Below is a tutorial I’ve written to create an Art Brush in Adobe Illustrator. Feel free to check out my other tutorials.

I start with a small circle and a larger circle that are center aligned. The two circles are about 10 inches apart.

Next, I’m going to use a Blend to create shapes in between the two circles. First, I need to set the number of steps in my blend. To do this go to Object > Blend > Blend Options.

A dialogue box will pop up. I choose Specified Steps from the drop down menu and decide 20 steps is a good number.

Now, I run the blend. Select the two circles, and go to Object > Blend > Make.

My blend looks like this.

Notice that the blend is a line and not editable shapes. To make it into shapes, go to Object > Flatten Transparency.

A dialogue box appears. Set the Raster/Vector Balance to 100 and click OK.

Now your blend is individual circles.

With your new shapes selected, open up the Brushes palette (Window > Brushes). Select New Brush from the menu.

A dialogue box pops up. Select New Art Brush and click OK.

Another dialogue box pops up with the blended shape pattern in the viewing window. Check the Proportional check box and give your brush a name, then click OK. This will create a new brush swatch in the Brushes palette

Next, draw a stroked line that you want your dot pattern to follow.

Finally, fill the stroked line with the brush swatch you just created. When you get your shape right, you can flatten the transparency to make it editable shapes again.