To See My Portfolio CLICK HERE
Showing posts with label Vector Graphic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vector Graphic. Show all posts
How to Draw A Realistic Vector Light Bulb From Scratch
Final Image Preview
Below is the final image we will be working towards.
Introduction
First, there are a lot of different bulbs out there. A client recently requested a traditional one and instead of using reference images, I took a real light bulb and took some time watching how the glass parts bend the light and how highlights and shadows are formed. So, get a reference image or better yet, grab a real bulb and let's start drawing. First, you have to get a grip of the elements that make the bulb, because we're going to recreate all of them.
Step 1
Let's begin by drawing the glass body first. Create a new document of your choice. I renamed my Layer 1 to "Glass Body." I suggest you name it the same, so it will be easy to follow the rest of the steps and this will help you with the final alignment of all the layers later.
Drag a vertical guide onto the artboard. Create a perfect circle (while holding Shift), and center it to the guide. Select both the right and bottom anchor point and delete them, thus leaving only the top-left part of the circle present.
Step 2
Grab your Pen Tool and using Bezier curves, draw the rest of the left side of the glass body. Duplicate the completed shape and merge them together. We have made the glass body. Let's move on to the screw thread contact.
Step 3
A light bulb is not perfect. This is good for us, because the left and right side of the thread contact don't have to match at all. Ready the Pen Tool and start drawing. When we have completed this part we can move on and do a quick drawing of the electrical foot contact at the very bottom.
Those two shapes are pretty easy and somewhat creative shapes, so you shouldn't have any problems. See how my shapes are overlapping, that doesn't matter at this point.
Step 4
Again with the Pen Tool and Bezier curves, draw a shape that represents the actual screw part. When finished, copy and paste it two more times as shown below.
This is the basic outline of outer bulb shapes, but we are missing something, right. Yep, the glass mount, the support wires and the tungsten filament. I found those to be the real challenge of the bulb, so let's leave them for last.
Step 5
Let's move some elements to new layers. Create a new layer and call it "Metallic Body." Move it above our "Glass Body" layer. Select the thread contact, the three screw elements and the foot contact and move them to the "Metallic Body" layer.
Let's start painting the elements from bottom to top. Fill the electrical foot contact shape with a radial gradient. Set the colors, locations and gradient sliders as shown in the image below. Apply Inner glow as well and remove the stroke.
Step 6
Let's move on to the thread contact. Repeat the above actions, by applying a Radial Gradient and Inner Glow with the settings shown. Also, remove the stroke.
Step 7
Moving on to the actual screw elements. Apply the settings shown below on all three of them. Remove the stroke. We are basically applying the same radial gradient we did with the thread contact, but we are changing the sliders' positions slightly.
Step 8
Moving to the glass body. You can lock the "Metallic Body" layer and continue working on the glass one. Remove the stroke and give it a fill color of K=3. We want very light gray that will separate the bulb from the white background. With the shape still selected, give it an Inner Glow and use the settings and color shown below.
Step 9
So far, so good. Now comes the hard part - the glass mount. Your task here will be easy or hard, depending on the light bulb you've chosen. I didn't really have a choice, since the client wanted a traditional bulb. Create a new layer and call it "Glass Mount."
I'm going to hide the rest of the layers to better focus on the mount. I created the shape and filled it with K=10 (Step 9.1). On top, I made an additional shape and gave it a radial gradient going from K=10 at 0%, K=20 at 64%, K=25 at 80% and K=10 at 100% (Step 9.2.) I used the Pen Tool and Bezier curves to draw the support wires with 1 pt stroke color of K=90 (Step 9.3).
Step 10
Now, I moved to create four more shapes for the big support wires.
I drew the two wires and noticed that in an actual bulb they are folded at the end. The left one is folded back and the right is folded in front. I drew the folded shapes and sent one at the back and the other in front. Then I filled the wires with K=90, and the folded shapes with K=95. No stroke (Step 10.1).
Moving on to the tungsten filament. What I did was pretty simple. I Pen Tooled a line between the big wires and applied Effect > Distort and Transform > Zig Zag. I entered: 1% for the Relative size, Ridges per Segment at 8, Points at Smooth and finally K=90 stroke color. The effect gave nice curved line, just like the real thing.
