Transcript:
In this tutorial? I’ll show you how you can create unique shapes just by subtracting one shape that’s in the front from its shape in the back in Illustrator just by using the minus front option in the Pathfinder panel. But first, how would you like a free cheat sheet, okay. I thought so, header 2 graphics girl back home to get your free illustrator. Cheat sheet. That will show you all the shortcuts in the program. Just click the link below. Hello, creative. It’s your graphics girl. If graphics girl calm that’s graphics with pH and S girl with no eye and 3 Rs. And I’m here with a quick tip to help you design your brand so to begin with, you’re gonna need your basic shape. In the example to the right up here of the crescent moon. We needed 2 circles, So consider this whether you’re making an emblem and archway crescent moon waves of the ocean or a decorative border. Think about what is the shape that you want to wind up with, then think about the shapes that you could subtract from another to create that basic shape, so when you’re using the minus front option from the Pathfinder panel? Consider, what do I need to subtract from what to get the shape that I need? So in each of these shapes, we had other shapes that first were laid on top of in order to be left with the shape that we were so in this shape. I had a circle and I had a burst. Both of these shapes can be made with the shape tool. So if you click and hold down, you can create a starburst with the star tool when you select that, and you click down one time you can give yourself some parameters such as 2 Point 5 and the second point is 2 so that there’s not that much of a difference between these two, and this refers to the outer point and the inside point next. I chose something like 17 If you like you can use a round number such as 20 so when you click, OK? I’m left with this starburst. So when you’re creating one shape from another and here, the circle was created by just holding down the ellipse tool and utilizing this shift key to make a perfect circle, so it’s helpful to do two things one creating a shape that subtracts the front shape from the shape behind it one. They’re not both the same color so first step. Make sure that your two colors are different. Another tip that I like to do is to make that top color. Let’s say in this case, white or otherwise match your artboard color. So with that shape being white, you can get a sense of the preview of the shape that you’ll be left with so here. I could select both of these shapes and come to my align panel and ensure that these are vertically aligned in this case. I’ll go ahead and make sure they’re also horizontally aligned and now with this shape being colored white. I can get a sense of the shape that I’d be left with, so I’ll go ahead and make this yellow selecting both again. Now when I – front, you can see that. I’m left just with this shape. Once again, you can go into outline mode with command or control. Y to see that there is, in fact, only one shape. Another way you can ensure that this is only one shape is to go ahead and change the color by changing the color. You can see it’s applied just to that one shape, Okay, So next, an archway in this case. I was started with a rectangle and I gave myself this perfect oval. You could create for yourself a rounded rectangle. If you like and just increase that radius, something like point five, and then I subtracted that from the rectangle below it. I happen to have made a line with a very thick line, and then I used my cap or rounded the edge, rotating it vertically. I put it in the top of my rectangle and then subtracted both to see how I create a cap line. Be sure to watch my video up here on how to create all kinds of lines capped dashed and otherwise in Illustrator. This one once again we’re two perfect circles. And if you want to use my trick of making it white, you can get the placement exactly where you wanted that. First top circle to be in order to see what you would be left with. How much of a crescent moon you wanted to make? Then you select both and once again from your Pathfinder panel, choosing – front now these down here. I’ll back out just a little bit with Commander Control. – we’re a little bit more complicated. In this case, I created a blend by first creating one circle, and then its second circle on lining it to the edges and then utilizing the blend tool to go all the way across. Here’s how I did it. I’ll start with my rectangle tool, and then I’ll go ahead changing my fill color to red here and make a perfect circle just by holding down the shift key next. I’m going to want to ensure with command control Y that I’m in the dead center of that circles, object, meaning the little center point of that object. I would want to make that be on the line like so, and if I wasn’t sure that I was all the way at the edge, I could select both the circle and the rectangle and use my line. Panel horizontal align, left tool, go ahead and backing out again pan on over here, bringing it back to preview modes. You can see the color and I would select that circle holding my option key to make a copy and adding in my shift key to make a copy of it on the same horizontal edge. So once again, Commander control. Y I can see