Use stock Illustrator symbols to quickly show clients (or your friends!) what a logo or image would like on clothing.

Go to your symbol libraries (if you need help with this refer back to PART ONE: “A Quick Introduction to Illustrator Symbols”), choose the Fashion Library and add the desired pieces of clothing to your Symbols Palette.

Drag and drop the symbol(s) to your artboard. For this quick exercise I am going to add our logo to a hat and a t-shirt, so I have dragged one of each symbol into the document.

I am using a single instance of each symbol here, so I can simply Expand (Object > Expand) the shape if I want to update the color or add a stroke. (I will go over how to edit the actual Symbol in a subsequent part of this series.) Then just add the art or text that you want to appear on your clothing item and you are done!

You’ve been busy creating a beautiful illustration using all the colors in your favorite blanket from when you were a kid.  When you mom finally sends it to you in the mail you realize the shade of purple that you were remembering was was actually brown!  It would take you hours to go back and change all the little details you made in the wrong color.  Here is an easy way to select multiple object that share common characteristics, such as color.

We start with a simple design with a few colors used repeatedly throughout the design.

Choose one color that you would like to change.  I am going to update the purple dots in the design above and make them brown.  Select any object that has the fill color that you want to update.  Once it appears as the fill color in your toolbox, go to Select > Same > Fill Color.

Now all of the object that are your chosen fill color should be selected.

 Now all you have to do is select a new fill color from your Color Palette and, VIOLA….all of the selected objects will be updated!

You can use this simple methond for selecting objects with the same fill color, stroke color, stroke width and even opacity.  A very handy tool indeed!        

So that we can practice what we have gone over so far in the Simply Symbols Series, this tutorial goes over how to make a simple illustration using standard Illustrator symbols along with the skills and tools covered in Parts 1 & 2.

Let’s illustrate an outdoor scene of a house and a yard.

First, go through the Symbol Libraries and add these symbols seen below (or something similar) to your Symbols Palette.  If you need help adding symbols to your Symbols Palette, refer back to PART ONE: An Intro to Illustrator Symbols”.

Next, create a background of sky and grass on the artboard.

Now drag the house symbol from the Symbols Palette onto the artboard. Using the Symbol Sizer Tool, scale the house to the desired size. For a review of the Symbol Tools, go back to PART TWO: “Symbols Tools”.

Drag some instances of the tree symbol into the yard position them here and there. You can use the Symbol Sizer, Symbol Stainer and Symbol Screener tools to make some of your trees diminish in size, color and opacity to give the scene some perspective.

Next, let’s add a garden at the base of the house by dragging some flower and grass symbols onto the artboard.

Perhaps a few bushes around the perimeter of the house.

Now, drag in some butterflies fluttering around in the yard.

Finally, add some clouds in the sky. Create more lifelike clouds by using the Symbol Sizer and Symbol Screener to make the various sizes with a low opacity.

There you have it. A complete and detailed illustration using only standard Illustrator symbols. Has the potential to make life much easier, doesn’t it?

Stay tuned, PART FOUR will go through the steps for Creating Custom Symbols….