Create a Shimmering Cityscape in Perspective

The Perspective tools in Illustrator CS5 make it a lot easier to draw in perfect one, two or three-point perspective. Using symbols in conjunction with the Perspective tools will make quick work of this stylized cityscape.

Republished Tutorial

Every few weeks, we revisit some of our reader's favorite posts from throughout the history of the site. This tutorial was first published in April of 2011.

Step 1

Click the Perspective Grid Tool. Two things appear on your artboard: The Perspective Grid and the Active Plane Widget. You can change the placement of the Widget by double-clicking on the Perspective Grid Tool to bring up its options. The Widget can only be placed in one of the four corners — you can't move it freely.

A basic 2-point grid is the default setting. If you don't see something like the grid above, go to View > Perspective Grid > Two Point Perspective and choose the Normal preset.

Using the Perspective Grid tool, move the Horizon line down, close to the ground level. This will give a dramatic perspective with exaggerated vanishing points.

If you want, you can save this grid as a preset to use for future illustrations. Go to View> Perspective Grid > Save Grid as Preset to do so.

Step 2

If you're new to the Perspective tools, get a feel for how they work by drawing a few shapes in perspective. First, make sure the grid is visible and click the left plane (dark blue) on the Widget. Now take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw on the left plane. Your rectangle will be drawn in perspective, fixed to the grid. Notice that the cursor crosshairs now have a left-facing arrow next to it.

This is a visual cue that lets you know which plane is active as you draw. Now Switch to the Perspective Selection Tool (Shift + M) and move the rectangle. You'll see that the rectangle's corner points are solid, rather than hollow, and look heavier than normal ones, indicating that the shape is in perspective. As you move it, the object will stay in perspective, even if you move it off the visible grid.

Advertisement

Step 3

Select the right plane (Orange) and draw another rectangle. Line it up with the first one, and you have the basic structure of a building in perspective.

You can now add elements, such as windows, by drawing a smaller rectangle and drag-copying it — with the Perspective Selection tool — several times to make a row (or drag out one copy, then press Command + D to make a few more). All subsequent copies will remain in perspective.

Step 4

You could continue drawing more rectangles and lining them up on either plane, but that can get tedious. A faster method is to construct the buildings flat (i.e., not in perspective), then make them into symbols, then place them on the grid.

Choose a lighter and darker variation of one color (I'm partial to orange), and make some simple building shapes. You'll enhance these later with gradients, but for now, keep it basic. Make one set that's lighter, and another version with the darker color. These will be used for the light side of the illustration, and the building facades that are in shadow, respectively.

Step 5

Drag each building into the Symbols panel. You can give each one a name if that helps you keep track of them— it can be hard to tell when you're looking at them in thumbnail view.

Step 6

Drag out a "lighter" symbol to the art board. Make sure the Left Plane is active, and using the Perspective Selection tool (Shift + V), drag the symbol into place. You'll see that it snaps to perspective. Do this a few more times, keeping the lighter buildings on the left plane.

Do the same with the darker building symbols, placing them on the right plane. Choose the plane on the widget, or press "3" to activate it.

Step 7

If you have a light and dark building shape placed where the two planes intersect, you'll notice that each side matches up. But if you try to add a dark side to a light shape that's further to the left of the intersection point, the new shape won't line up. The is because if you drag an object that's in perspective on the right plane, and try to match it up to one the right, the left shape will grow in size as you drag, because it continues to adhere to the perspective grid.

So what you need to do is drag that shape perpendicularly, in perspective.

Select the shape with the Perspective Selection tool, hold down the '5' key and drag it to the left. A line indicates that you are dragging perpendicularly.

Step 8

Continue constructing buildings this way, until each facade has a matching side. You'll probably have to send some shapes behind others, which you can do without affecting the perspective.

Step 9

Once all the buildings are arranged to your liking, zoom in and make sure each side of each building is lined up neatly. They do not have to align to a grid line, but if you nudge an object with the arrow keys, it will snap to the nearest one.

Step 10

To give the illustration some polish, add gradients to each building shape. To do this, you must first release the shapes from the Perspective Grid. Select a shape and go to Object > Perspective > Release with Perspective. This will break the link to the Symbol, so you can now change the appearance of each object.

Step 11

Create a set of gradients that are made up of your two original colors, with a darker and lighter color in each. As you color the shapes, use the gradients to enhance the sense of depth in the cityscape. Visualize the light source and color the buildings accordingly, while maintaining a cohesive look.

Applied carefully, gradients can also add depth and interest to the windows and details of the buildings.

