Transcripts
1. Class Introduction + Contest Details!: Arrowheads in Adobe Illustrator are a fantastic tool which makes it extremely easy to transform the look of your graphics and turn simple stroke lines either exciting decorative or even illustrated elements in just a few clicks. But let's be honest, the default arrowheads available in Illustrator suck. But guess what? You can create your own custom arrowheads which by the way don't even need to look like arrows. I am Evgeniya from Attitude Creative and as a graphic designer, I am always looking for ways of making technical and repetitive tasks less laborious and more fun. Creating my own custom arrowheads has been a game changer for me and my design workflow. I'm super excited to share this given opportunity with you so you too can unlock your full potential of stroke options in Adobe Illustrator. Create an end-user custom arrowheads opens up a world of new possibilities for quick styling of any kinds of linear designs including lettering, monoline illustrations, graphic frames and dividers, and even logos and patterns. Basically any vector artwork which contains open paths can be customized using arrowheads. In this class, I will share with you everything you need to know to be able to create and manage your own unique arrowheads and to get the most out of them when applying them to your work. As with any presets, making your own arrowheads will take as much time as you want to spend designing them. But once you have created them, you will be able to quickly and easily change the appearance of any stroke in your designs. This class is for graphic and patterns designers, illustrators, and anyone else who likes to experiment using graphics in their work. As you might know, we love running student contests. We're excited to invite you to enter the contest in this class by posting your project before Wednesday 5th of December 2018 for a chance to win a one-year Skillshare premium membership, or one out of three of our very special festive arrowhead sets right in time to create something fun for the holidays. Using arrowheads is a super fun, quick and easy way to add an extra touch to your graphics. I cannot wait to see your custom arrowheads in how you use them in your work. Join me in this class and let's make something awesome.
2. Locating & Loading the Arrowhead Presets FIle: An arrowhead in Adobe Illustrator is a graphic which is applied to either end of open paths using the stroke options. Unlike other kinds of presets, all arrowheads, which you can see in the arrowhead styles in the stroke panel, are stored in one file and are loaded from it. To be able to add custom arrowheads to this list, the first thing we need to do is locate this file. Go to where your Illustrator is installed, which is most likely going to be in Applications folder on Mac while in Program Files in windows. There you need to go to the Support Files folder, then Resources, then your language option, and there you'll find it. Or to make it easier, you can just type in, Arrowheads.ai, in the search field in the Finder or Explorer in Windows. If for some reason you have multiple files under the same name, double-check where it is stored and make sure you use the correct file from the Illustrator folder I just mentioned. When you have found it, copy it onto your desktop and don't do anything with the original file. Now, let's open this file in Illustrator. As you can see, it contains the default arrowheads which are required to run Illustrator properly. It also has got some instructions here, though they actually miss a few crucial points and steps which you need to follow to make your custom arrowheads work properly. Arrowhead graphics in Illustrator are kept as symbols, so each of these graphics you see here is a symbol. To create more arrowheads, firstly, we need to open the Symbols Panel. If you don't have it already open, open it through the window menu. Here are all the default arrowheads. Although we're working in the copy of the original arrowheads file used by Illustrator, it is really important that you don't delete or modify in any way the default arrowheads you have here. It doesn't really matter what you do with the layout in this document, but make sure that these default arrow symbols stay exactly as they are.
