I recently designed a couple of business cards in Adobe Illustrator. The designs were cool, but when i went to the printers in Shomolu to print them, they demanded that they had to redesign them in CorelDraw

.. blah blah blah.

On hearing this, i went back home to do it myself.. i thought; “isn’t there an easier way of converting AI files to CDR?”

The problem:

As simple as the designs were, i didn’t want to redesign them in CorelDraw. And, incase i didn’t mention it earlier; “I hate CorelDraw”. Not that i can’t use it, but I’m like an Adobe fan boy. (Note: the word “Like”)

Another problem was; why aren’t the “printer guys’” flexible with the kind of formats they accept?

As simple as “SVG”:

Let me state here that I’m using Adobe Illustrator CS3 & CorelDraw 12.

1. Save your work from illustrator as an SVG file. (File > Save As)

2. Then from CorelDraw, import the SVG file (File > import).

The difference between this method (using SVG) and opening the AI file directly is that the text is editable and also shape layers.

Also note that; CorelDraw does not recognize crop marks created with Adobe Illustrator, so you might want to crop your work in Illustrator before exporting.

And files may be grouped when imported into CorelDraw.

Final Words:

The guy at the print shop was glad to learn a thing or two, i hope you did? By the way, hope you like the card? ;)

N.B: I skipped a few minor steps. If you have any difficulties, drop them in the comments area.

Post update: Also read Jean-Philippe’s comment below.

We’re going to create a monitor in this tutorial. We’ll be working with gradients and blurs. So fire up PS and let’s go!

Note: Dimensions used in this tutorial may differ depending on the size of your canvas.

Step 1:

Create a new document of whatever size (I’m using 1024x1024px). Create a rectangle of the monitor using the rounded rectangle tool. Fill it with #000000 and apply the bevel and emboss settings below.

Step 2:

Now to create the stand. On a new layer below the Use the pen tool to draw out the monitor stand. Then apply the layer styles below.

Tip: If you’re having problems drawing the shape, you can draw half, duplicate the layer, flip it horizontal and join it.

Step 3:

We’re going to use the pen tool with the help of the brush tool to add some detail.

First, select the the brush tool (Airbrush) with diameter of about 7px & foreground color: #000000.

Then ctrl+click on the monitor stand layer and use the pen tool to make the selection below. Then right-click & select ‘Stroke path’ and apply a slight Gaussian blur.

Step 4:

We’re going to apply the same treatment to some other areas but with different brush diameters.

Step 5:

Create a new layer called “screen”. With the rounded rectangle tool, draw out the screen and fill with #74B2C6. Then apply the layer style below.

Step 6:

Make the selection below, then apply a linear gradient from transparent(up) to #ffffff(down) and set the opacity to 15%.

My Final Image:

Below is my final image. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial?

This simple tutorial will show you how to use the blur tool to make surfaces look reflected. The aim of this tutorial is to let beginners get used to some basic tools in photoshop.

Step 1:

Create a new photoshop document of 650x520px. Using the ellipse tool, create a circle and fill with #16B809. Let’s call this layer “circle”.

Step 2:

Ctrl+click on the “circle” layer thumbnail & on a new layer, apply a linear gradient from black(down) to transparent(up). You can reduce the opacity a little.

Tip: When using the gradient tool, hold shift to constrain it to vertical, horizontal & diagonal gradients.

Step 3:

Ctrl+click on the “circle” layer again and make the selection below using the pen tool then subtract the selection. On a new layer, apply a linear gradient of transparent(down) to black(up). Then reduce the opacity to 10% or less.

Step 4 (Adding some shine):

Select the Elliptical marquee tool and make a selection on a new layer. Then apply a Gaussian blur (Filter >Blur >Gaussian blur).

Step 5 (Some more shine):

Apply the effect to some other areas.

My final image:

You can them add text or whatever ;) I hope you learned a thing or two. Below is my final image.