Quick Tip: Create a Simple Seashell in Adobe Illustrator

What You'll Be Creating

In this new quick tip you will learn how to create a simple seashell in Adobe Illustrator.
You will begin with the shape of the seashell which is made using basic shapes, the Rotate option and the Pathfinder panel. To add more depth, you will add two types of shading and also highlights on the surface of the seashell.
At the end, you will color the seashells using different gradients and add the shadows. Let’s begin!

1. Start a New Project

Launch Illustrator and go to File > New in order to open a blank document.
Type a name and set up the dimensions then select Pixels as Units and RGB as Color Mode. Next, go to Edit > Preferences > General and set the Keyboard Increment to 1px then go to Units & Display Performance and make sure that the Units are as indicated. I usually work with these settings and they will help you throughout the drawing process.

2. Create the Shape of the Seashell

Step 1

Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a 2 x 97px rectangle then give it a stroke using the color of your choice. Now, zoom on the top part of the rectangle then grab the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) and use it to add an extra point in the middle as shown in the close-up. Do the same thing at the bottom of the rectangle.

Step 2

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the point added earlier and move it upwards 4px by pressing the Up Arrow Key on your keyboard four times. Still having this point selected, press the Convert selected anchor points to smooth icon in the Control panel. Don’t forget about the bottom of the rectangle and repeat the same things.

Step 3

Having your rounded rectangle selected, go to Effect > Warp > Shell Upper. Apply a 2% Horizontal Bend and hit OK. 

Step 4

In order to expand the effect that you have applied, go to Object menu and select Expand Appearance then Ungroup (Shift-Control-G). I will name the shape obtained “first-rib”. While this shape stays selected, go to Object > Transform > Rotate and select a 5 degrees Angle then hit Copy. You will get a second “rib” on top but you need to move it to the left a little, right next to the first.

Step 5

Now, select the second “rib” (1) then go to Object > Transform > Rotate, apply again a 5 degrees Angle and hit Copy. You will get the third “rib” (2) that you have to move in the right place, to the left and a little down (3). These ribs must be right next to each other even to overlap a bit but definitely without gaps between them.

Step 6

You get the point. Now, select the third “rib” and rotate it 5 degrees to get the next one (1). Move it to its place then continue to do the same thing (2). Once you get at the bottom, you can overlap the last few shapes in order to get smaller “ribs” (3). At this point I’ve switched to a green fill so you can see better the shape of the seashell coming together. Don’t worry about the bottom of the seashell because you will fix that later.

Step 7

Now, select all the shapes from the left side and reflect them to the other side by going to Object > Transform > Reflect. Check Vertical and hit Copy. Make extra adjustments if needed.

Step 8

Next, select everything and press Add in the Pathfinder panel in order to get a single shape.

Step 9

Grab the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\) and draw a straight path as shown in the following image. Select the green shape and the line and press Divide in the Pathfinder panel then Ungroup (Shift-Control-G). Delete the shape at the bottom because you don’t need it.

Step 10

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to drag a selection over the points at the bottom of the seashell and press the Convert selected anchor points to smooth icon in the Control panel. This will generate the handles and now you can move them downwards to create the rounded bottom. Now the shape of the seashell is ready.

3. Add Shading on the Seashell

Step 1

Grab the Star Tool and draw a small triangle then switch to the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) and remove the three points indicated on its sides. Next, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the bottom point and go to Object > Transform > Move. There, type -64px in the Vertical field and hit OK.

Step 2

Now, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a rhombus like shape at the top as in the next image (1). Select both shapes and press Add in the Pathfinder panel in order to create a single shape (2). Use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C) to transform the two inner points indicated in the close-up from corner to smooth (3). You need that area to be rounded but everything will make sense in the following steps. I will name this shape “light-shading-shape”.

Step 3

Move the shape that you have obtained at the previous step over the seashell and arrange it right between the “ribs”. The rounded area that I’ve talked about earlier should partially cover the top part of the “ribs” as in the close-up. I’ve set the Opacity of the light-shading-shape to 50% so you can see exactly where they overlap but you don’t have to, it’s just for visual purposes.
Next, make a copy of this shape then rotate slightly and arrange it between the next two “ribs”.