that it’s already lined up to its center point because the other one was already and I can select both these shapes and align now command Y to bring it back to preview H on your keyboard to pan over with your hand and now V to select this and now shift to select my other shape with both top circles here selected. I could come to object blend. I’m going to go ahead and just choose make and it filled it in. You could play around with your settings of your blend. If this is not the look that you wanted, but here once again since it’s a blend, I can select one part of it, and it will still select all once again now, using my Pathfinder panel’s – front feature. This actually won’t work if I have just a blend and then the shape behind it because as you can see in outline mode. I really only have these two circles if I were to subtract the front Y. It just doesn’t work. I have to do one more step before I can use that. And that is to come to blend expand to break apart. My blend into individual shapes you see now? I have all of these circles, so with the circles and then shift-click my rectangle to select everything when I subtract the front, I’m left with these waves, so always think about it like this. If you are to have taken the pen tool here, right and created a point and come down here and hold in my shift key to make it at a 45 degree angle and probably need my ruler here. This would be a harder trick and they’ll put a stroke on. You can see that this would be more difficult to do with the pen tool, then subtracting a circle from a rectangle, right, so it’s not impossible to create these weaves, in fact. I’ll do another video in the future going over in greater detail. The tricks that I use when I teach how to use the pen tool effectively, but always think, would it be easier for me to subtract one shape from another versus having to create individual points with the pen tool, Last example, Right here, so go ahead and I’ll do this one here rectangle tool. I’m going to go ahead and make a perfect rectangle. I can use my rotate tool with R on the keyboard if you like it. And now when you rotate it holding down the shift, key will keep it constrained to 45 degree increments and I can now select both my diamond shape and the rectangle, using my align panel to top align that shape, so zooming in with my zoom tool here. Let me be a little bit more precise, because your alignment of your shapes is everything it did make it top aligned, zooming in even more, But I want the point of this shape to be right at the edge when I back out with man to control – and pan down. I’m just going to make sure that my center point is right on the line. All right, double clicking the hand to bring it on back command. Y to see my preview there. I am now I have this diamond that I’m going to hit option to drag, and now my shift key to make a copy on the same vertical plane, selecting now both the rectangle and this diamond, I’ll bottom align it By the way I’m making sure that all this time that you are aligning to selection now I can select both the top and the bottom diamond and now with them both selected. When you choose object, blend, blend options, you could say specified steps for so you can see there that it put put one two three four shapes in between the top and bottom shape. So with this now I could select my blend that I’ve created, and when you go into outline mode, you can see it’s still a blend because you only see the top and bottom shape and the last step is object, blend, expand. So when you expand that shape now you can see it’s made up of all of these individual diamonds and they’re overlap, and now when you select that back rectangle and come into the Pathfinder tool, it will subtract or minus the front from the back, and so this is still one big shape that with my direct select arrow. I could choose to modify it. However, I wanted right, I could go ahead and if I didn’t want this point, I could use my pen tool and delete an anchor point here and just subtract out that point completely. So this is absolutely modifiable, right. I’ll command or control Z to bring that back. But if I decided you know what this would be easier for me to sit there and do Sig zag with the pen tool. And you know, do my best all the way down and then. I’ll go like here, they’re everywhere If I came back and I decided I wanted to make this uniform. Obviously I can use my ruler with a guide, You know, when I place those points or enough in other words, you know, and I can modify these points individually to make them hit that guide. I still think I’ll go ahead and hide these guides. I still think that you’re gonna have a greater likelihood of uniformity and consistency. If you subtract one shape from another versus creating a shape manually with the pen tool, so if you’re going for symmetry, you’re going for consistency and you’re going for convenience. You really can’t beat the minus front option of the Pathfinder tool to create the shapes that you want by subtracting them from other shapes. Go ahead and leave a comment below. If you have any questions on any of the tools that I showed in this tutorial even beyond the minus front option of the Pathfinder panel in Illustrator. 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