Tutorial | How To Create Rough Print Effects | Adobe Illustrator

How to Create Rough Print Effects in Adobe Illustrator

1. Prepare Your Workspace

   • Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document with a 1500 pixel square artboard.
   • Consider using a second artboard for organizing new layers (non-destructive editing).
   • Download the free vector texture pack mentioned in the video description if needed.

2. Prepare Your Artwork

   • Start by creating your vector illustration with separate layers for each color.
   • Use black for the artwork layers and white for any background or additional color layers.

3. Apply Effects to Artwork

   • Select all artwork layers and go to Object > Rasterize, ensuring the background is set to white.
   • Add some space around the artwork to avoid unwanted effects by rasterizing.

4. Distort Your Artwork

   • Go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur and adjust the settings to soften the details of your artwork.
   • Aim to maintain the overall design while removing sharp details.

5. Trace Your Artwork

   • With the artwork selected, click Image Trace at the top of the window.
   • Adjust the settings in the Image Trace panel, focusing on threshold, path percentage, corners, noise, and ignore white options.
   • Save the settings as a preset for future use.

6. Organize Your Colors

   • Copy the traced artwork and paste it back onto the original artboard for each color layer.
   • Edit the colors back to your original color palette for each ink layer.

7. Apply Textures

   • Obtain a vector or bitmap texture to use in your design.
   • Ensure each ink color is a single compound path.
   • Apply the Roughen effect (Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen) to each ink color layer with subtle settings.

8. Create Misregistration Effect

   • Offset each ink color layer slightly to create a misregistration effect.
   • Change the blending mode of the layers to Multiply for overlapping ink effect.

9. Add Textures and Masks

   • Place your texture file on a new layer above the artwork layers.
   • Create a mask by offsetting the paths and applying it to the texture layer to blend it with the artwork.

10. Final Touches

    • Ensure the artwork integrity by offsetting the texture into the artwork.
    • Check for any adjustments needed to maintain the desired rough print effect.

By following these steps, you can achieve rough print effects in Adobe Illustrator similar to the tutorial demonstrated in the video from Bad Lucky Studio.