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In this Adobe Illustrator Tutorial we will learn how to create club shades using simple and all-purpose techniques. To create vivid reflections of the lights of the disco club, we will use different Blending Modes. The tutorial contains a lot of professional tips and techniques.
Tutorial Details
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- Program: Adobe IllustratorCS4 -CS5;
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- Difficulty: Intermediate;
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- Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour;
Step 1
Take the Pen Tool (P) and create the shape of the right glass of the shade.
It is not necessary to adhere to my shape, maybe you will come up like designer of stylish shades ;-). I set the stroke width equal to 3 px in the Stroke palette. The thickness of the stroke will be the thickness of the glasses frame, pick it by eye.
Step 2
Keep the object selected, go to Object> Path> Offset Path and set the offset value of the outline.
Step 3
Select points A, B and C with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move them slightly to the left.
Select the inner shape and fill it with any color.
Step 4
Look critically at the shapes that you have created, edit them before proceeding to the next step if needed. Select all the created shapes, and go to Object> Expand.
Keep the object selected, go to Object> Transform> Reflect, choose Vertical option in the dialog box and click on the Copy button.
Step 5
Move the achieved copy to the left, as shown in the figure below. If you want to move it to a true horizontal, hold down Shift.
Step 6
Create a bridge between the eyepieces of the shades. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle.
Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), move the lower vertexes of the rectangle towards its center, and with the help of Pen Tool (P) create two new points in the centers of the upper and lower sides of the rectangle.
Turn on the Smart Guides mode (Cmd / Ctrl + U) and you will easily find their centers.
Step 7
Move these points a little bit towards the center of the rectangle and convert it from corner to smooth ones.
Step 8
The basic shape development is complete. Before coloring, create a background. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle. Fill the rectangle with radial gradient from dark blue to black.
In order the colors were bright and vivid, work in RGB color mode (File> Document Color Mode> RGB Color). This color model has more colors than the CMYK model, which is primarily used in printing. Place the background in the underlayer below the glasses and adjust its size, so you could limit your composition.
Step 9
Select the inner frame of the right piece of the shades and fill it with linear gradient consisting of the rotating shades of gray color. Such shading is usually used to create the effect of metal surface.
Fill the glasses of the shades with sheer black color (R = 0; G = 0; B = 0)
Step 10
Using these gradients, fill the rest of the frame pieces. I usually use one already created gradient, which I reconfigure after.
Using a single gradient saves you time (you do not need to pick up most of the colors). When reconfiguring, you can delete and add sliders to the gradient and change their colors, make them lighter or darker. To change the color, double click on the slider, and adjust the color in the open window of the Color palette.
There is another trick when you are working with color. Often highlighting of the selected objects prevents in proper configuration of the color, then turn it off (Cmd / Ctrl + H -Hide/Show Edges) when you are working delicately with color. This is the most popular key combination used by me while working with color.
Step 11
Let's create the reflection in the glasses. All the elements of our composition are dark, as if they convey the dark atmosphere of the club. Therefore, the reflection should be very bright to create the contrast and convey the pulsating light of the disco club. With the Rectangle Tool (M) create a rectangle and fill it with black and white linear gradient. Set the Screen Blending Mode for this rectangle in the Transparency palette.
Keep the rectangle selected, go to Object> Transform> Move … and set the vertical offset in the dialog box and click on Copy.
The offset value should be the same so that adjacent rectangles could slightly overlap each other. How do you get it? It's very simple: the height of my box is 15 px, so I chose the offset value equal to 12 px.
Step 12
Now click on the key combination Cmd / Ctrl + D 8 times. This command will repeat the last action for 8 times, that is, copying and offset of the previous rectangle.
Take the Selection Tool (V) and adjust the width of each rectangle, so we could get a stair-step figure, similar to the one shown in the picture below.
Step 13
Select the rectangles, copy and paste them in front (Cmd / Ctrl + C, Cmd / Ctrl + F). Keeping the copies of the rectangles selected, click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder palette.
