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Wood Texture in Illustrator
  • By Design Bundles
  • 02 Feb 2018
  • 11 Mins
  • Intermediate
  • Illustrator Tutorials

Wood Texture in Illustrator

Learn how to make a wood texture in Illustrator with this tutorial.

Did you know that you can create a wood texture from scratch in Illustrator? In today’s tutorial, we will show you how to do just that. Then we’ll continue on to create a pattern with the wood texture and apply it to a vector image.

Wood Texture in Illustrator

You’ll want to use the wood texture pattern with vectors, such as these deer vectors from Design Bundles.

Step 1 - Make a Square With the Rectangle Tool

Select the Rectangle Tool (M).

Select the Rectangle Tool from the left toolbar in Illustrator

Then click on the artboard and input the square dimensions in the Rectangle dialog. We entered 140 mm for both Width and Height.

Enter dimensions for the square in the Rectangle dialog

Step 2 - Fill the Square With a Medium Brown Color

Fill the square with a medium brown and with Stroke set to none.

Shows a medium brown square in the middle of the artboard in Illustrator

Step 3 - Duplicate the Square and Make It a Long Thin Rectangle

Copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) the square and Paste in Front (Ctrl/Cmd + F). Fill it with the 40% black color swatch.

Then go to the Transform panel (Window > Transform). Disable constraining the width and height proportions by clicking the small chainlink icon to the right. When it’s disabled, it’ll have a line through the icon.



With the reference point set to the center, enter a number that's half the width of the square for the Width and a relatively small number for Height. For example, we entered 70.556 mm for the Width and 7.056 for the Height. As another example, if your square is 400 x 400 pixels, you can make your rectangle 200 px wide and 20 px tall.

Shows a grey rectangle in the center of the square and the settings in the Transform panel

Step 4 - Apply a Graphic Pen Effect to the Grey Rectangle

With the rectangle selected, click on the Effects (fx) icon at the bottom of the Appearance panel ( Window > Appearance), and go to Sketch > Graphic Pen.

Shows where to find the Effects icon in the Appearance panel

Apply the following values and click OK.

  • Stroke Length: 15
  • Light/Dark Balance: 25
  • Stroke Direction: Vertical

Shows a preview of the Graphic Pen effect and its settings

Step 5 - Expand Appearance on the Rectangle

Go to Object > Expand Appearance.

With the rectangle selected, click on Object and then Expand Appearance

Step 6 - Use Image Trace on the Rectangle

Then go to Window > Image Trace.

Open Image Trace in Illustrator by going to Window and then Image Trace

In the Image Trace panel and under the Advanced section, use the following:

  • Corners: 50%
  • Noise: 1 px
  • Ignore White: Checked
  • Preview: Checked

Click OK.

Shows the settings in the Image Trace panel and a preview of what the rectangle will look like

Step 7 - Expand the Newly Created Texture

Next, click the Expand button in the Control panel at the top.

With the rectangle selected, click the Expand button in the Control panel

Step 8 - Make the Texture As Wide and Tall as the Square and Dark Brown

Go to the Transform panel again and change the Width and Height values to be slightly larger than the dimensions of the square. We went with 141.11 mm.

Highlights the change in Width and Height in the Transform panel with the texture selected

Fill the object with a darker shade of brown.

Step 9 - Duplicate the Texture and Rotate It 180°

Then Copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl/Cmd + F), grab one of the corner handles, and while holding the Shift key, rotate it 180°.

Shows the selected texture with a two-headed curved arrow by the corner for rotating

Step 10 - Fill the Rotated Texture With a Lighter Shade of Brown

Fill the rotated texture with a lighter shade of brown.

Highlights the lighter shade of brown used from the Swatches panel

Step 11 - Group Both Textures Together

Select both textures and Group (Ctrl/Cmd + G) them together.

Shows both textures selected

Step 12 - Use the Warp Tool on the Grouped Textures

Double-click on the Warp Tool (Shift + R) in the left toolbar.

Shows where to find the Warp Tool in the left toolbar in Illustrator

In the Warp Tool Options dialog, use the default settings but lower the Intensity to 10%.

Shows the Warp Tool Options dialog with Intensity set to 10%

Select only the grouped texture, then click + drag with the Warp Tool. Go up and down and back and forth to slightly warp the texture.

Shows what the texture looks like after warping

Step 13 - Make a Pattern With the Textures

Select only the textures (not the square) and go to Object > Pattern > Make.

With the textures selected, click on Object, Pattern, and then Make

Click OK in the popup window.

Shows a popup window with OK highlighted in Illustrator

Enter a name in the Pattern Options panel and set Tile Type to Grid. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to fix the spots on the paths where tiling occurs at the edges.

Shows a preview of what the wood texture pattern will look like when tiled

Once you are happy, click Done at the top under the document window tab.

Shows where the Done button is located in Illustrator

Step 14 - Apply the Pattern to a Vector

Copy and Paste the Vector Image into the Document

Copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) the vector you want to apply the pattern to. Then Paste (Ctrl/Cmd + V) it into your document.

Shows a black vector image in the empty document

Fill the Vector With a Medium Brown Color

Select it and fill it with a medium brown, just like the square before.

Shows the vector filled with a medium brown color

Add a New Fill to the Vector

Then click the small menu icon in the top right of the Appearance panel and choose Add New Fill.

Shows where to add a new Fill in the Appearance panel

Select the Wood Texture Pattern as the Fill

Select the wood texture pattern you created as the Fill.

Shows to select the wood texture/pattern for the Fill option

Edit the Look of the Wood Texture and Vector

Move the Vector Around

You can move the vector around to get a better pattern placement. You can also double-click on your pattern swatch to invoke the Pattern Options panel and edit it more.

Shows what the vector looks like filled with the wood texture/pattern

Change the Blending Mode of the Pattern Layer

Another change you can make is with the Blending Mode of the pattern layer in the Transparency panel. The following image uses the Darken Blending Mode.

Shows the vector with the wood texture layer set to Darken for the Blending Mode

And the following image uses the Luminosity Blending Mode.

Shows the vector with the wood texture layer's Blending Mode set to Luminosity

Add a Drop Shadow

Now we’ll add some depth with a drop shadow. In the Appearance panel, click on the Effects (fx) icon and go to Stylize > Drop Shadow.

Shows how to add a Drop Shadow effect in the Appearance panel

With the Preview checkbox marked, play around with the settings, then click OK when you like how it looks.

Shows the Drop Shadow dialog settings in Illustrator

Your artwork is complete!

We hope you found this tutorial helpful with creating a wood texture in Illustrator and applying it to a vector. We made the wood texture brown, but wouldn’t it be fun to make it purple, green, or blue?! Go wild and make it look however you want!


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