infographic series - String of Holiday lights

Tis the season for some holiday lights, so make some!

Start your holiday light by drawing a circle, hold SHIFT to make it a perfect circle.

Fill the circle with a color.

Use the Direct Selection Tool to select the top most point of the circle. Hold SHIFT and UP ARROW to make the more like the shape of a light bulb.

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Draw a rectangle at the bottom of the light, making sure it is centered on the bulb.

Select the bulb and the rectangle base. Open the Pathfinder Panel (Window>Pathfinder) and choose the Unite button to combine the two shapes into one.

Create a rectangle and place it over half of the shape, making sure that the long edge of the rectangle is directly centered in the bulb.

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Select the bulb and the rectangle and choose the Minus Front button in the Pathfinder panel.

The result with be half a blub.

​Under the Effects Window, choose 3D > Revolve.

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The 3D revolve dialog box will open. Click the Preview button at the lower left of the dialog box.

Use the drop down menu (highlighted in red) and set the edge to be Right Edge. This will revolve around the right edge of the bulb.

The bulb will render on screen. If you want to rotate the bulb, use the 3D cube in the upper left, keeping in mind the face highlighted in Blue is the front face. Grab the cube and move it around to see how it rotates the bulb on the X, Y and Z axis.

​Click OK

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If you want to change the color of the bulb, select the bulb with the selection tool and choose another fill color from the Swatches Fill Panel. It will automatically render in that color. Duplicate it and make several bulbs that are different colors.

To edit the rotation of the bulb, open the Appearance Panel under the Window menu. Select the bulb and then click on the 3D Revolve link in the Appearance Panel.

You cannot go back under the Effects menu and choose 3D revolve again, it will remove the 3D and you will start over.

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Creating the Light Cord to attach the lights.

Draw a straight line, make it dark green. This line has a stroke of 8 pts.

Duplicate that line and leave a bit of space vertically between the 2 lines.
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Add a 3rd line, make that a bit darker green and place it behind the other two lines (COMMAND + SHIFT + [)

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Select all 3 lines and open the Brushes Panel from the Window Menu.

Click on the Brushes drop down menu (the cheese grater) and choose New Brush…

Select Art Brush and click OK.

Name the brush in the next Dialog Box and click OK.

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Now draw a line using either the pencil tool, the pen tool or with the brush tool.

With the line selected, choose the green “power cord” you created in the brushes panel. You can adjust the width of the cord by adjusting the point size of the line.

Draw path to make it look like it connects with the lights.

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To edit the rotation of the bulb, open the Appearance Panel under the Window menu. Select the bulb and then click on the 3D Revolve link in the Appearance Panel.

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Happy Holidays!