Paint Tool SAI is a painting application with numerous tools and is widely used by digital artists. Blending is a technique used by many artists to give their subjects a more three-dimensional appearance. So, how can you blend in Paint Tool SAI?

Blending is effortless in Paint Tool SAI using the blender tool. This helps smooth the sharp lines and edges of subjects by blending them well together. Also, you can alter the blending level by changing the blender’s intensity. 

Other methods, such as shadows and fringe effects, are also used to create a blend in Paint Tool SAI. Keep on reading to find out more about blending in Paint Tool SAI.

How To Blend And Shade In Paint Tool SAI

Once you have drawn your characters or object’s outline, follow these guidelines to blend the images:

1. After giving your image a base color, make a layer for shading. By choosing the layers and selecting ‘layers panel,’ combine the levels that include your contours and flat colors. The layers can be separated later.

2. Select the merged layer and click on the ‘preserve opacity box,’ which appears above the layers panel. This fixes all of the created lines and objects, making it simpler to blend inside of them. 

3. Next, click on the ‘New Layer symbol’ located at the top left of the layers panel. Since this layer will be where you create your shading, be sure it is placed above your outline layer

4. This shadow layer, which is located just above Preserve Opacity, can have its transparency altered. You can see the outlines below if the opacity is adjusted to between 10% and 50%.

5. Next, above the opacity meter, set your layer’s mode to define how you want the shading layer to blend with the outline layer. 

6.  Using the multiply, shade, screen, and luminosity modes to darken or brighten your drawings is common.

You may also want to use the fringe effects to blend and shade quickly.

Adding Fringe Effects To Blend

This is a quicker method of blending in Paint Tool SAI. To use it, follow these steps:

1. Choose the ‘paints effect’ and ‘fringe effect’ options from the drop-down menu. This will automatically blend your design with a light layer.

2. To alter the length and darkness of the automatically generated shadows, you can change the opacity and width of the fringe effect.

Adding Shadows To Blend

Using shadows is another way of blending in Paint Tool SAI. To add detailed shadows, follow these steps:

1. Begin by selecting a darkening mode such as ‘shade’ or ‘multiply.’

2. Select the required brush size and color to darken the areas on your drawing that are opposite the light source. This will make the shadows appear more realistic.

3. Use the ‘oil water brush’ or ‘blender tool’ to smooth the rough edges.

The following video thoroughly explains how to blend in Paint Tool SAI:

Conclusion

Blending your subject to make it appear more life-like is important in illustrating. Although the blender tool is easiest to use for creating blends in Paint Tool SAI, several techniques, such as adding fringe effects and shadows, are also used by artists.

Adobe Illustrator is one of the best vector graphics software out there; it gives its users the utility to design their artwork using its vast variety of tools and functions, which keep evolving through new updates. Changing the background color is one of these features. Although the background color is white by default, you can still change it when you create a new document on Illustrator. But how?

There are two methods by which you can change your background color in Illustrator. You can either create a new background by creating a rectangle and moving it to the back, or you can use the document setup options. These methods allow you to change your background to any color you want from the color palette.

Illustrator also works with layers just like photoshop, and when you create a new document, the first layer is the background. Although you can change the color of any artboard layer, our article will focus on how you can change the background color. We will discuss two methods by which you can do this. 

Changing The Background Color

Using the two different methods: creating a new background or using the document setup options, we can achieve the same result: changing our background color to what we want. 

If you are creating a new document, go to File > New and then enter the details about the document on the dialogue box that appears on the screen. Press OK, and the document will be created. 

Creating A New Background

For this method, you can use the rectangle tool to create a new background by setting its shape to fit the background canvas.

1. First, open or create the document on Illustrator. 

2. Choose the Rectangle tool from the left toolbar on the document and then create a rectangle of the same size as the document. 

3. Click on the background and choose your desired color from the palette dialogue box. 

4. After clicking Ok, go to the Windows menu and open the Layers panel by clicking on Layers. You can lock this rectangle to the background by double-clicking on the rectangle layer and check-marking Lock in the Options dialogue that opens up. 

