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Fuctastic has created an awesome skull illustration for the readers of Vectips. Download the illustration and check out all the intricate details! It is a great illustration to use by itself or pick through the many elements used to create the skull!
Illustrator Version: CS4 and Illustrator 10 EPS
License: See Terms in Download
This post is part of a weekly series showcasing inspirational vector art. Although the series showcases vector art, some work might just be vector inspired, not created completely with vector art. If you have any art suggestions, feel free to comment! For more vector art inspiration, check out the Vectips Flickr Group.
Von Glitschka is a designer an illustrator with over 23 years experience. Von’s work has received numerous awards and has appeared in such publications as Communication Arts, Print, HOW Design, Society of Illustrators, Graphis, American Illustration, and Logo Lounge II, III, IV and V. Von has been kind enough to provide Vectips with an interview, so read on to learn about his Illustrator experience and industry insights.
I’ve drawn since I was very young. My mom is very creative so that kind of rubbed off on me. I use to just hang out in my bedroom with a friend listen to my Star Wars talking record and draw pictures. I was always getting into trouble for drawing on my papers growing up too.
As I went into high school I remember thinking “I don’t want to go to a regular college and do math.” Mind you this was before the internet so the way we did research was to ask our guidance counselor to find information on something and they’d get it. Well I asked for information on film school, I wanted to go into the movies. The guidance counselor came back and said she couldn’t find anything?
I was stumped. A few weeks later a person from the Burnley School of Art came through our art class and the convinced me I needed to go to art school. No math at art school.
I never set out to be a full-time illustrator. I was trained as a graphic designer and illustration was always just an additional skill set I would use when a project needed it. At first I just assumed all graphic designers also illustrated. It wasn’t until around 1995 I realized I could leverage illustration as it’s own marketable talent. And from that point forward I handled it as such.
I have entertained the thought of going to film school after my kids graduate from college. I still think I could direct and or art director better than a lot of movies I see produced. This of course is more of a fantasy than a reality at this point, but not out of realm of possibility. You have to dream new dreams to stay relevant and fresh.
Von winning my first art award at 5yrs old & a recent self-portrait.
Favorite: Unbridled creativity and exploration. Never ceases to amaze me at the depth of unique work being done, and that inspires me of course to pursue my own approach.
Least Favorite: The illustration industry is still embedded with an old school mind set that really holds some back from flourishing with their art. Too many have the idea that a “One style fits all approach” should for some reason be an ironclad rule applied to all illustrators. This is at best a problematic understanding of illustration. That approach might have worked in general in the pre-digital world but it’s at best a flawed methodology in today’s marketplace.
I know what I just said will cause many illustrators to view my comments in the same light as me drop kicking babies. But life wouldn’t be too exciting if you didn’t stir it up at times.
Illustrators in general tend to think of themselves as existing outside of “Graphic Design” as if they are their own unique industry, when in fact they fall under the banner of “Graphic Design.” Their livelihood depends on the design industry and thus their work needs to be versatile enough to work in a range of projects in order to be the appropriate solution for the given project. I’ve always found that illustrators who first worked as designers before moving over to illustration full-time make for better illustrators because they clearly understand this, have a better comprehension of marketing, and also apply a designers eye to their work as well.
Too many non-illustrators view illustration as mere image makers. When in fact they should view us as idea formulators that can also build out what we conceptualize. Good thinking makes for great art and way too many creative directors don’t think that way when working with an illustrator. Part of the problem is most illustrators don’t do a good job of communicating this aspect of their service either, so the problem is two fold.
Digital Lifestyle
Technically I refer to myself as an “Illustrative Designer.” I call upon both skill sets in nearly all my work and rarely do I do purely illustrative projects that don’t entail a design context such as editorial work. An interesting side-effect of this reality is that most non-illustrating designers call me an “Illustrator” and most non-designing illustrators tend to call me a “Designer.” They both focus on the aspects of my work they don’t do themselves and assume I’m not in their camp.
A few years ago I had my owl illustration hanging in the Society of Illustrators in NYC and got contacted by a web site that lists illustrators inviting me to participate. I said sure but didn’t hear anything back and then got an email from the site saying “Sorry but you were invited by accident. You’re not an illustrator. Frankly I’m not sure what you are?” LOL
I’m OK with stock illustration as long as it allows the illustrator/creator to control the rights and ownership of their art and they’re just granting usage rights to it and not selling it outright for cheap.
