Generate a Realistic X-Rayed Hand in Illustrator CS5
X-rays are useful in the detection of diseases, broken bones, or radiotherapy. The most used method of X-rays is photographic plates. Photographic plates can generate images of human and animal internal structures. Today, we are going to develop an X-ray image of a hand with the help of Illustrator CS5. No, we don’t need photographic plates or film; we just need the Pen Tool and Inner and Outer Glow effects. Let’s begin!
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STEP ONE:
Open a New Illustrator Document (File > New) with a size of 500px by 600px.
NOTE: This step requires basic Pen Tool expertise.
Find a real X-Rayed Hand image or a hand skeleton graphic; place it as a Template Layer in Illustrator, and in a New Layer with the Pen Tool (P) trace the skeleton hand outline. Make sure to close all the paths.
Here is a template image with the outline that I traced:
(Image zoomed out to 50%)
NOTE: Image and file are available for download at the end of this tutorial.
Delete the Template layer.
STEP TWO:
Select the entire outline (Mac: Command + A / PC: Control + A). At the COLOR palette (Window > Color) give it a light blue color value of (R= 128, G= 169, B= 189) with no stroke.
Then, go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow and enter the following settings:
Make sure to select white as the Mode color.
You should obtain the following effect:
STEP THREE:
At the LAYERS palette (Window > Layers) create a New Layer under the layer where you drew the outline of the hand and name it, “Background”.
Select the Rectangle Tool (M), click anywhere on the canvas area to open its dialog box, and enter a Width of 500px and a Height of 600px. At the GRADIENT palette (Window > Gradient) select a Radial gradient with the following color values:
First color box: (R= 0, G= 32, B= 43)
Second color box: (R= 0, G= 3, B= 21)
Lock the layer (
).
STEP FOUR:
Go back to the layer with the hand, select all (Mac: Command + A / PC: Control + A), and press (Mac: Command + C / PC: Control + C) to copy.
Lock the layer.
Create a New Layer and name it, “Framework”. Press (Mac: Command + V / PC: Control + V) to paste the hand on this layer. Place it on top of our other hand, like so:
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With our Hand Copy selected press Shift + X to remove its fill color and effect. At the COLOR palette notice that now the stroke has the blue color we chose for its fill, change it to white.
Now, at the STROKE palette (Window > Stroke) change its stroke Weight to 3pt.
Next, go to Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow and apply the following settings:
There we have it, an X-Rayed Hand in Illustrator CS5:
Now that you know how to create an X-Ray effect, generate more X-Rayed objects. Have fun!
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