Step 4

Continue to make more copies of the light-shading-shape, rotate accordingly and arrange them between the “ribs”. After the left side of the seashell is done (1) you can do the same thing on the right side (2).

Step 5

At this point, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the end point of one of the shapes and you can make it a little shorter or a little longer. Repeat with the rest. The goal here is that the light-shading-shapes to have different lengths at the bottom. 

Step 6

The Opacity is set back to 100% now. Copy and Paste in Front (Control-F) the seashell then select all light-shading-shapes and Group (Control-G) them (1). Before you continue make a copy of this group because you will need it at the next step. Now, select the group of shapes along with the copy of the seashell and press Intersect in the Pathfinder panel (2). Set the resulting shape to Blending mode Overlay and 25% Opacity while having a black fill (3).

Step 7

The light shading is done but we need more depth. Grab the copy of the group that you’ve made at the previous step and move it in front of everything. Ungroup (Shift-Control-G) them first then select one of the shapes with the Selection Tool (1) and make it thinner by squeezing the bounding box (2). You can see the end result in the third close-up.

Step 8

Continue to squeeze the rest of the shapes. They must be in line with the original ones but thinner.

Step 9

Select black as the fill color for these thinner shapes then Group (Control-G) them. Copy and Paste in Front (Control-F) the seashell then select the group of shapes along with the copy of the seashell and press Intersect in the Pathfinder panel. Set the resulting shape to Blending mode Overlay and 50% Opacity. This is more of a deep shading compared with the first.

4. Add Highlights on the Seashell

Step 1

Grab the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\) and draw a path through the middle of one of the “ribs” (1). Continue to draw other paths, one for each “rib” of the seashell (3).

Step 2

Stroke all these paths with an Art Brush called “Tapered – Round” that you can find in Brush Libraries Menu > Artistic > Artistic_Ink. Still having these lines selected, go to the Appearance panel and double click on the brush stroke applied to open the Stroke Options window. Type 15% in the Width field and hit OK. Make sure that the tip of the brush is downwards otherwise check Flip Along also.

Step 3

You should decrease the width of the brush for the paths on the sides of the seashell. Keep the Width for the paths in the middle as it was set at the previous step, 15% (1). Select the next few paths then open the Stroke Options window and set the Width at 12% (2). Select the next paths and decrease the width a little more as you rich the sides of the seashell (3). For the remaining paths set the Width at 5-7%.

Step 4

While the stroked paths are selected, select Expand Appearance from the Object menu then Ungroup (Shift-Control-G) twice (1). Fill all resulting shapes with a white to black radial gradient (2) then set the Blending mode to Screen (black becomes transparent) and 50% Opacity. You can Group (Control-G) them at this point (3).

5. Color the Seashells and Add Shadows

Step 1

Select the shape of the seashell and replace the existing fill color with the radial gradient shown. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to change the radius.

Step 2

While the seashell stays selected, go to the Appearance panel and select the existing gradient fill then press the Duplicate selected items icon. Select the new fill from the bottom then go to Effect > Stylize and apply the Drop Shadow effect. You can see the settings that I’ve used below.
Select this new fill (1) in the Appearance panel and press the Duplicate selected items icon again. You will get another fill at the bottom (2) and now, double click on the Drop Shadow effect to open the window and change the settings. Duplicate the fill one more time then open the Drop Shadow window again and change the settings (3).

These are the Drop Shadow settings that I’ve used for the three fill attributes.

Step 3

The green seashell is ready and now you can create more seashells of different colors. Make a copy of the first seashell then replace the existing green gradient with one using shades of orange. Because you are using brighter colors, you can increase the Opacity for the group of highlights from 50% to 70% (step 4.4). 

Step 4

Here is another version. Make one more copy of the first seashell then replace the existing gradient with the one shown below. The highlights are barely visible at this point since you are using lighter colors therefore increase the Opacity of the group from 50% to 90%.

