Follow this tutorial and learn how to draw one and a half papaya fruits in Adobe Illustrator. The tutorial is composed of two main parts, creating the papaya fruit and creating the other half of the papaya. You will start from basic shapes and with a few vector shape building techniques like the Pathfinder Palette, Offset Path and Duplicate object. You will easily create the shapes that you need. The Clipping Mask also plays an important role in this tutorial along with some effects and the Transparency Palette. So let’s begin!
Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Adobe Illustrator
What will you get?
- Instant download of PDF e-book (44 pages, 34 steps)
- Comes with Ai file for easy reference
- Detailed step by step tutorial to draw a nice realistic papaya fruit
Tutorial Preview:
Create a New document
1. Launch Illustrator and then press (Ctrl + N) to create a New document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 1658 in the width box and 1092 in the height box then click on the Advanced button. Select RGB, Screen (72ppi) and make sure that the Align New Objects to Pixel Grid box is unchecked before you click OK.
Create a Papaya
2. Start with drawing a 758 by 406px rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (M). Now pick the Pen Tool (P) and create a red object like you see in the second image. Next with the Add Anchor Point Tool (+), add some anchor points on the red object and then adjust their position to get the result as shown in the third image.
3. Once you are done adjusting the shape of the red object, apply a nice radial gradient as shown below. Here, we have the main shape of the papaya ready:
4. To add some details on the papaya, first draw a blue object using the Pen Tool (P).
Once your object is drawn, fill it with R=119, G=71, B=19. Keep the resulting shape
selected and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter an 8px Radius and click OK.
Now select the shape created in step 3, duplicate (Ctrl +C, Ctrl +F) it once and then
bring the copy to front (Ctrl +Shift +Right Square Bracket). Make sure that the
copy is still selected, hold down the Shift and click on the shape with blur effect applied in
this step, then go to the Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Ctrl +7). In the end your papaya should look roughly
like the final image.
5. Make a copy (Ctrl +C, Ctrl +F) of the shape created in the step 3 and bring the copy to front, then replace the existing color of it with new radial gradient as shown below. Keep the resulting shape selected and go to the Effect > Texture > Grain. Follow the data like you see in the second image and click OK, then go to the Effect > Stylize > Feather… Enter a 10px Radius and click OK. Make sure that the resulting shape is still selected, open the Transparency palette (Window > Transparency), then set the Blending Mode of it to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 70%.
6. To give a more realistic look, let us add some highlights on our papaya. First create four objects using the Pencil Tool (N). Once your objects are drawn, fill them like you see in the second image. Next reselect these newly created shapes and apply a 15px Gaussian Blur effect; press (Ctrl +G) to group all the resulting shapes. Now select the shape created in the step 5, duplicate (Ctrl +C, Ctrl +F) it once and then bring the copy to front (Ctrl +Shift +Right Square Bracket). Having the copy selected, hold down the Shift and click on the group created in this step, then go to the Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Ctrl +7). In the end, your papaya should look roughly like the final image.
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