INFOGRAPHIC SERIES - Shark week

Here is a shark, a happy shark with some cool blue water reflections in it. This was a request from a viewer; if you have a request send it to me and I will create it!

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Start the body with an oval; stoke, no fill. 

Duplicate the original oval and pull the oval taller. 

Using the Direct Selection tool, select the bottom point of the first oval and delete it, removing the lower half of the oval. 

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Using the Direct Selection tool, select the top point of the second oval and delete it, removing the uper half of the oval. ​

Place both arcs over each other to form the body. 

Select both pieces and use the unite Mode in the Pathfinder Panel to make them into the body.

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To create the fin, create a circle and duplicate it as shown. Select both circles. 

Use the Minus Front Mode in the Pathfinder Panel to create a moon which will become the fin. Copy this shape as you will use this again.

Place the moon over the body of the shark, rotate it if needed to create the back fin. Use the Pathfinder Unite mode to integrate it into the body. 

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Paste the copied shape, place it at the bottom of the body to create the smaller fin. 

Use the Pathfinder Unite mode to integrate it into the body. ​

For the tail fin, create 2 circles, one larger, one smaller. ​Use the Minus Front Mode in the Pathfinder Panel to create a moon which will become the fin.

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Place the moon over the tail of the shark, rotate it if needed to create the tail fin. Select the body and the moon. 

Use the Pathfinder Unite mode to integrate it into the body. ​

Select the body and round the corners of the stroke in the Stroke Panel so the ends don't end in points. 

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The rounded corners get rid of the sharp points. 

Put in a circle for the eye and an arc for the mouth

Add some extra lines to the trailing edge of the fins to give them dimension. Be sure to round the ends (hot dog them) in the Stroke Panel. 

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Create 3 ovals, each one getting lighter. This will be the water reflections in the body. Select all 3 shapes and CUT the shapes. 

Select the boy and choose Draw Inside Mode at the bottom of the Tool Bar. 

Paste the 3 ovals into the body. Once pasted, they are hard to move around so open the Layers Panel. 

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In the layers panel, anything that is "Pasted inside" or "Drawn Inside" is called a clipping mask. This shows up in the Layers Panel as a Clip Group, open the clip group by clicking on the Twirly (yes, that is the real name) to open the group. Inside, you can see the ovals in the group. To select an oval to move or edit, click on the layer and then then click on the circle on the far right of the layer and a box will appear and the shape will be selected. 

This will select and activate just that shape inside the clipping mask to edit or move without breaking the shapes apart or using isolation mode. 

I also made the shark happy by flipping his smile.

​One happy shark with some nice water reflections. Enjoy!