Advertisement

Step 5

You are finished are here are the three seashells that we have created.

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope you have found this quick tip useful. You can use these seashells in your illustrations this summer and if you decide to make them, please share your version with us. I would love to see other colors.

Check Out Adobe CC's New Features for Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator

Announced June 18th, Adobe launched new features across the board for Adobe Creative Cloud. Let's take a closer look at the changes to the Adobe products for designers and illustrators: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

Adobe Photoshop CC 2014

Video Overview for Designers

Linked Smart Objects

Link Smart Objects within a document, allowing the file size to remain smaller. Users can also share the folder across the cloud when sending documents to clients so Photoshop files remain smaller and easier to send. Additionally, users can convert embedded Smart Objects to linked Smart Objects.

Typekit Integration 

Better integration with Typekit including live font previews when you have a text layer selected in the Layers panel. Typekit will also check on what fonts you have, if opening a file from a client or stock, and match them accordingly, saving the hassle of having to hunt down the font within the document.

Updated Smart Guides 

Better smart guides allowing users to align objects quickly in relation to one another including real-time measurements displayed while moving objects around.

Live Shape Update

In the properties panel, users have control over the rounding of a live shape's corners by inputting the corner's radius via four fields. More and more, the live shapes of Photoshop are starting to resemble Adobe Illustrator's shape tools.

Generate Image Assets 

Designers can hit the Generate Image Assets command and a new folder will be created housing the assets within the active image, ready for distribution (especially useful for printing, web design, and other applications).

Layer Comps

Easily edited and navigable from the Layer Comps panel. Update positions of layers for all of the comps within the panel or change attributes of layers, visible layers, and position for a select amount of Layer Comps. Users can also place Layer Comps within controllable smart objects.

Path Blur Effect

 

Motion Blur Effects

Motion effects are easily added along a path with the new Path Blur effect. The filter being added is non-destructive and can be edited after applied. The path set by the filter determines the blur's direction.

Users can adjust the direction, speed of the blur effect, and how the blur tapers at the end of the path. These are global settings that can be edited at any time and will be applied to other Path Blur effects. Dragging the midpoint, or added points, of the path curves the blur along that path.

Users can change the shape of the blur itself by dragging the center point of an endpoint adding additional curved and bubbling to the motion blur.

Additional effects can be applied to the Path Blur, including adjusting the Strobe Strength and Strobe Flashes in order to mimic a rear curtain sync within the image, or other photographic effects.

Spin Blur Effect

Spin Blur

This non-destructive smart effect applies an ellipse over an image that contains the Spin Blur. Users can edit the ellipse's size, shape, and rotation, as well as the amount of blur applied to the area.

Feather Handles allow the user to change the range of distance from the blur to the edges of the ellipse which either gives a seamless or stark application of the effect. 

Like the Path Blur effect, strobe effects and flashes can be adjusted in Motion Blur Effects, in order to make the blur seem like a photographic effect rather than a Photoshop filter.

In order to copy the blur effect over, hold down Alt-Control and drag the effect to another area.

Focus Mask

The Focus Mask makes selections based on the depth of field of an image. In the command's options, users can manually define the amount of the photo that is in focus or use automatic settings in order to get an accurate selection.

Users can employ the Add Tool or Subtract From Brush in order to denote areas as either in or out of focus, allowing the mask to include or exclude those portions from the final selection.

Adjust the edge selections by turning the Soft Edge option on or off, depending on the style of edge you want to see from your masked selection.

Enhanced Type Tools

Type Menu Changes

With the type layer selected, users can preview their fonts from the type menu, live within their document without having to select the type and confirm a font change. This speeds up the process of searching for the right font for the file in play.

Furthermore, users can search through their font gallery based on type attributes or names such as "bold italic" or "narrow", allowing the search process to speed up when hunting for something more specific.

Typekit Integration

Allows users to access their Typekit account and search for new fonts to download and use immediately within Photoshop.

Content-Aware Improvements

Content-Aware Fill, Move, and Patch have all been updated so areas in an image that contain gradients, such as a sky, will easily blend for seamless, realistic results.

