How to create a seamless heart pattern using Illustrator CS6

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a seamless heart pattern for Valentine’s Day, using Adobe Illustrator CS6. Patterns in Illustrator are easy to use, and they can be applied to fills, strokes and even resized, rotated, or repositioned within an object.

Step 1: Create a new document with File > New (Command + N).

Step 2: Change the document title to “entheos pattern” or as per your wish.

Step 3: To create a new pattern, choose Object > Pattern > Make.

Step 4: This brings up the Pattern Options panel dialog box along with a pop-up message telling you that your selected new pattern will appear as a new swatch in the Swatches panel.

Click the ok button.

Step 5: Select the “Type Tool” and type out some text. Here I have used the font as League Gothic and font size as 12px and typed “2014” as below.

Step 6: Next, draw the heart roughly using the Pen tool (P). The Pen tool is used to create line art.

Step 7: After that, copy and paste the heart in the bottom right-hand corner and also tilt it slightly as in the figure.

Do the same for the first created heart to match up on the other sides.

Step 8: Let’s duplicate the text “2014”. Then tilt and place the copy in the top-right hand corner. Now we’ve finished the heart pattern.

Step 9: The Pattern Options panel includes the following options: Pattern Tile tool, Name field, Tile Type, Brick Offset, Width and Height, Size Tile To Art, Move Tile With Art, H and V Spacing, Overlap, Copies, Dim Copies To, Show Tile Edge and Show Swatch Bounds.

Pattern Tile tool – Use this tool to adjust the bounds of the tile. It allows us to change the size of the tiles – adjusting the distance between the elements of the pattern.

Name field – Name or rename the pattern.

Tile Type – Choose the tiling arrangement for the pattern. You can choose Grid, Brick By Row, Brick By Column, Hex By Column, or Hex By Row.

Tile Type has 5 types of tiles. They are

1. Grid – The center of each tile is horizontally and vertically aligned to the center of the adjacent tiles.

2. Brick By Row – Tiles are rectangular in shape, and arranged in rows. Centers of tiles in rows are horizontally aligned. Centers of tiles in alternate columns are vertically aligned.

3. Brick By Column – Tiles are rectangular in shape, and arranged in columns. Centers of tiles in columns are vertically aligned. Centers of tiles in alternate columns are horizontally aligned.

4. Hex By Column – Tiles are hexagonal in shape, and arranged in columns. Centers of tiles in the columns are vertically aligned. Centers of tiles in alternate columns are horizontally aligned.

5. Hex By Row – Tiles are hexagonal in shape, and arranged in rows. Centers of tiles in the rows are horizontally aligned. Centers of tiles in alternate rows are vertically aligned.

Brick Offset – Enable this option by setting Tile Type to Brick By Row or Brick By Column. Then use it to change the offset of brick tiling. Brick Offset can also be adjusted on the tile directly using the Pattern Tile tool.

Width and Height – Change the size of the pattern tile.

Size Tile To Art – Select this option to set the tile size to be the same as the artwork bounds.

Move Tile With Art – Select this option to move the pattern tile when all the artwork is moved.

H and V Spacing – Places space between adjacent tiles.

Overlap – Control how the tiles overlap with one another. You can set the overlap to be Left On Front, Right On Front, Top In Front, or Bottom In Front.

Copies – Define how many repetitions of the artwork appear for a preview of the pattern.

Dim Copies To – Select this option to change the opacity of the tile copies so you can focus more on the artwork.

Show Tile Edge – Displays a box around the tile.

Show Swatch Bounds – This option shows the boundary box around the pattern. It is useful because it shows the edges of the pattern.

Step 10: The Tile Type option allows to create different types of the Seamless Pattern. Here I have selected the Tile Type option as Grid

The Copies option corresponds to the number of objects copies in the Seamless Pattern mode. The result is

Step 11: By choosing the Tile Type option as Brick By Row

Note: When you use the Brick by Row and the Brick by Column, the Brick Offset is been activated, which allows us to shift tiles vertically or horizontally.

Brick by Row : Determines by how much tile width the centers of tiles in adjacent rows are out of vertical alignment.

Brick by Column : Determines by how much tile height the centers of tiles in adjacent columns are out of horizontal alignment.

You will get the pattern tiles alignment in adjacent rows as below.

Step 12: By choosing the Tile Type option as Brick By Column

Hence you will get the pattern tiles alignment in adjacent column as below.

Step 13: The Tile Type option, I have selected here as Hex By Column

And the result is seen below.

Step 14: The Tile Type option as Hex By Row

The output of the Hex By Row pattern is seen here.

Step 15: If you are satisfied with your pattern creation, then provide a new name for the pattern, in the Pattern Options dialog box.

I have named this pattern as “Heart” and click “OK“.

Step 16: Now the seamless pattern is ready, click “Done” at the top of the Pattern Creation mode window. This action will exit the mode and save the pattern to the Swatches panel.

Step 17: If you need to edit an existing pattern, then double-click the pattern in the swatches panel, or select an object containing the pattern and choose Object > Pattern > Edit Pattern. Click and drag the heart shape pattern from the swatch onto the artboard. The changes done inside the bound box will be reflected on the whole pattern.

Step 18: You can apply the created seamless pattern to objects of any shape.

Step 19: Thus we have created the seamless heart pattern in Adobe Illustrator CS6.

Step 20: Click the pattern you have created to apply it to the circle, rectangle, or any shape. The pattern fills the circle seamlessly. Here I have filled the pattern in different shapes.