Bitmap Textures Part 1: Using Bitmaps To Add Texture to Illustrations In Adobe Illustrator

Intermediate / Advanced Level Content. In this video I explain the basics behind how I use Bitmaps created in Adobe Photoshop, to add texture to Illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. I very briefly explain how to convert a texture into a Bitmap using Adobe Photoshop, then how to import that bitmap texture into Illustrator. As always, this video presents principles you can apply in your own work, rather than a step by step tutorial of how to re-create one of my illustrations.

[@7000DASH]

This was so helpful I couldn't find any other videos this in depth on textures

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for saying.

[@boomclock163]

So good to finally know how to get this cool effect! Excited to try it out, thanks !

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad it helped!

[@visuetry2785]

Thanks for the video, this opened up a lot of possibilities, I am just starting out and this helped a lot! Congrats on 1k subs by the way! :)

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Great! I'm glad this helped.

[@crispypasta]

this is pretty great! i always have a hard time with vector textures so i'm really happy this is possible! thank you so much for sharing this :D

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Sure thing; glad it helped. And just so you know, these bitmap textures can be converted to vector as well, if needed. (I might make another video on that at some point; one method is using Illustrator's "Image Trace". But you have to create a custom preset).

[@crispypasta]

@@russgrayillustration8734 i was revisiting this video again and only saw this now oof! i would love to know how to convert these bitmap textures to vector because sometimes work requires me to deliver a fully vector file 😅

[@russgrayillustration8734]

@@crispypasta Just saw your reply now! Well, it's too complex to explain in a comment, but basically you'll use image-trace in Illustrator. But you can create a preset once you dial in the settings, so it's only a couple clicks in the future. I'll possibly add a followup to this video explaining it. Basically: go to Window > Image Trace and choose Black and White under Mode. Then under Advanced check "Ignore White" (so that it won't trace the white background, only the black). Also under Advanced you will probably want to crank up "Paths" to High. You can play around with "corners" and see what suits you. Then: save a preset (the little menu over to the right of "Preset" up near the top). Hopefully that kind of explains it.

[@crispypasta]

@@russgrayillustration8734 thanks so much for this! will try it out! ☺️✨

[@manuelvalles690]

This is amazing Russ, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!! Really appreciate it. Greetings from Argentina

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad you liked it, hope it was helpful. Y ... me encanta Argentina! Extraño la patagonia

[@ItaloMuniz16]

Dope! Many years using both softwares and using bitmaps but never knew this workflow, amazing bro!

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad to hear it Italo. I've been using both for years as well and there are always new things to learn, I find.

[@sarahh.c.8927]

I did not know this method, thanks for sharing !

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad it was helpful!

[@israrmalik1798]

you work is amazing

[@drawwitheli4697]

Thank you! Really helpful

[@kamturs]

keep doing this

[@keithaguilar9790]

As an Aussie golfer once stated, "Useful"

[@LouiseCarota]

Great video. I followed the instructions and placed the bitmap created in PSD. However, Illustrator won't let me recolor the black brush stroke. You make it look easy. Is there a step I'm missing? If I try to image trace it, the background is included.

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Great questions. So, if Illustrator is not letting you recolor it, my guess is that it must not actually be a bitmap. (Obviously I could be wrong, it could be something else, it's just hard to say without seeing your files. I just haven't had an issue with a bitmap not being allowed to be recolored in Illustrator, so it would have to either be something other than a bitmap saved as a PSD, or some circumstances I haven't run across). With regard to image tracing: there are two ways to accomplish that (at least). One method (and to my experience, probably more precise) is to create the paths in Photoshop (see this tutorial for more info on that kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXq4YoyKhdiYZ9E; start at maybe the 2 minute mark or so). The other method is to use Image Trace in Illustrator. In order to not include the background, one way you can do that is to go to "Window > Image Trace" and within the Advanced settings there, check "ignore color". The default should probably be white, and if not, change it to white. Now it should eliminate the white background you're coming across.

[@LouiseCarota]

@@russgrayillustration8734 Thanks so much. It's possible it's not actually a bitmap. I will review all your suggestions.

[@LouiseCarota]

@@russgrayillustration8734 I saved it as a TIFF file and imported it into Illustrator. This time it let me change the colour. Before it was a PSD file

[@russgrayillustration8734]

@@LouiseCarota Interesting! Never yet had that issue with a PSD; perhaps a setting in the way the PSD is saved? Not sure. At any rate, glad you got it solved.

[@MultiReddy1]

The above illustration is super cool. Did you do that? If Yes! I would like to learn.

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Hi Shyam, yes I did do that illustration (thanks), but so far this channel is more about principles and ideas that can be used in your own illustrations, rather than beginning-to-end tutorials. However, I do plan to do a handful of those types of tutorials eventually.

[@MultiReddy1]

@@russgrayillustration8734 Its really nice. Where can I learn this?

[@Iconisms]

it's about time for #Adobe to upgrade the brush engine in illustrator. This kind of workflow always been there and that is not great and makes the file slow and heavy. It's time to make it easier for Ai users. Affinity did it. Adobe can too.

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Definitely can't argue with you there! Plenty of things that could be improved in Illustrator in general. That said, no matter what they do, or no matter what the software in question, I think we will always be pushing the software to do things it wasn't originally engineered for. I think that's just the nature of what we do, to push those limits. I would love them to improve the brush workflow, but I have a feeling there will always be looks we want to achieve that just aren't possible without "hacks" like this. In any software. But I sure would welcome those and other improvements!

[@ahmody7500]

This is so well done 👍 but how is this any different from exporting the illustrator file into photoshop and add the textures ?

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Great question. Often I will bring vectors into Photoshop for doing these types of things. However, in some cases I'm required to deliver vector artwork (in which case I can convert the bitmaps to vector if needed), and other times, I simply want to keep them easily editable in Illustrator. Plus, sometimes I love the crispness of the bitmap textures that is sometimes harder to replicate in Photoshop.

[@sharanjitkaur4737]

thanku :p

[@russgrayillustration8734]

Glad it was helpful! I will try to put up more soon.

[@SBey-zee]

I am having trouble saving and importing, there wasn’t much e plain action on this part, anyone have any advice?

[@SBey-zee]

Fixed it! I saved it to the cloud and not my computer and simply couldn't find the file, rookie move, come on naw...

[@playpiano2264]

Can you share some bitmap files in the description please if possible ; )

[@russgrayillustration8734]

I probably won't be sharing files here on KZbin. But hopefully I've shown how easy it is, you can make custom ones for yourself that work even better.

[@RebelPrintMedia]

2:36 - time stamp to bitmap

[@boomclock163]

Do you convert your bitmaps into vectors? If you don’t, how you solve the quality problem?

[@russgrayillustration8734]

I don't convert them to vectors. Well, not usually anyway. To convert them to vector would create so many points that it would just bog everything down. I have occasionally done that when production needs warranted it. Not sure what you mean by the quality problem ... if the bitmaps are created at a reasonable resolution, they work great. You'll know if the resolution is too low if you have to enlarge the bitmap when you bring it into Illustrator. Generally, make it a minimum of 300dpi at the needed dimensions.

[@Superstardark]

Lies