Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator
In the previous two tutorials I had taught you to create Custom Art Brush and Custom Scatter Brush and today you will learn to create Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator.
The effect of Pattern Brush and Scatter Brush looks the same but there is a difference between them. Scatter Brush does not follow the path exactly but Pattern Brush does. Pattern Brush bends the shape according to the path but Scatter Brush doesn’t.
You can create the Pattern Brush by creating up to five tiles for different sections of the path. Let’s understand it in detail by following the below-mentioned steps:
Step 1
Before creating a Pattern Brush you have to first create a Pattern Swatch. For that, you have to draw the shape of which you want to create a Pattern Brush.
After drawing the shape select it and click on Object in the Menu Bar and then place your cursor on Pattern and select Make.
After clicking on Make, a Dialogue box will appear with a message that the selected shape has been added as a Pattern Swatch in the Swatches Panel. Select OK. Along with the Dialogue box, the Pattern Options window will also appear. In that window, you can give a name to your Pattern Swatch and make necessary alterations as required, and then click on Done.
Now I will create one more shape which is required for my pattern brush and will add it as a Pattern Swatch in the same way as I have saved the above shape.
Step 2
Now we will create a Pattern Brush with the help of these two Pattern Swatches. Click on Window in the Menu Bar and select Brushes. In the Brushes Panel, click on the New Brush icon.
The New Brush Options box will appear with different types of brush options. From those options select Pattern Brush and click OK.
When you will select Pattern Brush and click OK, the Pattern Brush Options box will appear. In that, you will see five tiles, namely, Outer Corner Tile, Side Tile, Inner Corner Tile, Start Tile, and End Tile.
I will fill these tiles with the Pattern Swatcheswhich we have created above. From these tiles options, you can select which position you want to place your Pattern Swatch. See in the below image how I have placed the Pattern Swatches to create the Pattern Brush.
You can make changes in the settings as per your requirement but prefer to select Tints for Colorization Method. It will help in retaining the original color of the strokes which you will select while creating your artwork or you can select None to have the original color of the shapes. Click OK to save your Pattern Brush.
Step 3
It’s time to draw something with your recently created Pattern Brush. Select the Paintbrush Tool from the Tool Panel and select the newly created Pattern Brush from the Brushes Panel and start drawing.
If you are not satisfied with the size, shape, or axis of the pattern result then no need to worry, just double click on the Pattern Swatch in the Swatches Panel and make changes in the Pattern Option. After saving the changes of the Pattern Swatches, double click on the Pattern Brush in the Brushes Panel and select the new Pattern Swatches in the tiles. When you will click OK a dialogue box will appear. In that dialogue box select Apply to Strokes and your change will be applied to the pattern you have drawn.
Now practice by drawing another shape and with that shape create a Pattern Swatch and then create a Pattern Brush.
Hope you enjoyed creating Pattern Brush with the help of this tutorial. Share your views in the comment section and share this tutorial with others.