Here’s a video to help clarify the steps more:

Document Setup Options

We can change the document’s background color from the document setup options. To do so, open Adobe Illustrator and open or create the document on which you want to change the background color. 

Next, open the document setup options for the document by clicking on File > Document Setup. This will open up the Document Setup dialogue box. Check under Transparency and Overprint Options and checkmark the Simulate Colored Paper option. 

This option will allow us to preview the background color on the document to see what suits the best.

Click on the canvas icon (the upper box instead of the one below it). It will open up a palette dialogue box. You can choose any color of your choice from the palette and set it as the background color after clicking OK on both the color palette dialogue and the Document Setup Dialogue Box.

Conclusion

If you previously worked with Photoshop, you may find it trickier to change your background color in Illustrator. That’s why we walked you through the steps of the two methods in our guide, through which you can change your background color easily without any complications.

Adobe Illustrator has abundant tools that will help you create a stellar illustration. Among them, the Brush tool is perfect for stylizing your artwork. It gives you the ability to use any custom strokes for your creative purposes. These custom features include the color, shape, and the right size for your brush. Although there is no direct “brush size” option, there are other easy ways to change it. So, how can you change that brush size?

You can change the brush size by either using keyboard shortcuts from the brushes panel or the properties panel. Since there is no brush size option, we are also actually looking to change the stroke size when we draw with the brush tool. This means the same as the brush size.

Although the brush tool is not the most convenient to use in Illustrator, you can still change its size easily. This article will walk you through each step in learning how to change the brush size in three quick and easy ways. 

Changing The Brush Size

There are three methods through which you can change your brush size easily.  We will explain to you a step-by-step guide for each method. 

Alternatively, you can also use this video for a detailed guide on the brush tool:

1. Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use your bracket keys to change the brush size. First, select the Brush tool in the Tools panel, then create a stroke or just notice a circle around the brush cursor when you are changing the brush size. 

Now to change the brush size in Illustrator, you can use the [ bracket key to decrease the size and the ] bracket key to increase the brush size. This is the quickest and easiest way if you prefer to use your keyboard for shortcuts. 

2. Using Blob Brush Icon In Brush Tools

You can also change the brush size on the brushes panel. First, click on the menu on the brushes panel, then click on Brush Options. It will open up a brush options dialogue box. 

There will be a slider for Size; you can move the slider according to the size that you want. You can also click on the preview box to see how it looks if you are changing the size of an already existing stroke. 

However, one drawback of this method is that it will change all of the stroke settings; it would not work on a single stroke.

3. Stroke Tool In The Properties Panel

This method is quite helpful if you want to change the stroke size of a specific stroke. First, select the brush stroke whose size you want to change. Then you can change it in the top panel or the Properties Panel. 

On the Properties panel, go look under Appearance, there, you will find the Stroke option. You can change the size by clicking on the drop-down menu or by typing it out in pt units according to the size you want.

Conclusion

There are three very quick and easy ways to change the brush tool size in Illustrator. If you want to stylize your work on Illustrator more through strokes but you do not know how to change its size, use this guide which explains the method step by step.

Adobe Illustrator has made the manipulation of text quite easy, and you can use its tools to carry out tasks such as centering text in illustrator in reference to the canvas. Centering texts makes your Illustrator project appear more professional, as it will be more organized and symmetrical. You may have to center your text in Illustrator according to project requirements, so here’s how you can do this:

It is possible to center text in Illustrator in two main ways. You can use the Paragraph Style Alignment method by clicking on “Align Center” on the paragraph alignment setting, or you can use the panel alignment method where you can center text frames or the text within those frames to the center. Either way, these steps are easy and quick to follow.

Although Illustrator is not a text-based design software, it still allows you to manipulate the text to what you want. Consequently, you can manipulate the text to center too. Our easy-to-follow guide will help you to learn how to center text in Illustrator in two simple and quick ways.

