Paint in Illustrator CS5 using the New BRISTLE Brush

Another new addition inside Adobe Illustrator CS5 is the Bristle Brush. Unlike the calligraphic brush , the Bristle Brush renders a much smooth stoke. Rather than a crisp and hard edge stroke, it give a much subtle edge stoke. Upon repeating the strokes , one upon each other, the color, instead of adding up or building up , multiplies. Giving it a more painted kind of look. Try it yourself . It might actually bring out the painter in you. Here is a small and quick example , just to familiarize you with the tool.

When you want to use this bristle brush feature , click the brush tool  in the side tool bar. On the top option panel you will see the brush option activated. Click the drop down to view the various brushes you have. You will find the bristle brush under this menu. It is the brush with the number next to it. Usually below the Flower Brush. Click it to select the brush.

You will then be presented with a Dialog box . Here you can again choose a number of different bristle tip brushes. Just click on the Shape Drop Down menu

The Drop Down Menu should Look like this . Here , you can choose the kind of brush you want to use. Lets select the Round Fan tip Brush

Once selected you can, alter the size , length, density, and other parameter according to your requirement. You may have to come to this box again and again , after testing the brushes ,because you will not be able to know the stroke type unless you try it out on the canvas . The Preview actually does not serve the purpose as much.

Try out different strokes . When you draw the stroke , t may actually look a bit rough , but then illustrator enevtually smooths it out in a less than a second, to make it look some what like this. This a better quality of stroke compare to the other brushes because of the different parameters you had set in the previous dialog box. Al so it is still vector based so you can scale it to any length.

Deselect the final stroke and select the move tool, (V) and change the color to which ever color you want using the eye dropper tool

This is a great tool to draw hair in illustrator. All vector based. Modern Art designers can now rejoice with this tool. There are many other uses and features associated with this tool. If you have any queries regarding this tool , please send us a comment. Thanks and Have a Great Day