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Creating a Diamond Flower using Illustrator


STEP1
DRAWING A CIRCLE


Get started by drawing a circle. Choose the Ellipse Tool (L). Hold the Shift key while drawing the circle to get the perfect shape.

 

 

 

 



Choose a colour you like and fill the circle. I suggest you to use a dark colour. You can tone it back by adjusting the transparency. Or else you can go for a light colour. Change the Transparency mode to Colour Burn in the transparency palette (Window > Transparency).
Make sure that the rulers are visible. If they are not then hit cmd/Ctrl + R. As shown in the image below, draw a horizontal and vertical guide. Snap to Point: View > Snap to Point to make the guide to snap the points of the circles. Always make sure that you have turned on the Smart Guides. To turn it ‘on’ or ‘off’ go to Smart Guides: View > Smart Guides and use cmd/Ctrl + U.

 

 

 

 


Using the Selection tool (V), select the in the middle of the bottom right path. Drag the circle to circle 45° downwards. You have to drag rag until the circle reaches the intersection point of the guides as shown in the image above. While dragging the circle use the Shift key.

 


STEP2
ROTATING AND DUPLICATING THE CIRCLE

 

Click on the Rotate tool (R). Holding down the Option/Alt Key, click on the exact intersection point of the guides. Enter a relevant value (90) in degrees and hit the Copy button.


 

 

 

 


Select the 2nd circle and click cmd /ctrl + D twice to get the exact transformation. You will get 4 circular shapes as shown in the image below.

 

 

 

 



Now, navigate to the Layer Palette. Select the layer having the circles. Drag the layer to the Create New Layer icon. This way you can duplicate this layer.

 


STEP3
DUPLICATING AND ROTATING THE CIRCLES

 

To lock the original layer, click the empty square near the eye icon in the layer palette (view the image below).
Choose all the circles in the duplicated layer and click on Rotate Tool (R).by holding the Option/Alt key click on the exact interception point on the guides again. Now, enter 45 degree as the value and hit the OK button.

 


 

 


STEP4
HOW TO ADJUST COLOURS AND TRANSPARENCY MODE


Without leaving the selection of circles, select another colour fill for the circles. Then select Overlay as Transparency mode.

 

 

 

 


STEP5
DUPLICATE THE LAYERS

 

Release the original layer from the lock. Now choose both the layers and drag them to the Create New Layer icon to duplicate the image. Lock the two original layers.

 

 

 

 

 


STEP6
ROTATING THE DUPLICATED LAYERS

 

Make sure that you have selected all the circles in both the newly created layers. Choose the Rotate tool (R) and hold Option/Alt key. Now click on the guides’ intersection point again. Enter the value 22.5 as degrees and hi the OK button.

Don’t forget to look at the Preview to see the result upfront.

 

 

 


FINAL RESULLT

 

The end result will look similar to the image on the left. It all depends on your choice of colours, transparency modes and transparency values. If you are not satisfied with the colour then you can adjust it.

 

 

 



Where ever needed, you can do adjustment to the colour, transparency, and mode circle by circle. On the right hand side you can see the image obtained by me after making a few variations.

 

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