Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Darren
When Darren (Winder) saw a guitar he liked in a store window, he decided to
reconstruct it in Illustrator with photorealistic detail. He began by constructing the
basic shape and using Image Trace to add wood texture to the guitar, then created
some wood-toned gradients. To mimic directional light and add an edge to the
guitar progressing from dark to light, he created two paths outlining the body, then
applied a gradient stroke to each path. To do this, Darren selected a path and
targeted its Stroke attribute in the Appearance panel, clicked the Stroke color icon,
and chose his gradient. With the path still selected, he opened the Gradient panel
and chose the first Stroke option (Apply gradient within stroke). This stretched the
gradient the length of the path.
For the guitar's sound hole, he again used gradients applied within the stroke, this
time using multiple strokes on a path. Using the Appearance panel, he clicked the
New Stroke icon, which created a stroke below the first in the same style as the one
selected (if no attribute is selected, strokes will be added above the others).
Clicking on the Stroke swatch, he chose the lighter wood gradient and enlarged the
stroke weight. He then continued to add alternating dark and light strokes, adjusting
weights to create concentric dark and light circles from one path.
