Atelier Académics with Stacy Stewart Smith — Couture CAD, Session I: Digital Beading in Illustrator, Part 1

Couture CAD, Session I: Digital Beading in Illustrator, Part 1

In this session, Stacy Stewart Smith demonstrates how to simulate couture bugle and seed beading digitally using Adobe Illustrator. Working from hand-drawn planning sketches, you will learn to build three-dimensional bead shapes using the Rectangle and Direct Selection tools with linear and radial gradients, arrange beads into seamless repeating patterns, and apply grouping, rotation, and reflection techniques to achieve the organic, hand-crafted appearance of real beadwork. The session concludes with defining and testing a repeatable pattern fill in Illustrator.

Photoshop enhancement of the beading pattern is covered in Part 2.

Prerequisites: Working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator. Basic flats are not covered.

Duration: Approximately 58 minutes.

Upon purchase you will receive a downloadable PDF containing your session transcript, recording URL, and access instructions.

This session is part of Atelier Académics Series II: Couture CAD with Stacy Stewart Smith.