Of course not all models being pushed are good ones, such as iStockphoto.com which plays no part in creating the art, has an art Gestapo that forces the creators to adhere to antiquated digital file methods which means rounds of needless alterations and limitations in order to maximize sales to the lowest common denominator, has an automated site, and yet takes a 70% cut of the profits when it sells it for mere peanuts. And they don’t really pay you money, you get credits which are like getting paid with wooden nickels. But I digress.
A few good models for stock sites are:
Illoz
Profilestock
Owl
Dickie Adams reviewed my first design book “Crumble.Crackle.Burn.” When I emailed him for a mailing address it turned out he lived about a par three from my home studio here in town? I was like “No way!” We’ve been friends ever since and he invited me to be part of the Freelance Radio podcast. It’s fun being able to talk shop, horror stories and all.
I still think my voice sounds stupid when I hear myself talk.
Tape Illustration
My typical work flow (creative process) doesn’t alter too much from one project to the next. The style and end usage may be drastically different but the general frame work I operate under remains consistent. To fully understand it people can visit my tutorial site at http://www.illustrationclass.com
In 2008 I spoke at the Boston HOW Design Conference on the topic of “Illustrative Design” you can listen to that and view the presentation that goes over my process here: http://snipurl.com/creativeprocess
Illustrationclass.com Tutorial
My mind is always churning. I have funny random thoughts all the time and never bothered to document any of them before. So I look at social networking as a way to archive my random thoughts. Capture funny, clever, spur of the moment ideas and share them. Technically it’s part of my creativity and so far I’ve managed to land a few paying gigs from doing that on Twitter.
I know I enjoy other creatives who do the same such as: @etherbrian His tweets have made me laugh many times because they are drenched in creative thought.
Beautiful Vectors
I’d want the ability to select something and copy/paste it. That way I could do yard work easier. Just walk around drag selecting all the weeds, copy them, walk to the garbage can and paste. It could also serve as a 4th dimensional stash to hide stuff too. The possibilities are endless. Muhahahahaha! <—— Evil Laughter!
Tickles the Evil Clown
I love blend modes and blending to transparency in CS4. Layering elements to create a rich depth or detail to an illustration. Least favorite is when I am done working on something and I’ve used all these great blend modes and transparency settings and the client than asks for a CS Ai format because they don’t have CS4. DOH!
It’s frustrating because Adobe Photoshop has always been pretty good about being backwards compatible. But Adobe Illustrator seems like they change the game all the time and don’t give a crAip about legacy files or even provide an easy way to migrate a file accurately to an older one short of rebuilding the art to adapt to a previous version which makes it a pAin in the Aiss for the end user.
I’m just sick of the Adobe politics hampering my work flow.
NFL Patches
My humorous side tends to shine through in a lot of work that allows for that to happen. That said I do a lot of serious work too and at times I’ve had Creative Directors look at my portfolio and go out of their way to say “We don’t want this humorous.” as if I wouldn’t realize a funeral home logo shouldn’t be “Ha ha!”
I let the project dictate the style direction I take, this keeps the approach appropriate. My personality still shows within any stylistic context though and I think that is pretty normal. You don’t want design so neutered of intrinsic character that is just looks like a pedestrian variety of vanilla imagery.
Illustrative Patterns
I get asked about the books a lot. They are a lot of fun to work on, but as I tell everyone who asks “There are no John Grisham authors in design books.” (Bill Gardner of Logo Lounge is the closest to that though) I like doing books because they are rewarding creatively, fun artistically, and enjoyable to share with others.
I haven’t made a whole lot of money from them, but that wasn’t my motive to begin with. I am just thankful to be able to have the opportunity. That said I’m working on my third book now which you can take a peek at here: http://snipurl.com/gsornament
I’ve always really liked designing t-shirts. So every so often I create one and put it up at http://www.zazzle.com/vonster/gifts and that funds my Starbucks habit.
Tribal Bear
I’m in the middle of a new business venture now I’ve branded “Unica Design.” It’ll be a line of designer concrete tiles I’m creating with a tile manufacture in California which we’ll market nationwide. They’ll be offered to interior designers and come with a matching textile repeat pattern that can be edited color wise to match any environment design.
Right now we are in the prototype stage having molds done via CNC and I’ll be refining them. I suspect we are still a few months out from launching a website and sending samples to the various show rooms nation wide. It’s exciting but is a lot of hard work to pull it all off.
My fingers are crossed.
Concrete tile design
Designers should be your best friends, since they’ll be the ones who provide you with your work. So get to understand marketing, and make your work flexible to an ever changing commercial market.
Don’t be afraid to try new things, like illustrating in a different style, fail, try others, fail, share your art online, get no response, share a funny story, get a lot of response, be nice, tell the truth, pursue your dreams, and never stop doodling.
Senior Skully
There are a number of great tutorials, freebies, and articles related to vectors coming out on the web daily. Each month, I roundup some of the best posts I have found useful. I can’t include everything I’ve seen throughout the month, but you can follow my Twitter feed to get all the daily links. Post comments with links that I have missed so everyone can see them!
This post is part of a weekly series showcasing inspirational vector art. Although the series showcases vector art, some work might just be vector inspired, not created completely with vector art. If you have any art suggestions, feel free to comment! For more vector art inspiration, check out the Vectips Flickr Group.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a briefcase icon with rectangles, ellipses, and gradients. This briefcase icon is great for web designs and user interfaces. Moreover, you can easily apply these techniques to other icons, logos, and illustrations.
Below is the final icon we will be working towards.
Create a new document and with the Rectangle tool (M), create a rectangle for the main body shape of the briefcase.
With the rectangle selected, go Effect > Stylize > Round Corners. In the Round Corners dialog, change the Radius to 10 px. This value might be different depending on the size of your main rectangle. Next, go Object > Expand Appearance.
Fill the shape with a radial gradient form the Gradient panel. Change the first color stop in the gradient to a light brown color and the second color stop to a dark brown color. With the Gradient tool (G), scale the circumference of radial gradient vertically, expand the gradient past the left and right borders of the shape, and move it slightly towards the bottom of the shape.
With the Rectangle tool (M), create a rectangle about a third tall and slightly wider than the size of the main shape. Place the new rectangle over the top part of the main body shape. This will be our flap.
With the flap shape selected, go Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and change the Radius in the Round Corners dialog to 10 px. Next go, Effect > Warp > Arc Lower. In the Warp Options dialog make sure Horizontal is selected and change the Bend to 18. Now go Object > Expand Appearance.
Fill the flap shape with a linear gradient from the Gradient panel. For this gradient we are going to add two color stop giving us a total of four color stops in the gradient. To add the color stops, simply click just below the Gradient Slider in the Gradient panel twice. Change the first color to a brown color, the second to a light brown color, the third the same brown color as the first color stop, and the last one to a dark brown color. Select the second color stop and change the Location from the Gradient panel to 16 and change the Location of the third color stop to 34. Next, change the Angle of the gradient to -90.
With the Rectangle tool (M), create a rectangle half the height and same width as the main shape. Go Effect > Warp > Arc Lower. In the Warp Options dialog, make sure Horizontal is select and change the Bend to -9. Expand the Appearance, fill the shape with your dark brown, and go Object > Arrange > Send Backward (Command + [ ).
Select the main shape and go Object > Path > Offset. In the dialog, change the Offset to -8 px. Take off any fill and change the stroke color to white. From the Stroke panel, change the Weight to 2 pt and select a 5 pt Dashed Line. From the Transparency panel, change the Opacity to 25. Next, go Object > Arrange > Bring Forward (Command + ] ).
Select the flap shape and go Object > Path > Offset and change the Offset to -8 px. With the new offset still selected use the Eyedropper tool (I) and sample the dashed line you created in the first step. Next, with the Direct Selection tool (A), select the top line in the new dashed line and delete it by pressing the Delete button.
Create a small square with the Rectangle tool (M) and place it where the bottom of the flap shape arc. Fill the square with a linear gradient with the first color stop a gray color and the second color stop white. In the Gradient panel, change the Middle Point of the gradient to 18 and the Angle to -90.
Offset to square by 2 px and press the Reverse Gradient button from the Gradient panel.
Select the original square, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Front (Command + F). With the Selection tool (V), select the top of the square and scale it vertically down to about two thirds of its original size.
Select the offset square, Copy (Command + C), Paste in Back (Command + B), and move down slightly with the Selection tool (V). Next, change the fill to your dark brown color.
Draw a small ellipse in the bottom half of the square shapes and draw a thin rectangle coming out of the bottom of the circle. Select both shapes and press the Unite button in the Pathfinder panel.
Fill the new shape with a linear gradient, change the first color stop a dark gray color, the second an even darker gray color, and change the Angle to 90. With the shape still selected, Copy (Command + C), Paste in Back (Command + B), move down slightly, and change the fill to white.
Create a rectangle from the top of the buckle shapes to slightly above the flap shape. Use the Eyedropper tool (I) and sample to flap linear gradient and change the Angle to -90.
Select the new rectangle, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Back (Command + B). With the Selection tool (V), widen the shape slightly and make the top of the copy line up with the top of the flap. Change the copy to your dark brown color and set the Opacity to 45 from the Transparency panel.
Create a small rectangle on top of the flap shape. Fill the rectangle with a three color stop gradient. Change the first color stop to a gray color, the second white, and the third to a gray color.
Use the Selection tool (V), Hold down Alt/ Option, hold down Shift, and drag a copy of the rectangle to the opposite side of the top flap.
Use the Rounded Rectangle tool and create a thin rounded rectangle connecting the two small rectangles. With the rounded rectangle selected, go Effect > Warp > Arc, make sure Horizontal is selected, and change the Bend to 18. Next, go Object > Expand Appearance.
Fill the arc shape with a linear gradient, change the first color stop to a dark gray color, the second color stop to black, and change the Angle to -90.
Offset the arc shape by -4 px and change the stroke color to a gray color. Select both arc shapes and send them behind the smaller square shapes.
Select all the artwork we have created so far, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Front (Command + F). With the copies still selected, go Object > Transform > Reflect. In the Reflect dialog change the Axis to Horizontal. Next, move the reflected copies right under the original artwork.
Create a rectangle over top half of the reflection. Fill the rectangle with a linear gradient, change the first color stop to white, the second color stop to a rich black and change the Angle to -90.
Select the reflection and gradient and choose Make Opacity Mask from the pop-up menu of the Transparency panel. Next, change the opacity of the mask to 60.
Create an ellipse bigger than the main briefcase artwork and fill it with a radial gradient. Scale the ellipse down vertically to about an eight of its original size. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply from the Transparency panel and place the ellipse over the bottom part of the briefcase. Select the ellipse and opacity mask and send them behind all other artwork. All done! You can also place your icon on different color backgrounds. In my example I placed the icon on a dark gray radial gradient background.
Below is the final image again.
This post is part of a weekly series showcasing inspirational vector art. Although the series showcases vector art, some work might just be vector inspired, not created completely with vector art. If you have any art suggestions, feel free to comment! For more vector art inspiration, check out the Vectips Flickr Group.
If you found the previous Letterpress, Sketchy, and Metal type treatment tutorials useful, then you are going to like this Stitched Label Type tutorial. Like the previous tutorials, this one relies heavily on the Appearance panel, making it easy to edit the text and apply the treatment to other fonts and vector elements.
Below is the final type treatment we will be working towards.
Create a new document and without the Type tool (T) and type out some text. Change the font to whatever you like. I suggest using something heavy like the Museo Slab 1000 font I am using.
Before we start adding new fills and strokes from the Appearance panel, it is good to start with a clean slate. Select you text and take off any fill or stroke.
From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, select New Fill. Keep the default black color for now, we will be changing it later on in the tutorial.
Again, create another New Fill From the Appearance panel. Select the second fill in the Appearance panel and change the fill to a red color.
Select the red fill in the Appearance panel then go Effect > Convert To Shape > Rounded Rectangle. When the Shape Options dialog opens select the Relative radial button and change the Extra Width and Extra Height to 18 px. These number might be higher or lower depending on the dimensions of you text.
With the red fill selected in the Appearance panel, press the Duplicate Selected Item button at the bottom of the Appearance panel. Change the last red fill in the list to a gray color. With the gray fill still selected, go Effect > Path > Offset and change the Offset in the dialog to 5 px. Just like in the previous step this numerical values might change depending on the size of your text.
Now that we have all the major shapes done, we can start by add some detail and stitching to the text. To start, select the first black fill in the Appearance panel. Change the fill to a liner gradient with the first color stop in the gradient white and the second color stop a light gray. From the Gradient panel change the Angle of the gradient to -90.
With the text selected, choose New Stroke from the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel. Change the color of the stroke to gray, set the Weight to 1pt, check the Dashed Line checkbox, and input 2 pt in the first Dash filed of the Stroke panel. Next, go Effect > Path > Offset and change the Offset in the dialog to -2 px.
Select the main white text linear gradient fill in the Appearance panel and press the Duplicate Selected Item button. Select the second white text gradient, fill it with a light gray and choose Multiply for the Blending Mode from the Transparency panel. Next go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. With the Transform dialog open, change the Vertical Move to -2 px.
Select the red color fill from the Appearance panel and change it to a linear gradient. From the Gradient panel, change the first color stop to red, the second to dark red, and change the Location to -90.
From the pop-up menu of the Appearance panel, choose New Stroke. Next, Go Effect > Convert to Shape > Rounded Rectangle, change the Extra Width and Height to 10 px, and change to Corner Radius to 5 px. Change the stroke to a light yellow color, change the weight to 1.5 pt, and change the Dashed Line value to 8 pt.
With the yellow stroke selected, press the Duplicate Selected Item button in the Appearance panel. Make sure you have the second yellow stroke selected and go Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. In the dialog, change the Vertical Move to -2 px. Next, change the stroke color to a light gray and set the Blending Mode to Multiply.
Select the last fill in the Appearance panel list, change the fill to a linear gradient, change the first color stop a light gray, the second color stop to a gray color, and change the location of the gradient to -90 from the gradient panel. With the last fill still selected, go Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow dialog, change the Opacity to 50, X Offset to 0, Y Offset to 5 px, and the Blur to 5 px.
Now we have a nice stitched type treatment. Even better, it is fully editable! You can change the font or even apply it to other vector objects. I suggest creating a Graphic Style to make applying the treatment extremely easy. Simply select your text treatment and press the New Graphic Style button in the Graphic Styles panel. Below are some examples of different text and icons. Have fun!
This post is part of a weekly series showcasing inspirational vector art. Although the series showcases vector art, some work might just be vector inspired, not created completely with vector art. If you have any art suggestions, feel free to comment! For more vector art inspiration, check out the Vectips Flickr Group.
It’s almost Valentine’s day and rather than getting your loved one the same old cheap gifts you get every year, why not create a chocolate covered strawberry illustration for them? You can easily apply this illustration to your own greeting card, t-shirt, or anything else you can think of. Moreover, you can apply this tutorial to other illustrations and logos.
Below is the final image we will working towards.
Create a new document and create an ellipse with the Ellipse tool (L).
With the Direct Selection tool (A), grab the bottom anchor point, hold down the Shift key (to constrain the movements), and drag it down about one quarter of the original size of the ellipse.
With the Direct Selection tool (A), grab the top anchor point, hold down the Shift key, and drag it down about one eight the original size of the ellipse.
Fill the new shape with a radial gradient from the Gradient panel. Change the first color stop in the gradient to red and the second color stop to a darker red.
With the Gradient tool (G) adjust the radial gradient so the lightest part of the gradient is at the top of the shape.
Create a small elongated ellipse toward to top center of the berry shape. Fill the ellipse with a linear gradient with the first color stop a light orange and the second color stop orange. Adjust the gradient with the Gradient tool (G) so the lightest part of the gradient is at the top of the ellipse.
With the small ellipse selected, go Object > Path > Offset. Once the Offset dialog is open, change the Offset to 4 px. This measurement might be different depending on the dimensions of you artwork.
Fill the offset ellipse with a linear gradient with the same reds as the main berry shape. Adjust the gradient so the darker part of the gradient is at the top of the shape.
Select both shapes, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Front (Command + F). With the copy still selected, move it above and to the left of the original ellipse shapes.
Repeat the previous steps placing copies of the small ellipses around the berry shape. When you are placing shapes close to the edge, rotate them with the Selection tool (V) to follow the curvature of the berry.
For this next step we are going to use the Pencil tool (N) because it is a quick way to draw paths. Before we start drawing with the Pencil tool (N), it is a good idea to set some tool preferences so we can get a smooth line while drawing. First, double-click on the Pencil tool (N) in the Tools panel to bring up the Pencil Tool Options. The option that we are most concerned about is the Fidelity. I like to set mine at 5 pixels to ensure a smooth line. You can always play around with these settings if you don’t like the line path quality in the next step.
Now that our Pencil tool (N) is set. start drawing a shape around four or five of the smaller ellipses. Hold down the Alt / Option key when you are almost done to connect the beginning and end points. With the new shape selected, go Object > Arrange > Send Backward (Command + ]) until the shape is behind all the small ellipses.
Select all the small red-gradient ellipses encompassed by the pencil shape, go Object > Path > Offset, and change the Offset to 10 px.
With the new offset ellipses still selected, hold shift, and select the pencil shape. From the pathfinder panel hold down Alt / Option and press the Minus Front button. Next, change the fill of the new shape to a light red color.
With the Pencil tool (N) draw a organic shape encompassing the bottom half of the berry.
Fill the new shape with a linear gradient. For this gradient we need to add an extra color stop. To do this, simply click on the middle of the Gradient Slider in the Gradient panel. Change the first color stop to light brown, the second to a dark brown, and the third to your first light brown. Next, select the middle color stop and change the Location to 70 in the Gradient panel.
Select the chocolate shape and Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F). Do this one more time so you have three total shapes. Select the top copy and move it down and to the left slightly. Next, select the moved copy and the one underneath it and press the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Change the color of the new shape to a dark brown color.
With the Pencil tool (N) draw a new highlight shape towards the bottom of the main chocolate shape. Fill the new shape with a linear gradient and make both color stops white. Change the opacity of the first color stop to 40 and the second color stop’s opacity to 15 from the Gradient panel.
Create a couple more highlights around the top left curves of the main chocolate shape. Fill each new shape with the same white gradient as in the previous step.
Create a couple more chocolate drops with the Pencil tool (N) and apply the same gradients as in the previous couple steps.
Now we can move onto the leaves and stem of the strawberry. For the leaves we are going to create an custom Art Brush, making it easy and quick to create the leaves. To start, create an ellipse with the Ellipse tool (L).
With the Direct Selction tool (A) grab the right anchor point of the ellipse and drag it right to about double the original width. With the point still selected, press the Convert to Corner button from the Control panel. Next, fill the shape with a green color.
Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the ellipse shape twice. Select the top copy and move it down and to the left slightly. Select the two top copies and press the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Next, fill the shape with a light green color.
Select the main green shape and (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) twice. With the Selection tool (V), move the top copy up about half way up the original shape and rotate it so the points of the shape touch. Select both top copies, press the Minus Front button, and change the fill to a dark green color.
Select the main green shape and (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) twice. With the Selection tool (V) move the shape up and rotate it slightly, select both top copies, press the Minus Front button, and change the fill to a darker green than the previous step.
Select all the green shapes and drag them into the Brush panel. When the New Brush dialing opens, select the New Art Brush radial button. In the Art Brush Options keep all the default settings.
Use the Brush tool (B) with the new art brush and draw a leaf on the top of the strawberry. You might have to change the stroke of the path if the shape is too big or doesn’t look correct. When creating these brush strokes, make sure the darker part of the brush is facing down and the pointy part of the brush is facing away from the berry shape. If this is not how it looks after creating the path, press the Stroke Options button at the bottom of the Brush panel. When the Stroke Options dialog opens, you can select the Flip Along or Flip Across options until you get the desired arrangement.
Create five to six more brush stroke with the Brush tool (B) and custom brush.
Select all the brush strokes, Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Back (Command + B). With the copies still selected, go Object > Expand Apperance. With the expanded brushes still selected, press the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Next, move the new shape down slightly.
Select the main berry shape, Copy (Command + C), and Paste in Front (Command + F). Select the copied berry body shape and combined leaf shapes and press the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel. Change the fill of the new shape to a grey color and set the Blending Mode to Multiply from the Transparency panel.
Use the Pen tool (P) to create a stem shape for the strawberry. Fill the shape with a linear gradient with the first color stop green and the second a darker green. With the stem selected, go Object > Arrange > Send Backward (Command + ]) until the bottom part of the stem is hidden from the top leaves. All done!
Below is the final image again.
Authors
