Creating Dimension Using Shapes
(available in video format here)
There are several ways to create a three dimensional look in your illustrations. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use simple shapes to make your vector art come alive.
There is nothing complicated about this technique. The key is to have either a drawing or photograph to work from that easily shows the light parts and the shadows of the subject matter so that you can identify where your shapes will be placed. Below is a very simple drawing of an apple. It’s simple, but done in such a way as to make it easy to locate the shapes needed to create dimension.
Here are the initial shapes chosen to define the apple. As you can see, there are not many. You can use as many shapes as you like in your illustrations, sometimes less is more. To help create the shapes you can use techniques described in either of these tutorials. For Illustrator users Creating a Simple Vector Logo Using the Illustrator Pathfinder Tools. For CorelDRAW users Creating a Simple Vector Logo Using CorelDRAW Shaping Tools.
The fun part is adding the color. This is when you get the chance to really start making the illustration your own. I started to make this a red apple, but then decided to change to a green apple because it seemed to work better. Use different colors and/or different tints of the same color. You’ll soon see your vector art taking shape.
To take your shapes to the next level add gradients to your shapes. This way you can blend your vector shapes together and take away some of the sharp divisions that are created between the objects.
The same technique can be used with more complicated images. Here I’ve started with a drawing of a woman.
From the drawing I created shapes to define different areas of color, shadow and light just like with the apple.
I use gradients to refine the image.
Here I’ve made some final adjustments to the shapes. Some objects were eliminated, some were altered slightly and some were joined together.
Using the gradients isn’t always necessary. The thing that makes this vector image or any other illustration unique is how you decide to finish it off. Given the same outline version of this art we would all come up with something that looks very different from the others. There is no wrong way as long as the result is well executed and pleasing to the eye. Eventually you will develope your own style and your own techniques. Here are some other example of this technique used in actual Microstock images.
Next I suggest the tutorial called Coloring Vector Art in Illustrator.
