How to Create Smoky Brushes and Type In Illustrator CS4
Tutorial Details
- Program: Illustrator
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Completion Time: 30 minutes
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
I’ve always been fascinated by smoke, and have experimented a lot with it. So in this tutorial, I explain how to create realistic smoke, make it into a brush and use it for type. Let’s light up our vector cigarettes and get started smokin’!
Every few weeks, we revisit some of our reader's favorite posts from throughout the history of the site. This tutorial was first published in October of 2009.
Step 1
Create a new document (Command + N) for print in A3 (297mm by 420mm).
Step 2
Make a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (M) that covers the whole artboard and make it black. While the rectangle is selected go to Object > Lock > Selection (Command + 2), which will lock the object so that you can’t select it.
Take your Pen Tool (P) and make a vertical stroke (click to make a start point, then click somewhere over or under the start point while holding Shift to make a vertical stroke). Make the stroke white and the fill blank. Set the weight of the stroke to 0,05mm.
If your units are set to something else, like points or inches, make sure that you type in “mm” behind 0,05, or hit Command + K. Choose units and display performance from the drop-down menu and change the units to millimeters.
Step 3
While your stroke is selected grab the Selection Tool (V), then hit enter and type in 0,05mm for horizontal and 0 for vertical. Click copy and hold Command + D (Object > Transform > Transform Again) for around 20sec, which will perform the Tranform Again command multiple times.
Step 4
While all of your strokes are selected, set the blend mode to Screen and Opacity to 8. Then group it (Command + G).
Step 5
Take your Pen Tool (P) and draw a shape that looks something like that shown below.
Step 6
Now for the magical step! Make sure that the shape you just made is on the top and click it, then hit Command + Shift + Right Bracket key (Object > Arrange > Bring to Front). Select the path and the strokes and go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make With Top Object (Command + Alt + C). Check that the Blend Fidelity is set to 100 (Object > Envelope Distort > Envelope Options, there you should set the Fidelity to 100).
Now that’s pretty cool, but if you take a closer look, you will see that the strokes are pretty clear. If you do not intend to make a stroke out of this you can fix it by clicking Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and type in 7.0px, but since we are going to make a stroke out of it, we’ll do that later (shapes you want to turn into strokes can’t have effects like this one added).
Step 7
Now drag your smoke into the brushes panel. If you can’t see it then hit F5. Check the New Art Brush and hit OK.
Step 8
Name your brush whatever you want to, set the Direction to Up, and Method to Tints and Shades, then hit OK.
Step 9
Now you have your brush, but do you have something to use it for? If yes, remember to chose Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and type in 0.7px when you have assembled your brush. If no, continue reading.
Take you Pencil Tool (N) and draw some letters, one letter at a time. Group them, add the stroke and set the stroke weight to 0,5pt.
Step 10
Copy your smoky letters (Command + C) and paste them behind (Command + B). Set the stroke weight to 3 pt. Now go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and type in 7 px.
Yes, this is a Photoshop effect, so it will rasterize, but if you hit Command + K and check the Scale Strokes and Effects, then you’ll be fine when you want to scale it.
Final Image
I hope you learned something new, and that it will come in use sometime, if it does, I would love to see what you make out of it.
Subscribe to the Vectortuts+ RSS Feed to stay up to date with the latest vector tutorials and articles.
Enjoyed this Post?
Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!
By Mathias M. Stav
Join our newsletter!
Create a Tutorial, Get Paid!
Have something to teach the world? Want to earn money doing it? Tutorials, screencasts, and articles published here on Vectortuts+ are largely contributed by readers just like you! We'll pay you great money for good content. Find Out More
Thanks for the interesting tutorial
Simple and creative!
Cool Tut the only problem I am having is when I create the New Art Brush the Key Color in the display box is Black, on yours its White, and for some reason it does not allow me to change it to white.. there for when I do the smoke effect on a different color to Black it has a black fill inside.. help would be greatly appreciated.. As for people that are struggling with step six YOU DO NOT ADD a gaussian blur…
Thank you! This is great! I’m loving it!
I’ve got a problem… I’m stuck with step 4, when I press ctr+d, the vertical line just moves it doesnt create duplicates… what’s happening? need help really badly! >.<
be sure to hit “copy” in the step before ctr+d
Hey. I seem to be stuck at that point to. I have hit copy but transform again doesn’t give me any duplicates. What should I do??
