In this tutorial you learn how to crank out a really cool looking vintage screen poster effect with most any 1-color logo in your collection using only Illustrators Appearance Palette. This effect could be adapted for use on many different logo projects, poster layout, or even web graphics. Continue reading →
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Illustrator Tackle Twill
I’m sure you’ve seen tackle twill on a hoodie before. It’s a widely used embroidery technique that involves sewing down nylon twill to a garment with zig zag stitching. This tutorial will show you how to simulate a tackle twill look with Illustrator’s Appearance palette. I’ve found that most people don’t understand the Appearance palette and that’s unfortunate because it’s really powerful. When we’re done you will be able to apply this style to any text or shape within Illustrator.

Step 1
Add some text to your artboard using a thick bulky font like College from DaFont.

Step 2
Increase the tracking on your text to add some space between the letters.

Step 3
Call up the Appearance palette and add a new fill to your text. Window > Appearance (Shift F6). Change the new fill color to orange-yellow.


Step 4
Select the stroke of your text in the Appearance palette and change the color to light blue. Set the weight of the stroke to 14 pt.


Step 5
Now you’re probably saying to yourself, “This isn’t right! You can hardly see the yellow now.” To fix this, click-and-drag the new stroke below the orange-yellow fill in the Appearance palette. Problem solved!

Step 6
Add another stroke to your text with the Appearance palette.

Step 7
Set the color of the new stroke to a dark yellow, the weight of the stroke to 1 pt, and add a 3 pt dash.


Step 8
Now we’ll offset the dashed stroke -2 pt by applying the Offset Path effect. Effect > Path > Offset Path.


Step 9
Add a white 1 pt stroke to your text and offset it by 2 pt by following the same steps as above.

Step 10
To create the zig zag stitch you will add two more effects to the white stroke. First apply the Roughen effect which will add lots of equidistant points to our stroke path. Effect > Distort and Transform > Roughen. Now add the Zig Zag effect which will zig zag all of the extra points we just added. Effect > Distort and Transform > Zig Zag.



Step 11
Almost Done! Duplicate the white zig zag stroke and change its color to medium blue.


Step 12
Adjust the offset of the new medium blue stroke to 7 pt.

Step 13
Whoops, I forgot a step. Add one more stroke to your text to fill in the area between the yellow fill and the white zig zag stitch. Set the new stroke weight to 4 pt and the color to the same yellow as your text fill. Finally, click-and-drag the new yellow stroke below every other stroke and just above the text fill in the Appearance palette. Have a look at my final Appearance palette to see if you have everything in the right place.

Final Result…

Extra Credit
By using the Appearance palette and Illustrator’s effect menu for every step of this tutorial you new tackle twill effect is self contained. This means you could drop this effect into the Graphic Styles palette and apply it to any text or shape you would like. It also means that every setting you applied during this tutorial can be changed within the Appearance palette. Be sure to try different settings and come up with your own tackle twill styles.

Illustrator Diamond Plate Pattern
Create a really simple seamless Diamond Plate pattern to fill most any text or objects within Illustrator and get that edgy look.
Step 1
Create a new Illustrator document 460px wide by 230px high with the color mode set to RGB color.
Step 2
Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and click anywhere on the art-board to bring up the Ellipse Tool dialog.
Step 3
Create an ellipse 5px wide by 25px high and set its color to dark gray (RGB 127, 127, 127). Center the ellipse both horizontally and vertically on the art-board.

Step 4
Once again select the Ellipse Tool (L) and click anywhere on the art-board to bring up the Ellipse Tool dialog.
Step 5
Create a smaller ellipse 7px wide by 7px high that is the same dark gray color. Center the smaller ellipse both horizontally and vertically on the art-board.

Step 6
Add the two ellipses together by Option-clicking the Add to shape area button on the Pathfinder palette.

Step 7
Add a black (RGB 0, 0, 0) stroke with a weight of 0.625pt. Pull up the Appearance palette and move the black stroke behind the dark grey fill color.

Step 8
Create a duplicate copy of the dark gray shape (Command C) and paste it directly in front of the first shape (Command F). Change the fill color of the new shape to light gray (RGB 191, 191, 191) and remove the black stroke.

Step 9
Offset a copy of the new shape to the right.
- Object > Transform > Move (Shift + Command + M)
- Horizontal: 0.75px
- Vertical: 0px
- Make sure to click Copy instead of OK

Step 10
Subtract the second copy of the light gray shape from the first by Option-clicking the Subtract from shape area button on the Pathfinder palette.

Step 11
Select all of the shapes and group them together (Command G) to make one easy to handle object.
Step 12
Rotate the grouped object 45°.
- Object > Transform > Rotate
- Angle: 45°

Step 13
Shift a copy of the newly the rotated object to the right.
- Object > Transform > Move (Shift + Command + M)
- Horizontal: 40px
- Vertical: 0px
- Make sure to click Copy instead of OK

Step 14
Select both objects and move a copy of the down.
- Object > Transform > Move (Shift + Command + M)
- Horizontal: 0px
- Vertical: 40px
- Make sure to click Copy instead of OK

Step 15
Select all four objects and move them once more.
- Object > Transform > Move (Shift + Command + M)
- Horizontal: 20px
- Vertical: -20px
- Make sure to click Copy instead of OK

Step 16
Select all four of the new objects and reflect them vertically.
- Object > Transform > Reflect
- Vertical: Selected

Step 17
Finally select all eight object and drag-and-drop them inside of the Swatches palette to create a Swatch Pattern. Once you have the pattern as a swatch you can apply it as a fill or stroke to any shape object inside of Illustrator.

Conclusion
No you have a full vector pattern that you can seamlessly fill any shape, object, or text within Illustrator. Thanks again for visiting The Design Playbook and feel free to comment below… And don’t forget to download the project files (down a little lower)!

Extra Credit
Since your pattern is now a swatch you can scale it up or down in size to fit any application. You can also play with other shapes (see below) or colors to get different looks.








