Tropical Transparency Effect
Draw Your Petal
First Turn on your grid View > Show Grid or (Command/Ctrl + Quotes). Then turn on snap to grid View > Snap to Grid or by holding down all three (Shift + Command/Ctrl + Quotes). Set your Fill to None (Forward Slash) and your Stroke to 1px with a Color of Black. Now grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw one half of your petal. Then select that half and go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Make sure its set to a Vertical Axis, a 90 Degree Angle, and hit Copy.
With the arrow key nudge the copy over until the top and bottom points align. You can turn off your grid now View > Hide Grid or (Command/Ctrl + Quotes). Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) and draw a box around the two top points. Then go to Object > Path > Join or (Command/Ctrl + J). For the Points choose Corner. Then repeat the process for the bottom two points. Now your first Petal is Complete.
Turn Your Petal into a Flower
Now with your petal selected with the Select Tool (V) grab the Rotate Tool (R). Hold down (Option) and click on the bottom tip of the petal. This is how you can activate the rotate dialogue box and rotate an object from a point you indicate. Now input a 30 Degrees Angle and hit Copy.
(Command/Ctrl + D) is a really handy shortcut, it will repeat the step you just did. Hit (Command/Ctrl + D) 10 times in order to completely rotate copies of your petals until you have a complete flower shape.
Let's Add Some Color
Select your flower and turn your stroke off. Then set the Fill to a Gradient of your choice. I used a blue linear gradient.
Now to get a more interesting effect go to the Transparency Window and choose Multiply.
Transform Your Flower Into a Whole Bouquet
I didn't want my flowers to multiply each other in the Bouquet. So I copied a flower, dropped it behind (Command/Ctrl + B), turned off Multiply by setting it back to Normal in the Transparency Window, and set the Fill Color to White. Then I grouped this background with the top colored layer. This gives each flower a white background. So their transparencies wont effect each other.
Experiment with different Transparency Settings, Gradients, and Colors to get an effect you like.
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Tropical Transparency Effect
It's a very interesting and good Tutorial. I shall practice it soon.
Bijoy
January 11th, 2008
i need held
I dind't get the last step... on my canvas the transparencys effect each other.
could you help me please? with a screenshot or an explanation in german...
jo
February 4th, 2008
Re: I need held
On the last step, copy your entire flower then paste it in back (edit --->paste in back or control +B) It won't look like anything has happened but you will have selected another copy of this flower that is directly behind your original. Now what you want to do is go to the transparency box and select Normal as the blending mode. Depending on what blending mode the object in front has, you may have to change the color of this object. I used "lighten" for my blending mode, so leaving the back object the same color worked best for me. (As long as the object in back is set to Normal, then you group the objects so they stay together, you should have no trouble with transparency)
long explanation, I know, but I hope it helped.
Jordan
February 12th, 2008
I am unable to get the
I am unable to get the rotate dialogue box coming up with the new pivot point. I am using CS3. I am asuming the option key is the alt key, but this does not work for me. The only way to get the dialogue box to open is to double click the tool, but then I cannot change the pivot point, help!!!
crafty
March 31st, 2008
tropical transparancy
Very nice informative detailed post. Congrats. Can we apply this method to photoshop?
estetik
April 5th, 2008
ahhh i spend a lot of time
ahhh i spend a lot of time trying to make this work.
you should select it, then click on rotate tool (pick it up) and then click on bottom point holding alt. that it with rotate tool selected. it brings options automatically (no double click on rotate tool needed)
jesse22
April 7th, 2008
Brilliant!
And super easy ;)
TaiKai
April 8th, 2008
thanks
thanks
what
April 15th, 2008
Looks great!
and interesting choice of colours.
Sergio
April 27th, 2008
need help
I am new to illustrator.
I couldn't get pasts the beginning.
I hit the COPY on Reflect and it seemed like nothing happened.
That made the next step impossible.
There were no top and bottom points.
Maybe someone can help. - Loren
Loren
May 26th, 2008
THX
Thx SooOOOo Intresting
Yasir Baloch
June 10th, 2008
Thanks for the tutorial,
Thanks for the tutorial, really dig the retro look of those shapes. Nice work !
best plasma tv stands
June 28th, 2008
the multiply function
the multiply function doesn't work the same way as presented here....help?
Yea
August 8th, 2008
Nice tutorial
wow... I gave it a try I just don't have those skills. Great tutorial though!