3. Understanding Arrowhead Symbols & Their Structure: The easiest way to create your own functioning arrowheads is by modifying the copies of the existing default arrow symbols. Duplicate any of these symbols in the Symbols panel by dragging it over then use Symbol button here. All of these arrowheads symbols are named sequentially. When you create a copy of any symbol, it will have a different number in the end of its name. Since there were 39 original arrow symbols, the new one is called Arrow 40. To make it easier to tell your arrow has a part from the default ones, which is important and you'll see why in a bit later, give custom names to all arrowheads you create. To change the symbol's name, select the symbol, and click on the symbol options button here. You can name your arrowheads anyway you want. But it is best to use something descriptive in the name, especially when you're creating themed arrowheads, for example, like these ones I have got here. Then use a sequential number starting from one, or at least call them custom arrow plus number. Leave all other settings here as they are and click "Okay". Now, double-click on your new symbol in the symbols panel will open its contents and zoom in closer so you can get to see all of the elements. When you open in your default arrow symbols or their copies in the Layers panel, you will see a group containing a number of objects. At the very bottom of this group, you will have a rectangle which doesn't have any fill or stroke color. This rectangle is used to create a thumbnail of the symbol in the Symbols panel, and in the arrowhead menu in the Stroke panel. Do not delete this rectangle and keep it as the bottom object in the symbol. The next element in this group is the puff, which is used to set up the position of the arrow, and graphic in relation to the end of the puff when it is applied as a narrow head using the Stroke panel. This puff should not be modified in any way whatsoever. To keep it safe, you can just lock it in the Layers panel and keep it just above the painted rectangle object here, which you can also lock if you want. Finally, above these two objects, we have an arrowhead graphic and we can delete the default arrowhead graphic we've copied and create a new custom one in its place.
4. Ideas for Creating Custom Arrowheads: Your custom arrowheads can be as abstract or as figurative as you want. They can be any shape as long as it works graphically as the end of the line. Think about what you want to apply your arrowheads to, what theme you want to work with, and go from there. You can explore, create an abstract graphic arrowheads, which doesn't necessarily have to be in the shape of an arrow and concern, for example, as serifs or customed digital line lettering, or could be used to style graphic dividers, frames, or borders, or you can create something more illustrative, for example, flowers or leaves or anything else which comes to mind. You can even use your own purchased or free icons, which makes sense as the end elements of the line. Conceptually, you can do whatever you want. As for the style of arrowheads, they can be linear, both open-ended and enclosed or they can be based on solid-filled shapes of any form or size. They can also be anything else and have different stroke weight on them, like some of the default arrowheads. But personally, I'm not a big fan of fossa graphics like this, especially in these particular contexts. Prefer working with single wave linear graphics or filled shapes.
5. Creating Your Own Custom Arrowheads: When creating a custom arrowhead designed from scratch, you can use any tools you want, for example the pen tool or any of the shape tools. If you want to create a linear design, before you start drawing set this stroke color to black, and the fill color to none. Then go to the Stroke panel and set the stroke weight to one point. This will allow you to use the same stroke rate in your arrowhead design, as used in the path integral we applied to, and create a consistent and stylish mono-line look. As a quick example, I'm going to firstly create a stroke circle like this, and then switch to the pen tool and create a path to put inside of it. Then copy this path, rotate it and then rotate the whole cross. It alignments centrally inside the circle. Whiles drawing it, I roughly placed it in relation to the end of this path, and used it as a reference to decide what size I need my arrowhead to be, so it doesn't look too huge or too small in relation to the path. I will reposition it more precisely later on. When creating an arrowhead using stroked path, you can also use stroke options from the Stroke panel to style it. For example, I am going to change the cap style to round, to have smooth ends. Normally, I would also change the corner style to around to have a consistent smooth look. But since I don't have any corners here, in this case, it doesn't really matter. But it's always good to remember that there are a few options here to explore. Be sure to check them out and see how they work with your graphic. If you want to create a field shape arrowhead instead, use a black fill color, and no stoke color. Use the pen tool for any other shape tools to draw a closed path or paths of any size, which makes sense in relation to the reference path. When you have familiarized yourself with all the arrowheads are made of within the symbols, and the technical requirements, what you need to create, you can consider designing all your arrowheads graphics first in a separate document to be able to easily create a lot of stuff, about constantly going in and out of the symbols. Of course, it depends on how complex your arrowheads are and how many versions you want to create. But I certainly find it more convenient to work in a separate document. Then just copy and paste all my arrow heads one by one into the arrowhead symbols in the arrowhead document. If you want to use some existing graphics or icons, you can also easily copy, paste and scale them within the arrowhead symbols, for example like this. If you are creating your arrowhead designs in a separate document, you can also take advantage of different settings you can find in the View menu, which facilitate different approaches depending on what you want to draw. For example, if you want to create something pixel perfect and use the pixel or document and grid to draw your arrowheads, turn on Snap to Pixel, Snap to Grid, and show grid options. If you have a white background or your illustrated version doesn't supports snap into pixels, go to the Illustrator Preferences, and in their Guides and Grid settings, set the grid to appear every 10 points, this 10 subdivisions. Apply changes, and here is a grid you can use. On the other hand, if you want a more freehand approach or just want to be able to align points with each other wells to draw, turn Snap to Pixel, Snap to Grid, and show grid off and turn on Snap to Point and Smart Guides.
