Illustrator has plenty of tools, panels, and commands that make our work much easier. Among them, however, there are several outstanding ones that I personally consider the most important features of this program. They include brushes, the Appearance panel, Effects, and, of course, transformation.
The Transform Effect in Adobe Illustrator lets you move, scale, flip, rotate and repeat the appearance of one or more selected objects, and all of this is editable in the Appearance Panel. Using transformation(s), you can create patterns with paths, brush strokes, text or even imported images, which I will explain in this class. Then you can edit the whole pattern by making adjustments to the original. You’ll be surprised by the power of this indispensable tool!
So, the Transform Effect: what is it? The Transform Effect is a dynamic effect whose main result is to create patterns of content that can be easily manipulated, allowing you to make adjustments to the original object or group of objects. This is incredibly powerful, especially when combined with a clipping mask. Knowing transformation is knowing a lot – it gives you power you may have never even considered. In this class, Secrets of Live Transformations – Create a Mandala, you will learn the amazing power of the Transformation Effect in Illustrator by producing a template. This template can be saved and used over and over to produce radial repeat designs, valuable in pattern design and illustration. I will show you by using a mandala as an example, so you will have a gorgeous motif by the time you are done! We will be using reflect and rotate effects, but what you learn can easily be transferred to other functions.
You will not believe your eyes! Get started now and you could be done today. You won’t be able to sleep tonight knowing all of the amazing things you can do with your new-found skill. I even impressed myself, lol.
Intro:
In this intro, I will give you an overview of the contents of this class.
Lesson 1: Template, Clipping Mask & Live Transformation
Set-up of the mandala template is just the beginning. We will discuss the advantages of the transform effect. At the end of this lesson you will have a very usable and re-usable template!
Lesson 2: Brushes, Guides and Templates
In this lesson, you will see my process demonstrated and the power of the transform effect becomes very real!
Lesson 3: Expanding and Gradient Fills
The simple mandala in the last lesson will be augmented with special brush techniques preparing it for using gradient fills.
Lesson 4: Adjust and Set Up the Template
In this lesson, we finish up the gradient mandala with a few details, then we move into making adjustments on our template and starting the detailed, henna-like mandala.
Lesson 5: Adjust Template and Build Detail
In this lesson, we work on the mandala to achieve plenty of details. I will reveal many techniques for adding interest, including dashing the strokes and layering them. There is plenty of timelapse to make it faster, with a voice-over from me explaining the intricacies and giving you many more tips and tricks.
Lesson 6: Brush Ideas and Pattern Repeat Testing
In this final lesson, I want to blow your mind with possibilities. Be prepared to be inspired! As I was going along you will see how excited I got just thinking ahead to what I could achieve with this template!
Outro:
This last segment will wrap up all we discussed and give you a starting point and encouragement to start today!