Additionally, I created the bottom element of the glass mount, along with two ellipses for the central part. I selected both ellipses and in the Pathfinder palette I chose Minus Front to get rid of the front one, this creating a hole in the big ellipse. After that, you guessed it, radial gradient from K=70, K=90, K=80, at respectively 0, 63 and 100% (Step 10.2).
Step 11
I noticed that the big support wires go inside the glass mount, and the glass acts like a magnifying glass and the wires in there look magnified.
Let's draw that. I made four shapes. Notice that they go all the way down and at places it looks like they are separated, that’s why I made four and not two (Step 11.1).
The glass mount is complete, but look at it - it's flat. We have to make some highlights and play with the opacity and blending modes to create the illusion of 3D. Let's do that!
For the top glass shape I made two highlights. The left one I filled with a white to black gradient, and no stroke. I did the same with the right one, this time with black to white gradient fill. I set both shapes to Screen blending mode. Next I applied a Gaussian Blur of 2 pixels to both shapes and the glass started to appear (Step 11.2).
Step 12
Let's go on and create more highlights. Simply draw and repeat the same steps until you're satisfied. Experiment with both shapes and with smaller and larger blur radius, but don't forget always to use a white to black gradient set to Screen. This is what gives the actual glass look.
We have to add one final detail to the glass mount - a big reflection going all the way from top to bottom. I made a shape following the curves of the mount, gave it a white to black radial gradient, set it to Screen and gave it big 7-pixel blur. Additionally, I adjusted the gradient sliders to punch it up a bit (Step 12.1).
This is the finished glass mount. Be careful with the object layering. My glass mount is on one Illustrator layer, but the object layering inside the layer is critical. Keep the basic shapes in the back and bring forward the highlights and glows. This will add more to the glass effect (Step 12.2).
Step 13
Group all the stuff in the "Glass Mount" layer and switch on the other layers. Move the Glass Mount to the center of the bulb using our vertical guide we created in the beginning. Rearrange the layers order as follows (from top to bottom): "Metallic Body," "Glass Mount," and then Glass Body."
Step 14
The last step in the tutorial is to add highlights to the bulb itself. I put them on a new layer named "Reflections," then moved it on top of all the others.
Next, I created a series of shapes along the right part of the bulb, the bottom and the top left part, where I placed some ellipses. I scaled some of them down and rotated them accordingly. I outlined them in blue for better illustration. At the end I colored all the reflections in white and added Gaussian Blur of 8 pixels to each one.
Step 15
This step is optional. For those of you interested in making the bulb turned on, create a new layer over the "Glass Mount" and below the "Metallic Body" layers.
Create a circle, smaller than the glass body. I gave it a yellow-to-white radial gradient at -180 degrees and set it to Multiply Blending Mode.
Conclusion
The final print came out great. At the end my client was really happy and so was I. I hope you enjoyed creating this realistic vector light bulb!
Source From : Vectortuts
Create an Old Paper & Feather Pen Illustration
Final Image Preview
Step 1
Open up a new document and draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (M). Leave the default settings of a white fill and a black stroke.
Step 2
Go to Effect > Distort & Envelope > Roughen and choose the settings you see below. This will be the frame work for our old paper.
Step 3
Fill the shapes with black, set the stroke to none and apply an Outer Glow of 100% Opacity and a Blur of 7pt. Set the Mode to Normal (Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow).
Step 4
Create a duplicate of the black shape on top (Command + C + F). Choose a light brown or beige color and fill the shape and set the stroke to 1pt with the same color. Then change the Outer Glow settings via the Appearance Palette and set the Blur to 2pt.
Step 5
Duplicate the shape again on top (Command + C + F) and remove the Outer Glow settings. Then go to Window > Swatch Libraries > Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphic_Textures. Choose Stipple Fine and fill the shape. This will replace the beige color. Set the Layer Mode to Color Dodge, Opacity 79%. Then duplicate the shape again and change the Layer Mode to Overlay and set the Opacity to 10%. Replace the fill with Burlap from the texture palette. This will give the paper a slight gritty look.
