Step-by-step: Develop interesting line work with custom vector brushes

1

Create your custom brushes by drawing your own weighted lines. Either with a drawing tablet in Photoshop, in Illustrator using the Blog brush tool, or simple pen and paper! Then, bring your line work into Illustrator and create outlines from them.

2

Once you have your brush stokes outlined, you can use the Anchor Point tools to go in and refine any part of the line to get it just how you want it. Then, create a new Calligraphic brush by clicking the Create new brush icon in your Brushes panel.

3

Follow this technique to create a library of different brushes and effects to suit your style. You can use it to create Pen brush strokes, but also to shading effects such as stippling or half-tone effects. You can also create ‘ fills’ as well as ‘strokes’.