It’s the end of May. Spring has come and gone. Summer is here and it’s time to break out the swimsuits and beach towels and get in shape for our summer vacations. As you know, each month we round up some of the best vector related content on the web. In May, we discovered some really nice vector-based tutorials, freebies, and vector-related articles. Please take a moment to review some of these articles. We think you will enjoy them!
Tutorial Wrap
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How to Illustrate a Colorful Hippie Peace Van
In the 60’s, the best way to “pimp your ride” was with a bucket of paint and a brush. Today, we can combine a little artistic know how and a bit of Illustrator knowledge to create just about anything. This tutorial from Vectelligence demonstrates how to illustrate a colorful hippie peace van in Illustrator.
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Create Beautiful 3D Graphs and Charts in Illustrator
If you have ever worked in an office environment, eventually some number cruncher will drop a few charts and graphics on your desk and tell you to make them look pretty. This tutorial from Tutorial 9 demonstrates how to use Illustrator to create some gorgeous charts and graphs.
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Death Metal Logo
Most everyone will recognize a death metal band’s logo when they see one. The death metal style has been pretty popular for quite some time. This tutorial from Go Media demonstrates how to produce a logo in this style using Adobe Illustrator.
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Create Diagonal Guidelines in Illustrator
One thing that a lot of designers don’t realize is that in Illustrator, guides don’t have to be displayed horizontally or vertically; in Illustrator, guides can be displayed in many ways, even diagonally. This quick tip from Veerle explains how to display guide lines diagonally in Illustrator.
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A Retro Look With Illustrator
Ever wonder how you can produce a retro-wavy text effect using Illustrator? It’s actually pretty easy. This tutorial from Layers Magazine demonstrates how to use Illustrator’s envelope distort feature to produce some nice 1960’s typography.
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Olympic Logo Tutorial #5: Los Angeles – 1984
Olympic logos always seem to face some pretty tough criticism. Whenever they are announced people either love them or hate them. Either way, by the end of the games, people most always seem to forget about the design and focus on what is most important, the athletes. This tutorial from Vector Diary is part of a series of tutorials demonstrating how to design Olympic logos from the past. Pretty cool!
(FREE!) Download Picks
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Beautiful Argyle Seamless Vector Patterns
Argyle is everywhere these days. You can spot argyle patterns in everything from fashion to graphic design. This set of 40 seamless argyle patterns from Creative Nerds will make a fantastic addition to your design arsenal.
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Free Seamless Vector Pattern – Intricate Lace
A great seamless pattern can add interest to your design without becoming overwhelming to the viewer. This intricate lace pattern from Pattern Head would make a great background and can be downloaded for free.
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Free Vectors – Geometric Patterns
You truly can never have too many sets of vector patterns in your arsenal. This set of geometric patterns from Think Design Blog includes 5 simple, yet stunning seamless geometric patterns that can be used in your designs.
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Climbing Flowers
Our friends at Pehaa are always coming up with unique and elegant vector pattern swatches for us to use. This set of climbing flowers is a beautiful example of what can be done with simple shapes and colors.
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Free Vector Patterns – Geometric Goodness
In case you haven’t downloaded enough seamless patterns today, our friends from Pattern Head are making yet another appearance in this round up with this nice geometric pattern. Give it a download and try it out.
Vector Articles and Inspiration
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An Inspirational Showcase That Will Change How You Display Data
Trying to make sense of complex data and information can be quite a challenge. This showcase of inspirational info graphics is a great starting point for anyone who is trying to figure out how to visualize a large amount of data. You might also want to check out the above tutorial for creating charts and graphs.
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Designing iPhone Icons
It seems like these days everything has Apple on their mind. This excellent article from Cute Little Factory is a great starting point for anyone who is looking for more information on how to design for the iPad or iPhone.
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Gorgeous Geometric Designs
Sometimes the simplest geometric designs can produce the most stunning results. This inspirational post from Noupe showcases some amazing geometric works of art.
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Weekly Vector Inspiration #70
Our friends at Vectips have been doing some really nice round ups of vector content. Post #70 includes some pretty amazing works of art. Definitely check it out.
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Super Stylish Illustrations by Mike Mitchell
There are a lot of fantastic illustrators out there but some truly stand out from the rest. This showcase of illustrations by artist Mike Mitchell is amazing. Check it out!