Quick Tip: Create an Easy Woodcut Shading Effect in Illustrator

Virtual Woodshop Class

There's something appealing about wood carved block printing. I'm drawn to it's one color simplicity and the techniques used to achieve shading due to that limitation. I admire the thick hash lines and borders and the amount of time it would take to create those by hand. Fortunately, for digital artists working in Illustrator a similar look can be obtained in a fraction of the time. Let's take a look at one method that I've used to create a woodcut look.

Step 1: Create a Pattern Brush

First up, choose the hexagon shape polygon tool, and make a triangle. To make a triangle, simply hold down the mouse as you drag out the shape and use the down arrow key on your keyboard to reduce the amount of sides for the polygon.

Now choose the Selection tool (V) and click and drag one side of the triangle to make it thinner. Then open the Brushes Panel (Window | Brushes) and click and drag the triangle over to the panel.

A new window will appear. Choose "Pattern Brush" from the options. You've now created a brush to use for your woodcut shading! Pretty easy, huh?

Step 2: Apply the Brush and Adjust

To apply the brush, I've created a simple banner graphic as an example.

Using the Pen Tool, draw a path where you would like for the woodcut shading to appear.

Now, with the path selected, choose our newly created pattern brush from the Brushes Panel. Most likely the brush won't appear correctly without some adjustment. To adjust the brush, simply double click it in the Brushes Panel. A new window will appear with some options.

I reduced the scale down to 10% and set the spacing to 25%. After clicking OK, you need to choose "Apply to Existing Strokes" for the new settings to take effect. After adjusting the brush, I moved the path around just a bit to get the look I was after.

I then added more paths to shade the rest of the banner.

Step 3: Expand the Brush to Create a Shape

As a final touch, you'll need to expand the strokes. This will give you the ability to scale and edit the shading as a shape instead of a path. To do this select all of the shading paths and click Object | Expand. If you would like to combine all of the shapes (banner borders and shading) into one, simply click the Unite button on the Pathfinder panel.

I hope this quick tip helps open some new creative doors for you in regards to creating a woodcut look in Illustrator. Try modifying the shape used for the brush. I've used curved triangles and even hand drawn elements in the past. Try it out and see what you can create!