bRINGING HOME THE BACON
A creative resource for designers, makers, and growing brands.
How to Create Impossible Geometry Shapes in Adobe Illustrator (with Triangles & Circles)
Learn how to make visually stunning, impossible geometry shapes using the Appearance Panel, Offset Path, Shape Builder Tool, and some clever Illustrator tricks.
How to Make Clean, Overlapping Art Brushes in Adobe Illustrator
Learn how to use stretch guides and segments to create seamless, clean Illustrator art brushes—plus a trick to use intertwine for more polished overlaps.
How to Create a Sticker Effect in Adobe Illustrator (Easy & Customisable)
Create a sticker-style outline and shadow in Adobe Illustrator using the Appearance panel, Pathfinder, and Offset Path tools. Perfect for content creators and merch designs.
How to Create a Checkered Pattern Brush with Working Corners in Illustrator
Struggling to get your checkered brush corners to align? Here’s the exact step-by-step fix that solves it—and why Illustrator behaves this way.
How to Create a Vintage Sunburst Pattern Brush in Adobe Illustrator
Learn how to design a hand-drawn sunburst brush in Adobe Illustrator—perfect for logos, badge designs, and illustration accents with a vintage feel.
How to Create a Bevelled Inline Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator
Learn how to create a layered, bevelled inline text effect in Adobe Illustrator—plus tips for shading, colouring, and adding depth using shape tools and texture.
How to Create Pixel Art in Adobe Illustrator
Turn your vector art into pixel art using this fun Illustrator trick with the Mosaic effect. Perfect for retro-inspired designs and simplified illustrations.
How to Draw Lightning Bolts in Adobe Illustrator (the Easy Way)
Don’t overthink your lightning bolts—these two Illustrator tips will help you create clean, dynamic shapes in minutes using geometric forms and warp effects.
Illustrator Bounding Box Won’t Go Away? Here’s the Quick Fix
Stuck with a bounding box that won’t disappear in Illustrator—even after ungrouping? Here’s the weirdly easy trick that fixes it.
How to Create Hand-Drawn Dot Patterns in Adobe Illustrator
Learn how to make organic dot patterns using the Blob Brush and Pattern Maker in Illustrator, with a bonus trick to keep things clean and readable in your designs.
How to Create an Overprint Effect in Adobe Illustrator
Learn how to create a halftone overprint effect using Illustrator's pattern libraries, rasterise + trace workflow, and the multiply blend mode.
The Easiest Way to Make Rainbows in Adobe Illustrator (That Actually Scale)
Ditch the repeated circles—this warp method makes scalable, editable rainbows in seconds using grouped rectangles and the arc effect.
Stop Struggling with the Rotate Tool—Try This Radial Repeat Trick in Illustrator
Learn why the radial repeat feature is a smarter, faster alternative to the rotate tool in Adobe Illustrator—no more skewed shapes or manual math.
I Tried Customising My Vans with Illustrator & a Cricut (Here’s What Happened)
From Illustrator to Cricut to chaos—here’s how I created a custom chain design and checkerboard print on my Vans, and what I’d do differently next time.
How I Invert a Logo Fast in Adobe Illustrator
Learn a faster way to invert your logo in Illustrator using Shape Builder, without manually adding internal shapes. A great tip for clean, contrast-driven branding.
How I Give My Vector Illustrations a Hand-Drawn Look in Adobe Illustrator
In partnership with Adobe Design, I’m sharing how I add ink-like texture and a hand-drawn feel to my vector artwork using stroke, rounding, and roughen effects.
How to Create Art Brushes in Adobe Illustrator (Using a Hot Dog Brush!)
Learn how to create Illustrator brushes that don’t distort when stretched. I’ll show you how to segment your artwork using both art and pattern brushes for clean, repeatable strokes.
How I Designed a Flag Mockup Using Adobe Illustrator
In collaboration with Adobe Design, I created a custom flag design using Illustrator’s warp effect, then mocked it up and cut it into an iron-on transfer. Here’s how I did it.
Designing DIY Band Merch for My Kids Using Adobe Illustrator
I used Adobe Illustrator and some screen printing supplies to create custom patches for my kids' fictional band—The Banana Milkshakes. Here’s how I did it.
2 Easy Ways to Create Warped Backgrounds in Adobe Illustrator
Learn two quick methods to make warped vector backgrounds using Illustrator's Envelope Distort tools—perfect for posters, layouts, and brand visuals.