6. Connecting Your Arrowhead to the Stroke: Regardless of what kind of arrowhead you will be creating, one of the most important things to consider is how it will connect with a stroke. It will be used to style. There you have a couple of options. The first really easy one, which doesn't require any extra work, where the arrowhead is wider than the stroke and it is basically just placed over it's end. The second more complicated one, where the connecting part of the arrowhead is the same width as the stroke and the stroke smoothly close into the arrowhead. The type of connection will depend on the design of your arrowhead. If you're arrowhead requires a smooth connection with a stroke. The easiest way to achieve this is either recreate an A1 point stroke, which is horizontal in the part where it just supposed to connect with the pulp. Will be creating a shape which is exactly 1 point in height. In the point where it will be connected to the path. As long as it is the correct height in this point, the rest of the shape, and the way it close into the rest of the arrowhead graphic is completely up to you. Remember that an arrowhead is a separate element. So, if you want your arrow head to contain a line which is a continuation of the stroke and to keep the arrowhead graphic intact when it is applied to the curb blends. Make sure to create a separate path beyond the end of this reference path and put it right at the end of it. For example, like this. If you don't do this and just pull this elements around the reference path and then apply this arrowhead to the curved path. You'll get this instead. So when designing your arrowhead, and the way it connects to the stroke, consider it as a separate graphic element, which will stay unchanged when added at the end of the stroke.
7. Arrowhead Placement Setup: After you have finalized the design and scale of your arrowhead and it's connected apart, you need to place it in relation to the end of this path. Depending on the complexity of your new arrowhead graphic, you might want to switch to the outline mode by pressing command Y or Control Y in the windows, and then carefully position the new arrowhead graphic at the end of this path. In any case, make sure that the smart guides are enabled, so you can snap the points precisely and start by positioning your arrowhead vertically in relation to the path. You can do it anyway you want, depending on the style of your arrowhead, and remember to position it centrally if you arrowhead is symmetrical. If it is asymmetrical, remember that the elements within the symbol which are above the line, will appear on the left side of the stroke color in the path direction. Although will appear on the right and when you have the same arrowhead applied to both ends, they will look like a reflection of each other. It makes sense to create two versions of the arrow head to be able to style either side of the stroke. When you have positioned your arrowhead vertically, move on to position it horizontally. To make your arrowhead work predictably with all different straw cap options and to have a smooth flow between the stroke and the arrowhead, place the arrow as a graphic half a point over this path. If you're using a stroked design, just snap this point with the path in your arrow head like this and then go back to the Preview Mode to check it out. If you are using a field shape arrowhead, which doesn't require a smooth transition from the straw, it can be placed not super precisely in relation to the endpoint. But you still need to account for an option when you have a rounded cup in the straw. You can place it one point over the end of the path if you are planning to use it at this relative scale to each other. To make it easier to position your arrow head horizontally in relation to the end of the path, you can start by snapping it's edge to the end of the path first, and then adjust the horizontal position value in the control panel here by subtracting one point like this. Positioning arrowheads is one of the trickiest parts of the whole process. Remember that you can always change it and revisit it later if for some reason your arrowhead doesn't properly connect to the main straw in your design.
8. Finalising Arrowhead Symbols: When you have placed your arrowhead in relation to the reference pulse. Now it is time to finalize the symbols contents to make it work properly as an arrowhead when applied to strokes. Firstly, you need to outline any strokes you have in your custom arrowhead design. Select your arrow head graphic and go to the menu object, pulse, outline stroke Then make sure that your custom arrowhead graphic is filled with a black color to ensure that the arrowhead will take on the same color, as the stroke when it is applied. The black color should be the same as the one used in these reference pulse. You can find it as a swatch in the swatches panel here. After your arrowhead is outlined in the field with the correct black color, double-check that you still have the unpainted rectangle at the very bottom to create a thumbnail. Then double-check that the reference of object is still the second object from the bottom in the layers panel. Remember these steps as you preflight check for any custom arrowheads you will be making. When ready, double click away from the symbol graphics to exit this symbols contents and see your updated symbol in a symbols panel.
