How to Use the Pattern Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Check out the previous pattern tutorial for any version of Illustrator here: every-tuesday....
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Thanks for watching!

[@caseyspringall2906]

You need to charge people for your amazing lessons. But your an angel and you share your knowledge with the world and makes the world a better place.

[@ShyMooKohai01]

My one portfolio teacher recommended your two pattern tutorials to me to help me with making patterns. It's helped a whole lot. Thank you!

[@drceyhunuzun]

This is the best tutorial I've ever seen about patterns which confuses me so much. Thanks for this great job :)

[@wildfia]

You have the best Illustrator tutorials on KZbin. Always so useful and well explained :)

[@EveryTuesday]

+Tony J aww, thanks so much!

[@tacticalsapper]

hallelujah thanks! 2 years later still very useful!

[@hootdesignstudio9898]

THIS is so helpful! I've struggled with the color background lining up. GAH! Love how you aligned a separate square for the background. SO slick.

[@Sereglos]

Thank you Teela! Especially for the ‘scale’ tip for the pattern after it’s been applied. Others’ videos that I’d seen omitted this very helpful tip!

[@mstivers]

Wow. I've tried to use patterned backgrounds before and was never satisfied with the results. Thanks to you, I finally got a result I was happy with! Thanks!!

[@juliaharris6374]

Super helpful! All your tutorials are really clear and straight to the point. This will help me a lot with my newest projects!!

[@awesumreigns5414]

ur tutorials was awesome but i watch ur tutorials because of ur sweet voice

[@puseletsotsilo]

The best pattern tutorial ever, thank you 🙂😃😃

[@kaiserbutler]

Great tut! Even an old goat like me can learn new tricks. I like patterned backgrounds and have always made them manually. No more! Thank you.

[@EveryTuesday]

Thanks for watching!

[@BenjaminWeiler]

I like putting two fills on the same object - the background color below and the pattern on top - so I only have to modify one shape, but my colleagues hate me for it cause they never have the Appearance panel open. :D Very kind of you to be so straight to the point and yet exhaustive in your videos! Fantastic job!

[@Layeredworld]

Your tutorials are simply fantastic. I cannot thank you enough for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@sazyb123]

thank you for this i am self taught in illustrating and i was stuck on here have asked people i follow who show there drawings but they wouldnt share how its done so thank you xx

[@wendyfriesen4618]

I love this site...every subject is informative and your delivery is so easy to understand. Keep 'em coming!

[@mustafajackson9430]

This has been a very helpful tutorial.

[@imranharoon9500]

How are you be able to deliver in such a lively way? Wonderful tutorials!

[@Nabarunp7]

Thank you for this tutorial... It helped me in a very big.. there was some confusion but now they are gone because of explained it beautifully with details. Thanks again.. keep doing it ur really good at this,

[@EveryTuesday]

Awesome to hear! Thanks for watching!

[@i-d3710]

i'm discovering your tutos from france you are the best i found on youtube so thanks

[@deirdrebaker6927]

I am so glad you posted this because it brings up a question I have when doing patterns with the pattern tool and here it is. Let's say you create this pattern and now you need a swatch for a seamless background, how do you do that?

[@EveryTuesday]

+Deirdre Baker Hey Deirdre! You could draw a perfect square out with the background color behind it, expand it + pathfinder divide the pattern elements, then drag to your swatches panel.

[@katies4723]

Could you do a tutorial for this?

[@bashirahmad4889]

Wish you best of luck, thanks for well explanation of tutorial.

[@paulafernandez3828]

Great video! thanks!

[@Parkseo226]

We need an updated version, what’s say😅 good work

[@lilyouyang5876]

Such a pleasure to watch beautiful design presented with a beautiful voice :)

[@JasminFookes]

I created a pattern (finally used those shapes I saved with the Adobe Capture App) along with this video and it went great. When I started a new art board though the swatch was no longer there. Help?! This was a fantastic tutorial Teela, thank you. Hoping to find out where the swatch disappeared to:)

[@JaneMonteith]

Once you've created your new swatch you have to click on it in the swatch panel and then in the top right corner of the panel select the drop down menu (the small lines in the dark grey area just below the close out x) and select SAVE SWATCH LIBRARY AS AI. It will prompt you to name the file and it will save the swatch in the illustrator program swatch files. Next time you open a new document you have to open swatches library the window menu (it's near the bottom of that menu) and then select USER DEFINED. This is where you will find the new swatch you saved. It will then open that swatch panel in your document. Hope that helps.

