2009-02-25

Tutorial for Colorful Lighting Effect In Illustrator



This tutorial has moved to:

http://transfuchsian.com/illustrator-tutorial-vector-blury-abstract-text-effect/














32 comments:

  1. Nice tutorial. Love that it was done in Illustrator. I have some friends that always roll their eyes at my love for Illustrator over Photoshop because "there are things you can't do on it" and yeah... that could be... (in some cases) but this isn't one of them. ("suck on that Photoshop" - agreed) haha. :) I really like your blog. I'm a follower now. ;)

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  2. To Eva: Thanks for the comments. I'm like you, I love my Illustrator, but some things are just painful to do with it. Photoshop is better suited for this kind of stuff, but that doesn't mean Illustrator isn't capable.

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  3. Hey, this is a great post! Thanks for posting it. I will definitely be using this effect soon.

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  4. nice tutorial!
    nice blog !
    lovin it !

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  5. Genial, gran Blog.

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  6. That was awsome!! Thank you very much.
    Eso fue fantástico!! Muchas gracias.

    Julieta - Venezuela

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  7. awesome tutorial, very clear directions, thank you

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  8. What a great result. I am a photoshop user myself but these tutorials are making me very interested in the design power of illustrator!

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  9. Nice tutorial i might used it :)

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  10. I got stuck at step nine , i selected blend option and then specified the steps to 25 but the next step which says blend > make is diabled for me , i tried from the menu and later on with the shortcut key alt+ctrl+b but with no results , can somebody tell me were i went wrong and what to do next :)

    Nice effect btw :)

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  11. @asdfg - Make sure that you have two objects selected. It sounds like you only have one of the objects selected. Let me know if that doesn't work.

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  12. nice guide..but how do i add the colors in Step 4?
    anyone can teach me thx?

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  13. @anonymous - to change the colors of the gradient mesh, pull up your direct select tool (A) and select each point and just change the color of the point.

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  14. oh! thx so much lol. im a newbie of illustrator haha thx so much

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  15. Love it! I have to agree I used Illustrator a hell of a lot more than anything else.

    ~Keish

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  16. Hi transfuchsian,
    i got stuck at number 9 or 10. When i made the blend i got what you have shown in the image under number 9. But at number 10 you say: ' repeat this process' but somehow, i can't. I can only 'release the blend' in stead of making another one. So i realy don't know how to get what you have shown in the image under number 11. My left part of the text looks like what you have shown in the image under number 9. Can you please help me? This is what it looks like.
    http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3324/schermafbeelding2010011.png
    Hope you can help me,
    tnx

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  17. To Jordi - Very good point, I'll update the post. When I put to repeat the steps, I meant to repeat steps 8 and 9 and make more new blends. My apologies for not being clear. Let me know if that solves the problem.

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  18. Tnx! So when i repeat those points, 8 and 9, ill get that ' swirly' look what you got?

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  19. Sorry to bother you so much, but maybe im just not getting it.
    After making a second blend i got this: http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4799/schermafbeelding2010012.png As you can see in my first post, im not getting closer to that swirly effect you have. Im sorry, but maybe this tut is a bit to difficult for me. :)

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  20. Jordi - Here is a breakdown of the shapes I used for the blends in the tutorial:
    http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq9/Transfuchsian/breakdown.png

    I used two fatter blends and three thin swirly ones. This is probably why you aren't getting the swirly feel with your blends. Try making some of them thinner with a bit of a wave. Also, make sure that the smaller inner shape of the blend has a lowered opacity (around 50%) so that they are nicely see-through. Also note that some of those swirly shapes are created toward the end of the tutorial when you make a special brush.

    I think that you are doing a great job so far with the tut. Blends can be a pain to predict sometimes if you aren't used to using them.

    Let me know if this helps.

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  21. Ey, thank you very much!
    Right now im not able to try it but i will let you know if it helped, but i guess so.
    thanks in advance!

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  22. HI Fuchsian,

    I think i give up. This is what mines look like. http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4799/schermafbeelding2010012.png
    Im not getting that swirly look at all... i really don't know what i do wrong.
    The right side of your text looks awesome and really curvy.. but mine looks more straightened, also when i made an almost exact copy of your first drawing in image 11.
    Maybe one last tip before i throw out my MBP... :p
    tnx!

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  23. Jordi,
    blends can be a little goofy if you aren't used to how they act. There are a few things that you can check:
    - make sure that the larger shape of the blend is behind the smaller shape.
    -before you make the blend, check that the larger shape is set to 0% opacity and the smaller one is around or below 50%.
    -try making the shapes more like a wave, where the upper crests come up to about the same height and the lower curves come down to the same height (look back at the image I posted before).
    -It also has alot to do with layering. The more blends you layer on, the more depth it will have.

    Here is another screen shot of where I placed the blends as well as the shapes I used for the right side.

    http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq9/Transfuchsian/blendbreakdown2.jpg

    If you still can't get it, just let me know.

    Also, if you want to have the file, you could easily just buy a version of it that I have up on Shutterstock. It isn't as detailed and has the blends expanded already, but would at least save you some headaches.

    You can find that in my gallery by clicking on the link just under the opening paragraph at the top of this page.

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  24. Nice tutorial.. oval shaped brush was really awesome.. Step by step learnt a BIG lesson from u.. Thanks for everything. Good luck my dear! All the best! Thanks again :)

    Aryanfox

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  25. very informative tutorial it gives me a lot of knowledge to learn how to do this. thanks.

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  26. Do you have this same tutorial but for Photoshop?

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  27. Very informative and knowledge based tutorial..thanks ..I may utilize it in my work.
    Atlanta Web Design Services

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  28. Very helpful tutorial, I'm just learning Illustrator at the moment and have been trying to find tutorials online. Many thanks for this; the lighting effect would look great on a website banner.

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  29. Incredible effect AND tutorial. You have a real compassion for fellow artists, patient and generous. Thank you. I'll follow you, and most likely purchase some of your work as it would save me a LOT of time.

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