Tuto Illustrator : Draw an apple

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Introduction

 First of all I would like to apologize for my imperfect English, please be indulgent.

I decided to dedicate my blog mainly to the techniques of digital art in order to render a little that  the web  have given me in this area. But the Anglophone community of internet has also helped me a lot, so I thought that enlarging my audience to this community would be a just reward.

Here is a very appetizing apple (photo found on the web) that I intend to reproduce with Adobe Illustrator (CS5).
 

And here is the result after some effort (about 6 hours of work):

The main drawing of the apple

To begin I draw a circle with the Ellipse tool (L by pressing the Shift key while drawing) as follows (the arrow shows the center of the circle):

 

then ... I detail the contour by adding points with the pen tool (P) to match the photo (taking care to minimize the number of points):

 

Once satisfied with the result I duplicate it (and keep it for future use) to make it matching the contour of the front of the apple:

 

Then I select different colors on the picture using the eyedropper tool (I) to create a gradient of 6 colors (15 ° angle) like this:

·         Location 0%, RGB = 228, 43, 22
·         Location 32%, RGB = 199, 21, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 47%, RGB = 192, 11, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 64%, RGB = 159, 19, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 84.5%, RGB = 159, 19, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 100%, RGB = 102, 30, 22 (Distribution: 50-50%)

Read the post "Notation for color gradients" for more information.

It may be noted on the photo that the lighting gives more clarity on the lower part of the apple. That is why, to make this light effect, I'll use 3 paths with gradients of lighter colors and moderate with strong Gaussian Blur. The first path is a 4-color gradient (15 ° angle and Gaussian Blur of 20 pixels):

·         Location 0%, RGB = 244, 174, 156

·         Location 32%, RGB = 222, 105, 66 (Distribution: 50-50%)

·         Location 83%, RGB = 180, 78, 64 (Distribution: 50-50%)

·         Location 100%, RGB = 200, 152, 142 (Distribution: 50-50%)

 

The second path (under the first) is a same gradient colors (15 ° angle and Gaussian blur 5 pixels):

 

The third path (under the second) is a same gradient colors (15 ° angle and no Gaussian blur to affirm the color at the bottom):

 

Of course, a clipping mask, with the contour of the original path, will hide the Gaussian blurs beyond the contour.

The result is encouraging, but does not reflect the dark side of the upper right part of the apple. For this I use a gradient mesh as below, darkening the desired part and leaving the rest with light colors. Then I place the gradient mesh above the main path with Transparency "Darken".

 

Previous 5 paths form a group to which feather 3 pixels are used:

 

The light reflection from the lighting is reproduced with the three paths below, color RGB = 248, 215, 204:

 

Three other lines of the same color will allow enhancing the clarity of some parts of the fruit. All six paths will be Gaussian blur 5 pixels and under clipping mask for the same reasons as seen above.

 Light streaks on the dark part of the apple are made with gradients of color adapted according to the desired effect. This first example is path with a gradient of 3 colors (-34 ° angle, Transparency "Lighten" and Gaussian Blur of 2.5 pixels):
·         Location 17.6%, RGB = 228, 43, 22
·         Location 62%, RGB = 159, 19, 28 (Distribution: 60-40%)
·         Location 100%, RGB = 102, 30, 22 (Distribution: 76-24%)

 

Other paths are briefly described below:

 

The dark lines are drawn with a contour of 0.5 pt., brush "Pencil - Feather" (taken from the standard library of art forms), RGB color = 85, 22, 17, Opacity 25% and 0.4 pixel Gaussian Blur:

 

Multicolored marks on the skin are two paths with a contour 2 pts., brush "Chalk" (taken from the standard library of art brush), color RGB = 241, 143, 82, Transparency "Overlay", Opacity 80% and feather 2 pixels:

All these paths are placed under the clipping mask to delete the unwanted effects.

