Hi, this is Anne for Graphic Design How To, and today we're going to be working with type
in Adobe Illustrator.
We are going to also talk about type manipulation and how to use OpenType features which are
available in some fonts, but not all fonts.
So OpenType fonts are a little different than OpenType font features.
Not every Open Type font will have the features.
So it's something to note.
Another thing we'll go over today is how to kind of make a font look a little more hand
drawn for that hand-drawn signature effect.
OK, so let's get started.
OK, this is a signature font.
It's kind of like a handwriting script.
And I got it for free online, Signatura Monoline, and that link is in the comment section.
First, let's open the Open Type Palette.
So go to Type...Window>Type>OpenType.
All right, and I'm going to put this up into my Character Palette, where it goes.
As you can see, we have a couple options here.
You can click through them to see the different types of characters under each style.
You can also just highlight one specific character and then change just that one.
I think I like that one because I don't like how it crosses the P. Now let's try the P.
Yeah, maybe I'll do something with that later.
Whenever you're working with fonts, and you want them to look handwritten, you shouldn't
leave two characters right beside each other that look the same.
So we want one of these to be a little bit different.
Let's see if we can...
OK, not a lot there.
So I'll probably just leave it like this, and we'll change it in a minute.
I can show you how to do that once you've outlined the font.
And let's look at this S which doesn't look like
an S to me.
That's better.
Before I outline this font, I want to modify it so it looks as good as possible before
being outlined.
So I'm going to OPT click between the T and the Y and then OPT arrow and move that in.
That looks a lot better.
And maybe we'll move this S up.
You can do that in Character Palette right here.
That's Baseline Shift, and you can just use your arrows to see how it's going to turn
out.
Now, maybe, maybe about there.
And then we'll also move the spacing between the S and the E, in a
little more.
There we go.
OK, so I think we're pretty close here.
I'll go ahead and make a copy.
Whenever you're working with type, you also want to make a copy.
So you can have live type path there, in case you needed to change the word later.
And then we'll come down here and hit SHIFT CMD O.
That will outline it.
So at this point, we can start really manipulating things to look really hand lettered, so that
it doesn't look so same-y same all over the place.
OK, with your Group Selection tool, just move things how you want them.
I would like to connect these two.
Maybe I can do that now.
I'm going to deselect.
And then with my N tool, I'll just draw this, like this.
I'm going to zoom in with my Z tool.
And we'll give this a little black outline.
And I'll bump it up to about the same, well maybe three and a half.
OK, that looks good.
So let's expand that to this.
SHIFT CMD E, and then CMD E. Okay, and that works.
Now hit SHIFT E for your Eraser tool, and we'll get rid of this little bit right
here.
Now it looks like it's erasing the E but it's actually not.
It's only erasing what I have selected.
If that E was part of the selection, it would erase that so it'd be my fault.
Now we'll hide this with CMD 3.
And I want to delete this.
If you have no selection, you can just delete it, and it will delete.
Okay, so let's unhide (OPT CMD 3).
And let's zoom out and see how that looks.
All right, I like that.
I kind of want to get a little curve here for a connection here.
So I'll do that with my N tool again.
Just go over it like this.
And now it is three and a half.
I remember that from last time.
And that looks pretty good.
I'll get rid of this little piece here with SHIFT E to erase it.
All right, pretty close now, and now I'll grab my A tool.
Click right on that line, and then you can just connect it.
Move this one over.
OK.
Now something's going on here.
So I want to get rid of that.
SHIFT E to fix that.
And let's see, my T's are being a little weird.
Maybe I can just have one long swash across the Ts.
So let's see if these are connected.
I'm going to hit G to get to my Group Selection tool.
You can get to that under here.
I have this set up as a special key command for myself.
It's usually Gradient, so you can either set that up or just click on it.
Okay, they are not separate.
So I'm going to go ahead and use my N tool to cut off this line.
So you have to start exactly on the line and end up exactly on the line going the same
direction.
The same here.
Start on the line and end up going the same direction.
OK.
Now, let's just go ahead, hmm, what can I do here?
I think I'll use my Q tool to draw around this.
And then CMD X to cut it.
And we'll paste in front.
Same over here, Q tool, CMD X and paste in front.
Now I'm going to hit CMD J, and that should join it.
And you can see here that it's been joined here.
And I will also select this piece and join that (CMD J).
And now we can just grab this and keep it with the Pathfinder,
unite those two.
We'll use the CMD S for smooth.
That's right underneath your Pencil tool.
I also... that's a special key command that I have set up.
So let's smooth that out.
All right, that's better.
Now let's hide that, CMD 3, and I'm going to CMD Y so you can see a
little more what's going on here.
I'm going to take this piece of my A tool and this dot and connect them with CMD J.
The same here, CMD J. Now, I'm going to smooth that with SHIFT S or the Smooth tool underneath
your Pencil tool, and we'll zoom out and see how we look.
All right, we're getting there.
So now I've got just this piece.
I unhid that with OPT CMD 3.
And now I'm just going to stretch it.
So we'll grab a corner here.
And that looks pretty good.
I'm liking that a lot.
I think the Y is a little bit boring.
I think it needs to start up a little higher.
So let's go in there, zoom in with your Z.
Highlight just the points that you want with your A tool.
You have to get right on the edge and right on a point and then just drag it up.
Same here.
We'll just get right on a point and drag it up.
And then I'll smooth this out with SHIFT S. Whoa, that didn't work quite the way I wanted,
so I'll just back up.
We'll just do this manually.
All right.
Let's zoom out CMD -. And I know I got rid of that feature before,
but I'm going to go ahead and add in a little swash that goes like this.
So I'll do that with my N tool.
So I'm going to start up here just to get the feeling of it a little better.
We'll go like this.
All right.
Now we want to put that at three and a half.
And it's kind of rough.
It all depends on what your smooth settings are underneath your Pencil tool.
So you can put your smoothness up.
I usually like to keep it about here.
That's why it became so rough.
But now let's hit SHIFT S to smooth it out.
You just go over the parts of it.
And the tip of all these others are round.
So, I'm going to go ahead and round the tip of this stroke by hitting the two middle things
on the Cap and the Corner.
And as you can see, it's rounded now.
Okay, let's lock that with CMD 2.
And now I'm going to highlight the Y.
And I'm going to delete that piece.
SHIFT E to remove it.
OK.
Let's see how that looks.
We'll CMD -. OK, I think this is starting to really look like an actually handwritten
thing.
Another thing we want to do is probably change the height of one of these, so it doesn't
look so same-y same-y.
Maybe more like that.
And we can smooth this one out but leave the other one.
And that way they look a little bit different.
Oops, let's get that back out there.
Smooth, smooth.
OK, I think we are pretty much done.
The spacing here is a little big, so let's move that in too, and move it about
right there, maybe with the 'n' also.
Alright.
For this, I'm just going to grab the edge of this, and you have to get right on the
very edge with your G tool, and that's your Group Selection tool.
And then I'll just slightly do that.
And same here...
I, I don't think I'm going to squeeze this one.
I'll just redraw it.
So I'm starting on the path exactly with my Pencil tool.
I'm going to come up here and then go back down and you have to end up right the same
way you were going on that path.
And that's a little tricky.
It's kind of hard to get used to.
But I think you'll find with practice, it gets a lot easier.
So just like with anything.
Okay, let me smooth this out.
Oh, what happened to our G?
Okay, now this is something that might happen if you accidentally... you forget to grab
the center part, and you can fix that by going to CMD Y.
Using your Group Selection to click right on that and just move it back over.
Maybe.
OK.
And, looks like we're done.
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