Tag Archives: graphic design

For this post I’m going to show you what can be created working between Illustrator & Photoshop. This all started with opening Illustrator and realizing how much I don’t know about certain tools provided in Illustrator CS6.  I decided to play with the Mesh Tool. Below is a bit of an explanation of what this tool is and what you can do with it.

[A mesh object is a multicolored object on which colors can flow in different directions and transition smoothly from one point to another. When you create a mesh object, multiple lines called mesh lines crisscross the object and provide a way to easily manipulate color transitions on the object. By moving and editing points on the mesh lines, you can change the intensity of a color shift, or change the extent of a colored area on the object], from Illustrator Help / Meshes web page. I don’t want to bore you by having the entire explanation in this post so for more information go to (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/meshes.html). It’s worth reading the whole thing if you want to use this tool.

For the first project I started by drawing a rectangle with, what else but the rectangle tool, choosing a very vibrant pink fill. From there I just started adding points of colour and manoeuvring some of the points around until suddenly it looked like a bird with its beak facing towards the ground.  I decided to add an eye by drawing an oval with the ellipse tool, adding points with the mesh tool for the shading and highlighting, then added another oval for the eye-ball. Next I exported it as a PSD (although in this case it probably wasn’t necessary because I only used 1 layer whereas in future endeavours I used more than one layer and was able to work on each layer individually in Photoshop).  Next I played with a few filters in   Photoshop and finally decided on the Alien Skin Snap Art filter – Impasto paint. I quite like this paint filter and used it for a few other projects in this post. And there you have it, a Photoshop image that looks like a painting of a bird, or maybe you see something else. Let me know what you think it looks like.

I will give a short description of each project with the pictures I add. Enjoy.

This next project started the same as last with a simple rectangle. Then I decided to build a cluster of daisy like flowers in a variety of sizes. Exported it into Photoshop as a PSD then applied the Impasto paint filter.

For the next project I had an idea of producing something with what looks like a face. I wanted vibrant colours in the vein of Mexican or Latin American style art. I started with a rectangle then added an oval on top to give it a framed look. And once again I used the Impasto paint filter. I just love the effects of that paint filter. I’m not sure if I totally achieved the effect I was trying for but I liked what I ended up with.

For this project I started with a square. I started using the mesh tool working from the edges mainly and started to see an image. For me it started looking like some kind of butterfly or alike. I tried to use really bright cheerful colours. This time instead of using the Impasto filter I used the Snap Art –  Watercolour filter adding a little saturation and brightness (which is in the controls of this filter). This is one of my favourites.

These last few projects I’m just going to let you enjoy them without explanation.