Centering Text In Illustrator In Two Ways

As we discussed, there are multiple ways you can center text in Adobe Illustrator, but we will go through the two main methods which will help you manipulate or align the text or paragraph to the center in the way you want.

Here’s a brief video with tips for aligning text:

Paragraph Style Alignment

This is a comparatively much easier and quicker way to align text to the center. First, text the selection that you want to center. Now go to the properties plan. It will show you paragraph alignment options. Select the Align Center option. This will align the selected text to the center of your project. 

Although it says “paragraph alignment,” you can align any amount of text, whether it is short or long, by simply selecting it. 

Panel Alignment

If you want to place the text or multiple text frames in the center of the canvas, panel alignment may be your option. 

1. Start out by selecting the text frame that you want to center. 

2. You will see alignment options on the right side of your screen. You can choose “Align to Selection.” The selection here is the text frame, but there are other options as well. Notice that if you have only one selection, it will Align to the artboard only. 

3. From there, click on “Horizontal Align Center.” This will make the text frames align horizontally to the center. 

4. If you want to align it to the whole canvas, make sure the click on both the “Horizontal Align Center” and the “Vertical Align Center.” 

Conclusion

It is important that you know the two different help methods through which you can center text in Illustrator. Even if you do not need to use this tool right now, you may need to use it in the future. 

PicMonkey is a free photo editing and graphic design software that allows users to benefit from its various editing effects. It has features of cropping, resizing, filters, and effects such as blurring. Blurring backgrounds can make your portraits look clearer, but that is not the only thing you can use the blur effect for. The question is, how do you blur in Picmonkey?

Although the easiest and most common way to blur is by using the “Soften” effect in Picmonkey to blur your picture, that is not the only way. You can also use focal blur. Picmonkey provides you with different options to achieve the same purpose, which is the blur effect. 

If you want to blur your photo background or a specific entity out of your photo but don’t know how so, take help from this article. We will show you how you can use these different tools in Picmonkey to blur your photos.

Blurring Your Photos

Modern-day technologies and software have allowed us to turn low-quality photos into high-quality ones. We can blur out what we don’t want in our pictures, and we can also blur out backgrounds if we want portrait-like pictures. 

Picmonkey is one of these modern-day softwares, giving us different options and ways to blur any picture. 

Soften Effect

With the softening effect, you can blur and erase the subjects that you choose using the following steps: 

1. First, open the image that you want to edit in Picmonkey. Find the “Soften” effect option under the effects tab on the left of your screen.

2. Once you apply this effect, it will soften your whole image layer. If you have other image layers, they won’t be affected.

3. To use the “Erase & Brush” palette, hit on the paintbrush icon on the image palette. This will allow you to erase areas where you don’t want any blur. You can also use the “Reverse Effect” by using the paintbrush to only brush over the area that you want to be blurred.

4. If the blur is either too blurry or less blurry compared to what you want it to be, use the Softness slider to tone down or tone up the softening effect by dragging the slider.

5. Picmonkey will auto-save any of the edits you make

Here’s a video to understand how to apply the “Soften effect” in detail: 

Focal Effect

If you want a quick blur effect with one click, you can use “Focal Soften.” It will blur the area outside of the subject. You can adjust this by moving the focal point circle around. You can also use the Reverse Effect for the opposite. 

Bokeh Blur

You can use this blur by heading over to the Textures tab. It will give you different blur options by blurring the areas in the background with out-of-focus lights. 

You can change its settings by using the “Size,” “Fade,” and “Saturation” sliders. You can use the “Blend Mode” menu to customize it with more effects. 

Conclusion

Through this article, we have found innovative ways to blur our photos in the Picmonkey editor. The simplest way may be the Soften effect, but it is not the only way we can blur. In addition to that, Picmonkey also allows us to adjust the blur and use the Reverse effect.

