How to Create a Mountain in the Engraving Style Using the WidthScribe plugin and Adobe Illustrator
Today we will create a mountain in the vintage engraving style with WidthScribe. We are able to change the path width, applying the Width Gradient, Width Brush and Width Stamp tools. WidthScribe has a number of useful features for work with variable width strokes,...
Tips, Tricks and Helpful Hints – Get More Astute in 2018
As you may already know, as well as our Blogs we offer a wide range of video tutorials for each of our plug-ins over on YouTube. Here we have gathered together a selection of these to help you get the most out of your plug-ins in 2018. ...
Keflione – How I use MirrorMe to Push the Boundaries of my Illustration
Artist and Illustrator Keflione began making Street-Art in the early 2000s. Following a BA in graphic design and an MA Fine Arts at Central St Martins, he took up various art residencies in India and Brunei before settling in China where he lives and works...
9 Ways to Minimize File Size in Adobe Illustrator
Large files can significantly slow down your workflow. Editing, zooming of the screen and just saving the file may take several minutes. In addition large file sizes are often the reason of application crashes resulting in the loss of all or part of the work. Using...
Edit and Relink Embedded Images in Adobe Illustrator
After reading this brief article you will discover how to edit an embedded image whether it be an photographic image or raster effect, as well as how to relink embedded images, all with the help of our image editing plug-in Rasterino. Embedded images are raster (or...
Cómo crear una Mandala en Illustrator con MirrorMe y DynamicSketch
Hoy aprenderemos como crear una Mandala con MirrorMe y DynamicSketch. La combinación de estas herramientas harán que tu dibujo sea más confortable, ya que puedes ver al instante el reflejo de la línea que trazas. También encontrarás algunas recomendaciones prácticas...
Using Rasterino with Linked and Embedded images
Using Rasterino with Linked and Embedded images Some users have faced problems using Rasterino with bitmap images. Let's see where is it not possible to utilise the functionality of this plug-in. Before applying functions of Rasterino you will need to understand...
Texturino Keyboard Shortcuts
Texturino is intended to quickly and easily work with bitmap textures. This gives us the opportunity to finish vector artworks directly in Adobe Illustrator without using bitmap editor. In this short guide I'll give you a few tips to help you further...
How to Create a Neon Light Text Effect in Illustrator
Today you will learn how to create a neon text effect using blend objects, art brushes, blending modes and the DynamicSketch plug-in. Using art brushes with DynamicSketch allows us to create an accurate and easily editable path that contains fewer points. In addition...
How to create a Mandala in Illustrator with MirrorMe and DynamicSketch
Today you will learn how to create a Mandala pattern with MirrorMe and DynamicSketch. The combination of these tools allows you to make drawing more comfortable, as you can see the reflection of the stroke preview. Here you will also find some practical...
How to apply textures to 3D objects using Texturino in Adobe Illustrator
How to apply textures to 3D objects using Texturino in Adobe Illustrator In this tutorial you will learn how to apply bitmap textures to 3D vector objects using a simple technique. This has become possible thanks to Texturino plug-in, which allows you to quickly...
Paint Brush and DynamicSketch – The Differences
Paint Brush and DynamicSketch – The Differences In today's article you'll learn the difference between the Paint Brush and DynamicSketch functions. Although both of these tools are used for the same purpose, DynamicSketch has many convenient and...
Using Brushes in Adobe Illustrator – 7 Useful Tips
In this article you will learn how to quickly set up brushes, how to select the appropriate colorization method, how to quickly modify only the selected stroke, the compatibility of brushes with the variable width path and much more. This should enable you to...
Ilias Sounas – Using Texturino and Phantasm in my Vector Illustration
2D animator and Illustrator Ilias Sounas uses Texturino and Phantasm in much of his work. Here he tells us a little about his workflow, and explains why he finds these plug-ins so useful. "My artwork mainly consists of vector illustrations, so...
DynamicSketch v2.0.0 Keyboard Shortcuts
Today's guide aims to speed up your vector workflow with DynamicSketch by using keyboard shortcuts. This information, along with the DynamicSketch instructional product movies, will help you get the most from this extremely effective plug-in! Please note...
