Introduction

Vector Basic Training

The one question I get asked most by other creatives is, ”How do you get your vector artwork to look so nice?” When people ask me this, they're not talking about any specific art project or illustration, but rather how I go about building my artwork in vector format so precisely.

Truth is that many designers, whether they are students or seasoned professionals, struggle with building precise vector shapes. I have wrestled with it myself. There are times I have to access old art files from my personal archive, and when I open them, I cringe, thinking, ”Why did I build it that way?” or ”That could have been done a lot better.”

The point is: We all have room for improvement.

Vector Basic Training exhaustively documents my own creative process and approach to building vector artwork. The methods I'll cover in this book (with exception to the plug-ins covered in chapter 2) are what I'd call application-agnostic. No specific software is required because you'll be able to take these methods and use them within the vector drawing application of your choice. For sake of demonstration, I'll be using Adobe Illustrator, which is the drawing application of my choice.

This book isn't your typical software-oriented technical manual or a how-to for using the latest tools and pull-down menu effects. It assumes you have a general understanding of vector drawing applications already and want to improve your skills so you can build precise vector artwork.

My creative process is systematic in its approach. You may not agree with everything I have to say, but you can't argue with the end results you'll be able to produce over time if you apply the methods to your own creative endeavors.

Why Designers Should Draw

Yes, this is a book about vector build methods, but its creative foundation is firmly established on core drawing skills—something I stress repeatedly throughout this book because I feel so strongly about its importance to the creative process.

We all drew pictures when we were children, freely and joyfully with arms and legs protruding madly from the heads of our very first crudely rendered self-portraits. Many of you continued to draw as you grew older and that creative passion is probably one of the main reasons you're a designer today.

Some of you, however, didn't stick with drawing and have evolved into the type of designer who can't, or simply doesn't, draw. This is unacceptable.

If you drew every day, in five years you certainly would not say to yourself, ”I wish I never would have started drawing again. I am a worse designer now.” Your creative skills will only improve by integrating drawing into your creative process. The practical benefits from drawing will be self-evident and a lot of fun.

I should point out that when I say ”drawing” I don't mean that everyone needs to become a full-fledged illustrator. Being able to draw allows you to take the ethereal concept in your mind and formulate it visually. The more you draw, the better you're able to capture and leverage ideas and expand your creative potential. Combine improved drawing skills with the vector build methods in this book, and you will definitely execute better artwork with more precision.

When it's all said and done, you'll be what I like to call a ”drawsigner.”

Digital vs. Analog

Even though our industry may be digitally driven, ideas are still best developed in analog form. You should always work out your ideas by drawing out your visual explorations on paper before you ever jump onto a computer. Failure to do so is the primary cause of many designers' problems when building vector artwork. If you can't draw accurately on paper, you won't be able to draw accurately on a computer either.

Building vector artwork before you know exactly what to build is an exercise in design futility. In this book, I'll show you how to utilize both analog and digital methods throughout the entire creative process. You'll learn how to go back and forth between the two realms to create effective and precise vector artwork.

As part of the creative process that I'll teach you in this book, I'll ask you to start by drawing out your ideas as thumbnail sketches using good old-fashioned pencil, pen, and paper. After refining your sketchwork, we'll scan it into a drawing application and begin our vector build process. I have several tried-and-true methods and build processes, which I'll explain throughout this book, that will give you a firm understanding of how to place just the right amount of points in just the right places for any design. The end result? Precision vector graphics nearly every time.

Process Makes Perfect

You've heard the saying, ”Practice makes perfect.” But I'd argue that when building vector art, your process must be precise from the start. A flawed or sloppy creative process will handicap your design potential. Worse, repeated over time, it will make you a consistent builder of marginal vector artwork.

I think a more accurate saying for our purposes would be, ”Process makes perfect.” This book will help you establish a successful creative process that you can use on any project type and that, over time, will improve your creative abilities so that you can design well-crafted artwork consistently.

Direct to DVD

The build methods and plug-ins showcased in this book are also thoroughly documented in action through more than four hours of screen-casts, which are included on the DVD. You'll also find helpful resource files so you can test drive these methods yourself and deconstruct art shown in the book so that you can better understand how it was built.

When you see the DVD camera icon anywhere in the book, it means the content provided on that page has a video on the DVD that is associated with it.

When you see the Resource Ai icon appear in the book, it means the content being discussed on that page has a vector source file associated with it that is provided on the DVD. Again, these are yours to play with and study.

Don't be a Design-O-Saur

Nothing hangs me up more in my workflow than an unforeseen software bug or computer problem. I've often thought what it would be like if other industries had to deal with the types of problems we face all the time.

Imagine, for example, if a construction worker backed his truck over his tool belt and broke his hammer in half, forcing him to head to the local hardware store and buy a new hammer. The man returns to the work site to finish the job, but when tries to use the new hammer to drive in some nails, the hammer shifts to the right, causing the construction worker to hit the board instead of the nail. Uh-oh—looks like his new hammer isn't compatible with his older version nails.

I know this is silly, but it's the type of reality we designers have to deal with every day.

Our industry, more than most, is in constant flux due to the ever-growing and changing technologies we have to work with on a daily basis. It can get overwhelming at times keeping up to speed with everything, but it's essential in order to stay creatively relevant with the larger design community.

A creative process should be flexible enough to accommodate new technology, methods, and tools that will improve its efficiency without compromising its effectiveness.

Vector Basic Training won't cover every possible tool for building vector art, but it will introduce you to a systematic creative process that you can use to create high-quality design work, regardless of which vector drawing program you use.

Along the way, I'll touch on additional tools and techniques that make certain vector build methods easier to accomplish. The methodology I cover may stretch your creative comfort zone, but unless you adapt to new methods and constantly strive to improve your design skills, you risk becoming a dreaded design-o-saur, and your once forward-looking design work will start to resemble a thing of the past.