BLANKIE TUTORIAL
ILLUSTRATOR TEMPLATE

Ok, everybody! In this tutorial we’ll do a step-by-step walk through showing exactly how to go about making your design and posting it on the forum. We hope that this will help make the competition even better by giving everyone, regardless of experience, the same opportunity! Ready? Let’s get started!


1) Open the file Blankie_converted.ai. Once opened, you’ll see the Blankie toy design template and four layers- “Inkline”, “Your Artwork”, “Color Area” and “Template Files”. We’ll be using CS3 for the tutorial, but any recent version of Illustrator should be compatible.

Inkline
This layer sits on top of your artwork while you design. This allows you to see the edges of the toy while you work. You’ll combine this layer with “your artwork” as one of the final design steps.

Your Artwork
This is the layer where you’ll create and design your artwork.

Color Area
This is where you’ll place the swatches of color that your toy will use when it gets produced. By including a sample of the color and it’s corresponding pantone number (PMS), we can be sure to reproduce your colored design accurately- regardless of the color differences seen on a computer monitor!

Template Files
This layer includes the template layout. Make sure not to change or delete this layer!



2) There’s no one way to actually come up with your design artwork. Some people draw right in the computer, others print out the template, sketch out a design and scan it back in for coloring. Just do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

Colors- Use the “PANTONE SOLID UNCOATED” colors from the color library. Go to the “Swatches” tab and click on the little arrow on the far right side. From the drop down menu, select “Open Swatch Library”, “Color Books”and “PANTONE solid uncoated”. These colors can be used for your toy design and have catalogue numbers called “PMS” numbers. These numbers are what we’ll use to make sure your design colors are reproduced accurately during the manufacturing process.

Create your design on the “Your Artwork” layer. This should include all artwork minus the actual background color of the figure. We’ll do that part later when we duplicate the “Inkline“layer.

Go ahead and create the designs for all sides of your toy. Make sure it “turns” correctly. This means that what you design should rotate correctly as if it was actually in 3 dimensional space. This is really important! Any flaws on your design could be made into the toy, so make sure it’s exactly like you want it in real life!!!

Use the “rulers” and “guides” features to help you get the turn designs as exact as possible.



3) Once your design is complete on the “Your Artwork layer, duplicate the “Inkline” layer and place it below the “Your Artwork” layer. “Your Artwork” layer should now be sandwiched between two “Inkline” layers so that your design is sitting “behind” the inklines.

Next we’re ready to color the background of the figurine itself. Select the “Inkline” layer that sits below the “Your Artwork” layer. Use the “Direct Selection Tool” (A) to select all the outlines of the toy. With all the outlines selected, select the “Live Paint Bucket tool”(K), choose your color from the “Fill” box (X) and click the paint bucket icon wherever you want the color to fill. This should fill in the background color, while leaving your design clear!


4) Now that you’re happy with your design, we’ll make the sample swatch colors. Go ahead and copy/ paste as many of those pantone “PMS” color boxes as you need. These are located in the “Color Area” layer. The first one’s been provided for you. Once that’s done, use the “Eyedropper Tool” (I) and fill each box with a color contained in your design. These should all be Pantone Solid Uncoated colors.

Select the color, find it’s corresponding swatch, and type in it’s Pantone number. (See sample design for reference)


5) Make sure everything is correct, add your name and email at the top of the design and save it! Finally, export a copy of the image as a 72 dpi jpeg (file > export).This is the image that will be posted to the Aarting Forum.


That’s it!!!

Guru attached the following image(s):