[@JanetCaterina]

Wow, a really packed video that will need some practice

[@tooncartoons3073]

I really needed that boost. Thank you!You have a good heart. I have learned so much from you, I can't thank you enough for.

[@dniko4]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you.

[@salauddinsarker8663]

Really nice.

[@sweethomes674]

Excellent 😊

[@mathieumorson]

This has helped me greatly thank you so much!

[@puifai_jsssssssss]

Thank you so much

[@janelane7573]

Thank you so much for this!

[@jonc6254]

Thank you so much!!!! You are an awesome instructor! Truly appreciate it!

[@lauraguzman6647]

So helpful! Thank you for making this video!

[@seaberry6]

I am so glad I discovered this tutorial. I didn't know about the Pattern Tool before. What I am wondering, though, when you change the background color, does it save as part of the pattern? Thanks!

[@EveryTuesday]

You can, but sometimes Illustrator will put funky white hairlines along the edges. I find it's always best to keep it transparent and then apply it on top of a color

[@lktlkt]

Thanks! Your videos are so great, thanks for the weekly inspiration

[@LD71685]

Any tips on when a pattern doesn't appear seamlessly on the edges? Been struggling with that for awhile.

[@mariaandronachi5467]

A little too late, but maybe it will be helpful for someone :) I've had the same problem, it is because the swatch will take into account all the lines - even if they are hidden by the clipping mask. You have to crop and delete anything that is over the artboard/ rectangle limits that contains the pattern. When you drag your pattern into swatches you need a clear edge.

[@winstonhoyle]

Not sure if this was the same problem I had, but when you are copy/pasting the elements to the opposite side of the art board, make sure to type in "+ 3in" AFTER the X value, don't replace the current x value with "+3in".

[@clo3dbyleblogdeyolaine415]

Hey, thank you so much for your both tutorials about pattern design, my question is which file do you send to the printer. I understand how with the basic tutorials. But in the case of the illustrator pattern tool, I don't know what file I need to send. They usually ask for a jpeg or png... Can you help me with that? Thank you

[@poloncanucic8345]

Normally you should send pdf, because it is not changing by printing.

[@UrchinQueen]

This is SO helpful - thank you!!

[@SazikimiJaeger]

Thanks a lot.. I am glad that I bumped onto you. It really helped me right on the time when I needed.

[@nerdynerfdad]

Very well done. Thank you for sharing.

[@jeluvable]

thankyou so much

[@sharoneisenberg2274]

Wonderfully useful! Thank you!

[@runninghead_media]

Brilliant tutorial!

[@TheBlackPap]

Fantastic tutorial. Subscribed to your channel. Thanks a lot.

[@mariadeperino6097]

Teela: you are by far the best at tutorials. Thank you so much for all the tips! I have a question. I am a apparel designer. Most of my patterns would have a colored ground. would I be able to bring the swatch back into the swatches panel to use as a fill after you add the ground color as a last step?

[@LoriKroutFL]

I have this same question

[@PolycultureArt]

AWESOME!!!!! You just made my day! Many many thanks!

[@dandrem.4074]

OMG So cool! The best tutorial ever!

[@Randomfunofficial2]

THANK YOU SO MUCH :) SO INFORMATIVE! GOD BLESS

[@edenpl96]

Hi, I hope you could help me with a technical problem. I want to save my pattern and sell it online. How do I save it so it can be used in other people computers?

[@ahmedabdennour8896]

The same query That I would have to say to her?

[@bryanwilson75]

That was great. Thank you very much!

[@TattooistArt]

thank you, very helpful tutorial.

[@leannaverhulst6894]

Which way to create a pattern do you like best? With the pattern tool, or how you did it in the other tutorial about patterns? (just curious)

[@millerhj]

Thanks! This was very helpful!

[@mauveesone]

I look at the edges and it does not seem like it is seamless, is there a way to check that the pattern will be seamless by putting two swatch boxes together?

