Transparency Effects in Illustrator (Part 2)

Today is the continuation of the article on transparency effects in Illustrator, which I started publishing in December.

Glow and Blur

Shadow is not the only effect hidden in the “Stylize” menu. If you go back there (Effect > Stylize), you will see options for adding blur, inner and outer glow.

They don’t look particularly interesting when applied to circles, but when it comes to more complex shapes, these effects can save you a lot of time compared to working in AI 8.0.

Pros: Glow and blur are a simple and quick way to make changes to your illustration.

Cons: Like the shadow effect, glow and blur will be rasterized if you open the work in any other program, although they still print well.

Transparent Blends and Gradients

One of the coolest features of Illustrator currently is the ability to create transparent gradients. Remember how difficult it was in AI 8.0 to create a reflection of an object with a gradient fading to white? Everyone remembers how terrible it looked when you placed an object with such a reflection on a colored background?

Great, now you just need to create a gradient fading to 0% transparency. It will look fantastic on any colored background.

We’ll start with a simple line painted purple. We will copy and paste this line onto itself and move the copy away from the original (in any direction, we chose up). Select both outlines, then go to Object > Blend > Make.

Using the Direct Selection tool (white arrow), select one of the lines in the blend. We used the bottom line. Once you’ve done that, go to the Transparency palette and change the opacity percentage to 0.

If your blend doesn’t look smooth, you need to increase the number of “steps”. To do this, go to Object > Blend > Blend Options.

Change “Method” to “Specified Distance” and enter a small number, for example: 0.1 mm. This will smooth your blend so it doesn’t look so uneven.

Pros: For effects like the mega-popular “glowing floor” transparent blends are invaluable. They look great on any colored background, not just uniform white.

Cons: These effects can look very strange in Corel, appearing as fragmented outlines, especially when used in combination with gradients. We recommend using transparency in blends cautiously and trying not to overlay them on gradients.

Opacity Mask

Another way to create a transparent gradient is by using an opacity mask. To do this, draw 2 shapes — one on top of the other. We used a star and a square.

Change the fill of the lower shape (the square) to a gradient from white to black, and remove the stroke.

Then place the star over the gradient square. The star will be the object that fades, and the square will serve as the gradient mask.

Select both outlines. In your Transparency palette, select “Make Opacity Mask” from the drop-down menu in the top right corner.

Voila, now you have a star that gradually fades away. We also used a background to show you the transparency.

Pros: Opacity mask is a simple and quick way to make an object fade away compared to linear or radial gradients.

Cons: Since you can only create radial or linear gradients, this effect is not as versatile as, say, blends with transparencies. Like most Illustrator effects related to transparency, this mask is better not used with gradients, so try to stick to placing the mask on a solid fill.

Note

Transparencies in Illustrator, besides being wonderful, can be quite tricky in printing, especially when it comes to color blending. So if you decide to use them, please make sure to indicate this fact in the image description that you will be uploading for earning on stock photo banks.

This way, clients will know what they are getting and whether it is worth purchasing this illustration, and whether they can use it in their work. Add all possible information to the file for those who wish to buy the illustration on a stock photo bank. How the file was constructed, what Illustrator transparency effects were used and in which parts of the file, what palettes you used, as well as the type of color model of the file.

You may also consider including a version of your work without using transparencies in your “Additional Formats” folder, just in case.

Author: bortonia (Jennifer Borton)
Link: www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=1267