Expanded 3D Printing

3D models made in Photoshop can print directly from the program to a 3D printer. Easily repair 3D meshes within a 2D model and preview 3D models within the program, for easy editing of accurate renderings.

Improved Stylus Support for Windows 8.1

Previously, Photoshop CC was a bit choppy on Windows 8.1 devices (including graphics tablets). Now users can enjoy smoother lines from brush strokes due to higher-frequency sampling within real time.

Adobe Illustrator CC 2014

Live Shapes

With last January's release of Live Corners, the option to quickly manipulate rectangles and other shapes dynamically is soon to follow. In the Transform panel, users will be able to input the dimensions of closed shapes, change corner radii, change corner style, and more with precision. It's a fantastic update from Live Corners, which only allowed a limited amount of editing dynamic shapes.

Pen Tool Update

January's update saw changes to the Pencil Tool. This update it's the Pen Tool's time to shine. Users will be able to preview paths between points before placing the new anchor point. Drag out handles, curve the path, lengthen the path line all without committing to an anchor point, speeding up workflow and making the Pen Tool all the more easy to use.

Additionally, when snapping has been enabled, anchor points align to the user's choice of pixel, grid, or point. Handles remain unrestricted, giving the user freedom when drawing with snapping enabled so paths can be edited easily, aligned easily, and the user's workflow isn't stunted as easily as it was before.

Anchor Point Update

A frustrating component of anchor points tends to be equal handles: pair anchor point handles and they remain equal in length. With the latest update, users can hold either the Control or Command key in order to keep them paired, but manipulate the length of each handle without affecting the rest of the path.

Another update includes the ability to quickly changing anchor points from corners to smooth curves. While this has been possible with the Convert Anchor Point Tool, it changed the path, causing users to rework it when switching the anchor point back to a curve. Now, users can use the Anchor Point Tool while holding down Alt or the Option key and switch back and forth between curve and corner without bothering the paths you've already drawn.

Pencil Tool Update

Additional levels of Fidelity were added to the Pencil Tool's options with Creative Cloud 2014, allowing for greater control, smoother lines, and the option of toggling toggling the Smooth Tool.

Typekit Integration Update

Similar to the features that now exist within Photoshop, there's been an update to the Typekit integration in Illustrator: missing fonts will automatically be searched for in Typekit, speeding up your workflow when using documents on a different computer or sharing files with co-workers or clients.

CSS and SVG Export

Now Illustrator will easily generate CSS code for users, faster than before, allowing users to copy and paste the code into their web editor. Additionally, users can export SVG files that are scalable, dynamic, and adapt to different screen sizes and various resolutions when implemented into web pages.

GPU Performance

An experimental feature for users with Windows 7 or 8 and a compatible NVIDIA graphics card, offers a new preview mode that allows the user to render Illustrator artwork on the graphics processor, for rapid execution and faster performance when working within the application.

Hello Screen

The Hello Screen is found under Home > Welcome and displays information relevant to your Adobe Illustrator application use and subscription. It displays Illustrator-related tutorials, videos, help content, and more. Perfect for new users or experienced users getting acquainted with new features.

Adobe InDesign CC 2014

Tables Update

When designers work with tables, they can move entire columns to the left or right within that table by clicking, dragging, and dropping. Previously, copying and pasting was the method of transferring information around tables, which could take ages to complete, depending on how much information needed to be transferred, and stunted the designer's workflow.

Typekit Update

Like the updates seen in Photoshop and Illustrator, InDesign will have the same automated search for missing fonts within a document that has been shared or may be from a different computer. This speeds up the designer's workflow and further puts Typekit to use by downloading necessary fonts quickly.

EPUB Fixed Layout Option

Specifically created for publishing eBooks for iPads, the EPUB Fixed Layout option allows designers to tailor book designs to iPads without it being a flowable design for multiple devices. This is key for image-heavy, meticulously designed magazines and books that are meant for iPads or need each device to have a different setup in relation to its design. Designing that flow from one device to another can be great, but sometimes a designer wants to create something with a specific presentation in mind. 

