body-spray

Illustrator Tutorial: Create a Realistic Body Spray

body spray

Read this tutorial to learn how to draw a realistic body spray from scratch. We will then learn how to create an entire collection from the first body spray. Everything starts from basic shapes drawn with the tools so you don’t have to worry about your Pen Tool skills. You will work with the Gradient Mesh option, Blend Tool, Texturizer and Warp effects. By the end you will have the knowledge to draw different types of body sprays, spray cans or even cosmetic containers in general. You will also learn to draw the fluid spray effect. So if all this sounds interesting let’s get started!

Open a New Project

1. Launch Illustrator and go to File menu > New to open a blank document. Type a name and set up the dimensions then select Pixels as Units and RGB as Color Mode. Next, go to Edit menu > Preferences > General and set the Keyboard Increment to 1 px. These settings will help you throughout the drawing process.

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Draw the Body of the Spray

2. Grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool, click anywhere on your artboard to open the Rounded Rectangle window and enter the dimensions shown. Now, take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and select only the bottom point then press the Delete key on your keyboard. Also using the Direct Selection Tool (A) drag a selection over the two end points and press Ctrl+J, the shortcut for Join. This will close the path and obtain the shape that you need.

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3. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an ellipse having the dimensions shown. Move this ellipse at the bottom of the shape obtained at the previous step. Before you continue, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the ellipse because you’ll need it at the next step. Select both shapes and click Add to shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel.

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4. Fill the copy of the ellipse made at the previous step with dark gray then Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste it in Front (Ctrl+F). Move the second ellipse (pink) a little up by pressing the Up Arrow key on your keyboard three times (3 px). Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the pink ellipse and move it a little up again (4 px) by pressing the Up Arrow key four times (blue). Now, select both ellipses and click Subtract from shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel. You will obtain a border at the bottom of the spray. Fill this shape with the linear gradient shown.

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Color the Body of the Spray

5. Fill the body-shape with the linear gradient shown using shades of green. Go to the Appearance panel (Window menu > Appearance) and having the existing fill selected, click on the Duplicate Selected Item icon at the bottom of the panel. As a result you fill get a second fill above. Keep the same gradient and go to Effect menu > Texture > Texturizer. Apply the settings indicated then change the Blending mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 40%.

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6. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the body-shape and delete the two existing Fill attributes from the Appearance panel. Just give it a blue stroke so you can see it. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw an ellipse having the dimensions shown and move it at the top of the body like in the image. Now, select both blue and red shapes and click Intersect shape areas > Expand in the Pathfinder panel.

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7. Focus on the shape obtained at the previous step and select any fill color. Go to Object menu > Create Gradient Mesh, select five rows and seven columns then hit OK. As a result you will get the vertical and horizontal mesh lines without having to draw them individually with the Mesh Tool (U).

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the points at the top and replace the blue color with green. Continue to select the other mesh points and use the other shades of green indicated. For the remaining points at the bottom use white.

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8. Now let’s go back to the body of the spray. Having the mesh shape at the top, set the Blending mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 40%.

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Add Highlights on the Body

9. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw an ellipse in the top left side of the body like in the image below. Fill it with a radial gradient from white to black then set the Blending mode to Color Dodge and reduce the Opacity to 20%.

Next, draw other two ellipses, one above the first one and the other on the right side of the body. Fill them with a radial gradient from white to black then go to Effect menu > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a 5 px Radius. Set the Blending mode to Screen for both then reduce the Opacity for the left ellipse to 60% and for the right ellipse to 40%.

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Draw the Spray Cap

10. In this part of the tutorial you will need a script called Extend Handles that you can find here 20 Free and Useful Adobe Illustrator Scripts. Download it and follow the instructions to install it. Restart Illustrator and it’s ready to go.

First, grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an ellipse having the dimensions shown. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the left and right anchor points then go to File menu > Scripts > Extend Handles. Run the script and use a value of 150.

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Using this script, if you select a value under 100 you’ll get smaller handles and if you select a value above 100 you will get bigger handles. Of course you can drag the handles yourself with the Direct Selection Tool (A) but using the script it’s a little faster and the result is no doubt symmetrical.

11. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw the purple ellipse and arrange it over the shape obtained at the previous step. Fill both shapes with the linear gradients shown.

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12. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the bigger ellipse and replace the gradient fill with black. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the top anchor point of this ellipse and move it 1 px up by pressing the Up Arrow key on your keyboard once.

With the same anchor point selected, go to File menu > Scripts > Extend Handles. Run the script and apply a value of 70. You will get smaller handles.

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13. Having the black ellipse in back selected, go to Object menu > Path > Add Anchor Points. As a result you will get four extra points. Now, take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and select only the right point of this ellipse and drag the top handle to make it slightly longer. Do the same thing on the left side.

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14. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the smaller ellipse and replace the gradient fill with white. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the bottom anchor point and move it 1 px down by pressing the Down Arrow key once.