Step 14
Now create an element of the Seamless Pattern. Take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a shape, of any size and filled with black color. When creating, you can control the rounding radius by pressing the arrow keys.
Copy the rectangle and paste it in front (Cmd / Ctrl + C, Cmd / Ctrl + F), now change its width and height, using the Selection Tool (V) and holding down the Opt / Alt.
Select both created shapes and click on the Exclude button from the Pathfinder palette.
Step 15
Change the size of the created shape so that its height was slightly less than the height of the rectangle that we created in step 11 (in my case the height of the figure will equal to 12 px).
Now drag the created shape to the Swatches palette.
Step 16
Select the stair-step shape that you created in step 13, and apply the pattern to it and set the Overlay Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.
Copy this shape and paste it in front, and this time fill it with vertical linear gradient and set the Multiply Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.
Step 17
Copy the upper shape again and paste it in front and fill it with linear gradient containing three colors: green, blue, and red, and set to Overlay Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.
Step 18
Copy the lower rectangles created in step 12 (it is convenient to select them in the layers palette) and paste it in front, now place them on top of all the created objects Shift + Ctrl +]. Fill each of the upper vertical rectangles with linear gradient from black to white and back to black. And set for them the Overlay Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.
Step 19
Now, create the bright sparks on the surface of the background. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle filled with black and white radial gradient. Set the Color Dodge Blending Mode for this circle in the Transparency palette.
We will create a bunch of similar objects. It is easy to create them through duplication (select and drag while holding Opt / Alt).
Step 20
Let's create light beams in the reflection of the glass. Take the Polygon Tool and create a hexagon.
Select the points A, B, C, one at a time and with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) move them to the center of the hexagon.
Now fill the shape with black and white radial gradient.
Place beams over one of the light sparks and set the Screen Blending Mode in the Transparency palette and reduce the opacity to 55%.
Step 21
With the Pen Tool (P) create a new shape and fill it with radial gradient from black to blue. Set the Color Dodge Blending Mode in the Transparency palette for the shape.
Step 22
Group up both shapes and place the copy of this group in multiple locations.
Step 23
With the help of the Pen Tool (P) create two wave-like curves with a stroke of green color.
Select both curves and go to Object> Blend> Make.
Keep the blend object selected, set the Color Dodge Blending Mode for it in the Transparency palette for this shape.
The same way create another blend-object basing on the circles.
Step 24
Group up all the elements of the reflection, duplicate them and shifted to the right side of the shades.
Copy the shape of the left glass and paste it in front, put it above all the objects Shift + Ctrl +]. Now select the group with the reflection in the glasses and the top shape of the glass and press the key combination Cmd / Ctrl + 7, thereby creating a Clipping Mask and hiding all the pieces of the reflection that go beyond the shape of the glass.
Now place the created group below the underlayer with the frame of the glasses, moving it in the Layers palette.
Do the same actions with the right side of the glasses.
Step 25
Start creating the glare on the glasses frame. Take the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape on the bridge between the pieces of the shades similar to the one showing below.
Now copy the bridge and paste it in front, select the upper shape of the bridge and the created shape (red) and click Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette.
Now fill the shape with linear gradient, trying to reproduce the distribution of light on the glare.
Using this technique, create more glare on the frame of the glasses.
Step 26
Using the technique described in steps 20-21, create the reflection of light flashes in several spots of the frame.
Step 27
Create glow in the glasses of the shades. Select the shapes of the glasses and fill them with linear gradient from black with 0% opacity to black with 100% opacity.
Step 28
Create the reflection of the shades at the bottom of our composition. Select and group up all the elements of the shades and go to Object> Transform> Reflect and click on Copy.
Move the copy vertically down as shown below.
Now take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle with a vertical linear gradient fill from gray to black.
Step 29
Select the reflection of the shades and the rectangle and go to Make Opacity Mask from the menu of the Transparency palette.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Vectorboom is primarily interactive, so feel free to ask if you have any troubles with understanding of some points of the tutorial. Soon on this web-site I'll create a new section where you can consult me on any issues relating to vector graphics. Together we are strong!
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