Making vintage digital comic books is now as easy and fun as reading them with this massive selection of Brushes, Patterns and more!

In the real world you’d have to wait years to get that authentic aged look but, thanks to the Artifex Forge’s Retro Comic Book Tool Kit, you can achieve the same, realistic effect in a fraction of the time! After all, with great brushes come great opportunities for design…

As the previews show, this highly versatile tool kit is great for more than just comic book or graphic novel themed projects. Why not try them out for yourself and see the impact they can give your projects!

UPDATE! a version of the brushes with pressure sensitivity enabled is now included – perfect for those who use graphics tablets (please note that this feature only works in Illustrator CS5+).

Here’s what’s included in this fantastic value pack:

84 Vector Cartoonist Brushes

I live traced real ink strokes, then optimized them, reducing the anchor point count and smoothing the curves. This means that there will be less distortion while retaining the life-like inconsistency of real ink. Take a look at the preview to see the range of strokes; together with the variety of lengths this means that over-stretched and distorted lines will be a thing of the past!

4 Bitmap Comic Book Texture patterns

Sourced from real aged ink on paper. These are very high resolution so I’ve limited the colors to keep the overall file size down. However, easy-to-follow instructions are included so you can adjust the colors of the applied patterns. Here are the pixel dimensions:

• Black Ink – 2000 x 2000 px
• Colored Ink – 3000 x 3000 px
• Halftone – 3000 x 3000 px
• Paper – 3000 x 3000 px

2 Grunge Edge overlays

As seen on the previews. They’ll give the finishing touch to any retro design. In vector format.

A Bonus set of Comic Book Layer Styles

Add these to your designs for an extra layer of graphic realism! Using bitmap patterns.

A Quick reference guide
To help you quickly find the right brush for the task (please note: this guide is compatible with Illustrator CS5, CS6 and CC only).

Example files

These are the explosion and the man in the top hat. Use these to see how I achieved the look in the preview images.

Please note: this guide is compatible with Illustrator CS5, CS6 and CC only.

Instructions

A very thorough guide on how to load, apply and then edit the effects is supplied.

Software compatibility: Adobe Illustrator CS1 and newer.

This product has not been featured in a past deal.