Adobe Illustrator Brush Test

Ever since I started using Adobe Illustrator, I haven't really tried to use the brush sets because I always think that they look very fake. However, recently, because I want to submit some illustrations to a stock illustration site, and they need vector illustrations more, so I tried to see if I can achieve that hand-drawn feeling with AI.

Here's my first quick experiment with the Artistic_ChalkCharcoalPencil Brushes. I like the look of the 'Pencil thick' brush:

Applied it to the Noel illustration I drew with the Pen tool (P). 

Filled the illustration with color like usual.

With color on the background:

It's fun to use, but I'm not very satisfied with the outcome. I'll try to see if I can make a custom brush that can achieve what I want :)

Church Website Go Live :D

After all these months, the church website has finally gone live!!! Yay!!! \ (>w<) /

http://mpcac.org/pc

As some information on the website needed to be confirmed before going live, the site just sat there and waited and waited, until last month, our pastor said, "let's not wait any longer and upload it" :p.

I changed the church title on the top left corner and took off the "30th Anniversary" banner, added a "Chinese version" tab, changed the slide for the theme of this year, and some corresponding changes back end. I think it looked better than before :) I still want to find a font with both upper and lower case that looks like the Bebas font though, because Bebas is in all caps and it's difficult for the audience to read content in all caps.

For the Chinese version, I looked into the language switcher function in Joomla, thinking it could help make the site bilingual a lot easier, but I really don't like the flags >><< they use to switch the language (the Traditional Chinese flag doesn't even show), and as I understand, there's no customization you can do for the graphics or location you can put. (With the help of extensions like United Language Switcher , I could put all the flags in one dropdown menu, but still, I don't like having flags there! Please let me know if there IS a way to use my own graphics with the language switcher!!! I'd love to give it a try!!)

Anyway, I resolved to just create another database, restored the backup of the original English site (I highly recommend Akeeba Backup!!!!), and changed the text inside into Chinese, which means there are actually TWO separate sites, instead of one (just like what we have right now). I think this way, not only can I skip creating all the menus and sub-menus again, it can also make the design and organization of content a lot more flexible, especially when the English ministry might have different content to use in the future, and the Chinese version might not necessarily need those content.

I guess the down side of this solution would be an almost duplicated site LOL, and I can't switch language on the same page. When people click the "Chinese version" tab, it will just open a new window of the Chinese website.

That's all for now :D When the Chinese version is finished, I'll post an update again! Thanks for stopping by!!