Using Illustrator to draw traditional patterns!

The powerful function of computer graphics software makes a considerable part of manual labor can be omitted, in the pattern composition and deformation of the combination is able to bring unexpected creativity. Illustrator has become the first choice for pattern design with its diverse drawing techniques and precise positioning assistance among the lossy drawing software favored by designers.

Creation tool: Illustrator 10

Drawing mesh weave patterns

Generating patterns based on the warp and weft of a textile is a very old way of designing. In Illustrator, you just bring up the Guides and Grid dialog box under Preferences, set the Grid", set the intervals for the "Grid", and then click "Show Grid" under the "View" menu. In my experience, it is best to set the grid to 40 equal parts per inch, and then zoom in on the entire drawing area by 300-600% to start drawing. The process of drawing is also called tiling the grid with small squares of equal size in the vertical and horizontal directions. To save time and speed, you can click the "Snap to Grid" item under the "View" menu. This will make copying and moving the grid very precise and convenient (Figure 1).

It should be emphasized that this is an old-fashioned but highly decorative way of designing, and well worth trying.

Square continuous pattern drawing

Square continuous pattern is characterized by a flat space in the vertical and horizontal expansion of the seamless splicing. This requires precise positioning aids when drawing, and Illustrator provides a very useful "Smart guides" mode, the settings of which are located under the "View" menu. The settings are located under the "View" menu. Also need to open the "View (View)" menu under the "Snap to points (point alignment). Drawing process shown in Figure 2.

1. First draw a rectangle, and then draw some forms inside the rectangular frame and on all sides. Note that the head outline and leaf shape on the left in this example clearly extend beyond the border, or intersect the left boundary of the rectangle. The same is true of the spiral at the top.

2. Select the rectangle and the avatar and leaf shapes, place the cursor on the upper-left corner of the rectangle ("Smart guides" will clearly indicate "Anchor"), press "Alt" on the keyboard to copy the rectangle, and move it to the right. and move to the right. Align the upper-left corner of the copied rectangle with the upper-right corner of the original rectangle (as clearly indicated by "Smart guides": Anchor). Now, the pattern fits seamlessly in the horizontal direction without any problems.

3. Similarly, to ensure that the pattern fits seamlessly in the vertical direction, duplicate the original rectangle and the spiral above it downwards in the same way as above.

4. Delete the two rectangles copied out front and back. At this point, you can do some post-processing of the graphics, will be certain lines can be connected to strengthen its visual sense of continuity.

5. Select the original rectangle, move its stacking order to the top, and set its border line to none. Note that this setting is critical.

6. Select all the shapes, and under the Edit menu, click Define pattern. The pattern within the rectangular frame becomes a complete, seamlessly stitched quadrilateral pattern that you can fill with any shape of frame.

Drawing of floral patterns

The so-called floral pattern, is the graphics along a specific axis for the circumference of the array. The ancient and modern flower pattern can be described as a variety of different colors. Illustrator provides a "Pattern brush (pattern brush)" tool can quickly and accurately draw the flower pattern. You only need to select a specific graphic, in the "Brush (Brush)" panel select "New brush (New brush)", and then select "Pattern brush (Pattern brush) "The initial setup is complete. Now you can draw a square circle and assign the outline property to the pattern brush you just defined.

Double-click on a pattern brush in the Brush panel to bring up the Settings dialog box, which allows you to further refine the size, spacing, and so on, of the graphics in a circular layout.

As shown in Figure 3, the same figure is rotated at different angles to get different effects of the flower pattern.

As shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, an example of floral pattern, the pattern above the brush used. As shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7, the combination of bipartite continuous pattern and the regimental pattern.

Figure 5 floral pattern 2

Figure 7 bipartite continuous pattern and floral pattern of the combination of the use of 2

Border pattern drawing

We know that the rectangular border decorative pattern has a main pattern and corner pattern points. On the basis of determining the main pattern, how to further increase the corner pattern settings? Steps are as follows:

1. First of all, prepare the relevant graphics as the corner pattern, note that the main pattern and the corner pattern should maintain the same vertical size (Figure 8).

2. Select the corner pattern, press the "Alt" key on the keyboard at the same time, drag and drop it to the left of the main pattern in the Brushes panel, in the dialog box that follows to check whether the pattern has been placed in the second of the five positioning squares, and if so, press the "OK" button. OK" button.

3. Now, draw a rectangle of the right size and assign the brush you just set to its border property.

In Illustrator, the "Pattern brush" is a very precise setting that allows us to determine the body of the border, inside and outside the corners, the beginning and the end of the pattern in great detail (Figure 9).

Suitable for drawing patterns

Placing a pattern into a particular shape and making it fit that shape is often a problem in textile design, vessel design, and architectural design, and Illustrator's Art brush may be able to give us a good idea of what we're looking for when we use it properly. If used properly, may be able to bring us some unexpected creativity. For example, the phoenix bird graphics first defined as "Art brush (Art brush)", and then assigned to the two staggered arcs, we get an oval suitable for the pattern, the effect is shown in Figure 10.

Summary, in Illustrator with the aid of pattern creation and production, not only fast and efficient, but also interesting. Of course, Illustrator in the pattern design features to be more friends to explore. Let us *** with attention to Illustrator and similar vector drawing software in the pattern design skills exchange, the use of digital technology to make the long history of the arts and crafts of the flower open more brilliant.