Posted by Roderick on August 19, 2003
Robare M. NovouI Have a mac,and illustrator.I'm tring to change the shape of a letter,like draw out the leg on a script.It seems very complecated.
Also tring to doing a rendering to show a client and I want to make the letters look like surface leaf 23k.I thought about airbrushing some highlights in but what a pain.Are there any affects that might work?
Thanks Roderick
Alf ToyIn regarding ones ability to make the lettering on your computer sketch look like real 23k....I recently bought an ALPS 5000 thermal desktop printer. Some of you out there may be familar with this amazing printer, which is no longer produced by the ALPS corporation. It is however available on the internet, I got mine off ebay.
The final cost was $350. Cartridges are still available.
This printer is my "mini-edge"...in addition to printing CMYK colors, white, and metallics, it also prints gold and silver foils, and the images or lettering that are foil printed look just like shiny 23k gold or shiny pure silver, and all on plain white or colored paper. One of my many intentions is to use this printer for making those shiney gold or silver customer presentation sketches. I have also added gold and silver lettering to my letterheads and business cards. As having just started doing this, I have yet to gauge its effectiveness. Maybe someone else out there has tryed this and could pass on some additional info or experience.
RMN
Robin SharrardA tutorial at signfonts.com shows how to draw out the leg on a script.
http://artandsignstudio.com/tutorial.html
Roderick,
There is some realy great input here, but like everything else, some clear instruction followed by hours of practice are essentual. Although I will be one of those students at Tony's in Lodi, in October...I have found that going to some free websites and completing some of the free turorials, is a great way to learn and keep the cobwebs away.
Don Coplen has some great how to's on his site and there are a few good basic tutorials on text manipulation at thinkdan.com , tiedesign.com , and about.com ; however, the very best free web site that I have found that realy covers the three major vector progams (Illustrator, Freehand, and Coreldraw) well is www.sketchpad.net Not only does he cover it all in a very understandible fashion, he also provides free practice templates that you can install and use to practice using all the vector manipulation tools. Give it a try and I think you may find what you are looking for as far as manipulating your font characters. There are some tutorials on the other sites that I mentioned that will help you with the texture effects as well. Hope this helps, if not maybe I'll see you at Tony's in Lodi in October. Robin
Mike Jackson
Danny BaronianRoderick,
Take David Butler's class at Tony's place. By the time you finish the class, you will be able to do all of the above.
You would need to learn to digitize in either Illustrator or Photoshop and then apply colors and EyeCandy filters in Photoshop to do most of what you are asking.
Also, watch for my next article in SC dealing with the issue of whether colorized sketches for a sign presentations are really necessary in a small shop. There will be some great old sign sketches by George Seelander in it, too.
Mike Jackson
Robert BeverlyBy converting the text to outlines you can add or reshape existing points to change the letter shape, but you have to be familiar with drawing with bezier curves; that's not easily taught or explained online.
As far as making a realistic gold, PhotoShop would be the better tool for that. A fast and effective looking gold for comps are easily done in illustrator by converting the text to outlines and filling them with a gradient.
If you want to do this well, follow Mike's advice. I took the class and it's well worth it.
Also look for Mike's articles in past SC magazines.
Danny
Roderick
As has been mentioned, there are ways to add the color in gradient and there was a very recent post on "fills" on the other board that explains how to paste the fill into your copy....some great fills too!
As for a quick application, there is a plugin called eye candy 4000 that you can do immediate effects with. I have used it many times with good results!
I find it an excellent way of demonstrating a gold leaf application in this area since there are so few that even offer it here in the Big D!
I would be happy to help you further...just give me a hollar!
Danny Baronian
There are no quick fixes to accomplish the changes in a font style or adding fills. The original question regarded the use of Illustrator. At the least a solid, basic understanding of both illustrator and PhotoShop are required to offer an acceptable presentation. Most of us strive to offer more than acceptable.
I could not disagree more that the computer is an excellent way of demonstrating gold leaf application. While the computer is a great tool, it's just that, another tool, with limitations. The final products many of us make are hand made. Hand crafted.
In Mike's post a few days ago, he said: "I guess you could say the group at "The Original Letterheads Web Site" are "Keepers of the Craft!". Maybe we need to add "Keepers of the Craft" to the mast head.
If you are in an area where David Butler is holding a class, he puts on a great class, and is putting on four that I know of in New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, and Lodi California, that covers both Illustrator and PhotoShop.
Does anyone know exactly where the classes are taking place?
No, I do not get a kick back or comp from the Butlers. I should check into that though.
Regarding Roderick's original question, we fail to realize that many times the quickest way to accomplish the job is the old fashioned way. By hand.
Danny
Robert Beverly
Roderick
Danny is correct on the computer avenue. Nothing can replace the real thing. I just can't think of a better way short of actually making the piece (with hopes the client will buy it) so we do provide visuals that are computer generated.
And from my understanding of David's classes, I beleive this is actually the total crux of the course and that is the process of taking your rough rendering into the computer and transforming the design into a worthy example of the final design or product that you would submit for approval of producing.
As for locations for classes, there is Janet Balough(sp?) hosting the class in Florida, y'all know Tony in California, and Raymond Chapman is spear heading the class here in Texas.
I look forward to attending it!
Don Coplen
Don CoplenOne thing I usually do when changing letter shapes is after converting the line of text to curves, I put a guideline underneath. Just select the type, then while holding down the command key, hit the C, F and 5 keys, in that order. This places a guide directly underneath the letters you intend to reshape. The idea is to have a reference of the original shape while changing it.
Billy BobIf you haven't tried a digital tablet yet, I'd strongly recommend it to anybody who has drawing skills. I put a simple step by step online last week that some of you might find interesting, showing how I do my thumbnail sketches directly to the computer via a tablet/stylus. It's at http://home.mindspring.com/~dcoplen/hom ... torial.jpg
Select text> under TYPE select "outline copy". Deselect > then use the "direct selection tool" (the left one at top) while holding down the shift key, select the points you want to manipulate. Then drag 'em whereever you want. Cool huh?
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads