What a crazy time to be alive! Never thought I’d have to tag disclaimers on my work that I actually made it with my own skills. I supposed keeping behind the scenes footage and screen recordings of the creative process wouldn’t hurt to have on hand if those accusations ever arise.

My pleasure! More than happy to share the results of my exploration with everyone. Hopefully someone out there can put this technique to use.

@@davewatkinscreative I have learned a lot from your channel... Keep your creative up ❤️

Thanks for the feedback. I struggle trying to find the balance between detail and speed when making these videos. At least my voice is entertaining though.

Glad you found this tutorial helpful! I've seen some amazing art created in the Zentangle style - I'm always impressed with how complex it can be.

You are so welcome! Glad to hear that you found the video useful. Best of luck on your Illustrator journey.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the support!!

You're very welcome! Thank you so much for the kind words. Really means a lot to me.

That’s awesome! It’s always great to hear that these videos are helping people learn new techniques. Thanks for checking out my channel.

Glad this video could help you avoid some frustration. Really appreciate the kind words!

You are so welcome! Glad you liked it.

That's great news! Glad to hear it.

You're very welcome. Glad to hear that this video was helpful.

Appreciate the support :)

That’s great to hear! It’s always tough trying to balance being detailed without getting boring.

Thanks for watching. Appreciate the kind words.

Thank you so much! Always nice to hear feedback like this.

Well that's cool! Amazing to see how people were inspired by this project and the tips that I shared.

Appreciate that! Hope you found it useful.

Show/Hide corner widget is located in the View Menu. Unfortunately if you’re using an older version you may not have that feature. I believe it was introduced in one of the first CC versions.

@@davewatkinscreativethank you. This makes sense..

Thanks!! It bugs me that I can’t find a better way to fix this issue. This will have to do for now.

My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed the tutorial.

You bet! Thanks for checking it out.

You're very welcome! Keyboard commands are my bread and butter. So glad to hear that you enjoyed the video.

There are lots of ways to get Illustrator to give you the same result, and each designer is bound to have different workflows. I personally like having visual swatches set up off my canvas for easy access with the eyedropper. The same principal of having settings easily accessible for application to paths can be achieved with the Graphic Style panel. Or of course, you can tailor your workflow to your own liking. I'm just trying to share the building blocks of my process with the internet. I hope you were able to extract something of value from here :) Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

@@davewatkinscreative Thank you. I did, gain value that is. I think my workflow needs to change, as I come from Blender mainly as my only art. So I deal almost in absolutes if that makes sense? If I want a 3in a circle with a .5 line I type in 25x3, copy, -.5 on the copy and cut one circle from the other. I am currently going through multiple videos to relearn "the right way" so who knows, maybe in another year this video will make sense to me, ha.

Best of luck on your learning journey! I know the frustration of switching software can be rough. I have spent so much time in Illustrator that the switch to After Effects broke my brain a little bit.

Awesome to hear you enjoyed the video….. it’s 2024 and still haven’t picked up a laser cutter. The bright side is… once I do get my hands on one, I’ll have all kinds of ideas of what to make!

@@davewatkinscreative You are right about that! I have a laser. I love what it can do in the shop but outside of buying files online, I’m at a loss spending more time with (ctrl+z) then actually making something…The finished product might be a nice walnut or mahogany design I cut and assembled but the real art starts with designers! Shoot, I’d send you mine if I could learn to do what you did that fast and accurate.

That’s awesome! Glad to hear that you were able to use this video to add to your expertise. I’m sure you’ll be able to create some awesome work!

You’re very welcome! Key commands are the best! Hope that you’re able to add some of the shortcuts I shared to your workflow.

You’re very welcome! Glad to hear that you found this helpful!

With a basic rectangle on your canvas if you use double click on a corner widget, the rectangle properties will pop up. From there if you unlink the radius sizes you can input different size radius measurements for each corner. If you modify the original rectangle with the pen tool, or by pulling and dragging points around, these properties will no longer be available. I'm assuming that's what's happening in your project. If that's the case you can still double click on those corner widgets to enter a radius in. However you will need to do it one by one.

Hey there - not sure exactly what you mean about the overlapping lines. All of the maps that I have downloaded so far include lines that overlap. For the second issue it sounds like the shape you wanted to use as your mask wasn’t at the top of your layer order. Make sure the shape you’re trying to use isn’t grouped and that it is located at the top of the layer order when you make your selection - then use the make mask feature. The warning you were getting indicates that you had a complex path at the very top of the layer order and Illustrator was trying to use that as the mask.

@@davewatkinscreativeI meant so many overlapping strokes this is what I meant and even If I change the stroke thickness nothing happens

You're very welcome. Thanks for checking it out!

Welcome!! Thanks for subscribing!

That's awesome! Glad to hear that I was able to help you learn a few things.

Thanks so much! Appreciate that.

The alt(pc) + click or cmd(Mac) + click means to hold the alt/cmd key down and click/press the main button on your mouse.

Glad I could help solve the issues you were having with Illustrator.... Still don't have a laser cutter, but it's on my wish list.

@@davewatkinscreative just letting ya know, on Geekbuying there is a sale on the Sculpfun s9 laser cutter :) Ive had it on my wishlist when it was €400 and now it was €160 Idk if it ships to Canada though

@RavenAlu Thanks for the tip! My plan is to eventually buy a large CO2 laser. Your suggestion did get me looking down the rabbit hole at smaller diode units though. It's amazing how many options are out there.

@@davewatkinscreative - I have 2 lasers and one more coming, but I don't have the skills you have for designs LOL. I keep coming back to your videos for all the help I need for illustrator, nothing else out there explains the techniques as good as you do. If you need laser cut anything on wood please let me know, I will do it for you like you are doing these videos for us for free while you wait for your own laser :)

@asadullah1619 really appreciate the generous offer! I'm so glad to hear that these videos I'm making are helping folks on their creative journeys.

Agree! It can be super frustrating to click directly in the centre consistently. I use a combination of regular guides, smart guides, and constant zooming in to make sure I get it right.