DynamicSketch v2 – What’s New
DynamicSketch v2 has just been released making sketching a true joy in Adobe Illustrator! Regardless whether you use a mouse, trackpad, Wacom, Surface Pro or any other Mac or Windows device, it will bring a whole new dimension to your creative and illustrative...
New Pulled Cursor Feature of DynamicSketch Tool
New Pulled Cursor Feature of DynamicSketch Tool In today's article we will talk about the Pulled Cursor Feature, which will help you to draw smooth paths with DynamicSketch in an easy way. In addition, it allows you to easily control Stylus Pressure, getting the...
InkScribe part 3: Customizable Preferences
Adobe Illustrator is used in various areas of design — fashion design, technical drawing, web design, art, and more. Each designer should set up the program to cater for their own specific needs, and InkScribe's extensive options allow for this. Now I want to tell...
InkScribe Part 2: Tools Explained
InkScribe Part 2: Tools Explained Today we'll talk about how using InkScribe allows you to work faster, smarter, more accurately and in other words more efficiently. Ghost Handles As discussed in Part 1 of this series, we can easily choose the type of segment to...
InkScribe Part 1: Get Started
InkScribe is designed for fast, accurate, and smart creating and editing of the Bezier curves on which the entirety of vector graphics is based. For the past 30 years, the Pen Tool has been used for creating these objects, but it has not been essentially modified in...
Create a Vintage Nautical Label with InkScribe in Adobe Illustrator
Today we will compare the Pen, Curvature and InkScribe tools using the example of creating a vintage nautical label. The Gif animations will illustrate the actual drawing process with these tools and show the problems that you encounter in your daily practice. If you...
Astute Graphics Plug-ins Workflow by Mark Oliver
Mark Oliver is an Award winning Illustrator and full time professional artist based in Worthing, UK. His recent work for the Smart Car campaign (among others) has benefitted from the use of our plug-ins, and here Mark talks us through a brief workflow to explain how...
Manage Auto-Open Panels for Astute Graphics Plug-ins
The respective panels of our VectorScribe, InkScribe, Texturino, WidthScribe, Stylism and MirrorMe plug-ins have always opened automatically when enabled. To disable this function, you previously needed to edit the Adobe Illustrator Preferences file, but this was for...
InkScribe and VectorScribe – The Differences
InkScribe is designed to replace the Pen Tool. This tool has many useful functions that allow designers to create paths more accurately and conveniently and in a less time-consuming way. VectorScribe contains seven tools for creating basic shapes, editing existing...
InkScribe v 1.7.1 – What’s New
Thanks to customer feedback and interaction, InkScribe has just become an even more convenient tool. We have changed the tool's location, default preferences and added new InkScribe's presets. We are always thankful for your feedback and expert evaluation as...
Cleaning up CAD and 3D artwork in Illustrator with VectorFirstAid
A lot of designers working with CAD and 3D applications, need to finish working with objects in Adobe Illustrator. Such objects can be exported into vector formats, however, for complete work it is necessary to do multiple routine operations, which are often very...
Cleanup PDF, Word, Excel, InDesign, Corel and Draw files with VectorFirstAid in Illustrator
When working in Adobe Illustrator, designers often need to work with files created in other applications, such as Adobe Acrobat and InDesign, Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel Draw and Affinity Designer, QuarkXPress, Wacom Bamboo Spark and so on. Here we are then often...
Work with text objects using VectorFirstAid in Adobe Illustrator
With the help of VectorFirstAid we can automatically replace all missing fonts, combine point text and remove empty text paths. In today's article, you'll learn about the functions that perform these actions. We can replace all missing fonts in the...
Astute Graphics on the Catwalk – Workflow Tutorial by Kitty Florido
Based in Guatemala City, Freelance Designer Kitty Florido enjoys producing work for a variety of markets. Her work was most recently showcased in fabrics used by Guatemalan fashion designer Eduardo Figueroa. Kitty used our plug-ins in the making of these...