It’s time to create your own Vector fur texture. This tutorial combines good techniques that will help you quickly and easily generate a fur graphic effect in Illustrator.

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STEP ONE:
Create a New Illustrator Document, File > New. Name it: “Fur”, and give it a size of 400px by 400px.
Open the LAYERS palette (Window > Layers (F7)) and rename “Layer 1” as, “Fur Bg”.

STEP TWO:
In our “Fur Bg” layer, double-click the Ellipse Tool (L) and enter the following settings:
Step Two A
Fill it with (C= 35%, M= 60%, Y= 80%, K= 25%), no stroke.
Step Two B

STEP THREE:
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag the bottom point outwards.
Step Three A
Then, select the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C) and click the Bezier curve to remove it.
Step Three B

STEP FOUR:
Open the BRUSHES palette (Window > Brushes F5) and drag the shape into it (this is the faster way to access the New Brush dialog box).
Choose Art Brush as the new brush type.
Step Four A

When we click OK the Art Brush Options dialog box is going to pop out. Enter the following settings:
Step Four B
Now that we have our new shape saved as a symbol let’s delete the one that we have on our art-board.

STEP FIVE:
Let’s draw our fur area. With the Pencil Tool (N) draw an irregular square. Use the same brown color (C= 35%, M= 60%, Y= 80%, K= 25%) with an Opacity of 85%.
Here is how my shape looks like:
Step Five

STEP SIX:
Time to use our new brush! Select the Brush Tool (B), choose the brush we just created from the BRUSHES palette, and draw each piece of hair around the “square” shape.
Step Six

STEP SEVEN:
With the Selection Tool (V) select one of the brush strokes we just drew, and go to Select > Same > Stroke Color. This is going to select all of our brush strokes.
To convert our strokes into shapes go to Object > Expand Appearance.
Now, select all (Mac: Command + A / PC: Control + A), open the PATHFINDER palette (Window > Pathfinder), and select Unite to blend it all together.
Step Seven

STEP EIGHT:
Now we are going to add depth to our shape. Go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow and enter the following settings:
(I chose a darker brown color: (C= 40%, M= 65%, Y= +0%, K= 35%).
Step Eight

STEP NINE:
Now we are going to draw hair inside our shape. Select our new brush again, and draw hairs inside the area.
Step Nine

STEP TEN:
With the Selection Tool (V) select one of the brush strokes we just drew inside, and go to Select > Same > Stroke Color. This is going to select our inside brush strokes.
To convert our inside strokes into shapes go to Object > Expand Appearance.
Now, open the GRADIENT palette (Window > Gradient) and fill the shapes with a Linear Gradient that flows from a light brown (C= 25%, M= 40%, K= 65%, K= 0%) to zero opacity.
Step Ten A
Repeat the process to create a furry texture. The more strokes we apply the better becomes!
Final Result
Now we can use this texture to create a bear, a monster, a furry font, a carpet, etc… possibilities are endless!

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Download Create Fur File