Disco Ball Illustrator ~ Multimedia Tutorial

1. The Pattern:

First we'll create the basic pattern of the Disco Ball. For this, turn ON the Grid by pressing Ctrl + " and Snap to Grid option by pressing Shift + Ctrl/Command + ” (OR you can go to View and select Show Grid as well as Snap to Grid option). You can now see the grid has appeared in the background.

Select Rectangle Tool and draw a small square (holding down the Shift key) as shown below. Set any color to Fill and white color to Stroke. Set the Stroke weight to 2 from the Stroke panel (Window: Stroke OR Ctrl/Command + F10).

Select the square, hold down the Alt/Option key and drag it to make a copy of it. Snap it to right as shown in the picture below.

You can press Ctrl/Command + D multiple times to make further copies of the square. Make around 15 copies of it.

Now make copies of this row to make 15 rows in similar way (first drag a copy and then press Ctrl/Command + D). So now you have 15 rows and 15 columns.

We will color all these squares randomly with different color shades. Open Window menu and select ‘PANTONE process coated’ from ‘Swatch Libraries’ sub menu.

A swatch library named 'PANTONE process coated' will open. First select all the squares and give it a light purple color. And then simply drag random color swatches from this library to few of the squares that we have created. Check the picture below.

Make a copy of it. Select all the squares, hold down the Alt/Option key and drag these squares to right so that it snaps to the right most square. Have a look at the picture below.

The basic pattern is ready. Now open the Symbols window from Window menu (OR press Shift + Ctrl/Command + F11). Select the complete pattern (all the squares) and drag it into the Symbols window. The symbol has been created!

2. On to the Disco Ball:

Let’s create the ball now. Select the Ellipse Tool from the Tools pallet, hold down the Shift key and draw a circle.

Draw a rectangle which covers exactly the half of the circle like shown in the image.

Subtract this rectangle from the circle. Open the Pathfinder window from Window menu (OR press Shift + Ctrl/Command + F9). Select both the shapes (circle and rectangle), hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the ‘Subtract from shape area’ icon in Pathfinder window.

You should have a half circle like above. Select this half circle and go to Effects menu and select Revolve from 3D sub menu.

This will open a window named 3D Revolve Options. Check ON the Preview and click on the Map Art button.

This will open a window named Map Art. In this window select our New Symbol from the drop down menu at the top and press the ‘Scale to Fit’ button at the bottom of the window and press OK.

You can try rotating the cube in the 3D Revolve Option window to change the angle of our pattern on the circle. Click OK when done. You should have something similar result as mine.

3. Last Steps:

Let’s add some glow and glitter to make it look like the real one. First add a black background to the ball (In a separate layer below the Ball layer). Draw a circle with a white to black radial gradient on the ball (You can turn OFF the ‘Snap to Grid’ and ‘Snap to Point’ from View menu if you face a problem while drawing the further shapes).

Select this circle and open Transparency window from Window menu. Select Screen from the drop down in the Transparency window. You will see a glow on the ball. You may resize this glow and adjust its gradient as well as the Opacity (from the Transparency panel) to suit the ball.

Ok, now the glitter. Let’s draw a circle and then a star on it with the same gradient color (While drawing the star, without releasing the mouse click, you can press the Up/Down arrow key to add/reduce the points of the star. Also you can hold down the Ctrl/Command key, while dragging, to adjust the radius of the star). Open the Align panel from the Window menu and align them both to have same center point.

Keep the circle and the star selected and open the Transparency window again and select Screen from the drop down menu.

Holding down the Alt/Option key, drag down few copies of this set, resize these sets in different sizes and arrange these on the ball as you can see on down on the image.

Draw a circle slightly bigger than the disco ball, give it a simple white to black radial gradient. While this circle is selected select Screen from the drop down menu in Transparency window. Now send this circle back to the disco ball simply by Right Click: Arrange: Send to Back (OR press Shift + Ctrl/Command + [).

The Disc Ball is ready, but we are not finished just yet.

4. Spotlights:

Something is missing, right? Yes, we need to add the spotlights (coming out of the disco ball) on the background to make it look more real.

Add a new layer above the black background and below the Disco ball layer. In this layer draw one black circle and then one white (smaller) circle on top of it. Please align them to have same center point.

Deselect the circles and select the Blend Tool from the Tools pallet.

With the Blend Tool, click on the white circle then hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the black circle. A window named Blend Options will open. Just keep the setting as it is and press OK.

You should get something like this.

Holding down the Alt/Option key, drag down few copies of it and spread these over the black background (around the Disco Ball).

Select all the (blended) circles and group these simply by pressing Ctrl/Command + G (OR select Group from Object menu). While this group is selected, open Effect menu and select Fisheye under Warp sub menu. A window named Warp Options will open. Adjust the parameters to get the desired output.