Isometric in Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator has an isometric feature (Effect > 3D) that is good for creating anything very basic and straightforward. However, in order to have a lot more control over what you create, it is best to automate what you can and do the rest manually. Here is the process I followed while creating an isometric illustration of a ship for my next coloring book. I will share the ship illustration in the future, but for now let us take an example of creating a simple cube with rounded corners.

Note: You can automate step 3 by recording and saving the steps for each of the three sides as actions. For the top side, here are the steps:

1. Open the Actions panel (Windows > Actions)

2. Select the object for the top side

3. Go to the Actions panel and click on the “Create New Action” icon

4. Give your action a name (Isometric Top) and click on the “Record” button

5. Perform the scale, shear, and rotate transformations on the selected object

6. Go to the Actions panel and click on the “Stop Record” icon

The next time you want to create the isometric top view of an object, first select the object, then select the Isometric Top action, and then hit on the Play icon.

Designing my first coloring book

Earlier this year, I published my first coloring book, Floral Designs. Here is a brief overview of my process.

Step 1: Choosing a topic

I began by making a list of subjects that interest me (science fiction, steampunk, fantasy, human anatomy, architecture, quotes, patterns, geometric designs, flowers, ocean life, wild life, pets, holidays, and celebrations).

Step 2: Market research

Next, I searched on Amazon to find out what were the top sellers, and what kind of comments users had given to those coloring books. I ended up spending more time than I had budgeted for on this step. It was hard to pick a subject, but eventually I based my decision on the number of reviews the books on a particular subject matter got on Amazon. Probably not the best way to make a decision, but my very basic non-scientific research gave me a starting point.

Step 3: Choosing a style

I decided to make a coloring book on the subject of flowers. I experimented with two different styles – true likeness versus graphic representation. I chose graphic representation because I knew I could do that faster than the other one. Based on this style, I chose to title my book “Floral Designs” instead of “Flower Designs”.

Step 4: Deciding on size and format

Since I wanted to publish via Create Space, I checked what sizes were available and picked one of the standard sizes (8.5 by 11 inches). Most of the coloring books, on an average, have anywhere between 30 to 80 illustrations (some have even more than 100). I decided to create a coloring book with 50 illustrations. This decision was based on three things. First was the price point on which I would be able to competitively price my book on Amazon. Second, the amount of time I had planned to devote on this book. Third, I wanted to create my illustrations so that I could repurpose them later and license the colored versions as art collections.

Step 5: Building a library

I started by building a library of floral elements. Some elements were first sketched on paper and some were created directly in Adobe Illustrator.

Step 6: Creating the designs

Since my goal was to license my coloring book illustrations as art collections also, I divided the 50 floral designs into 5 art collections. Each collection consisted of 8 illustrations and 2 seamless patterns. Based on this direction, I started creating my art in Adobe Illustrator. For the color versions of my art, I kept things pretty simple – only flat vector art. No use of textures or Photoshop. Each colored illustration was created in a bigger size (18 by 24 inches / 300 dpi). 

Step 7: Publishing my book on Create Space

I will cover this topic in a separate blog post.

Time Taken to bring this book to market: 519hrs

Nov 23 to Dec 7, 2017 / Figuring out what to do / 88hrs

Dec 7, 2017 to Jan 7, 2018 / 50 floral designs – line drawing / 184hrs

Jan 8 to Feb 1, 2018 / Created color version with border / 152hrs

Feb 2 to Feb 7, 2018 / Created square and portrait versions / 32hrs

Feb 8 to Feb 9, 2018 / Created front & back cover designs / 16hrs

Feb 9, 2018 / Collection names finalized and files renamed / 4hrs

Feb 10 and Feb 11, 2018 / Thumbnails and catalog created / 16hrs

Feb 12 and Feb 13, 2018 / Tried to write an artist’s statement. Came up with nothing / 4hrs

Feb 15, 2018 / Went to register for copyright, but the site is offline till Feb 19

Feb 19, 2018 / Copyright registered / 2hrs

Feb 23, 2018 / Artist statement written for the book / 4hrs

Feb 24 to Feb 28, 2018 / Learning how to publish on Create Space / 12hrs

March 1 to March 23, 2018 / Back & forth with Create Space to get the book published / 5hrs

March 24, 2018 / Floral Designs coloring book published on Amazon via Create Space

Fixing pattern lines in Illustrator

When a pattern created in Adobe Illustrator is brought into Photoshop as a vector object (via cut-copy-paste), thin white lines appear in the pattern. The solution to this problem is to export the file as a PSD file with “Art Sampling” selected. (If "Text Sampling" is selected, the thin white lines still appear). The following images describe the pattern creation and exporting process. I hope this helps.

Gratitude

This is my first blog post, and I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the authors of the many books from which I have gained valuable insights. Books written by Vello Hubel, Diedra B. Lussow, Robin Landa, Mark Oldach, Francis D.K. Ching, J.D. Hillberry, Margot Schulzke, Rebecca E. Burnett, Bob Baxley, and Kim Goodwin have been my source of knowledge, strength, hope, and inspiration. 

Here are some of the books that have helped me through the years.

1. Focus on Designing by Vello Hubel & Diedra B. Lussow
2. Graphic design solutions by Robin Landa 
3. Creativity for graphic designers by Mark Oldach
4. Design drawing by Francis D.K. Ching
5. Drawing realistic textures in pencil by J.D.Hillberry 
6. A painter’s guide to design and composition by Margot Schulzke
7. Technical Communication by Rebecca E. Burnett 
8. Making the web work by Bob Baxley
9. Designing for the Digital Age: How to create human-centered products and services by Kim Goodwin 

If you have a list you would like to share, please do so in the comments section.