previous Illustrator experience, but I think a beginner won’t have too much trouble following along.

This tutorial was created in Adobe Illustrator CS3.

Step 1: Draw your basic arrow shape

Open up a new Illustrator web document and select your line segment tool.

With your line segment tool selected, draw a line. This line will be the “handle” of your arrow.

TIP: If you hold the shift key while you’re creating your line, the line will be perfectly straight. Only release the shift key after you have released the left mouse button.

Now, let’s make the line thicker. Select your line (to select a whole object, click the solid black arrow in the tools palette, then click on the object. You should see a blue box form around the line).

In the Stroke drop-down box at the top of your screen, change the stroke width to 40.

Let’s give the line an arrowhead. There are a few ways you can go about this. One is to draw a triangle and “attach” it to your line, but we’re going to cheat and use the easier method.

Make sure your line is selected, and go to Effect > Stylize > Add Arrowheads

From the panel that appears, you can choose whether you want arrowheads at both ends or at one end, and what shape you’d like them to be. There are 27 default choices. I’m using number 4 of 27, with one arrowhead.

TIP: Check the “preview” box in the Add Arrowheads panel to see a live preview of what your arrowheads will look like.

Now, let’s change the color of the arrow. You can choose any color. Interestingly, this isn’t the color the arrow is actually going to be when we’re done, so it doesn’t matter what you pick, but it’s helpful to make the arrow a bright color so that when we convert it to 3D, we can see the 3D shadows easily. If we leave it black, it’ll be hard to work with it later.

To change the arrow’s color, make sure the arrow is selected, and then double-click the stroke color box at the bottom of your tools menu. I’m choosing red.

Step 2: Convert the Arrow to 3D

With your arrow selected, go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel. Set the degrees at: 48, -26 and 8. If you feel comfortable enough to do so, you can go ahead and customize the settings here.

Step 3: Break the arrow into its component parts

With the arrow selected, go to Object > Expand Appearance

You’ve now broken the arrow into pieces that you can color one by one. Now we need to ungroup those pieces so we can work with them individually. With the arrow selected, right click. In the menu that appears, select “ungroup”.

Because multiple groups are formed when you expand the appearance of your arrow, you’ll probably need to “ungroup” multiple times. Keep selecting, right clicking and “ungrouping” the arrow until only one side of the arrow is highlighted when you select it. I had to do this three times before I got the desired result.

Step 4: Color the arrow

Now the fun part. Open up your Swatches panel on the left. In the Swatches menu, under “Gradients”, choose a gradient palette to work with. I like the Gradients > Brights palette, so I’m going to work with that one.

TIP: If you can’t see your “Swatches” palette, go to the Window menu and make sure the checkbox next to “Swatches” is selected.

Select a single “piece”, or side, of your arrow. With that piece selected, click on one of the gradients in your palette. The color of that one piece will change to the gradient you selected.

Then, with that piece still selected, click on the gradient tool in your tools palette. Drag a line across the selected arrow piece in the *direction* you want your color gradient to flow. I like to make sure the darker gradient colors appear near crevices and corners, which gives the appearance of realistic light.

Continue doing this for each piece of the arrow. Click on a piece, and with that piece selected, click on a gradient color. Then select your gradient tool, drag a line across the piece in the direction you want your colors to flow.

TIP: You can select multiple pieces at the same time by holding the shift key while you click each piece. You can have the same gradient flow across multiple surfaces this way.

Step 5: Add Effects

Looks nice as-is, and if you’re happy with the results, you can just save it and be done! But I think I’d like to add a little bit of transparency so that my arrow appears to be made of clear glass or plastic.

Select the top piece of the arrow handle.

Now, go to your transparency palette, and change the opacity of that piece to 77

Do the same for the piece of the handle facing you. Select it, then change the opacity to 73.

And there we go, a transparent glass arrow. This same technique of converting an object to 3D, breaking it apart, ungrouping it and changing the colors of each piece can be used on any object, including letters and lettering. It’s easier to work with a 3D object that doesn’t have many curves in it, as when you break curves apart, they tend to get messy during the conversion, and become difficult to work with, so stick with straight lines and hard edges until you’re comfortable with this.

If you’re familiar with Illustrator already, you can add additional effects like sparkles, gloss, reflections and shadows for even better results.