How to Make Fancy Splotches With Illustrator

Make geometrically precise abstract splotches with Adobe Illustrator.

Just as the word "splotch" combines "spot" and "blotch," you can combine Adobe Illustrator's tools and filters to create virtual splotches that don't require detergent to remove. Whether you add them to a creative drawing, a informational graphic or a logo splotches can be much more than stains or blots. You can use Adobe Illustrator's tools and effects to turn simple graphic elements into fancy, decorative shapes that you'd find time-consumingly difficult to draw from scratch.

Instructions

1. Activate Adobe Illustrator's Star tool, nested in the application's toolbox with the Rectangle and other shape-drawing tools. Click once on an open area of your artboard to bring up the Star dialog box.

2. Enter "30 pt" in the "Radius 1" data field and "15 pt" in the "Radius 2" data field. Radius 1 sets the distance from the interior points of a star shape to the center of the object. Radius 2 establishes the equivalent distance from the tips of the star points. Set the number of points to 10. Click on the "OK" button to create your shape.

3. Open the Effect menu, click on its "Distort & Transform" submenu and choose "Pucker & Bloat." Pucker creates pointed effects while Bloat produces rounded extrusions. Drag the effect's slider control all the way to the "Pucker" end of the scale to create a spidery, spiked shape. Click on the "OK" button to apply the effect.

4. Create a second star shape, this one with "100 pt" and "72 pt" entered into the Radius 1 and 2 option fields. Give this shape five points, then click on the "OK" button to create it. The result looks more like a pentagon than a star.

5. Open the Effect menu, click on its "Distort & Transform" submenu again, then select "Pucker & Bloat" for your second shape's effect. This time, drag the effect slider all the way to "Bloat" to create a daisy-like result with spindly petals and a starburst center. Click on the "OK" button to apply your effect.

Tips & Warnings

• Adobe Illustrator's effects remain live so you can edit their parameters at any time.

• When you select an Illustrator object to which you've applied a shape-distorting effect you'll see the outline of its underlying shape as the object's selection outline, displayed in the color applied in your layer options to the document layer on which you created it.

• Apply a radial gradient to your splotches for an interesting color effect.

• Extreme live-effect settings can produce unexpected results if you attempt to print them. Test your ability to output your artwork before you pass it on to colleagues or send it out for commercial printing.

References

• The Free Dictionary: Splotch
• Adobe Systems; Using Adobe Illustrator CS5

Resources

• The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book; Sharon Steuer
• Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5; Mordy Golding
• Adobe Illustrator CS5 Bible; Ted Alspach
• Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide; Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
• Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies; Jennifer Smith, et al.