Brilliant!
simple & beautiful.
I’m having trouble with step 3: after it I don’t get results from step 4. My issue is with the “click copy” part – I don’t know what that exactly means. When I hold ctrl+D, all it does is move the line to the right without duplicating it.
Please help!
Well I bodged out a solution by holding ctrl and rotating between C V and D, it’s not really elegant, but it gets the job done.
Im also having the same problem. Im using “ctrl + C” to copy, then hitting “ctrl = D” and all I get is lines moving to the right, no copies. Is there a “click copy” function that I’m supposed to use? Please help the newbie!
Oh never mind, Im blind… I see “click copy” now.
Thanks for the great tut, took some tinkering but I figured it out.
I used CS3 and it worked great
How did you duplicate the path in CS3? When i hold down CTRL D the line i have drawn just moves across the screen and does not duplicate ?????
have you copied it? Control + C then Control + D, if you have to paste above, use Control + F and behind is Control + B
hi, does your example Work with CS3 ? i can’t make a new brush (step 7).
Please help me this problem :(
you can send me the answer “m.magickiss@gmail.com”
i’m waiting your answer.
u so great!
Does this work with CS3? I can’t get step 6 to work at all.
Is there any problem doing this with CS3?
I tried it but somehow in step 6 something hoes wrong.
Any tips?
Greetings from Cologne
I’m using CS4 but somehow in step 6 I get really thick mess. Have retried doing all steps according to tutorial but result didn’t change. Could use some advice…
Very nice tut, and great effect !!
In step 5…
How many points did it take to make the “shape”?
Is the shape a closed path?
Do I need a stroke on the shape?
I think this is VERY profound and I really like it a lot. I happen to be searching for a cool way to do smoke in Illustrator for almost half a year but couldn’t really find anything that I was pleased with.
Although, I do think that simply adding gaussian blur to make the stripes less visible is not the best way to do it. It also removes the ‘sharpness’ of the smoke itself. Smoke has to have some sharp corners in it in order to look realistic.
And I’m not that big a fan of rasterizing work in Illustrator.
awesome, seriously awesome
Good work Mathias!
One thing, I´m using CS3, and I can´t get it to work.
BUT, when I draw a line in the begining instead of using the pen tool. Then it´s working!
So I guess that´s what you other guys hafto do as well if it doesn´t work on your CS3.
Clever.. Mat. Great Tut, really..
could you give us u’re face tracing Tut??
This tutorial made us a great designer
awsome tutorial! i’ve never tried using these combinations of effects (envelope, layer effects, etc)
Really useful technique to know, thanks
Holy smoke!
Nice tut…
I love this! I figured out how to apply bright colors (think orange, red and yellow) to actually make more of a flame appearance. Only problem is, when using color, it cannot be put on a black background. Likewise, when using black as the smoke color, it cannot be applied on a colored background – only white. I don’t understand why it does this, but I worked around it and achieved a fantastic look! Thanks for the tutorial!
doesn’t look like smoke at all
This is very cool…thank you soooooooo much, this tut really is the only one on the internet as far as I’ve searched with stunning output. I really needed it for a print design recently. I’m speechless. It’s like I found water in the desert :D
once is 0.7px twice is 7px blur.. just in case of confusion ;)
Great tut! This is much simpler to apply than many other smoke brush tuts i’ve seen. This helps me a lot!
I’m having trouble with step 7:after Gaussian Blur cannot make new art brush
Don’t use guassian blur . it won’t give u option for art brush….
i’m having trouble with step 5..
the shape create is with fill and stroke or both??
i have already moved the shape at step 5 to the front
after doing the (Make With Top Object (Command + Alt + C). Check that the Blend Fidelity is set to 100 (Object > Envelope Distort > Envelope Options, there you should set the Fidelity to 100).)
it turn out to be a thin line with fading on the top and bottom..
i read thru the comments and solutions at the similar problems given..
but it doesnt work..
so i have no idea what went wrong…
pls help! :)
I am having the same problem. I am using CS5 and have gone through the steps several times. I am only achieving a gradient effect and no tendrils of smoke. It still looks good but not as good. Please e-mail me if you figure it out.
