Blog Archives

Acorn Icon

9/29/2019

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Create an acorn icon with cross hatching.

Start with an oval. Fill it with a light brown.

Select the bottom point with the Direct Selection tool.

With the point selected, select the Pen tool. Hold Option/Alt to change the Pen Tool to the Convert Anchor Point. Click the handle end and move the point up.

Repeat the process the the other handle to form the tip on the bottom of the acorn.

Draw a rectangle halfway over the oval. Select both shapes.

In the Pathfinder Panel, choose the Minus Front mode to remove the upper half.

Draw a circle a little larger than the acorn base.

Draw a rectangle halfway over the circle. Select both shapes. In the Pathfinder Panel, choose the Minus Front mode to remove the upper half.

Select the upper half with the Direct Selection tool. The Corner Widget targets appear in the lower corners. Pull them in towards the center slightly.

Use the Direct Selection Tool to select the outer edge of the top.

Copy and paste the shape. Remove the fill and add a stroke.

Select the Width Shape Tool (Shift + W) and click on the end and pull in toward the line to taper it to a point.

Change the stroke to white and move it over the top of the acorn.

Use Option/Alt to click and drag to duplicate the shape. Once you have done this once, choose COMMAND + D to duplicate the shape repeatedly.

Select the duplicated shapes, then copy, paste, and flip the shapes to create a criss cross patter.

If the lines are too wide, select them and change the stroke with to make them heavier or lighter.

Duplicate the base of the acorn. Duplicate the base again (changed to black here for reference) and make it narrower. In the Pathfinder Panel, choose the Minus Front mode to remove black shape.

This is how you create a highlight wedge.

Make the edge shape white and move it over the base.

Create a rectangle for the stem. Pull the Corner Widget targets in to round the corners.

Place the stem on the acron.

To create the shading lines, draw a line with the Line Tool, add a dark stroke to it.

Select the Width Shape Tool (Shift + W) and click on the end and pull in toward the line to taper it to a point.

Use Option/Alt to click and drag to duplicate the line. Once you have done this once, choose COMMAND + D to duplicate the shape repeatedly. Select all the lines, group them, the choose Edit > Cut.

Select the base, click on the Draw Inside icon at the bottom of the Tool Bar. Dotted lines appear around the base.

Paste the cut group of lines into the shape, move them into position and then click on the Draw Normal mode.

To add the same lines to the top, we have to make the arcs into shapes. Select all the arcs.

Choose Object >Expand Appearance.

Select the top and all the lines, In the Pathfinder Panel, choose the Minus Front mode to remove the upper half.
IMPORTANT: Select all the resulting shapes and choose Object > Compound Path > Make. This make all those bits one shape.
Select the cap and choose the Draw Inside icon at the bottom of the Tool Bar. Paste the lines into the shape.

With the pasted lines, if the weight is not correct, used the Direct Selection tool to select a line.

Choose Object > Select > Same > Stroke color and this will select all the lines so you can change the color or weight.

Nice Acorn!

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Glossy Hard candy

9/22/2019

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Here is a fancy and easy way to create a cool look of a glossy hard candy. Take simple stripes, make them into a Symbol and map the to a 3D object. Enjoy!

Create a line, hot dog the ends of the lines in the Stroke panel.

Using the Width Shape tool, pull on end wider to create a taper.

Duplicate the line.

Flip the line and line up the ends.

Duplicate the lines to keep the spacing the same between them.

Create several sets of the lines.

Open the Symbols panel from the Window Menu. Drag the lines into the Symbols panel. Name the Symbol and set the Expert Type to be Graphic.

The new symbol will appear in the Symbols panel.

Create the candy by starting with a circle, filled with white.

Choose Effect>3D>Revolve. Click the Preview button to see the effect.

This will give a donut effect.

Click the Map Art button at the bottom of the 3D effect panel. Choose the Symbol from the Map Art dropdown window.

The artwork will show in the window. Click the Scale to Fit button to scale the Symbol to the 3D Artwork. Click OK.

Back in the 3D window, rotate the 3D cube so the blue face is not facing front.

This is the effect of the tapered line Symbol on a 3D object.

To edit the Symbol that is mapped to the 3D shape, open the Appearance panel and click on the 3D Revolve Link to open the 3D effect panel.

To create different colored stripes, drag the green lines from the Symbols panel onto the artboard. There is be a + sign in the middle of the graphic indicating it is a Symbol.

Right-click on the symbol and choose Break Link to Symbol. This allows you to edit the shapes.

Change the colors or features of the lines.

Drag the newly edited lines back into the Symbols panel and name the new Symbol.

Apply the Symbol in the 3D Revolve > MapArt panel.

To change the color of the candy, select the shape and choose a fill color to change the color of the candy. The color of the stripes can only be changed by editing the symbol in the Symbols panel.

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Chain Links

9/14/2019

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Trying to create an icon or illustration that has some portions of an item in front of an object with some portions in back of an object can be really tricky. This set of links is a very cool ingenious way to create that link-look to an icon or illustration or chain links.

Create a rectangle. 30pt stroke, no fill

Select the corner widgets and pull them in towards the the center to their maximum amount.

Duplicate the shape and double the stroke weight on the duplicate copy.

With the Direct Selection tool, select and delete half of the duplicate shape.

Select both shapes and outline the stroke. Object > Path > Outline Stroke.

Move the heavier shape on top of the lighter shape.