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15. Next, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the bigger ellipse and bring it in front of everything by going to Object menu > Arrange > Bring to Front. Delete the gradient fill and just give it a stroke. Now, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the blue ellipse and change the stroke color so you can differentiate them. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the bottom point of the red ellipse and move it up by pressing the Up Arrow key on your keyboard three times. Also using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the left and right points then go to File menu > Scripts > Extend Handles and apply a value of 80 to make the handles smaller.

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16. Select the blue and red ellipses and press Subtract from shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with the linear gradient shown then set the Blending mode to Color Burn and reduce the Opacity to 75%.

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17. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) and the Rectangle Tool (M) to draw a new ellipse and two rectangles having the dimensions shown. Arrange them like in the image then press Ctrl+G to group the two rectangles. Select the ellipse and the group and click on Subtract from shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel.

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18. Select the shape obtained at the previous step and take a look at the four corner points. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the top right point and drag the handle to modify its position and size as indicated below. Repeat the same thing for the other three points. Move this shape above the others drawn so far and fill it with the linear gradient shown.

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19. With the Ellipse Tool (L) draw an ellipse at the top having the same width as the previous shape and the height of 9.5 px. Fill it with the linear gradient shown. As you did earlier, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) this ellipse and select white as the fill color. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the bottom point and move it 1 px down.

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20. Following the process described so far draw the upper portion of the cap. Use the gradient shown at step 18 for the bigger shape and the gradient shown below for the ellipse at the top.

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Draw the Spray Orifice

21. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw two circles having the dimensions shown. Fill the bigger one with the linear gradient shown and the smaller with black. Align them horizontally and vertically with the help of the Align panel (Window menu > Align). After that, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the bigger ellipse and replace the gradient fill with white. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the bottom point of this ellipse and move it 1 px down to reveal a little of white.

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Add Shadows on the Spray Cap

22. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two small ellipses then rotate and arrange them like in the image below. Move them behind the middle portion of the cap but in front of the first portion with the help of the Layers panel. Fill the ellipses with a linear gradient from black to white and adjust the angle for each ellipse according to its position. Set the Blending mode to Multiply (white becomes transparent).

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Add Highlights on the Cap

23.Grab the Pen Tool (P) and following the edges of the cap draw a shapes like the black one from below. Duplicate this shape and scale it to obtain the tiny blue shape from the left side. Fill both of them with white and reduce the Opacity for the bigger shape to 0%. Having both shapes selected, go to Object menu > Blend > Blend Options and choose 30 Specified Steps. Go back to Object menu > Blend > Make.

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24. With the Ellipse Tool (L) draw a 137×22 px ellipse and move it at the top of the spray. Fill it with 70% black. Group all the shapes that make up the cap then move them over this ellipse but make sure that you don’t cover it entirely at the bottom.

At this point the body spray should look like below:

body spray

Draw the Label on the Body of the Spray

25. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw three ellipses having the dimensions shown. Arrange them like in the image then group the two purple shapes. Select everything and press Subtract from shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with black.

body spray

26. Draw another ellipse and give it a 7 pt Stroke using any color. Go to Object menu and select Expand then Ungroup to transform the purple stroke into a purple fill.

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27. Draw a new ellipse in the middle then select the purple shape and also the yellow ellipse and press Add to shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel to unite them. You will get the yellow compound path.

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28. Before you continue, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the black shape. Now, select the compound path obtained at the previous step and the copy of the black shape and press Subtract from shape area > Expand in the Pathfinder panel. At this point you should have the two shapes from the right side of the image. Change the fill color of the original shape in back from black to white (in the image it’s yellow so you can see it) and fill the new compound path with black.

body spray

29. Next, grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw two small rectangles having the dimensions shown. Arrange them on the left and right side of the label then go to Object menu > Path > Add Anchor Points. As a result you will get an extra point in the middle of each side of the rectangles. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the two points indicated and move them a little outwards until you meet the edge of the label. Fill these two shapes with black.

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30. Move the label over the body of the spray then set the Opacities and the Blending modes as indicated for each shape. When you are done, select the two shapes from the sides then go to Effect menu > Warp and apply the Arch effect.

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You can see here the settings. Apply a minus ten Horizontal Bend.

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31. Now, let’s type some text over the label. Of course, you are free to write whatever you want and use any fonts that you like. I’ve used Arial and Convoy that you can find here Convoy Font Download. Arrange the text like in the image then draw a separating line with the Line Segment Tool (\) having a 1 pt black Stroke.

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32. We need a logo therefore let’s create a simple one. In the Symbols panel, open the Symbol Libraries Menu and in the Logo Elements category find a symbol called Runner. Drag it into your working area and press the Break Link to Symbol icon at the bottom of the Symbols panel to expand it. Ungroup it twice then select black as the fill color. Draw a small circle over the runner like in the image and give it a 4 pt black Stroke. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the circle then select the runner and the copy of the circle and press Intersect shape areas > Expand in the Pathfinder panel.