The tools and features in Adobe Illustrator are very user-friendly, you can use them to carry out any design task much quicker, and changing colors is one of them. You may have encountered situations where you might have to fix or replace the colors in your project after you are done, which can be frustrating, but with Illustrator, you can do this instantly or with a few clicks. How can you change these colors?

It is possible to instantly change the colors in your artwork with the Recolor Artwork tool. If you want some other option, you can also change the colors of specific objects using a Color Picker, and if you already have sample colors in your work, the Eyedropper tool is useful. 

Modern software like Illustrator gives the designer full control of what they are making, so they can employ different methods to change colors to know what fits them the best. In this article, we will discuss exactly how these methods work and how you can change colors in Illustrator.

Ways To Change Colors in Illustrator

You can use any of three different methods to change colors in Illustrator, depending on the object or objects you are changing. 

Recolor Artwork

This method allows you to experiment with your colors more and gives you more control over changing the colors of anything that you want. Follow the following steps to use this method:

1. First, select the objects of which you want to change colors; you can hold the SHIFT key to select multiple objects. 

2. Once the object is selected, click on the Recolor button on the Properties Panel. This will show you a color dialogue box with the color wheel, you will find the original colors you used on it.

3. From here on, you can change the colors as you like. 

4. If you want to recolor a specific color, you can unlink the colors by clicking on the Link Unlink icon and then edit them individually. 

5. However, if you want to change the objects’ color, you just need to drag any point on the wheel until you find your desired color.

Here’s a video explaining this method: 

Use a Color Picker

A color picker lets you select one specific object and change its color. To do so, you need to double-click on the color fill box on the left toolbar. It will show you a color selector dialogue box; you can select the color you want from the palette or input a color hex code.  

Use The Eye Dropper Tool

If you already have sample colors, you can use them to fill them into other object places and vice versa. To begin, select the object and then click on the eyedropper tool in the toolbar. Then you can change the color of any specific area by first copying the color from the other sample color in any other area.

Conclusion

You can use the recolor artwork tool for instant changes, or if you want specific changes in only a few areas, you can also use a color picker or the eyedropper tool. Illustrator lets you design your artwork in any way you want!

It is important to know how to change page size, whether working on an InDesign template or creating your own design. Among its numerous features, InDesign has a distinct tool for this function. So, how does it work?

The page size in InDesign can be altered using different methods. You can either use the ‘document setup’ option, the pages panel, or the page tool to alter page size. Although the page size is usually defined when creating a new document, it can easily be altered while working as well.

Continue reading to learn more about each method!

Changing the Size of a Page Using Document Setup

The document setup option is primarily used when making changes to the entire document’s page size. Thus, it is a quicker way to resize your document. To use this method, follow the steps below:

1. Begin by opening InDesign and moving towards “file” to open “document setup.”

2. This will open a window that provides options to alter numerous aspects of your document, including the page number and sizes.

3. Under the ”page size” panel, enter your document’s required width and height.

4. Then, select the ‘preview’ option to view how your document will look once the changes are made.

5. You will observe that although the page size has changed, the content within those pages remains unchanged. Select “ok” if you wish to make the alterations.

6. However, if you want the page elements to change as well, move towards “adjust the layout.” Enter the required height and width in the new window.

7. Clicking the “adjust font setting” allows you to change and resize the font to align with the new page size. Depending on your preferences, you can choose to keep the font size the same even when the page size has expanded.

Let’s discuss making changes to the page size using the pages panel in InDesign. 

The following video describes how to change page sizes in InDesign:

Changing the Size of a Page Using Pages Panel

If you prefer making changes to a single page within your document, follow these steps:

1. Start by going to “page”’ from the “window” option.

2. Then, select “custom” by moving towards “edit page size.”

3. Clicking on the “custom page size” will show you previously used template sizes. However, you can customize a new size by defining different widths and heights.

