Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Create a Printer Illustration Page 2

Step 24

Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a new 170 by 45px shape, fill it with the linear gradient shown below and place it as shown in the following image. Select it and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the properties shown below, click OK and go to Effect Stylize > Drop Shadow. Again, enter the data shown in the following image and click OK.

Step 25

Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Reselect the shape created in the previous step and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px up. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Select the resulting shape and focus on the Appearance panel. Remove the Inner Glow and the Drop Shadow effect then replace the linear gradient used for the fill with R=36 G=36 B=36.

Step 26

Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. So, go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 156 by 6px shape, fill it with the linear gradient shown below and place it as shown in the following image. Select it and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners.

Enter a 3px radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the properties shown in the final image and click OK.

Step 27

Return to "gridline every 5px". So, go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 220 by 40px shape, fill it with a random color and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool(A), select the bottom, left anchor point and move it 10px to the left then select the bottom, right anchor point and move it 10px to the right.

Step 28

Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create two, 5 by 10px shape and place them as shown in the following image. Fill them with a random color then go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 3px radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the resulting shapes along with the shape created in the previous step and click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with the linear gradient shown in the final image.

Step 29

Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Reselect the shape created in the previous step and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px down. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Move to the Layers panel, select the resulting group of shapes, turn it into a compound path (Object > Compound Path > Make) and fill it with R=23 G=34 B=50.

Step 30

Reselect the shape created in step #28 and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F). Select the top copy and move it 2px down. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Again, turn the resulting group of shapes into a compound path (Object > Compound Path > Make) and fill it with R=47 G=55 B=69.

Step 31

Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 240 by 5px shape, fill it with the linear gradient shown below and place it as shown in the following image. Select it and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F).

Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid), select the top copy and move it 1px down. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=99 G=104 B=114.

Step 32

Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 180 by 70px shape, fill it with a random color and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool(A), select the top, left anchor point and move it 15px to the right then select the top, right anchor point and move it 15px to the left. Download this image (or any image) and drag it inside your AI file. Resize it a little and place it as shown in the final image.

Step 33

Reselect the trapezoid shape created in the previous step, make a copy in front (Control + C > Control + F) and bring it to front (Shift + Control + ] ). Select this copy along with the image added in the previous step and go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Top Object. In the end your image should look like it does in the third image.

Step 34

Reselect the trapezoid shape created in step #32 and bring it to the front (Shift + Control + ] ). Replace the flat color used for the fill with the linear gradient shown below. The yellow zero from the gradient image stands for opacity percentage. Make sure that this shape is still selected and focus on the Appearance panel. First, select the fill and lower its opacity to 50%. Next, add a 0.5pt stroke, set its color at R=30 G=30 B=30 and align it to the inside.

Step 35

Again, you will need a grid every 1px. So, go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 1 by 5px and a 15 by 5px rectangle, fill them with the linear gradients shown below and place them as shown in the following image.

Step 36

Select the larger rectangle created in the previous step and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px up. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with the linear gradient shown below.

Step 37

Reselect the larger rectangle created in step #35 and make two new copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px down and to the left. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white.

Step 38

Multiply the shapes created in the last three steps and place the copies in a row, as shown in the first image. Select all these copies along with the original shapes and place them as shown in the second image. The Snap to Grid should ease your work.

Step 39

Return to "gridline every 5px". Pick the Rectangle Tool(M) and create a 150 by 45px shape. Fill it with the linear gradient shown below, place it as shown in the following image and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 40

Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Reselect the shape created in the previous step and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -1px Offset and click OK. Duplicate the resulting shape (Control + C > Control + F). Select this copy and move it 1px down. Reselect both shapes created in this step and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=150 G=150 B=150.

Step 41

Reselect the rounded rectangle created in step #39, focus on the Appearance panel and add a second fill using the Add New Fill. It’s the little, white square icon from the bottom of the Appearance panel. Select this new fill, lower its opacity to 20%, add the linear gradient shown below and go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -1px Offset and click OK.

Step 42

Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Pick the Rectangle Tool(M) and create a 160 by 80px shape. Fill it with the linear gradient shown below, place it as shown in the following image and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 43

Step 44

Reselect the rounded rectangle created in step #42 and add a second fill. Select it from the Appearance panel, lower its opacity to 20%, add the linear gradient shown below and go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -1px Offset and click OK.

Step 45

Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Pick the Rectangle Tool(M) and create a 170 by 10px shape. Fill it with R=5 G=5 B=5, place it as shown in the following image and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Select this new rounded rectangle and make two copies in front (Control + C > Control + F > Control + F) Select the top copy and move it 1px down. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=50 G=50 B=50.

Step 46

One last time, you will need a grid every 1px. So, go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool(M), create two, 1 by 10px shapes and place them side by side as shown in the first image. Fill the left rectangle with R=50 G=50 B=50 and the right one with the linear gradient shown in the following image. Duplicate these two rectangles and drag the copies to the right as shown in the second image.

Step 47

Finally, select all the shapes created in the last eight steps, group them (Control + G) and send the group to the back (Shift + Control + [ ).

And We’re Done!

That wraps up this end of the Adobe Illustrator tutorial. We hope that you learned a few new tricks and steps a long the way. Once again, here is what your final image should look like.

If you have any questions of concerns regarding the steps involved or anything like that, feel free to leave them in the comment section. Thanks for following along.

(rb)