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About this lesson

Show how this can be used on basic shapes in addition to text for creating depth.

Quick reference

Extruded Shapes

Show how this can be used on basic shapes in addition to text for creating depth.

When to use

In addition to creating extruded effects, the Blend Tool can also be used with regular shapes to create shading and volume.

Instructions

  • Begin by opening the Extruded Shapes - Exercise.ai file
  • Select your Third Pass layer and switch to the Pen Tool (P)
  • On the right side of the face there is a pointed curved shape on the cheek
  • Move just to the right and slightly higher than this shape and create another shape that resembles a blade of grass with the Pen Tool
  • Once you have drawn the shape, make sure to close it, and then fill it with the same shadow color
  • Hold down the Alt/Option+Shift keys and drag a copy of your new shape higher up on the cheek 
  • Next, hold down the Shift Key and select both of these new 'grass' shapes on the sides of the face 
  • Go to the Object Menu and choose Blend > Blend Options
  • Leave the Spacing set to Specified Steps and change the number of steps from 140 to 6
  • Return to the Object Menu and choose Blend > Blend Make or use the keybord shortcut Command/Ctrl+Alt/Option+B to create the blend
  • After applying the blend you can see how this technique can be used to create shading
  • Try the same technique on the opposite side of the face, except rotate the higher of the two shapes slightly clockwise to create a bit of variation before blending the two together
  • Notice how altering one of the shapes created a more interesting blend that follows the contour of the side of the face
  • To go back and modify your first blend on the right side of the face, select the shapes and go to the Object Menu before choosing Blend > Release
  • You can now modify the higher of the two shapes by rotating it counterclockwise and reducing the size by dragging inwards from any of the four corners of the bounding box while holding down the Shift key
  • Once you are happy with the size and positioning of your shapes, hold down the Shift key again and select both of the two shapes 
  • Apply the shortcut for Make Blend once again by pressing Command/Ctrl+Alt/Option+B

Hints & tips

  • The Blend Tool is a great way to produce detailed shading in an illustration using the same technique covered in this video
  • You can always go back and redo a blend by releasing it
  • Try changing the size, rotation, or angle of a shape before blending it to get a great variety of results
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  • 00:05 So now that I've show you guys how the blend tool can work with text to create
  • 00:08 an extruded effect,
  • 00:09 let me show you how we can use the blend tool to create some shading.
  • 00:13 Now, I mentioned earlier on that I was thinking about using this technique on
  • 00:16 maybe the nose,
  • 00:17 but now that I see this illustration I think that it could work really well here.
  • 00:21 So, all I'm doing is drawing this kind of sharp shape that kind of looks like
  • 00:24 a blade of grass and we can't actually see it at the moment.
  • 00:29 But the reason for that is because it's on a fonts layer instead of on top.
  • 00:33 So, then I'll go ahead and select my third pass layer and then I'll try and
  • 00:37 just draw another shape that is like a blade of grass or just kind of
  • 00:42 no curved sharp edge that looks similar to the one that we already have.
  • 00:46 Then I'm going to drag a copy of it by holding down Alt + Option + Shift and
  • 00:50 just moving it up closer to the edge of the cheek up here.
  • 00:54 Now I'm gonna hold on the Shift key and select both of the shapes
  • 00:57 come up to the object menu and choose Blend, Blend Options.
  • 01:00 And we are still going to leave it to specified steps.
  • 01:03 But this time, instead of 140 we're gonna change it to 6.
  • 01:06 And now we can come back up to the object menu to choose blend make.
  • 01:11 Now if I zoom out, it's actually created this effect that looks a little bit like
  • 01:15 shading on the side of the face here, right?
  • 01:18 So it's kinda a cool way to use the blend tool as well.
  • 01:21 So let's try that out on the other side of the face and see if we can match it up and
  • 01:24 create a similar effect.
  • 01:28 Okay, I'm gonna make sure I'm on the top layer once again.
  • 01:31 And just draw this kind of sharp shape here.
  • 01:35 I'm just kinda free handing it.
  • 01:37 And drag a copy of it up so it's closer to the top of the cheek.
  • 01:41 And maybe this one we can actually rotate a little bit
  • 01:44 to customize the shape a little bit more.
  • 01:47 Then hold down the Shift key and select the first shade and
  • 01:49 this time let's use the shortcut to make blend by pressing Cmd or
  • 01:54 Ctrl + Alt + Option + B on the keyboard.
  • 01:57 And that's going to create our blend.
  • 02:00 All right, so we now have that on both sides and
  • 02:02 if I wanna actually go back to my original one to alter it so
  • 02:05 that it curves like I did here, I'll show you guys how to do that.
  • 02:09 So I'm going to select this blended shape come up to Object and
  • 02:12 choose Blend > Release and that will basically revert to my original shapes.
  • 02:17 So now I can rotate it, maybe make it a little bit smaller.
  • 02:21 Select it, hold down the shift key and select my first shape and
  • 02:25 then once again press command option and B and that's going to create our blend.
  • 02:30 So that is one more way that you can use this
  • 02:33 in order to create a kind of shading on your illustration.
  • 02:36 And now I'm just gonna move it
  • 02:41 over a little bit of to the side and there you go.
  • 02:46 This can be kind of a nice thing you can see how it looks if you wanna incorporate
  • 02:49 it in other parts of the illustration.
  • 02:51 But for now I just wanted to demonstrate it on the sides here cuz I think it
  • 02:54 looks pretty cool.

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