Learn the process of creating a new digital file for a city reflection project, starting from scratch and building up elements such as background, moon, cityscape, and stars. The article provides a step-by-step guide on using various tools effectively to create elements like clouds using multiple ellipses and blending them using the pathfinder tool.
Key Insights
- The first step in creating a digital city reflection involves setting up a new file with suitable dimensions and saving it with an appropriate title such as 'city reflection'.
- Elements like background, clouds, and city elements are added incrementally. The background is created using the rectangle tool, choosing a dark blue color, while clouds are created by drawing multiple ellipses and merging them using the pathfinder tool.
- The clouds are created in different shapes and sizes, and each cloud layer is renamed and locked before creating the next one. The article highlights the importance of saving work periodically and making effective use of transparency and masks for creating intricate designs.
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In this video, we'll be creating a new file for our City Reflection. Let's begin by creating a new file, and from our Web templates, let's select Web Large 1920 × 1080.
We'll give our new file the title “City Reflection, ” and we'll maintain pixels for our width and height, making sure that we have one Artboard, and click Create. Right away, we'll want to save our file. Go to File > Save As, and we'll be saving this as “City Reflection, ” clicking Save and OK. Next, let's zoom out and discuss how we're going to be building our City Reflection.
Feel free to reference the preview files for our image, but essentially within this Artboard, we'll be creating our background, a moon, our city, stars, and a reflection of our city below. So let's get started. We'll start by renaming “Layer 1, ” and let's title this “Background, ” then hit ENTER.
From here, we'll create our background. We'll utilize the Rectangle Tool, dragging from one intersect all the way to the other. For our Fill and Stroke, we'll select No Stroke, and for the Fill, let's double-click and select from our darker blues. Using the Color Picker, we can select a color that's dark blue. Feel free to choose whatever color you'd prefer.
I'll be utilizing #191F3A. We'll then click OK, and we now have our background. Next, let's create our clouds.
To do this, we'll create a new layer and retitle this “Clouds, ” then hit ENTER. We'll then lock our Background layer, and making sure that we're working within “Clouds, ” we can utilize our Ellipse Tool from the Toolbar. With the Ellipse Tool selected, let's select our Fill and make sure that white is chosen from the Color Panel.
From here, we can begin drawing our clouds with multiple ellipses. While this doesn't have to be perfect, we can continue clicking and dragging to create the shape of a cloud. Feel free to create your cloud in whatever shape you'd prefer. For me, I'm going to extend my clouds to be a little bit longer on the front right-hand side, and we'll add a couple of small ellipses to add more dimension to our cloud.
Hitting V on the keyboard, we can get a look at our cloud, and you might need to drag some of the ellipses around to modify it a bit. Once you've completed your cloud, let's hit CTRL+A to select all. Rather than using the Shape Builder Tool, let's utilize the Pathfinder Tool by going to Window > Pathfinder, and we'll select Merge. We now have our first cloud.
To create a second cloud, we’ll utilize the Ellipse Tool again and begin drawing. We'll want to make it roughly the same size; however, we can always change its size later by transforming the object. Add a couple of small ellipses here to give it a bit more dimension, and feel free to use the Selection Tool to modify your cloud.
When you've completed it, drag a selection box over the cloud and again, within the Pathfinder Panel, select Merge. We now have our first two clouds. Let's lock these in place for now by toggling the lock to the left of the “Clouds” layer, and from here, we're going to create two additional clouds.
We'll create them right below, and these clouds will be a little bit smaller and more simple, so we'll use fewer shapes. For these clouds, we'll just leave them as is. Drag a selection box and hit Merge. We'll do the same thing on the right-hand side—create another very simple cloud. When it looks how we want it to, drag another selection box, select Merge, and we now have our four clouds, each as a separate path.
Let's rename these paths for our clouds, starting with the bottom right-hand cloud. We'll type “Bottom Right Cloud” and hit ENTER, then “Bottom Left Cloud” and hit ENTER. Unlocking these, we can retype “Top Right Cloud” and “Top Left Cloud” and hit ENTER. With our clouds completed, let's now hit CTRL+S on the keyboard to save our work. In the next video, we'll be working with transparency as well as a mask for our cloud.
See you there!