Striking Starbursts Make Your Work Stand Out

Deke McClelland

Excerpted from Deke’s Techniques on lynda.com.

Starbursts are very popular in layouts and illustrations of all sorts, and that’s a problem. You don’t want to look like everything else! But that doesn’t mean you need to give up starbursts — customize them instead.
In this tutorial video, I’ll show you two ways to make unique starburst shapes. The first relies on “path wigglers” in the Effect menu, including Roughen Up, Distort & Transform, and Pucker & Bloat:
 

 
You can modify these path outline effects in the Appearance panel after applying them.
I then use something new to CS5, the Crystallize tool inside the Width tool, to create this stellar standout:
 

 
Click below to watch the video:
 

 
Visit Deke’s Techniques for more Photoshop and Illustrator creative how-to projects in about 10 minutes.