Mastering mesh
3. Creating the fish’s eye and lips.
Create three circles: one small, one medium and one large. Convert the medium-size circle to a gradient mesh this time by clicking on the circle with the Gradient-mesh tool. Add additional rows or columns by clicking again with the tool; delete by Direct-selecting points, rows or columns and deleting. Torres ended up with unevenly spaced rows and columns (five of each), which he colored to achieve a wet, reflective-looking surface. When you are pleased with the glossy part of the eye, combine all the circles and adjust the outlines of some to be less perfect.
Creating the fish’s eye and mouth
To create the fish’s mouth, begin with a rectangle on a layer above the fish. Convert the rectangle to a gradient mesh using Object > Create Gradient Mesh, and enter different low values for rows and columns, maintaining Flat for Appearance. Select areas of the object and use the Eyedropper to load colors from the fish to create smooth color transitions between the mouth and the body. Move this object into position and reshape it to form a mouth.
4. Creating shadows for the fish.
Duplicate the layer containing the fish’s body by dragging that layer to the New Layer icon in the Layers palette. On a layer above this one, use the Pen tool to draw a contour defining each shadow as a closed object. Select all the shadow objects and choose Object > Compound Path > Make to unite them into one compound object.
Top, drawing objects for shadow areas; bottom, making them into a compound path
Use these shadow objects as a mask for the copy of the fish body. Select both the compound path and the copy of the fish body (in the Layers palette, Option-Shift-click/Alt-Shift-click the shadow and fish copy layers to select all objects on those layers) and choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.
Masking a copy of the fish with the compound path
To simulate shadow colors, select the masked copy of the fish and use the Adjust Colors filter to darken the area and reduce the contrast. Torres created a shadow that contrasted the cyan color cast of the fish by decreasing cyan and increasing yellow and magenta—each in increments of 2 to 5%. After applying the filter, with selection edges hidden C-H (Mac)/Ctrl-H (Win), he reapplied the filter using C-E (Mac)/Ctrl-E (Win), until he was satisfied.
The final fish shown with completed shadows
5. Creating the border “bone” shape.
Create an oval; while it’s selected, choose Object > Create Gradient Mesh, assigning 1 for rows and columns and “Flat”. Using the Delete Anchor Point tool, delete the four original points of the oval, leaving only the mesh points. Reposition the remaining points to create an arcing effect, and assign colors to each point. Next, use the Reflect tool to flip a copy of this object horizontally. With the copy selected, choose Filter > Colors > Invert Colors. Lastly, use the Shear tool to adjust the copied image to touch the original border object.
After reshaping is complete, a copy is created, reflected and sheared, and colors are inverted
Excerpted from “The Illustrator CS WOW! Book,” Copyright ©2004 by Sharon Steuer, published by Peachpit Press. Used with the permission of Pearson Education and Peachpit Press. To buy this book, visit www.peachpit.com.
