Hi, this is Anne with Graphic Design How To, and in addition to doing my YouTube videos,
I also am a vector stock artist. So I upload my vector artwork on about 11 different stock vector
and photo websites. So today I'm going to be sharing my stock vector checklist for one of those
websites: Shutterstock. And I chose Shutterstock, because that one is probably the most popular of
all the stock image websites. All right, let's get started. OK, so I have an icon set here
that I want to prepare for Shutterstock. Now, this isn't actually mine. It's one that I downloaded
from Vecteezy. And obviously, I'm not going to try to sell a Vecteezy design because that would not
be ethical. Everything you submit to Shutterstock should be your own original artwork. But anyway,
I'm going to use this to just run through the checklist so you can see how to do everything.
Number one: The artboard size should be four megapixels. So to figure this, you take one side
times the other side. So, right now I'm going to hit SHIFT O to find out what my artboard size is.
And right now it is 1400 by 1272. I need this to be 2000 by 2000, or we could do like 4000 by 1000.
It needs to equal 4 million when you multiply these two numbers together,
so however you want to do it. I usually just do a square. OK, so our artboard is now 2000 by 2000,
and I'm just going to select my artwork, and increase the size so that it fills that space.
And I'm just going to go ahead and make this blue box exactly 2000 by 2000. And I'll go ahead and
center it up inside the artboard. Number two: You need a white box or a background, the same size
as your artboard, which is what I just did. So if you want these to just be on white like this,
you still need a white background block, because Shutterstock wants to see that the artwork itself
is four megapixels, so you'll need to make it four megapixels. And I always just make it the
size of my artboard. OK, so if we're making icons like this, each icon should be its own group.
So right now, if I move these, the shadows don't move with them. They all move together.
And this isn't a very good scenario for whoever downloads this. They're going to want to be able
to just select one and move it, not take all of them when they do that. So to do this, I usually
lock my background. I'm going to select both of these, and I'll hit CMD 2, or CTRL 2 on a PC.
Then I'll get my Group Selection Tool, which is this one right over here with a little plus
by it. It's underneath your Direct Selection Tool. And I'm going to select this first icon.
And then I'm going to cut it with CMD X or CTRL X, paste it in front with CMD F or CTRL F, and then
group it CMD G or CTRL G, and then hide it with CMD 3 or CTRL 3. And that way it's kind of out of
the way. I know it's already done. So I'll do that with all of these. I actually have an action set
up that will do this. So it cuts, pastes in front, groups, and hides. So I'll just go ahead and run
through all the rest of these. And I'll speed up the video so you don't have to sit through it.
OK, at the end, I just bring everything back with OPT CMD 3, or ALT CTRL 3 on a PC.
Now, if I get on my Selection Tool, I can just click one and move it,
and it'll all move together. The fourth thing is I need to check that there are no brand names,
or famous buildings or anything like that, in any of the artwork. If you do have something like that
it needs to be listed on Shutterstock a separate way, and you'll have to list it as Editorial.
So if you want to know how to list those, there are lots of articles online that tell you exactly
how to list an editorial design. Number five: The document should be RGB color space. So to do that,
we'll come up here to File>Document Color Mode and >RGB right here. Number six: Make sure all
the text is outlined. Now I can't select my text right now, because I locked it earlier.
I'm going to go to Object>Unlock All, and now it's selectable. This text is typable right now,
and we need to outline it. So usually when I do this, I just select everything to make sure I got
all the live text. So I'll hit CMD A or CTRL A, and then I'll come up here to Type>Create
Outlines. And that will do it. Next we'll need to unlock and unhide everything. So to do that,
you can hold down OPT, CMD 3 and OPT CMD 2. You can also come up here to Object and it'll be right
here: Unlock All and Show All and here are your keyboard shortcuts if you want to do it that way.
Number eight: Make sure there's nothing outside the artboard, and as you can see,
we have a couple little things out here. I'll just select those and Delete. A good way to check this
is to just Select All: CMD A or CTRL A, and then hit V. You should see your bounding box
and should only be to the edges of the artboard. If it's all the way coming out here or something,
that means there is an object out here, and you need to delete it before submitting.
OK, so we're pretty much ready to go. Now, we can't have any bitmaps or anything like that,
so we'll check our links. And it doesn't look like we have anything now. So at this point,
we're ready to save as EPS, so we'll come up here to File>Save As, and then down here at the bottom,
I'll choose Illustrator EPS, and Use Artboards. And we'll Save. Now you have to save as an EPS 10
for Shutterstock because there are a lot of Shutterstock users and customers who are still on
very old versions of Illustrator, and this will ensure that they can open the file. So I'll just
choose Illustrator 10, EPS, and it'll give us a warning telling us that, you know, it's a
legacy format- it can do some weird things to your artwork. So we'll say OK, and OK, again. Now after
I do this, I always reopen the EPS 10. So I'll get that one and drag it onto my Illustrator icon.
And at this point, you'll want to check your links again. Sometimes when you save as an EPS 10,
it'll embed some links like bitmap images, and you have to go through and delete those.
Sometimes they're part of your design, so you'll have to figure out a different way
to create that look, but not have bitmaps. All right, so that is everything, and we can upload
this to Shutterstock. And as long as Shutterstock sees it as sellable, it should get through their
review. All right, if you like this video and you want to see more videos like this,
just hit the subscribe button and the little bell next to it, and you'll be notified every
time a new video comes out. All right, I'll see you in the next video. Thank you!!!