Follow this winter holiday inspired tutorial and learn how to create realistic Christmas baubles in Adobe Illustrator. At the beginning we will create the shape of the Christmas bauble starting from a circle then using the Create Gradient Mesh function we will define areas of light and shade on the ball. Next, you will be able to color the globe according to your own taste using colors or gradients and the Blending Modes. We will continue with the cap and the hook then with the design of the golden Christmas bauble that consists of a simple snowflake symbol mapped on the front surface. Finally, we will add a few reflections on the ball for a more realistic look using Opacity Masks. Let’s start! Tutorial Assets To complete the tutorial you will need the following assets: Snowflake 1. Start a New Project Launch Illustrator then go to File > New to open a new 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 0.1px . While there, you can also set the Units . I always use Points for Stroke and Type and Pixels for the rest. These settings will help you throughout the drawing process. 2. Create a Golden Christmas bauble Step 1 First, grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a 130 x 130px circle. You can select any fill color for the moment. Step 2 With the circle selected, go to Object > Create Gradient Mesh . Select 4 Rows and 4 Columns then hit OK . Step 3 Now…
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Create a Set of Realistic Christmas Baubles in Adobe Illustrator