Select both shapes. Duplicate them and flip them. Overlap them as shown.

I made the heavier shapes red to make the next steps easier to understand.

Select the black shape on top, the red shape on the bottom. Use the Minus Front command in the Pathfinder panel to remove the heavier shape.

This is the result of the Minus Front command.

Select the other heavier shape. Bring it to the front. Object > Arrange >Bring to Front. Select the top heavier shape and the bottom shape. Repeat the Minus Front command in the Pathfinder panel.

This is the result of the Minus Front command performed the second time. Duplicate these as they will become the end links.

Copy one of the links. Use Edit> Paste in Front to create a copy of the link on itself. Set the reference point on the Transform panel to be in the center, then click on the flip vertical and horizontal buttons.

This is the copy that is flipped on itself.

Select both shapes and use the Intersect mode in the Pathfinder panel.

This is the result of the Intersect mode.

Duplicate the link to create a chain.

Add the end links to the ends of the chain.

To create a dimensional chain, open the Gradient panel. Select the chain and select the fill, create a circular gradient that start with yellow, transitions to orange and then to yellow.

Apply this gradient to the chain links.

To make it look like a solid chain with no gaps, select the chain, copy it, then choose Edit>Paste in Back.

With the copy pasted in back, flip the gradient fill to be a gradient stroke.

Increase the stroke weight on the copy pasted in back until the gaps between the links are no longer visible. This makes it look like a solid chain that has no gaps and all linked together.

Or keep the chain a simple icon with the gaps.

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3D Spiral

9/8/2019

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Creating a 3D spiral look uses the 3D rendering along with Symbols. It is easier than it looks to create this cool 3D spiral.

Create a rectangle for a stripe.

Duplicate the rectangle to create a set of stripes.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select the right edge and move the stripes up to create a slight angle to the lines.

Open the Symbols Panel. Window >Symbols. Select all the stripes and drag them into the Symbols panel. The Symbol Options dialog will appear. Name the Symbol, choose Graphic as the Export Type and click OK.

The Symbol of the stripes will appear in the Symbols panel. You can delete the original stripes you created as they are now saved as a Symbol.

Create another rectangle for the 3D Revolve.

Open the 3D under the Effects menu. Effects > 3D > Revolve. Click the Preview button to see the results. Click OK.

This will create a 360° rendering of the rectangle. Click in the Map Art... button next to the Preview box.

The Map Art panel is where the stripes are mapped to the artwork. Use the arrows to cycle through the 3D surfaces until you get to the side of the render.

From the Symbol dropdown menu, choose the Stripe Symbols you created. (The only way to map artwork to a render is by way of Symbols.)

With the Symbol place in the Map Art window, you can position the Symbol to the art.

To fit the stripes to the entire render, click the Scale to Fit button.

Click the Invisible Geometry check box to make the 3D shape invisible, leaving just the stripes on the shape. Click OK.

Use the cube to rotate the shape to get the spiral effect at the desired angle.

The end of the stripes may not line up when you are previewing the render.

Click on the Map Art… button and rotate the Symbol by hovering outside the corner and turning the stripes until the line ends end up aligning with their ends. There is no magic to this, it just takes a bit of patience and careful rotating. Click OK when done.

Once the ends are lined up, this is the final render. Choose Object >Expand Appearance to render the object as editable shapes. The invisible shape the lines wrapped around is still there so that will need to be removed. Use the Direct Selection tool to find the edge of the Invisible shape, choose Select > Same > Fill Color to select all the invisible shapes, then delete them.

Ungroup the objects. You may have to ungroup them twice to be able to select the sets of lines. They are grouped in the front set, back set and the tail set.

Add colors to the stripes to make it look like they wrap around in a 3D spiral.

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Chrome Volume Knob

9/3/2019

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Here is how to create a chrome-look volume knob and an indicator that goes from green to red. This uses gradients along the stroke of the line to create these cool effects. And, of course, it is super easy to do!

Create a circle that is half the size of the volume knob you want.

Apply a stroke the the line large enough that it looks like the circle is filled. The stroke will make the circle twice the size as the stroke is added to the inside ad outside the circle equally.

In the Gradient panel, select the stroke icon, select the Apply Gradient Along Stroke selection (this is key to making it work)and choose a black and white gradient.

Once the stroke gradient is applied, this is the result.

On the gradient ramp, add color stops (by clicking below the ramp). Alternate the colors from white to 70% gray (double-click on the color stop to change the color), making sure you end up with the same color at the start and at the end for a smooth blend. Space out the color stops evenly along the ramp.

This is the result of the multi-stop gradient along the stroke.

Add a circle for the indicator on the dial. Apply a gradient fill to this.

Choose Object > Path > Offset Path and set the off set to -3 and click OK. This will create a smaller circle on top of the larger circle.

Rotate the new circle 180° to make is look dimensional.

Create a circle outside the knob. Add a stroke and no fill.

In the Stroke panel, set the Cap end to rounded (hot dog the ends), check the Dashed Line box and set the dash to 0 and the gap to 30. The higher the number for the gap, the less dots will appear on the line.

Rotate the dotted circle 45°. Adjust the stroke weight of the line to get the dots to look the right size.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select and remove the lower section of the circle.

In the Gradient panel, apply a gradient to the stroke and set the stroke option to Apply Gradient Along Stroke. Create a gradient with a green color stop at the start, a yellow color stop in the middle and a red color stop at the end.