*** From the Archives ***

This article is from January 3, 2013, and is no longer current.

How to Make a Calendar with Illustrator

Looking to start the new year right by keeping your resolutions? Did those resolutions happen to include anything like being more organized, making awesome stuff, or learning Adobe Illustrator? If so, then I have just the ticket: a special, multi-part installment of Deke’s Techniques, in which Deke McClelland shows how to use Illustrator to make this nifty year-at-a-glance calendar.

The symmetry and precision alignment of each element make it a thing of beauty. And as Deke shows, Illustrator’s tools can make crafting such a precise piece work a breeze. Starting from a single, humble polygon, you can build a row with just a few coordinated clicks.

And from there, a few drags of the mouse will get you the full shape, which you can color however you like.

Here’s the first video, which covers the creation and formatting of the hexagons:

In the second video, which you can check out at lynda.com, Deke shows how to make this set of shapes into a calendar by adding the days of the week and the dates in a super-efficient manner using tables. The table technique makes quick work out of adjusting the dates to the correct day of the week for each month.

I’m also especially fond of the super sneaky trick shown for aligning the tables to the center of each hexagon. I’m not going to spoil it, but let’s just say Deke makes a great point.

Lynda.com subscribers also get a third video, which illustrates how you can create a pattern from a logo to customize the calendar.

Editor in Chief of CreativePro. Instructor at LinkedIn Learning with courses on InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, GIMP, Inkscape, and Affinity Publisher.
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