Play with hand-painted effectsIllustrator includes many features for working with bitmap images. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to import bitmap images into Illustrator and apply artistic effects. ![]() 1. Choose a bitmap image. An image with high contrast works the best. If you don't have a suitable image, a variety of stock photography is available on the Illustrator CD. ![]() 2. Import the image into Illustrator. Start by creating a new document in RGB color mode. (This is important because the Artistic filters don't work on CMYK images.) Then choose File > Place, and select the image file. Make sure the Link option is deselected, and click OK. The Links palette shows all imported images. (See Managing linked and embedded artwork.) ![]() 3. Apply the Poster Edges effect. Target the image in the Layers palette, and choose Effect > Artistic > Poster Edges. Adjust the settings until you are satisfied with the preview, then click OK. The Poster Edges effect reduces the number of colors in an image according to the posterization option you set, and finds the edges of the image and draws black lines on them. Broader areas of the image have simple shading while fine, dark detail is distributed throughout the image. ![]() 4. Apply the Watercolor effect. Choose Effect > Artistic > Watercolor. Adjust the settings until you are satisfied with the preview, then click OK. The Watercolor effect paints the image in a watercolor style, simplifying details in an image, using a medium brush loaded with water and color. Where significant tonal changes occur at edges, the filter saturates the color. ![]() 5. Choose a brush. If the Brushes palette isn't showing, choose Window > Brushes. The Brushes palette displays a variety of default brushes; however many additional brushes are available to you through brush libraries. To open a brush library, click the triangle icon at the top right corner of the Brushes palette, and choose an option from the Open Brush Library submenu. Once you locate the graphic style you want to use, click it. We selected the Fountain Pen brush from the Ink library. ![]() 6. Apply a brush stroke. Select the Paintbrush tool, and select a color. We used the Eyedropper tool to sample a color in our artwork. (See Copying attributes between objects.) Then drag to apply the stoke. If you want more precision, use the Pen tool to draw a path, then apply the brush to the path. (See Applying brushes to existing paths.) ![]() 7. Experiment with different brushes. We added some green splatters using the Ink Splatter brush and some yellow splatters using the Galaxy brush. Then we defined the edges of the paint cans using the Dry Ink brush. ![]() |