Part 1: Flowers & Leaves

Flowers and leaves are an all time favorite theme in design. Whether you’re designing for a website, a magazine or a fabric pattern, these simply never go out of trend!

Step 1

Use the pen tool to draw a petal. Then use the rotate tool to copy and paste a few petals. Modify some of the petals’ shape to create a more interesting and realistic flower.

Step 2

Use the gradient tool with a similar linear gradient as shown here. With the gradient tool selected click on one point of the petal and drag it across the canvas to create variations of the gradient. Keep on doing this until you are satisfied.

Step 3

Draw the inner flower bud like shapes and the stamen with the pen tool. Use the smooth tool to correct their shapes so that they look smoother.

Step 4

Copy and rotate the outer buds at an angle of 25 degrees. Do the same with the stamen.

Step 5

Assemble your flower and you’re almost there! The next steps are to embellish your flower.

Step 6

Add some depth to the flower by duplication your petals and add a darker gradient to them. Place this behind your flower.

Step 7

Draw the stem with the pen tool.

Step 8

Place the stem behind the flower.

Step 9

Draw a leaf with the pen tool. Shade it with a radial gradient. Copy and paste a second leaf, make it a darker gradient shade of green. Place it behind the your leaf.

Step 10

Using the pen tool draw a second flower illustration that looks like a bird of paradise flower. Colour it with a gradient similar to the one shown here. Colour the stem with the same gradient used for your leaf.

Step 11

Now you are ready to use the flowers and leaves vector illustration in your design composition just by duplicating and rotating the vector elements.

Final Image

Im proud to announce the start of the tips & tricks or better known as TNT series to TUTcandy.

This first episode is all about Illustrators at times confusing selection tools, hopefully give beginners a good grasp on things and also a few tips some of you seasoned pro’s may have missed.

The illustration used is one of my stock illustrations for sale on iStockphoto

please feel free to drop me some feedback on your thoughts on both this episode and the overall idea of TNT on TUTcandy

Ive been jamming a lot of ideas about how best to keep you guys updated with a steady stream of TUTcandy goodness. But as I said this site is for you, so today I have a question to put to you all… your chance to change the future of TUTcandy.

I have been considering launching a section on the site dedicated to el primo tutorials on a subscription base.

Here’s an idea of what Subscriptions will include.

• Special access to premium release tutorials including guest tutorials from the industries movers and shakers.
• Access to assets (ai & ps goodies)  including actions, brushes, vectors and all other source where applicable.
• An ever so sexy air app so you can watch your tutorials straight from your desktop.
• More of me… well I know this isn’t anything special, but the site will include a request section and many other goodies.

All that for less then a cup of coffee each month…

Now with that said I never had any intentions of charging for tutorials, and I will always keep up the stream of regular free tutorials but this will allow me to spend more time delivering better tutorials to all of you…

So please cast your vote for the future of TUTcandy

So in this tutorial Ill show you it is some times quicker to redraw rather then work with a pixelated jpg. I show you how to redraw a fairly simple character one most of you would already know and love “The WOO Ninja” but the point of the tutorial is that you can learn the skills to redraw the next time you run into this problem.

HUGE shout out to the WOO Themes Team and to my man Adii pronounced ay dee not how I say it on the video or maybe its just my aussie accent you be the judge

Also I have to laugh a couple of times in the video I call the gradient mesh tool the magic wand tool… I sort of don’t use the words to much I have them buried right next to comic sans.

As mentioned in the video here’s some M&M’s characters I had to redraw for a project which just goes to show you no matter how big the project still be prepaired for the dreaded redraw.

If you have any questions at all please drop me a comment.

Im so very honored to be chosen by the good people over at woothemes to be a part of there theme showdown.

excerpt from the woothemes site.. found here
“So what’s the showdown then? Basically we’ll select two of these incredible user-modified versions of our themes every week and then have them square off against each other for the title of Showdown Champion. We’ll select the contestants based on submissions on our showcase and we’ll always select two contestants who used the same theme as the basis.”

So TUTcandy is up against WCRIA which also is a very nice site so its going to be a tough battle.

Shoot over to woothemes to vote on your favourite

Huge thanks to Adii and the woo team

As mentioned in the tutorial HUGE shout out to a good freind of mine upheaval for supplying the more then awesome photograph of the lemonade girl.

All images can be purchased from iStockphoto.com and heres a link to the lighbox

and for more on brushes check out this tutorial

 join and post your creations to the tutcandy flickr group id love to see how you are all using TUTcandy in your own special way

click thumb for full size image

I show you how to make a simple retouch action adding emphasis and sharpening on one of my favorite photos this guys was an amazing model. Photo shot with a 5d at the Seattle istockalypse.
Here’ the link to the photo on istock

The other action I use in the tutorial is an awesome 3d box from theDom
Download it here

We start off cleaning the image in photoshop dont freak if you havnt got it, all photo editing software should have very similar functions.
The take it into illustrator and use the automated live trace tool, which I normaly think auto anything does a pretty terrible job but for rough hand-drawn linework it will work just perfectly. In up and coming tutorials I will show how to clean up an autotrace image so you have clean crisp lines and some of the other ways to take your beautiful art out of your sketch pads and onto your screens.

Ive finally learnt how to add call-outs which i think are an awesome addition to the tutorials.
and as always I would love to here from you as your feedback will help mold this site.