4. After setting the dimensions, press “add” and choose the new page size setting. Press “ok” once you are done.

When you preview the pages in the layout window, you will notice that the altered page appears bigger than the unchanged page. However, this will not be visible in the pages panel. Also, unlike the document setup option, this method does not give the option to change the sizes of the elements on your page.

Conclusion

InDesign features several methods for changing the page size of a document. Using the document setup option, you can change the page size and resize elements within a page. However, if you only wish to make changes to the size of a page, then the pages panel method is more beneficial.

Making mistakes is a natural part of any creative work. Therefore, it is vital to have a tool to correct your mistakes. Adobe Illustrator comprises an ‘eraser tool’ that can be used in several forms, including removing parts of vector graphics or deleting them altogether. So, how can you change the eraser size in Illustrator?

To alter the eraser size in Illustrator, you must double-click the ‘eraser tool’ and open the ‘eraser tool options’ panel. This will appear on the toolbar. Then, to increase the size of the eraser, view ‘size’ in the options and drag the handle towards the right. Slide it to the left if you wish to make the size smaller.

Another way to change the size of the eraser in Illustrator is to use the keyboard shortcut: the ‘right square bracket key (]).’ Continue reading to learn more detail about changing the eraser size in Illustrator! 

How to Increase the Eraser Size

The eraser size often needs adjusting depending on the object you are working on and its shape. A bigger eraser will make it easier to create smooth edges, whereas a smaller eraser allows for more precision and detail. To enlarge the eraser, follow these steps:

1. Begin by opening ‘eraser tool options’ to view the panel by double-clicking on the ‘eraser tool’ icon in the toolbar. Alternatively, you may also click the ‘enter’ key when the tool is chosen.

2. The panel shows several settings that can be changed, including the eraser’s size. To do this, adjust the handle next to the ‘size’ option, the third option in the list.

3. Continue altering the handle until you have reached the eraser’s desired size and click ‘ok.’

4. You may also change the size by using a keyboard shortcut. Choose the ‘right square bracket’ (]) on your keyboard to increase the eraser’s size. 

How to Decrease the Eraser Size

To make the eraser smaller in Illustrator, you may repeat the abovementioned steps with just one alteration. Instead of moving the handle on the ‘size’ bar towards the right, move it to the left and click ‘ok’ once you are done. The left square bracket is the keyboard shortcut for reducing an eraser’s size and looks like this: ([).

The video below describes the method of adjusting the eraser size in Illustrator:

Once you have altered the eraser to its desired size, you might also want to change its other settings. 

Different Eraser Settings in Illustrator

Among the different features an eraser has in Illustrator are its roundness and angle. To change an eraser’s roundness, you repeat ‘step 1’ mentioned above. To make an eraser more oval-shaped, move the ‘roundness’ handle towards the left, and to make it more circular, slide it towards the right.

Additionally, you can also modify the eraser tool’s angle in Illustrator. Again, repeat ‘step 1’ mentioned above. Dragging the ‘angle’ bar towards the right will increase the angle, and dragging it to the left will decrease it. 

Conclusion

The size of an eraser in Illustrator can be changed by two simple processes. You may either alter it manually, beginning with the ‘eraser tool options’ or use the keyboard shortcuts ([) and (]), depending on whether you want to increase or decrease the size.

The resolution of an image or document refers to the amount of detail in it. Therefore, the higher the resolution, the greater the image’s visual quality. The number of pixels/inch is a measure to gauge resolution. Among its many features, Illustrator allows users to alter an image’s resolution. So, how does this work?

Changing the resolution is very simple in Illustrator. New documents can be created and exported with the required resolution, and even existing ones can alter their resolution. However, Illustrator only lets users change the PPI resolution, not the DPI.

Keep on reading to find out more about resolution in Illustrator! 

How to Alter PPI Resolution in Illustrator

The resolution of an image is not among the first things to come to mind as we create one. However, if you know your final design and its purpose, you can define the resolution when you make a new document. 