Color Groups

Much like those found in Illustrator, InDesign now includes folders within the Swatches panel, allowing users to group colors and easily organize colors. Additionally, users can import or export groups from other applications.

Seamless Update

New to this version of InDesign? No worries. Finally, users can import their setting from previous versions, making the process of updating simple and less jarring (especially when dealing with getting a handle on new features).

Enhanced Search

Previously users searching for text, glyphs, or GREP were only able to move forward through the feature. With "find previous" and "find next" added, users can move forward or backward, speeding up the time spent hunting for the right components for documents and files.

Behance Integration

Users can save directly from InDesign into their Behance profiles, allowing users to share completed projects or works in progress, similar to the integration seen with Photoshop and Illustrator.

Effect Scaling

Any effects added to an object or text, such as drop shadows, will automatically scale along with the text or object that's changing scale. 

Additional Updates

The QR Code Creator has been updated to automatically create QR codes, rather than being created manually. Footnotes have been enhanced and will support the containing text frame by allowing footnotes to wrap within the frame and in relation to external page items. HiDPI support has been optimized for Windows users. Files can be printed directly to PDF Print Engine via the PDF Passthrough Printer without forcing users to save files as a PDF first. And finally, when creating a package from InDesign, users can include PDF IDML files so the document can be opened on different versions of the program.

Missed the Keynote Event?

Not to worry if you missed the launch event and announcements. You can catch up with everything Adobe is adding to Creative Cloud 2014 and what's to come on their website or by watching the keynote event here. If you're a Creative Cloud subscriber, don't forget to download the new versions of the updated programs so you can explore all of the new features today and let us know what you think about the updates.

Create a Retro World Cup Poster in Adobe InDesign

 

Difficulty:BeginnerCompletion Time:MediumThe

 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off (no pun intended!) this summer. No doubt all eyes will be on Brazil as international teams compete for the ultimate soccer trophy. 

Do you have a World Cup party or event coming up? A poster is a traditional but impactful way to advertise your event. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a retro-inspired poster using InDesign. Many thanks to Sergey Kandakov for the fantastic vector illustration used in the poster here. You can learn how to create your very own soccer player artwork in Sergey’s retro football player tutorial.

1. Set Up the Layout of the Poster in InDesign

Step 1

Open InDesign and select File > New Document. In the New Document window set the Intent to Print and set the No. of Pages to 1. Deselect Facing Pages. Under Page Size select ‘A3’. Maintain the default Portrait Orientation.

Have You Tried These Handy Inkscape Extensions?

 Difficulty:BeginnerCompletion Time:Short

Did you know you can easily create things like barcodes and calendars with a single click? Let's take a look at these Inkscape's Extentions and more!

We've all seen that Extensions drop-down menu in Inkscape, but it can be a little intimidating. Fortunately though, it contains really efficient ways to do complex operations as well as fairly simple ones too. Let's go over the most useful extensions as of Inkscape v0.48.4

Extensions are just one element of my new course, Advanced Techniques in Inkscape, that I will walk you through. Check the introduction below to find out more before we jump in with this tutorial.

1. Restack

Step 1

The very first extension in fact is Restack and it's quite useful if you happen to have a bunch of overlaying objects.

Step 2

What Restack does is change the z-index of each object to your desired specifications. Go ahead and select your objects then head up to Extensions > Arrange > Restack to open up the dialog box. As you can see below, my diamonds are already stacked from Left to Right, so nothing changes here.

Step 3

The Restack Direction has a good amount of options, all of which are self-explanatory. I've selected Bottom to Top and as long as you have Live preview checked, you'll notice the changes right away. This option starts stacking from bottom to top according to each shapes Top-Left bounding box corner.

Step 4

The other option that differs is Arbitrary Angle, where you get to define an Angle in which to stack. 215 degrees stacked my shapes from the top-right corner to the bottom-left corner.

A slight issue I came across personally was that Live preview wouldn't work unless I unchecked and rechecked it after every time I changed something.

