Veerle's blog

Ever wondered how to create those popular, but elegant tapered lines? Or just simple lines that go from very thin to tick and back to thin? If you create an Art Brush for this, you’ve really done half the job already. So the good news is, it’s easy and it’s fast.

Create an Art Brush

• Select the the Circle Tool in the Toolbox
• Draw a circle
• Select the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow)
• Click the bottom point of the circle and drag it vertically down holding down the shift key (see screenshot)
• Select the object using the Selection Tool (black arrow)

• Drag the object in the Brushes palette (go to Windows > Brushes in case you don't see the palette on your screen)
• Select Art Brush in the window

Draw the arc/bow

• Double click the Arc tool in the Toolbox (under the Line Tool) if the Pen tool isn't your favorite tool
• Use Y-axis

• Click drag to draw a bow
• Select the new brush in the Brushes palette
• Adjust the Stroke width if needed

• Expand the object : Object > Expand Appearance
• It's now a fill, but there is still a stroke inside the shape
• Go to Outline mode (command/control + y)
• Delete the stroke using the Direct Selection tool (white arrow)
• Now you can fill the line with a gradient if you wish to
• You can duplicate, flip, scale this line etc. to have a combination of lines

My set of simple brushes

Here is my set of 3 simple brushes:

In case you're interested, you can download VeerlesArtBrushes.ai.zip

This article was inspired by Simeon Griggs from Rimfya.