9. Loading Your Custom Arrowheads: Create as many custom arrowhead symbols as you want, and organize and rename them in this symbols library, in this document. When everything looks good, drag all of your new arrowheads wanted in your arrowboard, or separate arrowboards and arrange them in sets for easy reference, for example, like I have done here. This will come in handy if you create multiple different arrow headsets, because it's will make managing your active arrowheads easier, and I will get back to this in a later part. As I have mentioned earlier, it is not important how things look in this document. You can arrange everything anyway you want. Just remember that all you will need to make your arrowheads appear in the Stroke options of the symbols in your library here. When you are ready to proceed to try in all these arrowheads, save this file with your new arrowheads symbols in the active symbol library, and quit Illustrator. Then open a Finder or Explorer Windows, and then roll to the Illustrator folder in Applications on lock, or Program files Windows. Here, open the Plug-Ins folder and copy your updated Arrowheads.ai file from your desktop into this folder. Make sure that the name of this file is still exactly Arrowheads.ai. Otherwise, illustrator won't recognize it, and it won't hold in your arrowheads you have created. After you have created this file into the Plug-Ins folder, go and launch Illustrator. Remember, that you will need to restart Illustrator every time you make changes to the symbols in the Arrowheads.ai document within this folder, to make your new arrowheads appear in the Stroke panel.
10. Setting up Arrowheads to Style Strokes: After you have created your custom arrowheads and restarted Illustrator, you can start using them. Either create a new document of the desired size, or open a file with some design or illustration which you want to customize using the arrowheads, or open this file I have added to these classes resources. Select a path or a number of paths you want to customize with arrowheads then go to the stroke panel. Find your new custom arrowhead in the arrowheads options here, and apply to one or both ends of the path or paths. When applying arrowheads to your strokes, there are a few things you can play around with on the stroke panel to adjust the way they appear at the end of the strokes. You can choose different arrowheads to apply to the start and end points of the paths. You can easily swap them around by clicking on this button. You can also change the arrowhead scale and the way they are aligned to the ends of the path. Depending on what arrowhead graphics you are using and what kind of paths you're applying them to, you can choose which alignment option works best in each particular case. Place arrow tip at the end of the path alignment option, makes it very easy to keep paths at certain length as the arrowhead is added within the path's length, which is useful if you need to create something of a specific size. This option works best when you are working with straight lines and using both caps. When working with curves and using round or projecting caps, if you have a very long and complex arrowhead or a hollow one, or one with a line which is supposed to continue the stroke, in 99 percent of the cases, you won't get a kink, where the stroke is supposed to flow into the arrowhead. You might also see the cap over shooting the arrow head. This is also true for any default arrowheads in Illustrator which are long or context or acquire linear transition. That's just how it works. To resolve this issue, especially when working with curved paths, it is best to use the second alignment option, which extends the arrow tip beyond the end of a path and makes a transition smooth. Using this option, you can also use any other cap styles here and not have any visible issues. For example, if you need to keep one of the ends without an arrowhead, or if you want to use rounded dashes. The downside of this approach is that the length of your path is extended by the length of the arrowhead. You need to keep it in length and change the length of the path if the overall length of the object is important to what you are doing. As to the scale options, if you are working with linear style arrowheads, it is best to stick with the 100 percent scale so that the weight of the stroke and the weight of your arrowheads are uniform, and that's the little cue we'll be after, if you are creating single weight linear designs. Otherwise, you'll get something like this and it ruins everything style wise. On the other hand, if you arrowhead is based on a field shape which doesn't have any elements, we should smoothly connect it to the end of the path. You can explore a different scale options and see how it works with a stroke weight. You can change the scale of the arrowheads separately from each other or you can link them together and adjust them simultaneously. The best thing about using arrowheads to style strokes is how easy it is to change the overall look of the paths they're applied to by using the basic stroke options and switching between different arrowhead designs. Play around with different arrowheads and different stroke weights and see what you can create. Keep in mind that cap style doesn't affect the caps of the elements in the arrowhead. Neither does the corner style effect any arrowhead corners. All the cap and corner styling of the arrowheads should be done at the stage of creating a custom arrowhead.