[@anashossain8300]

Beautiful Video. Thanks for share

[@Naocha007]

Thanks! Just when I needed!

[@EveryTuesday]

+Jacky Singh awesome! :)

[@genevievemomberg6852]

Hi! Thank you for this tutorial it was very helpful. I am having a problem with my elements when I create repeat patterns. Some of them chop in half if I lay them over the repeat square. Can you help me?

[@cxcevents]

my pattern will not stay centered within my shape. suggestions?

[@katepitman2177]

hey thanks so much, very good. the only thing I couldn't get was at the end, how to copy and paste the colour background underneath the pattern....i am on a PC, so I did control C copy, but then "Deselect click anywhere" I don't understand that !? do you mean SELECT at the top? - my background colour is just sitting all over the pattern, so it has been covered completely. help!! Im stuck and almost there. thanks so much ! kate

[@luisafernino]

Thank you so much for the tip on creating a background color. I was pulling my hair out!

[@lynxvsjackalope1149]

I love this tool but while it previews perfectly, I'm winding up with fine, transparent seams in my JPEG exports where the hex pattern's rectangular bounding box would be. Any idea what is causing that? :< I'm super frustrated lol.

[@ruwansanjeewa3574]

nice work. keep in touch

[@michaellima2224]

Great Video. How do you save the pattern with the colour background as a swatch?

[@PauliePizza]

Is the transform pattern option in preference supposed to be on or off? thanks for the video.

[@janasiguenza1545]

Really great! thank you so much

[@mariahromero5791]

When I opened and started a new art board my pattern was no longer there. I tried to create it again and a pop up said I already had a pattern in that name but I can't seem to find it. maybe you can help me find my pattern? I love your tutorials they are great! :)

[@listyaariputri]

how to save this pattern? i mean, i want to make a pattern for other people to use. how i suppose to save the file (so the other party could use that as a seamless pattern too)? thank you.

[@motionmarketer4762]

Thank you sensei

[@sazyb123]

ive just tried to save my pattern and it only saved it to my files not my swatches , to use it i have to go into files and open it and it wont show up in print so for me its not saving onto my swatches not sure how to get around this ?

[@DisgruntledPigumon]

Darn. I’m so bummed by this tool, or maybe the tutorial... your example nearly fit perfectly in a hexagon, so it was easy, but what if you want more items or they don’t fit well into any of the drop down items? Can you move things around?

[@stephenphillips4605]

Thank you

[@MummyBrown]

Hey Teela, WONDERFUL tut. If we should want to create a pattern using raster art created in Photoshop, would it be feasible to just save out the assets via the libraries, or even a PNG, and then drop them into Illustrator to construct the pattern?

[@EveryTuesday]

Yep! Just make sure the images are embedded when you use them in Illustrator

[@Toast-M1]

Thank you !

[@mustafasaad9944]

thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ♥

[@YsabellaLalu]

yay! been waiting for this! :)

[@EveryTuesday]

+Ysabella Lalu thanks for checking it out! :)

[@VocalDEA]

Thank you for your great tutorial :) I just have one question... Could you use the appearance panel for adding the background color by adding another fill to the object? And theoretically then even use several patterns in one object at once? :)

[@EveryTuesday]

+UnaGale ahhh, good call. I'll bet you can - thanks!

[@meeshmeeshmeesh9]

Can I use the pattern maker in CS6 to create a seamless pattern that fits in a square that I can use for a background image on a website? I want to create my pattern with the pattern maker and export a 300px x 300px seamless png I can use for a background. Thanks!

[@clareduffy7269]

Hi Teela, If you're providing a pattern to a supplier for printing, how do you change the scale so it is the exact scale you want? I've created the pattern much larger and want to scale it down but I'm finding it really tricky to maintain the new smaller scale. I've tried a few ways and the best option is to resize a shape with the pattern inside.But if you copy and paste the swatch into a new file and try to create a new shape (eg. the dimensions they need for their printer - fabric width etc) it reverts to it's original scale. And if I try to manually change it the background interferes with the print. (I have to create the swatch with background fill colour or the printer might forget to add it). Sorry that's so confusing but a tutorial on this would be greatly appreciated!!