The effects of rough skin of the apple are realized with different paths taken in the form of standard libraries Illustrator. Here are described some of these paths:

Example #1: simple line of 2 pts., brush "Chalk - Scribble", color RGB = 85, 22, 17, Transparency "Overlay", Opacity 40%:

Example #2: simple line of 2 pts., brush "Chalk - Scribble", color RGB = 241, 143, 82, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 20%:

Example #3: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Chalk - Scribble", color RGB = 251, 196, 116, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 25%:

Example #4: simple line of 3 pts., brush "Chalk - Scribble", RGB color = 214, 103, 51, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 25%:

Example #5: the translation of yellow and orange colorings is made with paths of 1 to 2 pts., brush "Chalk - Scribble", color RGB = 241, 143, 82, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 30 to 100%:

Example #6: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Dry Brush 3", RGB = 246, 172, 109 color, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 100%:

Example #7: simple line of 2 pts., brush "Charcoal - varied", color RGB = 245, 157, 61, Transparency "Normal", Opacity 100% and 1 pixel Gaussian Blur:

All these paths are placed under the clipping mask to delete the unwanted effects.

To translate the orange points which are all over the skin of the apple, I use a small point (see arrow) color RGB = 245, 157, 61 and I create a new Scatter Brush (simply by dragging the path in the Brush window) with the following options in the user form for creating the brush:

·         Random Size, variation from 85 to 120%,
·         Random Spacing, variation from 760% to 846%,
·         Random Scatter, variation from -1000 to +1000%
·         No Rotation

 

Then, I create simple lines (1 pt.) as below, with the newly created brush, Transparency "Hard Light" and 0.5 pixel Gaussian Blur:

 

Now, the front portion of the apple is completed and it is necessary to draw the rear part. For this, the path placed in reserve at the beginning (see above) is used to obtain the complement (rear portion of the apple) color RGB = 199, 21, 28:

The top part of this is a path of color RGB = 116, 19, 22, feather 5 pixels:

The left side is filled with a gradient of 4 colors (15 ° angle and feather 4 pixels):

·         Location 0%, RGB = 92, 17, 14
·         Location 22%, RGB = 116, 19, 22 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 60.5%, RGB = 159, 19, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)
·         Location 100%, RGB = 192, 11, 28 (Distribution: 50-50%)

It may be noted that the paths with feathering leave an unfilled space between the front and rear of the apple, so I fill this space with a shape color RGB = 169, 18, ​​29 (behind previous tracks):

Then, we gradually fill the rear with different paths taken in the standard brush libraries of Illustrator. Here are described some of these paths:
Example #1: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Charcoal - Feather", color RGB = 231, 69, 27, and 0.5 pixel Gaussian Blur:

Example #2: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Charcoal - Feather", color RGB = 250, 198, 182, and 0.5 pixel Gaussian Blur:

 

Example #3: simple line of 0.5 pt., brush "Chalk - Scribble", color RGB = 247, 209, 122 and Opacity 100%: 

 

Example #4: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Charcoal - Tapered", color RGB = 245, 157, 61: 

 

Example #5: simple line of 1 pt., brush "Charcoal - Tapered", color RGB = 251, 196, 116: 

 

Finally, the orange points over the backside are made as seen above (0.5 pt simple lines, Opacity 80% and 0.5 pixel Gaussian Blur):

 

It remains to draw the stem of the apple with the following 4 tracks:

Path #1: color RGB = 138, 59, 25 and feather 2 pixels:

 

Path #2: color RGB = 174, 93, 24 and feather 2 pixels:

Path #3: color RGB = 154, 56, 27 and 0.5 pixel Gaussian Blur:

Path #4: filled with a gradient of 2 colors (-50 ° angle and feather 2 pixels):
·         Location 49%, RGB = 239, 142, 56
·         Location 100%, RGB = 185, 101, 26 (Distribution: 31.5-68.5%)

The shadows

The shadow below the apple is made ​​with a path of color RGB = 43, 28, 25, 2 pixels Gaussian Blur and feather 4 pixels:

 

The shade under the apple (due to lighting) is a blend (option 30 steps) with two paths:

Path #1: color RGB = 85, 22, 17 and feather 4 pixels:

 

Path #2: white color (RGB = 255, 255, 255) and feather 4 pixels:

  

And the final result is that shown at the beginning of this post (see above).