Create a Knockout Effect
When you’re working with Adobe Illustrator popular effect is to create a knockout effect. This is where the foreground and the background compete to have positive and negative shapes. This means that parts of your image are in the positive and other parts are in the negative to create a cohesive design. To create this effect can be time-consuming unless you know a couple of tricks inside of Adobe Illustrator. With the right tools, you can create a positive negative effect or what is also called a figure ground effect. This has a very strong presence in your design and can create a lot of attention for your brand or the event that you’re promoting. In the video below, I’m in a show you how to create a knockout effect in Adobe Illustrator.
One of the panels that people don’t use very much Adobe Illustrator is the Pathfinder pallet. This is surprising, because there are a lot of useful little tools inside of this panel. You can divide different shapes, you can combine them, or you could also subtract certain areas that you don’t need. I use this Panel all of the time to create really complex shapes that would actually take a lot of time to do with just the Pen Tool or doing freehand. You can get accurate results using the Pathfinder tools inside the Pathfinder pallet. Exclude is one of my favorites because that that is essentially how you create the effect from this video. Anything that overlaps is automatically knocked out, leaving everything else behind. You can also do other things, such as minus the front shape or combine two shapes together to create a really complex shape. What’s great about this panel is it creates this one simple shape out of two. You don’t have to worry about grouping shapes together or any of that. It automatically combines it into one path.
Conclusion: Knockout Effect
Were you able to create the positive negative effect in Illustrator? Using the tools found within the Pathfinder panel will make your life a lot easier. You can work faster and more efficiently, and you’ll be able to create complex shapes in a matter of seconds. No more tediously working with the Pen Tool to create complex shapes. You can do it easily using the tools in the Pathfinder panel. If you have any questions about the Pathfinder panel, leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