Step 12

Now we'll make the reflection. Create a new layer below the first layer. Select the entire cityscape, and click the little colored square in the Layers panel. Hold down the Alt key, then drag the square down to the new layer. This will create a copy of the objects on the bottom layer. Lock or hide the top layer.

Step 13

With the copy still selected, double-click the Reflect Tool and reflect the objects horizontally. Drag the reflected copy down, so that it's just below the original. This will be the reflection.

Step 14

To simplify the reflection and make it less distracting, delete all the details on each building. This is kind of a chore, but you can make it easier by viewing the reflection in Outline mode and selecting multiple windows and other details with the Direct Selection Tool (A), and/or the Lasso Tool (Q).

Step 15

Since the cityscape is a perspective drawing, making the reflection isn't as easy as simply flipping the shapes and placing them below the original. Select just one half of the reflection. Choose the Free Transform Tool (E), then grab the outer side of the selected objects, and drag it up, while holding down the Command key. Add the Shift key to keep the transformation aligned vertically. It can be a bit tricky to master this finger dance, but after a few tries, you'll get the hang of it. Skew the refection until it meets the main cityscape shape. Do the same with the other half.

Step 16

When you are satisfied with the skewed halves, draw a rectangle that covers the entire reflection. Fill this rectangle with a black to white linear gradient, as in the image below.

Step 17

Select the rectangle and the reflection objects. In the Transparency panel, click the flyout menu and choose Make Opacity Mask. The reflection should now appear to fade out. If not, try clicking Invert Mask in the panel.

Step 18

If necessary, adjust the fade-out by editing the gradient. Click on its thumbnail in the Transparency panel and adjust it with the Gradient tool.

Step 19

Nudge the reflection up or down if necessary. Then sit back and admire your shining city!

Conclusion

Before the Perspective tools were introduced in CS5, it was entirely possible to make an illustration such as this one, but you had to carefully measure and plot your own grid. Creating such a grid could take as long as it did to make the rest of the illustration. The Perspective toolset eliminates the need for all that time-intensive preparation, and allows you to concentrate on the creative part of illustrating.

Illustrator Tutorial: Draw a Realistic Mango With the Mesh Tool

Follow this Adobe Illustrator tutorial if you want to learn how to draw a realistic mango. Everything here is made using the Mesh Tool therefore if you want to master this tool better, this is your chance. Let’s get started!

Draw the Shape of the Mango

1. Open a new document. First, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a mango-shape like in the image below. If you believe that it is easier, you can search for a photo with a mango fruit and use it to trace the outline. Before you continue, make a copy of the shape because you will need it later. Now, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click somewhere in the middle of the shape. As a result you will obtain the first vertical mesh line and the first horizontal mesh line.

Next, focus on the vertical mesh line and using the Mesh Tool (U) click on it in the spots indicated to add three more horizontal mesh lines on the top half. Do the same thing at the bottom and add other four lines.

2. Now, let’s add more lines on the left side of the first vertical mesh line. Click on the mango-path in the three spots indicated to add the vertical lines then zoom in on the area shown in the close-up. Add 5 mesh points very close to each other as indicated and you will obtain 5 more vertical lines.

3. In the right side of the first vertical mesh line, click in the four spots indicated to get the last 4 vertical lines. At this point, you are done with the Mesh Tool (U) and all that is left to do is to adjust some of the handles in the areas where it is necessary.

4. In the image below you can see the main areas on the surface of the mango based on the color shades that I’ve used.

5. Taking into account the areas shown above, I chose the most important color shades used in order to exemplify. If you need all the colors, please check the Ai. file for reference because it would have been kinda difficult to indicate every color that I’ve used for all these points and also quite tedious.

Create the Texture

6. To make the Mango fruit look not artificial, we need to create a texture. Open the Symbol Libraries menu and under Artistic Textures find Charcoal. Drag it into your working area and press the Break Link to Symbol button. Having the resulting texture selected, from the fly-out menu of the Transform Panel choose Flip Vertical then scale it about 130%.

7. Put this texture over the mango (black) then make another copy (blue) and arrange it above the first one as in the next image. Now, select one of the textures, go to Effect menu > Warp and apply the Arc effect. The settings that I’ve used for the black and blue textures are shown below. At the end, select Expand Appearance from the Object menu for both.

8. At this step, you need the copy of the mango-shape drawn at the first step. Bring it in front then make another copy. Now, select one of them and also one of the textures and click Crop from the Pathfinder Panel. Do the same thing for the other texture using the second copy of the mango-shape.

