Wow these videos are so insightful! Thankyou for sharing. I have been wanting to create pins and you really have all the answers I have been wondering about. Thankyou so much!
Thanks for watching!! If you have any questions about files and delivering your designs to enamel pin manufacturers, please let me know in the comments!
I downloaded your illustrator file but I opened it up and I'm not really sure what I'm looking at now....I don't know what to do with the information given
Please speak louder, I love your videos but for their always a little bit too quiet compared to youtube in general. Even at 100% you're still not that loud.
You're so lovely and easy to watch!!!! Thank you so much for all this info, I have a gorgeous corgi called Mia, who I have made some sketches of, and desperately want to make into pins!! I had a lot of response on her instagram for them and your guide is so helpful!! I feel like this is actually achievable now :D thank you thank you thank you!!
I really enjoy your 101 videos. I have learned so much. My question is that are we only limited with Pantone solid coated colors or can we use Pantone+ CMYK coated colors?
Hi! I just seen this video today and i realise it was uploaded a while ago but the template link isn't working anymore :( Any chance it could be sent to me? or re-uploaded? thank you xx
Hi! You can either trace it manually in Illustrator with the Pen Tool, or try to do an Image Trace of it. Some manufacturers will also do it for you, so you can check to see if it's an extra cost! I hope that helps!
In illustrator you can choose to scale stroke and effects when scaling lines. This keeps the lines as a line as apposed to expanding which converts it to a shape making editing shape easier during the design and editing phase of artwork production.
Hisui Bara Whaaaaat!? I never knew! Is that a newer feature for Illustrator? How do you set it to scale? I have so many questions! Thank you for sharing!
Becky Helms Its not a newer feature. If you select your items and right click > transform > scale or select items then go to the top ribbon > object > transform > scale. In the options you can check "scale strokes & effects" also can "scale corners" (the corners came out in 2016 with the corner tools). But if artwork is complete and ready to be sent to production I would still expand strokes like you said. From your past experiences have any of your manufacturers you have worked with been able to produce varying stroke thicknesses for the metal. Like line variation or can they only produce static thickness with no variation?
Hi! Just wondering how long it takes to hear back from a manufacturer after sending them the design. Also Vector files are a must as I've learned in your video.. what about jpgs?
Hi! I just add "+glitter" (and indicate which specific type of glitter) to my swatches when sending in the mockup. You can also use arrows in the mock to indicate it. You can also use effects in Illustrator to create a glitter texture if you'd like!
Great tip on the Pantone formula color guide, Becky! I just ordered mine as per your recommendation. This will help avoid any color surprises down the line as I work with my client on designing their pin. Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Great video! How much should you expand your lines by? If I’ve drawn something I really like do you always have to expand the lines? Why do you expand the lines for the manufacturers? Thanks!
when I design a pin does the lines have to be a consistent thickness or can they taper off. for example the way comic art is with the lines being thicker in places than others to show shadow or weight.
I literally do. It get vector-ing.. lol ok let’s so I’m in procreate creating a pin design, do I just sketch it first with only the outline and it not colored in, and then go vector it? Right? Because after creating the vector file I need to choose the colors for it with the Pantone swatches.... or do i design my pin on procreate , color it there, then go to vector it ? Cause won’t vectoring just give me the outline . I’m literally lost and that’s the only part I’m struggling with on making my pins
Hi Celestine! I like to do my sketching in Procreate, then refine the line work in there too. Then, I take it into Illustrator and either Live trace it (which can actually take longer since I'm super picky and have to fix EVERYTHING haha!) or vector over top with the pen tool (what I do 99.9% of the time!). I do colors in Illustrator with my Pantone formula guide next to me so I know exactly what I'm getting. I highly recommend the solid coated formula guide, but I survived my first year in business without it! I hope that helps!! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Thank you!! As you may know 'cause I watched your super cool video, I'm just starting with this, and making 100 pins is scary, so I wanted to know if I could make just like 15 or 25 or something like that, would you recommed that?
Most manufacturers won't go that low and if they do the pins would be very expensive per piece. You could see if some offer an MOQ of 50 and then do different color variations with one design. That's what I would recommend if you're wary of getting 100. It's definitely intimidating getting that many at first!
about the pantone colours! Which palette did you pick? your amazon link says solid coated, but is that the only one usable for enamel pins? I dont quite understand how thee palettes work.. we have coated and uncoated palette guides at work, will those do?
Factories use the Solid Coated palette, so you'll definitely want to go with that! In the printing world the coated is for more glossy printing and the uncoated is for matte. I'm not really sure how it translates in the enamel world, but I do know you need the solid coated palette to get accurate colors. I hope that helps!!