Quake Live Clan
August 21st, 2008
Awesome technique. Thank
Awesome technique. Thank you!
makeover games
August 25th, 2008
i like it
yup such a nice tut..thanks....
Anonymous
September 9th, 2008
woh,great!!
thx yr tutorial..i got learn something new..
have a nice day :)
iren
September 24th, 2008
desing titorials
very nice desing and thank you for aiburan.com
DIPAK WAKDE
October 2nd, 2008
Isolate blending?
Wouldn't it be more straightforward to use the 'isolate blending' command to prevent interaction between the flowers, rather than adding all those white copies in the background?
Select the first flower group, then check the Isolate Blending check box in the transparency panel. (If the Isolate Blending option isn’t visible, select Show Options from the Transparency panel menu.)
That should restrict the effects of blending to the objects within that group. Voila.
A gradient mesh might also produce more interesting effects on the petals than the simple linear gradient -- but it's a little more advanced.
Anonymous
November 17th, 2008
Graphic Design
within 1 minutes I made whole, very nice I want to more ideas in future. thanks a lot
MOHAMMED HUSSAIN
December 9th, 2008
Keep going
Your creations are wonderfull. My internet connection is slow can you help me?
Irosh
January 4th, 2009
Simplest Idea To Add Tropical Effect
A pretty simple idea for adding Tropical Transperancy Effect in to your image is to add a backgroung color in to your body tag, though you are using a background image. Generally you use a color for background which is very similar to your background image but this time try a little different to get another experiance.
Web Design
January 20th, 2009
Transparency effect
I couldn't make the transparency effect work. I'm not sure what I'm missing?
Tim Penny
February 2nd, 2009
Wonderful
The idea is very impressive. The picture is cool, but it's so simple to do it.
External Hard Drives
February 6th, 2009
Very Cool
Simple and effective! I'll try to do that right now!
Tom X.
February 7th, 2009
Impressive!
Simple design for beginners. Thnks for helping!
Pluto
February 7th, 2009
Great One!
Good design! You've given a lot of cool advices here on the blog. Thanks a lot!
Terra
February 8th, 2009
A while ago Sean posted a
A while ago Sean posted a very interesting article called 6 Techniques to Compose Your Work Using Repeating Shapes and Flexible Patterns. I carefully examined the articled and got inspired by a great artist named Guilherme Marconi. In this tutorial, you’ll learn one way to create a design using repeating elements in a style inspired by him.
cheers
organic baby bedding
February 11th, 2009
Wonderful
Thanks a lot for a wonderful Tutorial
Here is my Garden but in Corel Draw X3 :)
http://www.eitbuzz.com/sadia/Corel%20Work/Flowers.jpg
Sadia
February 21st, 2009
That looks too cool
I'm always looking for cool graphics to play around with. Can I do this same technique with other shapes too?
David Peters
March 4th, 2009
Thanks for the tips on this!
Thanks for the tips on this! The effect looks great!
Voos Baratos
March 5th, 2009
Thanks for making this
Thanks for making this tutorial! You make it look very simple!
Voos Low Cost
March 5th, 2009
This is a very cool effect
This is a very cool effect and this tutorial will teach me how to do it, thanks.
Mike Goji
March 7th, 2009
COOL
Thanks, very useful!!
Anonymous
March 16th, 2009
We can customize your
We can customize your tropical flower bouquet order with size, color and type of flowers desired. Whatever you have in mind, we can create it for you!
Angeles City
March 18th, 2009
Hi! I can't do the gradient.
Hi! I can't do the gradient. It always appears in black, and i can't choose the color, because when i try it, appears in normal colour without gradient. What can I do?
thnx
Tanit
April 6th, 2009
assos
thanks for contribution. very nice and useful article..
assos
May 18th, 2009
Diolch
just a quick note to say thanks for the time it took you to create the article. that duplication trick will save me a lot of time in future i feel and the lotus flowers look really cool.
best wishes!
Jamie
June 8th, 2009
Goosebumps!
Thanks for a very wonderful tut...After I created this flower, I felt really nice...got goose bumps...
Thanks again
Vijay
June 18th, 2009
Beautiful, I wish I was that
Beautiful, I wish I was that creative with graphics programs!
Plasma TV Reviewer
July 1st, 2009
One petal?
I find it pretty amazing how you can make a whole bouquet out of just one petal drawing.
Mike
July 1st, 2009
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