How to Make Unstretched Illustrator Brushes

Check the "scale proportionately" box as you make a new Illustrator brush if you don't want a brush's art to stretch and look distorted. Activating this setting will increase the brush's length and width simultaneously -- thus keeping your art recognizable regardless of how you use the brush. Make an unstretched brush out of art objects that will look appealing, without stretching to fit your paths. Brushes that contain symbols, logos and letterforms may look best when set to scale proportionately, for example.

Instructions

1. Select the art that will become a new Art brush with the Selection tool.

2. Click the New Brush icon from within the Brushes panel.

3. Choose New Art Brush in the New Brush dialog box and click OK.

4. Select Scale Proportionately from within the Art Brush Options dialog box.

5. Set the brush's width to fixed, choose the brush's direction and specify a colorization method.

6. Name the new brush before you click "OK."

References

• Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5; Mordy Golding