To create a Handmade Icon you will not need paints and brushes. We will only need a graphic tablet and DrawScribe plugin. For quick recoloring of a ready icon, use the Phantasm CS. Let's get started!
Step 1
We will be creating an icon using the Dynamic Sketch Tool, which is one of the tools of the DrawScribe plugin. Let's adjust the tool for convenient work. To open the Dynamic Sketch Preferences window, double-click on the tool's toolbox icon or press Enter when already in the tool. Alternatively, select the appropriate item in the fly-out menu of the Dynamic Sketch panel (Window > DrawScribe > Dynamic Sketch panel).
My settings are slightly different from the default settings. Let's see what I have changed.
You can read about why I prefer these settings in my article How to Combine the Dynamic Sketch Tool and Illustrator CS5's Width Tool to Fine-tune your Vector Artwork. Open Dynamic Sketch panel (Window > DrawScribe > Dynamic Sketch panel) and enable on the "Edit or continue existing paths" button and set the degree of accuracy and smoothness.
Step 2
To create a handmade icon, I will be using a graphic tablet. Take the stylus, choose orange color for the fill and with the help of the Dynamic Sketch Tool create shape of the icon. It should look like a square.
Some of negligence in the creation of this shape is, of course, welcome for handmade icon.
Step 3
Set the relationship between the line width and the pressure on the graphics tablet stylus and the thickness values that will correspond to the minimum and maximum pressure.
Now select the "Round cap" in the Stroke panel in order for the lines to have rounded ends.
For the stroke pick a darker shade of orange than for the shape of the icon, set the Multiply Blending mode and reduce the opacity to 10% in the Transparency panel.
Take the Dynamic Sketch Tool and create oblique strokes in a place where icon’s penumbra should be.
Moving to the bottom right corner of the icon, strokes should be wider and denser, overlapping one another. Thus, we create a transition from penumbra to shadow.
The small value of Opacity (10%) gives us a sense of drawing with watercolors or gouache.
Step 4
The way of creating an illuminated part of the icon is the same as for the shadow. Only in this case, set the Screen Blending mode in the Transparency panel. Color of the stroke can be the same as for the shape of the icon.
I decided to make the edges of the icon less accurate, so that I created some paths on its edges, as shown in the picture below, and then placed them below all the objects.
You can read full version of this tutorial on AstuteGraphics.com
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