9. Fill the two texture groups with a linear gradient from white to black. Set the texture from the top to Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 50% then set the other one from the bottom to Lighten and reduce the Opacity to 13%. You are done with the mango for the time being.

Draw the Stalk of the Mango

10. Let’s continue with the stalk of the fruit. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle having the dimensions shown then give it any fill color. Now, take the Mesh Tool (U) and add the first mesh point right in the center, which will also generate the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. Above the horizontal line, add 3 more lines by clicking with the Mesh Tool (U) on the path as indicated. Then add two more lines under the first horizontal lines.

11. Now it’s time to shape the stalk. To obtain the wavy sides, simply select using the Direct Selection Tool (A) the mesh points individually and move them towards the inside and also move the handles if needed. For the corner points, you can use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift+C) or the Convert selected anchor points to smooth option.

12. Use the Mesh Tool (U) to add other two vertical lines by clicking in the spots indicated, one on the left and one on the right side of the first vertical mesh line. The stalk-shape is ready and you can see in the image below the main areas that we will color next.

13. Select each mesh point individually from the highlight area, using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and change the colors following the numbers written next to each one. Continue with the other mesh points and use the colors indicated.

14. In the next image, you can see how to color all the other areas. Follow the numbers and the colors indicated to finish the stalk.

Draw the Leaf

15. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an oval shape having the dimensions shown. Select only the left anchor point using the Direct Selection Tool (A) then press the Convert selected anchor points to corner option. Next, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the center of the shape to add the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. By moving the points individually and also their handles you will obtain the leaf shape as in the image.

16. Next, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click on the existing vertical mesh line in the spots indicated to add the four horizontal lines. Zoom in to the middle area of the leaf and add two mesh points very close to the center point, one above and one under it, as shown in the close-up. As a result, you will get two new lines right next to the first horizontal mesh line.

17. Follow the numbers and color each of the mesh points as indicated. You can see the result in the second part of the image.

18. Continue with all the other points and finish the leaf.

Draw the Stem of the Leaf

19. Start by drawing a 34×2 px rectangle then take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the center. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the three points from the middle and move them up. Also using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the two top corner points and drag the handles as in the image. Do the same thing with the other two points indicated from the right side. Finally, move the three points from the left side as shown below.

20. Let’s add more mesh lines. Zoom to the middle area of the stem and click on the existing vertical line using the Mesh Tool (U) to add the two points, one above the center point and one under it. As a result you will get two more lines. Also click in the spot indicated on the left side to obtain a mesh line as in the image. The stem is ready and you can start coloring. Follow the numbers next to each mesh point and fill them with the colors indicated.

21. In the next image you can see the colors that I’ve used for the points on the left side of the stem. In the second part of the image you can see the final stem and now you can attach it to the leaf.

22. Place the stalk of the mango as in the next image then arrange the leaf and the fruit is ready.

Draw the Slice of Mango

23. First, use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a shape that looks like a slice of mango. Next, take the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) and add the four points, two on each side as shown in the image. The reason why we need to do this will become clear at the next step.

24. Use the Mesh Tool (U) to add the first mesh point very close to the top edge of the shape and you will get the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. Zoom the right side and select using the Direct Selection Tool (A) only the mesh point indicated and move it over the point from the corner as shown in the close-up. Do the same thing to the other side.

Note: Without the points added at the previous step, at this point the bottom curve of the slice would have been distorted. We don’t want this to happen because the slice-shape must remain unaltered.

25. Take the Mesh Tool (U) and add another point very close to the first one. Using again the Direct Selection Tool (A) move the resulting points from the sides over the ones from the corner as you did at the previous step. Do the same thing three more times then continue up to the bottom. At the end all the horizontal mesh lines should look like in the image below, like they all would start from the top corners.

26. Zoom in the area indicated and add one more mesh point very close to the last one added at the previous step. This new line defines the edge between the pulp of the fruit and the skin.

27. Let’s continue with the vertical mesh lines. Take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the spots indicated to get the two lines on the left side then add the other three mesh lines. At this point you can adjust the handles of some of the points if needed to obtain smoother lines, as shown in the second part of the image. When you are done, add the last three lines on the right side by clicking in the spots indicated and the slice is ready to be colored.

28. First, take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag the cursor over all the points from the top left corner and color them using the shade of yellow indicated. Do the same thing on the right side. In this case also, I chose only the main colors that I’ve used in order to give you an example on how to color it. The mesh points are too many therefore please check the Ai file if you need all the colors.

Final Image

Here is the final image. Let me know what you think of the tutorial. Hope you like my mango.