I've got another video in the series where I talk about finding a manufacturer and I share where I first got my pins made! There are links in the description of that video!
This is good information, but if you could turn off auto focusing on your camera, that would be great. The audio picks up the camera's lens shifting around. Minor detail of course.
Yes! This is an older video and I've fixed it now! So embarrassing! Someday I'll get around to rerecording :P Thank you for being so nice about it and letting me know!
No worries, it was probably more noticeable since I was wearing headphones. The content is great though, I really learned a lot. Looking forward to an update if you ever do one. :)
![[ PIN MAKING 101 ] How To Design Enamel Pins ~ Part 1!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xDn6iEXP_2o/mqdefault.jpg)
Your camera lens makes a focusing sound throughout the video if you listen closely to the audio. It sounds like a stomach growling.
actually thought it was my stomach!
For some reason the the link for the template doesn't work correctly
Thank you so much for your explanations!
I'm so glad it helped! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Such a great video!!! Thank you for sharing all the tips!
I'm so glad you liked it!!
I'd love to see a tutorial on creating vectors in Adobe Illustrator for pin production!
Wow these videos are so insightful! Thankyou for sharing. I have been wanting to create pins and you really have all the answers I have been wondering about. Thankyou so much!
very good advice! thanks!
Thanks for watching!! If you have any questions about files and delivering your designs to enamel pin manufacturers, please let me know in the comments!
I downloaded your illustrator file but I opened it up and I'm not really sure what I'm looking at now....I don't know what to do with the information given
Hi, Thanks for the sharing, mind to ask which manufacture you use? Again, thanks a lot to share. ;)
I gave the pin department your name as referral! Your videos have helped me so much, still learning Adobe Illustrator.
Oh thank you! You didn't have to, but I appreciate it! Illustrator can be tough at first, but once you get a hang of it, it's the best!
"I've been using Illustrator for 12....15 years?" *laughs maniacally*
Please speak louder, I love your videos but for their always a little bit too quiet compared to youtube in general. Even at 100% you're still not that loud.
Thank you so much。
You're so lovely and easy to watch!!!! Thank you so much for all this info, I have a gorgeous corgi called Mia, who I have made some sketches of, and desperately want to make into pins!! I had a lot of response on her instagram for them and your guide is so helpful!! I feel like this is actually achievable now :D thank you thank you thank you!!
Thank you so much
I’m confused on file size for procreate. Would I do 300 dpi but do 2 x 2 inches for setting up the document?
I loved the video, I just wished that the template link worked properly :/
I really enjoy your 101 videos. I have learned so much. My question is that are we only limited with Pantone solid coated colors or can we use Pantone+ CMYK coated colors?
What kinda file do you save your designs as that you send to the manufacturer?
Text > convert to path
Scaling strokes is an automatic setting in Inkscape
I’m so glad I found your channel! I’ve been meaning to venture into enamel pins and this video really helped, thank you!
Can you make a tutorial video on how you design a pin inside illustrator?
Hi! I just seen this video today and i realise it was uploaded a while ago but the template link isn't working anymore :( Any chance it could be sent to me? or re-uploaded? thank you xx
I’m really confused when u say expand your strokes….
I really want to make pins but I can’t draw good :( any tips on getting better at drawing?
Omg my childhood dream was working as an character designer for Disney!! 💕 loved this video 💕
I made so many designs on procreate :( is there any way I can transfer my drawings to Adobe illustrator and turn it into a vector file?
Hi! You can either trace it manually in Illustrator with the Pen Tool, or try to do an Image Trace of it. Some manufacturers will also do it for you, so you can check to see if it's an extra cost! I hope that helps!
very informative! it was unnerving though that the camera kept zooming in and out
In illustrator you can choose to scale stroke and effects when scaling lines. This keeps the lines as a line as apposed to expanding which converts it to a shape making editing shape easier during the design and editing phase of artwork production.
Hisui Bara Whaaaaat!? I never knew! Is that a newer feature for Illustrator? How do you set it to scale? I have so many questions! Thank you for sharing!
Becky Helms Its not a newer feature. If you select your items and right click > transform > scale or select items then go to the top ribbon > object > transform > scale. In the options you can check "scale strokes & effects" also can "scale corners" (the corners came out in 2016 with the corner tools). But if artwork is complete and ready to be sent to production I would still expand strokes like you said. From your past experiences have any of your manufacturers you have worked with been able to produce varying stroke thicknesses for the metal. Like line variation or can they only produce static thickness with no variation?
