masterclass: adobe illustrator
WHO JOSHUA M SMITH Joshua is an extremely cool US designer specializing in vectorbased illustration and design. He has created work for the likes of Evoke LA, Flicker Records, Boom Magazine, E360 Magazine, Comet Skateboards, and apparel for the likes of Ripcurl and Quiksilver. He has recently redesigned his Web site, which features a wide variety of his work. CONTACT www.hydro74.com SOFTWARE Adobe Illustrator TIME TO COMPLETE 3 hours
ON THE CD
Vector-based T-shirt graphic design US designer Joshua Smith shows you how to create a killer T-shirt design using a 3D object as a starting point in Adobe Illustrator. In the age of clip art books and simple solutions, it’s rare to find good illustrations that someone invested some time into that will make its way on a shirt that we, the consumer, can be proud of. However, if your favourite T-shirt is a slogan-based one, with the likes of ‘I’M WITH STUPID’ or ‘NICE RACK’ with a simple illustration of a gun-rack, then this probably isn’t for you. This whole concept stems from the idea that we want to broadcast what we are most
passionate about. Only a few brands in the industry have amazing illustrators working for them, or a brand might be a spawn of something that’s already illustration-based, such as Tokidoki & Obey Giant. Brands like RVCA, Monarcy, Drifter, and others in the same field strive to have illustration as the message that carries their themes. This tutorial shows how I would attack a T-shirt design if someone commissioned a piece.
All files for this tutorial can be found on the cover CD.
step
I love skulls, and I actually have one handy in my office that I can snap a quick photo of. Since I’m lazy and don’t need any high-end technology to do this, I just did it with my iPhone since I can pretty much drop it into iPhoto and drag it into Adobe Illustrator. You can do this with a sketch, doodle or whatever you want to pull from.
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