Illustrator Process Video #3 - Freehand Brushes for Cartoon Style Inking

Video #3 - Freehand BRUSH Tool

Click on image - video will open in new window
(There's also a smaller version at the bottom of the post in case you have trouble watching the large video)

Okay -- here's where it starts getting fun!
We're going to be covering the freehand brush tool in today's Adobe Illustrator Inking Tutorial video

The freehand brush seems to be one of the least-known features in Adobe Illustrator. Most people associate Illustrator with very clean and technical lines -- and not the hand-drawn look that traditional cartoons and comic books use. It turns out, though, that Adobe Illustrator is a fantastic tool for doing comic book inking and cartooning cleanups still have that spontaneous & freehand look.

I want to make sure to point out that you'll need some sort of pressure-sensitive drawing tablet to get all the calligraphic effects that I'm going to be showing in this video. The most common drawing tablets are made by Wacom, and they range in price from under $99 for the Bamboo Fun to "an arm and a leg" for the Cintiq. All of these brush effects can be done with even the simplest and the smallest drawing tablet (as long as it supports pressure sensitivity).

A lot of people complain that the hand-drawn lines that they try to draw with the freehand brush tool become distorted as soon as the line has finished being drawn. That problem will be corrected if you copy the brush settings that I use in this video. Of course, I also encourage everybody to play with those settings and customize to them to your own specific needs.

Today's video will show you how to find and use the custom brushes that I included in the downloadable template, and it also shows you exactly how to customize and create your own custom freehand brushes. Once all that information has been covered, will be ready for tomorrow's video -- when I actually start INKING the darn thing! So be sure to come back for the next episode, too!

Here's a smaller version of today's video if you're having trouble viewing the larger version:

If you want to keep up with all the videos, here's where to find the first two lessons:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings