(43 votes, average: 2.93 out of 5)
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There are times when you will need to do gift box and effects for special occasions. This tutorial will give you an idea how this can be done using brushes and some other techniques. I will not be going into details how each step is done but I will illustrate on some of the techniques used to create this illustration.
1. Breakdown of Layers
The illustration consists of 6 different layers. We will look at how each layer is done.
2. Background Layer
The is the background mesh of the illustration. First we create a blue square and we start adding points using the Gradient Mesh Tool and tweak it to the the shape below. You can see that I have set the bottom points to a darker blue and the middle point to white. If you have difficulty creating this gradient mesh, take a look at my Gradient Mesh tutorial.
3. Gift Box
I will not be going into detail how this box is done. It is pretty simple. All you need is the Pen Tool. A tip for beginner is to turn on the Grid (View>Show Grid) and Enable Snapping(View>Enable Snap to Grid). With the grid on, you can precisely snap each points to the grid so that each intersecting shape will line up perfectly.
4. Line Patterns
For the line patterns on the gift box, you will find that there are actually some perspective. We can easily achieve the effect by using the Blend Tool. Below are the steps on creating it…
First we create a long rectangle and place it at the start point(left side). Next, we duplicate the rectangle and rotate it slightly and we place it at the end point(right side).
Select the Blend Tool. Click on the left rectangle stripe and hold Alt/Option and click on the right rectangle stripe. If you do it correctly, it would pop up the Blend Options. Select Specified Steps for Spacing and enter a value of 7.
This is what it will look like after we applied the blend correctly. Next, we need to expand the blend. Go Object>Expand to expand it into individual shapes.
Finally, we need to trim off the exceeding shape. Copy the rectangle face on the gift box underneath the stripes. Press Ctrl/Command+F to paste it in front. Select both the pasted shape and stripes. Open up Pathfinder and hold Alt/Option and select Intersect Shape to trim away the protruding areas. After that, we apply a gradient to the shape to achieve the effect I have done for my stripes.
5. Swirl Explosion
The gift explosion effect can be easily achieved by using the Brush Tool.
Let’s start drawing our swirly lines using your Pencil Tool or Pen Tool. Make sure you draw from one single direction, so that when you apply the art brush it will point in the same direction.
Next we will create the brush by drawing a long triangle stripe shape. Open up your Brushes Palette and click New. Select New Art Brush when the option pops up.
Finally, we select all the swirly lines and apply the new art brush we have made. (If the lines are going in the opposite direction, you can double click your Brush in the Brushes palette and check Flip Along to swap the direction.) You notice that I have varying widths for my swirly, you can do this by selecting each individual swirly and setting the line stroke to a smaller/bigger value.
After you are satisfied with what you have done. Go Object>Expand Appearance to expand the swirly. Open up your Gradient Palette and apply different gradients to your swirly to finish up the swirls. To hide the unwanted parts we can mask it out.
6. Fairy dust
If you have no idea how to achieve this fairy dust effect in less than 3 mins. Then you better check out my Starry Night tutorial.
Hope after reading this tutorial you will have a better idea on how this illustration is done.
Buy source file from iStockphoto
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March 7th, 2008 at 12:47 am
But that’s okay, go ahead and delete my comment. I’m still sick of half-a$$ed Tuts…
April 8th, 2008 at 1:27 am
It is splendid
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
you S-U-C-K!
when u can’t go into the detail, then why the f-u-c-k you’ve brought your stinky a$$ into the tutorial writing
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hi Owais,
I’m sorry if you didn’t find this tutorial useful. When I’m writing this tutorial, I just want to illustrate some of the techniques on how the effect is done. I didn’t want to go into details as how to draw the gift. Now, I understand what the readers needs, hence I have improved on my recent new tutorials. Thanks for your comments, I will improve on my new tutorials.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Nice tips and tricks.. Owais Khan and Paul don’t appreciate this Bcoz they don’t have initiative. they must respect the writer…
by the way… it’s a nice tutorial…
April 30th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Thanks for the tutorial. It’s a great concept. It is actually meant for intermediate who understand the basics of illustrator not for beginners.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The tutorial is nice, man i got to get my illustrator up and running anyway, i understand Paul and Owais khan. They just really wanna learn the basics as well, you should maybe create categories like Basic intermediate experts and just fill the Basic with Basic setups of tutorials such as how to make this line how to make this effect. That way they can take all the effects and create some splendid masterpiece.
The Tutorial was awesome and i learned a lot
With warmest, steini
May 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Can you pls. send me the AI file for this E-mail “jmshr89@hotmail.com.
I waiting for your replay.
Thanking you
May 11th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Hi Jam, as this file is a stock vector sold at istockphoto, I cannot send it to you. If your are interested to use it for your project, you can buy it at stockphoto. The link is at the end post.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
have a nice day !
thank you for your replay
by
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:13 am
this is so stupid. the only hard thing about this is make the box and you wont even show us how to do it. you should just take it off the web site.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
This tutorial is excellent and you sami are so lame if you do not know how to draw a box. Better give up on using illustrator.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:44 am
i thnk its quiet a decent tutorial but the thing is..even if makin da box is easy..da process should hav been explained coz many people lukin for tutorials are freshers. neways..nice job.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Very nice and easy to understand tutorial. Thanks!
@Roli: Even though I can understand your post, you should take the time to spell correctly. Thx
June 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Thanks, I will be careful next time.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Great tutorial!
not only have you given steps for various effects, but given an insight to the thought process involved in developing such a piece.
Keep up the good work…….and remember: More people appreciate the effort that you are taking to create this tutorial than the few who have nothing better to do than criticize.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:36 am
just atach a file with the shapes, or the final thing.
You can upload it on many file shareing servers.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Hi Joro, if you like the illustration you can buy the source file from istockphoto. The link is located at the end of the post.
August 9th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Thanks for puting those tutorials up and please dont consider those lame comments as serious as the writers probably never tried to do a tutorial and dont know how hard it is.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Tutorials are not for beginners who bought AI and just want to start making arts right away. You should first learn the basics and experiment making art by yourself. When you feel you are missing something or that you want to make things easier then you depend on others’ experiences.
Thanks Tony for your tutorials.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
indrajit…. there is no need to use such bad language… Shows what sort of a person you are. If you don’t like the ‘kiddie suff’(gift boxes) you do not need to show it with such disrespect. If you can’t appreciate other people’s talent.. then i am sure you have none yourself
October 24th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
perfect! so manny tips in an article
November 4th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
This is a very useful tutorial. Nice job, and keep it up.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
this is more an inspiration post then a tutorial. you set the picture, but not how-to, that’s what a tutorial should do, right?