A scrapbook style is characterized by a wide outline around your graphic in the color of paper – as if the graphic were cut out by scissors. The key to this style is adding a wide stroke to show underneath the shape’s silhouette. Artboard’s advanced Style Inspector makes easy work of these fun scrapbook styles.
Final Image
Below is the final image we will be working towards:
Tutorial Details
Program : Artboard 1.4+ for Mac OSX
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topics Covered: Style Inspector
Estimated Completion Time: 15 minutes
Step 1
Open a new drawing. We’ve changed our drawing units to “pixels/points” in the File > Drawing Size & Units… dialog. For this tutorial we are demonstrating using a graphic we’ve already drawn – a silhouette of a pigeon. Start by drawing your own shape or using a simple clip art (silhouette/outline shapes work best) in the built-in library. Even a simple circle or square will work to let you step through this tutorial.
Step 2
Open the Style Inspector. With the object selected, click “New” to create a new style. Change the fill color to a creamy off-white paper color (we’ve used RGB-251,248,229). Change the stroke color to a medium grey. Click the “+” button in the Style Inspector to add another stroke; change the width to about 14-pts and make it the same color as the off-while fill; check the box to add a shadow. Now, make sure this new stroke is at the top of the style components list – as needed, you can click onto the “Stroke” name in the style component list and drag to move it. Items at the top of the list are drawn first, therefore the wide stroke will appear under the other fill and stroke in your drawing.
This is a nice scrapbook look already – you could stop here. We’re going to enhance the look by adding some wavy line texture to the style.
Step 3
With the shape still selected, click the “+” in the Style Inspector and add a “Hatch Fill” style component. Play with the settings to get the look you’re after. We’ve made the line width about 4.5-pts, used a nice blue color with partial transparency, and added some roughness and wobble to the lines.
Step 4
Follow step 3 above to add a second Hatch Fill using another color. We’ve made ours a nice semi-transparent green with different line width, spacing, roughness and wobble. The key isn’t trying to copy exactly how we’ve done it, but to play with the settings so you get a feel for what is possible.
Final Image
Congratulations! You’ve created a fun scrapbook style! Now you can save this style and apply it to other graphics for instant gratification 
or save it to your library for future use. Make variations of the style by clicking “Clone” in the Style Inspector and removing the hatch fills, adding new colors, and more… here are some extra eggs for your basket!
Finally, our pigeon dressed up with a cheery pink background to get ready for spring.