First of all it seems to be very good tutorial, merci Mathias!
I have the same problem like many others of us. It doesn’t look like smoke with transparent lines. After the command “Envelope Distort > Make With Top Object” I’m stuck too.
Question 1: Does it ONLY works in CS4?
Question 2: Has anybody GOOD results in CS3?
Question 3: Has anybody tried it in CS3 and in CS4 and do they obtain the same results?
Thanks for replying, because many users have the same problem like me…
Can this be used with various colors on a white background?
Hi,
its really Great! now am using CS4…..
when i am going to step 7 (Drag in the the brush menu > New art Brush) it says “The Selected Artwork contains an Element that cannot be used in an art Brush”
So please advice to solve this issue
Thanks
same here
thx
Hi, I have CS4 and word on a PC. I’m kinda a newbie at this and do not understand the step to ctrl+C then control+D and then the blend tool. All that happens is the line I make moves….
Thanks,
2 Abunoora:
i’m also using cs4.
“The Selected Artwork contains an Element that cannot be used in an art Brush”. i have the same mistake. u should not use gaussian blur before the creation of art brush.
2 everybody:
and now some endnotes to the tut…
step 5:
the shape is a closed path. only so. to make it u it’s necessary use Expand or Offset path
step 6:
make sure that the shape you just made is on the top. then necessarily select strokes and ur shape. only after these steps go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make With Top Object.
that’s all. and thx for the tut. really simply and stylish.
I also have a more simple way to get it
Take Pen Tool (P) and make two line, one is white ,other is gray,chose all use( command+option+B)
hah, nice smoky is Floating
Great tutorial- one question. What’s the easiest way to change the color of the smoke on the go? I know this has been alluded to before, but I couldn’t find a definite answer.
Problem with 6th step? I just figured it out! :)
this ogranic shape should be on the front of all objects but in the same group with those lines. Then if you select whole group and go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make With Top Object (Command + Alt + C) it will work.
great effect.. nice
Great effect, but i must say, this is a computer resources killer. My computer almost smoked out (:
im having trouble when it comes to step five
for some reason i can’t make the shape out of the 20 sec strokes that i made
help please?
I’ve got a problem… I’m stuck with step 3 when the window appears in the options patterns is not selected and i can’t selected neither. What i can do or what i doing wrong? I hope somebody can helpme…
I don’t know what i’m doing wrong, but when finish the step 6 the result is not as the picture :S
I did every step over and over again, but the results are the same, somebody can help me?? please!!!
In the step 3 when the window appears in the options patterns is not selected and i can’t selected neither, i don’t know if that is the problem.
I would really appreciate if someone can help me…
very helpful
Wicked!
Just some helpful insight on how I got this tutorial to work for me:
If you plan to change the smoke color do not use a pure black background #000000.
Step #3 – “click copy” is on the “Move” popup panel, NOT under “Edit”. So don’t bother using Ctrl + C.
Also, holding it down for 20 seconds is too long. Try 10 seconds.
Step #4 – Make sure you changed the blend mode BEFORE grouping the lines. Additionally, I am using CS5 and a Opacity of 10 worked better than 8.
Step #5 – The shape should have a fill, but no stroke. It should also be narrow and thin like this demonstration to get the desired effect. The color of the shape worked best for me at: R179 G179 B179.
A medium-light grey. Not white.
Step#6 – As someone already mentioned, create the shape first then drag it into the group layer above the group. NOT “in” the group. Then select everything and make the distort.
Step#9 & 10 – I would’nt blur anything. Also, when you duplicate your text and put it in back you may have not noticed he changed his stroke from “mm” back to “pt”. Otherwise your copy text will be rather large and ugly.
I guess to change the smoke color you would just change the shape colors before distorting. I am only guessing as I have’nt gotten this far.
Hope this helps.
Doh,
One small correction, Step #3 – 20 seconds is not too long and if you get alot of jaggy spirals add more time to achieve very smooth smoke.
I was unable to change the color of the smoke unless I added a dark gradient as the background and played with different blend modes AFTER the smoke was created and finished.
Absolutely brilliant! Can’t wait to finish work and try it out tonight!
anybody find it too thick? why I already try a million of time with different shape and already try to trace from the tutorial pic on step 5, but still i ended with a thick smoke?