Ollie Spicer

Here are three different ways to create a hand-drawn effect in Adobe Illustrator. There are countless techniques for achieving this look, but these are my top three go-to methods:

Option 1:
Head over to the left-hand panel and double-click the Wrinkle Tool. Here, you can adjust the intensity settings to your liking. Simply brush over your design to give it a rough, textured effect. Keep in mind that less is more with this method!

Option 2:
This is my favourite technique for achieving a hand-drawn look and probably the most popular method overall. Select your design, then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. At first glance, the default settings might look chaotic, but don’t worry. Just follow the settings I demonstrate in this video. What makes this method so great is that it’s non-destructive. You can easily tweak or remove the effect in the Appearance Panel without altering your original design.

Option 3:
I use this method for all of my character designs. It’s definitely the most time-consuming of the three, but the end result is worth every second! In my opinion, the detail and authenticity it adds make it completely worth the extra effort.

These techniques can help you bring a hand-drawn touch to your Illustrator projects while maintaining flexibility and control over your designs.

Follow along for more tips and tricks in Adobe Illustrator! 🙌

Adobe Fresco has been an amazing programme that’s become a staple part of my illustration process. In this video, I run through 3 handy tools that help speed up my design process.

Starting off with the symmetry tool. If you are creating a symmetrical design, this is a really handy way to speed up your workflow while maintaining consistency!

The second tool allows me to easily remove overlapping lines in my illustration. This is one of Fresco’s best features, in my opinion, as it allows me to create clean, crisp shapes, without having to worry about using the eraser tool to try and neaten up the illustration.

Once you’ve drawn out your outline, a really handy feature is ‘set as reference’. This allows you to be able begin adding colour in a new layer while adhering to the outlines you’ve just drawn.

Let me know if you enjoyed this type of video, where I run through more of the typical tools and techniques I use in my day-to-day workflow!

It always starts with a sketch 🙌

Before the clean vectors, before the colour, before Adobe Illustrator even opens… It’s just pencil, paper and figuring things out ✏️
A little while back, I got to work with a honey mead & brew company that was looking for some fresh merch artwork. They came with the pun (which I was fully on board with 😂) and let me run with the concept from there.

I started with a detailed hand-drawn sketch, built out the composition and linework, then took it into Illustrator to turn it into a clean vector illustration ready for print. From a rough idea to scalable merch artwork. This one was such a fun branding project to bring to life.

This is the final outcome 🍯🔥
What do we think?

Follow along if you’re into graphic design, logo design, branding projects, sketch-to-vector workflows and behind-the-scenes Adobe Illustrator content 🙌

STOP wasting time by missing THIS!

A clear brief and a moodboard are essential to setting the right foundation, aligning expectations, and ensuring that every design decision supports the client’s goals and vision.

Taking this time at the beginning of a project not only prevents misunderstandings later on but also creates a shared point of reference that both the client and designer can confidently return to throughout the process. It helps define the project's tone, style, and direction, so that when sketching and developing concepts, the creative energy is focused and purposeful.

In the end, this preparation leads to stronger results, a smoother workflow, and a final design that truly resonates with the client’s brand and audience.

Follow along for more tips and Tricks in Adobe Illustrator! 🙌

A few extra notes about this texture brush effect:

Method 1: Using the ‘draw inside’ method is a great way of adding texture to your illustrations. My recommendation is to use this method only when working with digital designs where expanding your paths isn’t necessary.

Method 2: This method is a bit more time-consuming, but when I am creating illustrations for print design, this is the approach I take. That is because all paths are expanded, and no cases involve masks. This is particularly important when working with large-scale prints, where printers will need to enlarge your design. By having your brush strokes already expanded, this eliminates any scaling issues that can occur with method 1.

A final note: I would advise using this brush sparingly. It can become very labour-intensive on Adobe Illustrator and even cause crashing if overused within a file!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions 🙌