[@fiieraproductions1447]

Love it😀

[@CkArtGirl7]

What the heck is the rubber band tool? I try to select the pattern parts hanging off and it grabs some nodes and not others. Not working.

[@muimina-]

I want to make a pattern using illustrator c6 but from scans of photographs and cannot find any tutorial on this. Maybe you might know how? I'm thinking mirrored repeat among other things... thanks :-)

[@WildKatatHeart65]

Thank you.

[@EurocatGames]

I was curious why the pattern that I make is not in my swatches panel if I try to use it in another document? Isn't the point of a pattern so that it's available in any document that I might work in? What am I doing wrong? Help!

[@EveryTuesday]

Hey! Please see this vid for saving your patterns :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4XMipqcatdoldE

[@EurocatGames]

@@EveryTuesday Thank you!!! This was exactly what I needed.

[@SivaPrakashMurugan]

How to create the color swatches in the Art board with code - Any short cuts ??

[@oopitsellel5307]

For some reason, my pattern tool keeps moving my object to the top right of the artboard instead of centering it. Does anyone know how to fix this? I havent been able to find an answer.

[@iceliadias]

hi, I am not understanding what you do when you use the select tool to select the patterns you want and just move them to the side. when I do it the whole gets selected. what do you mean rubberband select ? thank you

[@EveryTuesday]

They may be grouped if that's happening. Select your elements then object > ungroup to ungroup them 👍

[@asemmostafa1873]

Great!

[@flickerflame8783]

Just commented on another video as well... so when I am in hex pattern and adjust the h and v spacing it shows the gray background in the space between... what am I doing wrong??

[@barefacedquestions]

The gap is probably due to anti-aliasing, which is a common issue for every vector program AFAIK. You can duplicate the object several times and the gap will disappear. That's what I often do. It's a dirty trick, but I don't know of a better way.

[@DebbbieSweren]

Your tutorials are super easy to follow - but my patterns keep disappearing! I can't find them or use them. They are just gone. Please help. It show up in swatches until I close the file. Then it is just gone. Went on line and saved them also as : The Swatches panel is associated to your working file. If you close the file withour saving, you will loose the new swatches. So, to see the new pattern somewhere else, you have to save the swatches set. Use Panel menu > Save Swatches Library as ASE (support file, Adobe Swatches) / Save Swatches Library as AI (Adobe Illustrator file). they still disappear! I am so frustrated working with this for two days.

[@EveryTuesday]

Hey! Check out this tut: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4XMipqcatdoldE

[@patriciawhipple4075]

This was so good but I don’t see link

[@AbdulBasit-sh8hk]

hi hope you are fine i need to ask one question will you please tell me that good tuturiol link send me when i use pattern in any object when move that object patterns still patterns will not moving with that object

[@EveryTuesday]

+Abdul Basit (subwaysports) hey, when you have a pattern in an object and you move or resize it, with the object selected, just click on the pattern swatch in your swatches palette again and it will readjust perfectly :)

[@irielyssa]

Sorry Teela I have a question. I created a pattern with the pattern tool on AI. But I need to extrapolate the tile, the unit of the pattern that is repeated. How can I do that? (Sorry for my bad english ;--;)

[@beardiedragonmama2955]

I'd like to know this too! I don't know how to transfer it so i can print etc

[@monicabryant5073]

How do you save the pattern to be able to use in new papers?

[@EveryTuesday]

Here's how to save your patterns :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3nIhZaHh7Kega8

[@faheemdesigner8034]

thankssss

[@stanleykho3865]

How to download the project file...is it free or need to pay?...Tks

[@manuelakuchta7093]

Can anyone help? After I click Make and Done it just turns white with a box, but the pattern disappears. What am I not doing? Thanks.

[@methekickthebuddyfan2024]

you have not selected the element you wish to use,

[@mrnomore]

hi. i need to crop the image to leave a seamless pattern for export to other apps. is there a easy way to do it? thank you

[@Jollypainter]

try using the crop button under the pathfinder tool flyout menu

[@mrnomore]

i do, but i have to match everything to export it properly. the pattern size needs to be exactly same as the exported image....also, it doesn't work to just copy and paste (strange lines in photoshop)