Embellish Floral Swirl Brushes for Illustrator

Embellish flourish floral brushes for Illustrator - Installation

The embellish / flourish brushes are for Illustrator CS5 CS4 CS3 etc. The resources are for PC and MAC OS X. The swirl brushes are stored in native AI format files. The swirl designs include the AI file along with documentation giving details explaining how to install the brushes and how to use them including details on re-coloring the swirl brushes and combining and exporting them or using them as symbols. The zip file also includes a thumbnail gallery showing all the swirl / embellish brushes included in the set along with a serial number for use with future updates of the set.

To install the floral brush designs, simply add the brushes to the brushes folder. You don't have to add the swirl brushes to the Illustrator brushes folder (this is found either in the software folder on the mac or in the program files adobe folders on the PC), you can also just browse for the files and open the brush library that way. The brush libraries, once opened, can then be used with the document's own brush library and the brushes can be modified in countless ways to add a wow to any project.

Modifying the floral / embellish brushes in Illustrator

The floral brush strokes are basic paths and can be edited as such, if you prefer to have a different edge to the brush simply modify that color. Drag the floral / swirl brush from the brushes palette and then double click the design and modify the individual parts of the path (if it is a single path then clearly only that path can be modified). You can also use the pathfinder tools that come with Illustrator to add and remove parts of the path - before re-saving the brush stroke as a new brush. You can also add additional paths that are not 'joined' the original paths - say adding an additional frame or offset path to the brush stroke - the sky is the limit and the floral brushes are a great starting point for a whole range of brush strokes.

Exporting the brushes to Photoshop

The brushes are just standard paths - if you want to use the brush stroke in Photoshop or another application you can simply copy the brush (once dragged from the brushes palette) via the pasteboard to Photoshop and the brush can then be used as a Photoshop brush or a smart object or even a custom shape. The brush stroke can also be exported using one of the export commands or the save command if you wish to save the floral brush stroke as a PDF or EPS design or via the export menu as SWF. Raster formats are also available to the floral / emebellish brushes strokes such as PNG or JPG and they can be used in a wider range of software.

Use floral brushes with standard Illustrator paths

The embellish flourish brushes can be used as a standard paths as well so drag the design from the brush palette and then expand the design (you will have to ungroup the brush as it comes with a bounding box that defines the flourish design). In path format, the brushes can be further modified by the Illustrator tools and can be distorted as well as combined with others paths. On finishing any modification to the swirl brush design you can also simply drag the path back into the brush palette and save as a new brush.

Text / stroke / paths for Illustrator

The embellish brushes can be applied to a path as well as text as well as to a stroke. The swirl stroke designs can be interchanged between scatter and artistic formats as required. By double clicking the swirl design in the brush palette you can modify various settings (depending on the type of brush - scatter has different settings to that of artistic) such as the colorization of the swirl brush and the width and apply. If a scatter brush then the swirl can be re-sized as can the scattering and the spacing and the angle of the brush. The swirl brushes can be further manipulated if you are using an art pad and pen.

Frames - floral frames for Illustrator

You may wish to use the floral / embellish brushes as a frame. This will depend on the brush stroke. A quick and easy way to create a floral frame would be to drag the brush stroke from the brushes palette and then duplicate the design three times and layout the floral shapes as a square frame. You can then align and move the shapes in multiple ways to create an artistic frame design. You can also apply the brushes to a circular path - this might require some modification of the brush via the brush palette and the settings. A simple change to the direction and the width of the brush via the brushes settings can result in a totally different vector frame design (again, the floral frame design can be exported to another application such as Photoshop or Indesign). The width tool / width profiles add many additional options in the creation of stunning frames in Illustrator.