Learn about designing a moon with added effects in digital design. This article will guide you through the process using different tools and methods for creating a new layer, adding and manipulating shapes, adjusting opacity, and applying effects such as outer glow and gaussian blur.
Key Insights
- The article provides a detailed process of creating a moon design digitally, starting with creating a new layer, naming it 'moon', and locking other layers for focused work.
- Using the ellipse tool, a moon shape is created and its opacity adjusted. Rings are added to the moon with the offset path command, their opacity adjusted, and effects such as outer glow and gaussian blur applied for desired visual effects.
- The moon design is further refined by adding a clipping mask, effectively trimming the design for a more finished look. The final work can then be saved and imported into a larger project.
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In this video, we'll be adding our moon. Let's begin first by creating a new layer. We'll retitle this “Moon” and hit ENTER.
In addition, let's also lock our “Clouds” layer. Now, within our Moon layer, we're going to be adding a moon that intersects with our two guides. We'll again utilize the Ellipse Tool and make sure that we have No Stroke selected.
From here, we're going to begin creating our moon. We'll start by dragging a moon shape from the center, holding Shift to make a perfect circle and ALT to drag from the center. Let's drag our moon to be right around 400 pixels and then release.
Next, we want to add rings to our moon. To do this, we could add additional ellipses, or we can offset our path. We can offset our path by going to Object > Path > Offset Path.
For our offset, we're going to add 60 pixels, and we'll see a preview of this. This will be our first ring, and we'll click OK. Next, we're going to repeat this two additional times.
With this outer ring now selected, we'll go to Object > Path > Offset Path, again enter 60 pixels, and click OK. We'll do this one more time: Object > Path > Offset Path, and again set it to 60 pixels. Next, we need to select all the rings of our moon.
We'll do this by hitting CTRL+A, and we're now going to change the Opacity from 100 percent—double-clicking—to 5 percent, and hit ENTER. If we hit CTRL+Shift+A, we'll deselect and can see our work.
Looking at these rings now, even though they all have the same Opacity, stacking them on top of each other increases the overall visual Opacity. Therefore, adding multiple transparent objects on top of each other produces a stronger effect. In the case of these outer rings, I like them at 5 percent. However, let’s hit V on the keyboard to select the center circle—our main moon—and set its Opacity at the top to 100 percent. Then hit ENTER.
Here, we have a nice bold moon with outer rings. In addition to this, let's add one more effect to our moon. With the moon selected, we'll go to Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow.
With Outer Glow, we’ll use Screen mode and choose a white color instead of black, then click OK. To preview this, check the Preview box. While the change is subtle, with it selected, we can see a slight glow effect. Click OK.
For our other rings, we'll select them one at a time while holding Shift. For these rings, we want to blur them slightly. We'll go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. If we preview this, we’ll see a soft blur effect. Click OK.
Then, click outside to see the full effect. To fine-tune the blur, we can also select our rings and go to the Properties Panel, selecting the Gaussian Blur, where we can either increase or decrease the amount. In this case, I'm going to decrease it slightly, and I’ll leave it at 1.8 pixels. Click OK. Clicking outside, we can now see the result.
I prefer this look with less blur, as it helps distinguish the lines. Let's select all parts of the moon and right-click to group them together.
As one final change, we're going to add a mask to our moon. To do this, select the Rectangle Tool and simply drag a rectangle from the top-left side, cutting off just the bottom of the moon.
Release there, and then hit V on the keyboard. With the rectangle selected, hold Shift and also select the moon. Then, right-click and select Make Clipping Mask. As we can see, the moon is now clipped at the bottom and only visible within the bounds of our clipping mask. Let’s now save our work using CTRL+S on the keyboard. In the next video, we’ll be importing our city.
See you there!