11. Creating Graphics Styles for Easy Arrowhead Application: Whilst it is relatively easy to try out different arrowheads and stroke options and apply the same style of arrowheads to different strokes by selecting them and applying changes to all of them. At the same time there are also a few things you can do to make reusing your stroke styling easier. If you need to copy the style here applied to one of the strokes for the other ones, there is a quick way to do this. Intuitively, you might try to use the eyedropper tool to copy the appearance attributes to your other parts. But it won't work as the eyedropper tool does not pick up the arrowhead settings. Instead, you can select the path with the arrow heads then go to the appearance panel, which you can open up the Window menu if it is not already open and drag this thumbnail onto another path you want to apply the same appearance attributes like this. This technique is good when you have no too many parts to apply arrowheads to. But if you want to be able to easily apply these settings to any number of paths and save time, you can save these appearance attributes as a graphic style. To do this select the parts which has the appearance attributes you want to replicate, then go to the graphic styles panel, which you can open for the Window menu if you don't see it in your workspace and then click on the new graphic style button here. So here it is and you can now apply the same style in a number of paths and customize the appearance of any linear design in a single click. You can create as many graphic styles as you want based on different appearance attributes. Rename them to keep your styles neat and if you want to reuse them in the future in other documents, to be able to easily recreate certain logs, you will need to save your graphic styles as a separate library. Go to this button in the top right corner of the graphic styles panel and select Save Graphic Style Library. Give your library a name, better something different from arrowheads so you don't confuse your different documents and save your new library in the Illustrator folder. To load your graphic styles in the future go to this menu and select Open Graphic Style Library and find your library on the list in the user-defined section here. Keep in mind that these graphic styles will function as they should, only if you still have the same arrowheads in your Arrowheads.ai file and don't modify the symbols or their name. This brings us nicely to the point of how you can manage your custom arrowheads.
12. Managing Your Custom Arrowhead Sets: If you have a number of different custom arrowheads or arrowhead sets, it is a good idea to load them on a project by project basis, so you do not overload your arrowheads list with tons of different options, which will concur alias specific arrowhead rather painful. The problem in Illustrator is that you cannot conclude choose which arrowheads to show in the Stroke panel, as it is the case with other presets, but there's still a way. To make managing your different arrowheads easier, you can store them in a separate document or documents, different from the one you have placed in the plugins folder and add them to this document only when you need to use them in the current project you're working on. As an example, let's treat this file I still have on the desktop, as a collection of all arrowheads. Though at the moment, it is exactly the same as the one I have in my plugins folder. So I don't get confused, I will rename this file on the desktop to All Arrowheads. My All Arrowheads.ai document will contain all my custom arrowhead sets. I must not delete any custom symbols from it to be able to use them in a future. Now, let's open this file and the one from the plugins folder in Illustrator. Remember that the arrowheads in the symbols library in the Arrowheads.ai file from the plugins folder, other ones which appear in Arrowheads options in the Stroke panel. If you don't want to load certain arrowheads, you can simply remove the symbols from the list in this Symbols panel. If you have dragged them to the pasteboard, select Delete Instances in this pop-up window, so you don't have anything irrelevant, cluttering this document. Make sure you keep all default arrowheads when you remove the other ones you don't need. Keep an eye on the arrowhead names which are visible as tool tips in the thumbnail view, or appear in the list view. That's why naming your costume arrowheads differently from the standard ones, is important. That's how you remove arrowheads, you don't want to appear in the Stroke panel. When you want to add new arrowheads to this document, you can simply go to the document containing the arrowheads you want to add. In my case, all arrowheads.Here, select arrowhead symbols instances on the pasteboard, copy them, and then go to the Arrowheads.ai file from the plugins folder, and past them into it. They will be added to the symbols library here. If you want, you can delete these instances right away, and only keep the symbols in the library. Not to have hundreds of arrowheads to scroll through in the Stroke panel, every time you need to access different arrowheads, remove any symbols you don't need to use in a project you were working on. Keep or add the symbols you need, into the symbols library in the arrowheads file from the plugins folder. Remember to restart your Illustrator every time you update your arrowheads document, and keep the document or documents with all your arrow headsets safe. Also keep in mind that if you open a document with strokes style, those arrowheads which are not currently in your Arrowheads.ai file, you won't be able to use them. The same goes for any graphic styles. Make sure you always have the correct set of arrowheads lauded for the project you're working on.
