Enter the brush name in to the first panel. I added 3 so the zipper doesn’t get misshapen after we create the brush.Ī new window will open up. By pressing cmd+D you can add even more links. Press alt and drag out a copy of both objects to the art board. Flip it around by either using the direct selection tool and turning the entire shape around while holding shift or by navigating to object/transform/rotate and set it to 180 degrees. Place the flipped object like shown on the image. Select the entire shape and copy (cmd+C) and paste (cmd+V) it on the art board. Tweak it a bit by adding strokes, lighting effects or other patterns on to the shape (to keep things as simple as possible I won’t be doing that). This will create one shape out of the two. Select both objects on the art board, open the pathfinder window (window/pathfinder) and choose unite. Select the left shape and copy it to another layer (we’ll need it later). Copy the shape (cmd+C) and paste it in place (cmd+shift+V) With the item still selected navigate over to image/transform/reflect, choose horizontal and confirm with OK.Īlign the newly flipped half of our shape with the other side of the guide so that the anchor points of both shapes are aligned. Now select the entire shape with the selection tool (V). Also, the round indent and extrusion should be roughly the same size and shape. Make sure that the round bump doesn’t go over the border of the square part of the object (that’s important!) and it’s also not a very good idea to make it too small. Go over to the left ruler and drag a guide on to the art board.ĭraw a shape like in the image and align both ends with the guide. Drawing the zipperįirst create a new document, turn on smart guides (cmd+U) and rulers (cmd+R). First we need to draw the basic shapes of the zipper though, so let’s get started. I’ll be using a simple zipper as an example. It can be used for simple patterned lines (like a line of different shapes) but teaching you how to use it for more difficult tasks, will show you just how useful it can be. That’s where the pattern brush comes in to play.

In this article I’ll show you how to use the pattern brush to your advantage.Ĭreating chains, ropes and other strokes by hand is tedious and time consuming. The brush is a VERY powerful tool in Adobe Illustrator.

Pattern brush illustrator