2. Color Extensions

Step 1

There are a bunch of options in Extensions > Color, but they're all very straight forward. I'll compare my original drawing with a color adjusted one. Below, I've selected Grayscale.

Step 2

And here, I selected individual parts of my drawing to make Brighter and Darker for some quick shading.

Step 3

Of course, we can see the Negative of our drawings as well.

Step 4

Or just go crazy with Randomize!

Step 5

One of my favorites is Replace color, which is easily used by entering old and new hex color codes.

3. Extrude

Step 1

This is a great way to take any two shapes and turn them into a extruded 3D object. Go ahead and select two shapes in which to extrude and head up to Extensions > Generate from Path > Extrude to bring up the dialog box.

Step 2

I'm going to check Polygons and Live preview to give me what you see below. This new extruded part of your object is actually a separate group of polygons (which can be edited to your liking).

Step 3

The less glamorous option is Lines, which simply draws the extrusion lines.

4. Interpolate

Step 1

A fancy word to fill in the space between two paths with the gradual placement of specified paths. Go ahead and select a couple of objects/paths and click Extensions > Generate from Path > Interpolate.

Step 2

Let's check Live preview and watch the magic happen! Interpolation steps is the number of paths to place between the two selected objects. I also unchecked Duplicate endpaths because redrawing my original shapes seems unnecessary.

Step 3

I went ahead and packed 8 Interpolation steps in there along with an added Exponent of 1.0 which exponentially increases/decreases the position of the steps.

Step 4

And if our two original objects happened to have different styles, we could go ahead and check Interpolate style.

5. Embed/Extract Images

Step 1

If you've ever imported a bitmap into Inkscape, it's likely you've seen this dialog box before. It simply asks you if you'd like to embed the image or link it. I say, let's link it to keep or file size down... but what if that was the wrong decision?

Step 2

It might seem like I have my beautiful guitar picture locked in, but before you know it...

Bam! I accidentally renamed or deleted my image or something and you end up with the saddest image of all.

Step 3

Thankfully, next time I link an image and decide I want to embed it, I can just head up to Extensions > Images > Embed Images. You can either embed all of your images, or individually select the ones you want.

Step 4

Alternatively, you can go ahead and click Extract Image instead. This is nice if you happen to pass your Inkscape document on to somebody else and they want your source image.

6. Envelope and Perspective

Step 1

Now, you'll need a secondary path to use as a guide for these operations. Make sure it only contains four corners and only straight lines. Go ahead, and select both objects and head up to Extensions > Modify Path to find both Envelope and Perspective.

Step 2

These are both essentially the same operation, except that perspective applies the extra effect. Below, I have my Envelope transformation and my Perspective transformation, respectively. You can see the difference - envelope just sort of crams your object into a path while perspective keeps the shape proportionate to the perspective.

7. Other Useful Modify Path

Step 1

If you've ever used markers on paths, then you know they're always black no matter what. Fortunately, Extensions > Modify Path > Color Markers to Match Stroke is a terrific way to do this!

Step 2

And if you've ever applied dashes as a stroke style, there may have come a time where you'd like to separate them as individual paths. Well, here comes Extensions > Modify Path > Convert to Dashes. The name is a little misleading as it's not converting to dashes - it already is dashes. I think Dashes to Paths would be a more suitable name perhaps.

8. Render

Step 1

If you ever need a barcode for your package design, simply head up to Extensions > Render > Barcode. There's a bunch of coding options and the rest is simple.

Step 2

Perhaps you've needed to create a completely customized calendar in, say, 5 seconds? Amazingly, you can do just that by clicking Extensions > Render > Calendar. There's a bunch of options for styling as well. How cool is this?

Advertisement

Step 3

Also, if you've ever wanted to include a grid in your drawing, Extensions > Render > Grid is the way to do it. It's also a great way to draw tables!

That's It!

We just went over a bunch of Inkscape extensions - can you believe there's even more? Hopefully, this narrowed down list of the most useful extensions will help you get around Inkscape more efficiently. Some of these extensions are just plain cool though! Thanks for reading.