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33. Place the logo like below and set the Blending mode to Overlay.

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Add Basic Information on the Spray

34. Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a 120×40 px rectangle then select black as the fill color. With the Type Tool (T) type the text using Arial and the settings shown.

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35. Expand the text and fill it with white. Select “Body Spray” and stretch it a little by dragging the bounding box.

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36. Move the rectangle with the text at the bottom of the spray then go to Effect menu > Warp and apply the Arch effect. Set the Blending mode to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 75% but only for the black rectangle (not the text).

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In the Warp Options window select a minus 10 Horizontal Bend.

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37. Take the Type Tool (T) and type the volume information at the bottom of the spray. I’ve used Myriad Pro Regular, size of 14 pt and white as the fill color. Go to Object menu > Expand then to Effect menu > Warp > Arch. Apply the settings shown.

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38. Type “Refresh” using a font called You’re gone that you can find here You’re Gone Font from dafont.com. Rotate the text 90 degrees and set the Blending mode to Overlay.

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Add Shadow under the Spray

39. To complete the spray we need to add the shadow. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw two ellipses having the dimensions indicated and make sure they are centered. Fill them both with black then reduce the Opacity for the bigger ellipse to 0%. Select both ellipses and go to Object menu > Blend > Blending Options. Choose 50 Specified Steps and hit OK then go back to Object menu > Blend > Make. Move the resulting Blend group under the spray and send it behind everything by going to Object menu > Arrange > Send to back.

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Create the Entire Collection of Body Sprays

40. Let’s try other colors. You can simply create a new spray by using a copy of the green spray and changing a few things. First, select the body-shape and replace the two existing green gradients with the one shown below. For the second fill instead of Multiply 40% select Lighten 60% because it will look much better.

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41. Now, focus on the mesh shape at the top. You need to replace the shades of green with shades of blue. Fill the mesh points highlighted with black, orange and purple with the colors indicated on the right. Use dark blue for all remaining points from the top and white for the remaining points at the bottom. The Blending mode is set to Multiply and the Opacity to 35%.

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42. Instead of “Refresh” type “Breeze” and use the same settings.

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43. We’ve created two body sprays for mans so let’s create two more for women. First, make another copy of the green spray. Select the body-shape and replace the two gradients with the one shown below. The Blending mode is set to Multiply and the Opacity to 40% and because the spray looks pretty good we will keep these settings.

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44. Continue with the mesh shape and replace the shades of green with shades of yellow as you did earlier.

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45. Type “Tropical” this time and use the same settings. Also type “Pour Femme” instead of “Pour Homme”.

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46. This is the last version. Replace the gradients and this time change the Blending mode to Color Dodge and reduce the Opacity to 60%. It’s just a matter of trying what works best.

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47. Next, change the fill colors of the mesh points as indicated:

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48. Finally type “Spice” and you’re done.

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49. This collection is complete:

body spray

Create the Fluid Sprayed

50. Follow these few extra steps if you want to create the fluid sprayed also. Before we get there, select the shapes that make up the spray orifice and move them in the left side of the cap. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the shape from behind and bring it in front of everything by going to Object menu > Arrange > Bring to Front. Delete the gradient fill. Now, select the orifice and this copy and go to Object menu > Clipping Mask > Make.

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51. Draw a small 5×5 px circle and select any fill color. Drag this circle into the Brushes panel and choose New Scatter Brush. Don’t change any of the default settings in the Scatter Brush Options window at this point and just hit OK.

Grab the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a messy path in front of the spray then Stroke it with the Scatter Brush saved. In the Appearance panel double click on the Scatter Brush applied to open the Stroke Options window and change some of the settings. After that, select white as the Stroke color and lower the Opacity to 4%.

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These are the values that I’ve used. Also set the Colorization to Tints.

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52. Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Back (Ctrl+B) the path from the previous step then go to the Transform panel and from the drop-down menu choose Flip Vertical because we don’t want overlapping dots. Select Expand Appearance from the Object menu then change the fill color of the dots from white to yellow. Make sure that you select only the group of dots without the path used. Still having this group selected, go to Effect menu > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a 10 px Radius. Set the Blending mode to Luminosity and reduce the Opacity to 50%.

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53. Now, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste in Front (Ctrl+F) the messy path drawn earlier and flip it vertically again. This way you will get more particles. At this point you can use a rectangle to mask as much or as less fluid sprayed you want. Depends how much you want to see from it.

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You’re done!

The tutorial is finished and this is the final image. You can now draw different types of sprays, experiment with different shapes and colors. There are so many possibilities. Hope that you learned new things.

body spray

Biography

I’m a graphic designer extremely passionate about my work. I discovered Illustrator a while ago and simply love it. Since then, it has kept me busy and active.


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