The CPG How To illustrator presents the Christmas bell for Illustrator.
Christmas is a special time for many people, including our How To illustrator who will show you how to ring in the season with Christmas bells for Illustrator. In this Adobe Illustrator How To guide, readers will see a step-by-step, illustrated process for creating a Christmas bell for Illustrator CS 5.
Before starting this Illustrator How To, keep one thing in mind: No one really knows what a Christmas bell is, or if one really exists. Therefore, this is one of many styles of bells that can be used for Illustrator during the holiday season. It may also work for weddings, birthdays and other occasions, so follow along with our How To illustrator to learn how to draw Christmas bells.
Drawing a bell outline for Illustrator
Open Adobe Illustrator CS5 and create a new document. Grab the Pen tool from the Adobe Illustrator toolbox and then draw an outline of a bell. If you’re not good at drawing bells, grab a sample bell from the Internet. Paste it onto the canvas and lock the layer. We grabbed a bell from http://aux.iconpedia.net/uploads/2722064151324725606.png to draw its outline. We won’t keep it long, so you IP freaks out there, don’t get your panties in a wad. You can trace this bell or copy your own. We’re just using it for the outline, OK?
If you don't want to draw a bell outline freehand, trace one for Illustrator
Don’t worry about the ribbon right now; just draw the bell. Here’s what we got after tracing this shape with the Pen tool.
We drew an outline of a Christmas bell for this Illustrator How To guide
Fill bell with gradient
Next, fill the shape with a gradient. This is the one our How To illustrator used: A8A799, 808080, A8A799. Set these values in the Color Picker window for Illustrator and then drag them to the gradient stops in Gradient window.
Use Color Picker and Gradient window for Illustrator bell fill.
Now, use the gradient tool to align the gradient fill with the bell.
For Illustrator, rotating the gradient is easy using the Gradient tool.
Now, grab the ellipse tool and draw the bottom of the bell. Fill it with a radial gradient, #1C1C1D to #646465
Use the Ellipse tool and Gradient tool to draw the bottom of the Christmas bell.
How To Illustrator: Drawing the lip and other features
The next step of this Adobe Illustrator How To guide asks you to add highlighting to the lip of the bell. Outline a section of the bell with the Pen tool, fill it with white and then use the opacity for Illustrator to adjust it. We set opacity at 20 percent.
The Pen tool is used to draw a section of the bell to highlight for Illustrator users.
Illustrator How To: Drawing the clapper
Grab the rectangle tool, draw a rectangle and cap it off with an ellipse. Unite the shapes in the Pathfinder window. Rotate the new shape by about 20 degrees or so. Place the clapper. Next, copy the bottom of the bell and paste it on top and then use the Intersect option from Pathfinder to trim it. Then, apply a linear gradient to it. It should look something like this.
Drawing a clapper for Illustrator Christmas bells.
For Illustrator users: Drawing the clapper ball
Grab the Ellipse tool and draw a circle for the clapper. Fill it with a radial gradient.
Illustrator How To: Adding the clapper ball.
The next part of this Adobe Illustrator How To guide asks you to draw a shape to add a shadow to the top of the clapper ball. Fill the shape with black and then select the Soft Light option from the transparency menu.
The CPG How To illustrator shows how to add a shadow to clapper ball.
Final touches
Now that you have drawn the bell, spice it up with some trimmings. Draw the outside of the bow and the inside separately so you can make the inside darker. Draw shapes as shown.
Draw the ribbon bows.
Now, to end this Illustrator How To tutorial, our How To illustrator ties the bow. Draw your shapes as shown here. Draw the shapes separately so you can adjust their colors and gradients if you desire.
Your Christmas bell for Illustrator is now finished.
Put the ribbon together and you are done with this Adobe Illustrator How To guide. Now you can add other accents (try stripes) colors, and lights. Use this Christmas bell for Illustrator by itself or as an building block for a larger layout.
The CPG How To illustrator presents the Christmas bell for Illustrator.
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