13. Additional Tips for Using Arrowheads & Quick Re cap: We're almost ready to wrap this class up, but before this, here are a few extra tips for using arrowheads in your artwork. When creating your designs and applying arrowheads, make sure to take advantage of the Scale Strokes & Effects option in the Transform panel. If you want to scale the path but keep the stroke weight and the scale of the arrowheads unchanged, keep Scale Strokes & Effects unchecked. Alternatively, if you want to scale the whole object and proportionally change the stroke weight and arrowhead size keep this option checked. Another important option to remember is that you can change the path direction if you need to swap around the beginning and the end points of the path. Whilst you can easily swap the arrowheads around in the Stroke panel, in some cases, especially when you're working with multiple paths, it is better to change the path direction of individual paths to be able to easily apply exactly the same style to all of them. To change the path direction, select a path or a number of paths you want to adjust and go to the menu Object, Path, and select ''Reverse Path Direction.'' If you're after a perfect placement of the arrowhead in relation to the path, and you cannot achieve it using the actual arrowhead. Or if you're after a graphic of a specific size, after you have applied your arrowhead and style everything as much as you can, you can select the path and go to the menu Object and select ''Expand Appearance.'' This will expand the arrowhead graphics and make them into separate objects whilst the path will stay as it is just without any arrowheads applied to it. After Expand & Appearance, you can ungroup the results and adjust the position of the arrowhead graphics, or alter the path going between them, for example, if you need to hide [inaudible] or work on an awkward connection. You can also expand appearance of a path with the arrowhead applied to it if you want to color an arrowhead, or separate arrowhead elements differently from the path it is applied to. Just to recap on the most important points for creating Custom Arrowheads, here is your arrowhead design check-list. If your arrowhead graphic is a linear to begin with, it should be one point in weight to create a single weight design. All elements of your arrowhead graphic should be outlined when you finish designing it. Your arrowhead should be positioned correctly in relation to the end of the reference path. Your arrowhead graphic should be set to the same black color as the reference path in the symbol. All default, plus your custom arrowheads symbols, which you want to appear in the Stroke Settings should be in the Symbols panel in the Arrowheads.ai file, which is placed in the Illustrator's Plug-ins folder. You must restart Illustrator every time you make changes to your Arrowheads.ai document in the Plug-ins folder to make them appear in the Stroke panel, and that's about it.
14. Final Thoughts & Conclusion: So that's how you can create your own custom arrowheads and use them to style any open paths in your work. Have fun coming up with ideas for what you can turn into an arrowhead, and experiment with applying arrowheads to different designs. I will be super excited to see your custom arrowheads and how you use them in your work. Be sure to share your experiments in the project section for this class and tag us @altitudecreative and use that #attitudesskills, when you post your work on Instagram. Don't forget that for the first three weeks of this class we'll be run in a special contest. You can win one out of three of our very special Festive arrowhead sets. One lucky winner will also receive a grand prize of one-year Skillshare premium membership. To participate, post your project in this class before Wednesday 6th December, 2018. Leave a class review and follow us here on Skillshare. If you want to learn useful techniques for creating exciting linear graphics and patterns in Illustrator, be sure to check out our popular class, " Creating trendy abstract patterns in Illustrator" and it's cycle, "Create and train the designs with abstract patterns in Illustrator". If you like this class, please leave a review so more people could discover it. If you have any questions, leave a comment on the community board for this class and I will happily answer and provide feedback. Be sure to follow us here on Skillshare to be the first to know about our new classes. Also, don't hesitate to follow our page on Facebook to see what we are up to, get all the latest updates,. Send us private messages if you need to get in touch about something, and not to miss if you've featured in our Students Spotlight gallery. Thank you for watching this class and I hope to see you in our other classes.
Evgeniya & Dominic Righini-Brand, Graphic Design & Photography
