3D Realistic Water Droplets

Try this simple creation that makes 3D realistic water droplets. Gradients and some fun Warp makes the drops really pop. 

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Create a circle. Fill it with 80% black. 

Select the Mesh Tool (Shortcut is U). and click in the upper left of the circle. This will add a point and create a mesh. 

Click in the lower right with the Mesh Tool to create another point and a mesh.

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With the Mesh Tool or the Direct Selection Tool, click on one of the points on the mesh and change it to a white fill from the Swatches Panel. 

Do this for all 4 points inside the circle. 

Select the circle and click on the opacity and set the blend mode to Multiply. 

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Create another smaller circle on top of the original circle. 

Open the gradient panel and fill the new circle with a gradient. 

The gradient default if from black to white. 

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Double click on the black gradient stop and change it to white. Set the opacity of the color stop to 0%. 

Set the gradient at an angle so the white appears in the upper left side, fading out to nothing in the lower right. 

Set the opacity of the new circle to 75% and the blend mode to Screen mode. 

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Copy the circle, paste it in place (Edit >Paste In Place) and rotate the shape 180°. 

Set the new shape to 35% opacity and Screen blend mode. 

This shows the quality of the water droplet when it is on an image or a surface. Select the shapes and group them.

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Choose Object > Envelope Distort > Create with Warp…. You get a drop down list of several warp styles with adjustments for each. 

Choose a style and click OK. This will warp the water droplet. 

This is the list of different warp styles. You can only apply one style at a time so duplicate the water droplet and apply a new style. 

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This style is the Arc

This style is the Squeeze. 

These Mesh points on any of the shapes can be edited with the Direct Select Tool or the Pen tool to further change the Warp shape. 

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Create a series of water droplets for variety. 

Place an image in Illustrator and add the water droplets to the image.