Step 6
Next, make again a duplicate on top and fill it with a linear gray, black, gray, to black gradient. Set the Angle to -50. Then change the Layer Mode to Overlay, 18% Opacity and add an outer Glow, 100% Opacity, normal mode and a Blur of 5pt. Duplicate the shape again on top, fill it with a radial gray to black gradient with the highlight towards the bottom right and set the Layer Mode to Overlay, 33%. Leave the Outer Glow Effect like it is.
Step 7
Duplicate the shape again, remove the Outer Glow and fill it with white. Then set the Layer Mode to Soft Light , Opacity 45%. Make another duplicate, fill it with 80% black and set the stroke to 3pt, 100% black. Set the Layer Mode to Overlay, 45% Opacity. This will bring out a burned effect.
Step 8
Voila, the old paper look. We are almost there, we just need to add some fine touches.
Step 9
We will create a burned corner look for our paper. Create a circle (L) and fill it with a gray to black radial gradient. Set the gradient highlight towards the top left.
Step 10
Go to Effect > Distort & Envelop > Roughen and apply the settings you see below.
Step 11
Place the shape on top of the paper layer and set the Layer Mode to Overlay at 100%.
Step 12
Now since the shape is still too harsh and shows up on the background, we need to apply an Opacity Mask. We have to do one important step first. Since we want the shape to be burned into the paper right to the edge, we will copy the original paper shape. Just press Command + C. Then apply an Opacity Mask via the Transparency Palette. Once you have activated the mask, paste the shape onto the artboard by pressing Command + V. Cut away a good portion of it and just keep a corner piece that will fit. Then apply a black to white radial gradient. Voila, this way we can hide the burned shape and blend it better into the paper.
Step 13
Repeat Step 12 for the other corners. I only added two more.
Step 14
Let's move on to the paper treatments. Create a rectangle and apply a Round Corner effect to it. Then duplicate the rectangle and offset it. Select both and apply the Divide option in the Pathfinder Palette.
Step 15
Delete the shapes with the Direct Selection Tool (A) until you have a shape like you see in the image below. Then select both end path points on the right and Average them both on the Axis. Repeat the same with the bottom two.
Step 16
Next, open up the Flowers Palette (Symbol Library) and drag an instance of a flower of your choice onto the artboard. Select it and expand its appearance.
Step 17
Make a copy of the line shape and the flower and select both and apply the Divide option from the Pathfinder Palette.
Step 18
Delete all the flower parts. Left is the cut away line shape. This might look like an unimportant step, but it will help a lot (see next step).
Step 19
Select the vertical shape and apply the Envelop Distort option Flag to it. Choose Vertical at 100%. Repeat the same with the horizontal one and choose Horizontal. Then select the curved lines and the flower and set the Layer Mode to Overlay.
Step 20
Let's move on to the feather. I outlined the shapes we need below. You can go more into detail if you'd like. Create an ellipse (L), remove the curves and add extra path points to make it look like a simple feather. For the plume part, create a circle, apply the Roughen effect and scale it if you see fit. Then apply a Pucker effect. Expand the shape. Then make a copy and add it to the feather shape via the Pathfinder Palette. I chose some beige, white, and gray gradient for coloring.
Step 21
Move the feather shape and the shaft plus the plume part and arrange them over the paper layer. I made the gradient slightly darker as well.
Step 22
Duplicate the feather shape on top and fill it with another darker gradient. Move it slightly to the bottom left. Don't forget to place the extra copy of the plume part on top and fill it with a light radial gradient.
Step 23
Trace along the tip of the shaft and fill it with black. Set the Layer Mode to Soft Light. Then duplicate the shape on top. This will make it look darker. You could also try Overlay as a setting.
Step 24
To create a sense of depth, duplicate the feather shape with its shaft and choose Add to Shape Area in the Pathfinder Palette. Place the shape underneath the feather and distort it slightly. Set the Layer Mode to Normal and the Opacity to 60%. Then apply a Feather effect of 93pt.
Step 25
Now you are ready to add some text. Outline the text and set the Layer Mode to Soft Light or Overlay depending on how you would like it to look. Remember that a black color in Soft Light or Overlay mode will kind of burn itself into the shapes below.
Conclusion
I added a starburst and some ink drops. Last but not least, place a darker background and you're good to go. Happy creating!