Hi! Just wondering how long it takes to hear back from a manufacturer after sending them the design. Also Vector files are a must as I've learned in your video.. what about jpgs?
Jpegs generally do not maintain your details as well as png files. SVG is one vector file
Thanks so much for these video series!! I've been researching like crazy enamel pin manufacturers and how-to's, this is perfect!
Hey can you tell me how to show glitter in illustrator? I tried one method and it didn't work for me
Hi! I just add "+glitter" (and indicate which specific type of glitter) to my swatches when sending in the mockup. You can also use arrows in the mock to indicate it. You can also use effects in Illustrator to create a glitter texture if you'd like!
Many computer based colors are done in HEX (hexidecimal) and there are online programs that will convert HEX to Pantone. 😄
So... incredibly... HELPFUL!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!
Thank you. This was very helpful =)
Great tip on the Pantone formula color guide, Becky! I just ordered mine as per your recommendation. This will help avoid any color surprises down the line as I work with my client on designing their pin. Thanks, and keep up the great work!
i keep rewatching this so i can make my first couple of pins lol i just got my pantone book!
Great video! How much should you expand your lines by? If I’ve drawn something I really like do you always have to expand the lines? Why do you expand the lines for the manufacturers? Thanks!
What manufacture were the pins in this video from?
hi, I have a question! if I'm going to do my pins in illustrator what size of the page and resolution should I use? Thanks
I always do them at 300 dpi. That way I can print them out more accurately!
Thank you!
you can create vector layers with clip studio paint pro. is that an ok substitute ?
As long as you've got a vector file, it should be good to go! My manufactures use .ai files and .eps, if that helps!
Really nice video. Wish there was one about cosmetics.
when I design a pin does the lines have to be a consistent thickness or can they taper off. for example the way comic art is with the lines being thicker in places than others to show shadow or weight.
I literally do. It get vector-ing.. lol ok let’s so I’m in procreate creating a pin design, do I just sketch it first with only the outline and it not colored in, and then go vector it? Right? Because after creating the vector file I need to choose the colors for it with the Pantone swatches.... or do i design my pin on procreate , color it there, then go to vector it ? Cause won’t vectoring just give me the outline . I’m literally lost and that’s the only part I’m struggling with on making my pins
Hi Celestine! I like to do my sketching in Procreate, then refine the line work in there too. Then, I take it into Illustrator and either Live trace it (which can actually take longer since I'm super picky and have to fix EVERYTHING haha!) or vector over top with the pen tool (what I do 99.9% of the time!). I do colors in Illustrator with my Pantone formula guide next to me so I know exactly what I'm getting. I highly recommend the solid coated formula guide, but I survived my first year in business without it! I hope that helps!! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Super helpful as a first timer interested in making my own pin. Thank you so much!!
You are such an adorable woman, talking with so much passion about your field, it's awesome!
Thank you so so much! 😊
Thank you!! As you may know 'cause I watched your super cool video, I'm just starting with this, and making 100 pins is scary, so I wanted to know if I could make just like 15 or 25 or something like that, would you recommed that?
Most manufacturers won't go that low and if they do the pins would be very expensive per piece. You could see if some offer an MOQ of 50 and then do different color variations with one design. That's what I would recommend if you're wary of getting 100. It's definitely intimidating getting that many at first!
about the pantone colours! Which palette did you pick? your amazon link says solid coated, but is that the only one usable for enamel pins? I dont quite understand how thee palettes work.. we have coated and uncoated palette guides at work, will those do?
Factories use the Solid Coated palette, so you'll definitely want to go with that! In the printing world the coated is for more glossy printing and the uncoated is for matte. I'm not really sure how it translates in the enamel world, but I do know you need the solid coated palette to get accurate colors. I hope that helps!!
I have a question about what screen print is!
Who do you typically use to make your pins?
What manufacturer do you use?
I've got another video in the series where I talk about finding a manufacturer and I share where I first got my pins made! There are links in the description of that video!
Becky Helms yeah i find the other video a few mins after watching this...thanks for the reply and keep up the great work
This is good information, but if you could turn off auto focusing on your camera, that would be great. The audio picks up the camera's lens shifting around. Minor detail of course.
Yes! This is an older video and I've fixed it now! So embarrassing! Someday I'll get around to rerecording :P Thank you for being so nice about it and letting me know!
No worries, it was probably more noticeable since I was wearing headphones. The content is great though, I really learned a lot. Looking forward to an update if you ever do one. :)