Changing Resolution On A New Document

Follow these steps to alter the resolution when you design new work in Illustrator:

1. When you open Illustrator, move towards the overhead menu and click ‘file.’

2. Then, press ‘new’ to generate a new document. Alternatively, you can also use ‘command’ and ‘N’ simultaneously as keyboard shortcuts for making new documents.

3. Following this, select ‘raster effects’ to be able to modify the resolution. If the resolution-changing option is not visible here, press ‘advanced options’ to view it.

4. Select the required resolution option from the high, medium, and screen resolution lists.

You can also change a document’s resolution while you are already working on it. 

Changing Resolution on Pre-loaded Document

To make changes to your existing work in Illustrator, follow these steps:

1. Begin by moving towards the overhead menu and selecting ‘effect.’

2. Then, open the ‘document raster effects settings.’ This will list down different resolution settings.

3. Choose the required setting from ‘resolution’ and press ‘ok’ when you are done.

4. If you want a customized resolution, select ‘other’ and write down the required PPI value. An example is typing in 100 if you want an image with 100 PPI.

The following video takes you through the resolution-changing process in Illustrator:

Sometimes, you may need to change the resolution last minute when you are exporting it. 

Changing Resolution When Exporting a Document

To change the resolution while exporting a file, follow these steps:

1. Start the exporting process as usual by going to ‘file,’ ‘export,’ and finally, ‘export as.’

2. Make changes to the file format here, name it as preferred, and select where you want to save it.

3. Then, move to the ‘resolution’ panel to alter the resolution. This window will appear differently depending on the format of your saved file.

Having done this, your document will be saved in the selected format at the required resolution. 

Final Takeaway

In conclusion, the resolution of a digital image is necessary to measure how much information it can display depending on the number of pixels it has. You can easily alter the resolution in Illustrator when creating a new file, working with a pre-loaded file, or when you are exporting it.

Adobe InDesign is the computer page layout formatting and publishing software by Adobe Inc. It helps the user create many reports, catalogs, books, magazines, and pamphlets. Among many of its available features changing the line space is one of the most commonly used.

Two of the most used methods to change line spacing are using the leading option and the available built-in shortcut. The line spacing is changed by holding the ALT button of your keyboard and pressing the directional arrow keys, allowing them to increase and decrease the line spacing value.

Changing line spacing in InDesign is a necessary-to-know task if you are a writer. This article will teach you how to do so using two different methods. 

Changing Line Spacing in InDesign 

To learn how to change line spacing using InDesign, follow this method:

1. Begin by opening a new document from the opening screen of this program. To do this, use the “create new” tab.

2. Next, go down to the options listed under the “windows” and “type and tables” menu. Here, you will see the “character.” You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + T to open “character.”

3. Within this panel, you will find an option called “leading,” which generates automatic line spacing by InDesign, depending on the font size of your text.

4. Alternatively, you can also add the required line spacing value manually.

5. To do this, select two lines with the same font size and click on “auto” from the “leading” panel. This will result in a distinct value, such as one that is 130% of the font size.

6. Within the leading panel, you can also select the “Properties” panel on the right side of the screen and enable it.

7. Then, alter the font size and multiply the leading value with this selected font size, e.g., 12*1.5.

8. As the application calculates line spacing on its own for your given values, automatic line spacing will be created within the selected paragraphs by InDesign.

The abovementioned steps will form a uniform line spacing within your document. Having learned how to include line spacing, we will now discuss why it is important to do so.

If you’re still confused about the process, take a look at this video:

Why is Line Spacing Important?

Line spacing is essential as it changes the way the readability and the feel of your design are for a reader. If the text is too clustered, it will feel crowded and become more challenging to read through. However, if there is too much spacing, the text lines may seem unrelated to each other.

Additionally, line spacing is also important for people with poorer vision. This is because they will find it harder to track text lines if they are too tight. 

Conclusion

There are two ways to add line spacing in InDesign: the “leading” feature and the keyboard shortcut. It is important to include line spacing within your text to make it more accessible and easy to read.