How to Create a Custom Calligraphy Brush in Illustrator

One of the drawbacks to vector illustrations is that the lines are so regular. With a pencil or chalk you can vary the width and color of a single line. You could buy an expensive pressure sensitive tablet or you could create a custom calligraphy brush in Illustrator to simulate a hand-drawn line.

Instructions

1. Open the Illustrator brushes palette. Choose "New Brush" from the flyout menu in the palette's top right corner and select "New Calligraphic Brush" as the brush type. The "Calligraphic Brush Options" dialog will preview your brush shape and options.

2. Drag either a black dot in the brush preview to expand or collapse the brush's oval shape or type a value in the roundness field. Percentages above 100 percent fatten the ellipse; percentages below 100 percent make it slimmer.

3. Click on the arrow tip to rotate the brush orientation or type an angle in the rotation field. Adjust the brush diameter to increase or reduce its overall size (you can see it's actual size in the brush comparison preview window).

4. Randomize any of the effects to vary the stroke as you paint it. Choose "Random" from the pulldown menu next to each setting and adjust the variation slider to set the variation boundaries. You can compare the possible variations in the comparison window.

5. Apply the settings. Choose the paintbrush and draw your brush stroke or select a path and click on the brush preview in the brushes palette to apply the effect. Change the stroke color or the stroke width to vary the brush effects even further.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also set the brush to respond to pressure settings from a pressure-sensitive stylus.