Hello, let’s make a bridge in illustrator CS4. It was easy and basically just need a lot copy and paste though. So, let’s get started.
Step 01:
Make a rectangle path using marquee tool (M)
Step 02:
then using ellipse tool (L) make a big circle in the middle of it, then reposition it, until it looks like the image.
Step 03:
Activate both of them, select pathfinder (window>pathfinder or shift+ctrl+F9), click minus front.
Step 04:
copy and paste in front (ctrl+c then ctrl+f) the shape, then resize and recolor it, until it look like the image.
Step 05:
select direct selection tool (A) than click the smaller path then tweak the point, until it look like there are some dimension in it.
Step 06:
Then right click>arrange > send to back (ctrl+shift+[). Now the basic of the bridge is done.
Step 07:
next one is the stone, select the rounded rectangle tool…
just guess the size so it would fit your bridge. Remember don’t use stroke.
Step 08:
now activate the stone and select effect>stylize>drop shadow. Make the opacity 70%, x offset and y offset both into 2, don’t forget to activate preview to see does it look good enough.
Step 09:
Now, to the fun stuff, rearrange the stone in the bridge anyway you like…. Don’t forget to copy and paste the stone to multiply it.
Step 10:
now make another stone to make another variety, just do the same thing with the previous stone. Remember, if you have difficulties when you arrange the stone, press ctrl+2 or object>lock>selection.
Step 11:
this is my bridge now, still there is an overload stone everywhere.
So activate the base bridge, copy and paste in front (ctrl+c then ctrl+f) the shape, then bring it forward by right click >send to forward (ctrl+shift+])
Step 12:
activate the base bridge and the second stone, the right click>mask.
Step 13:
then click the masked stone and then right click> send backward (shift+[) until it look like this.
If you want to make it more realistic then select the first stone in the circle, copy paste, resize and recolor it.
Step 14:
send the stone into the back than select blend tool, click on the icon twice …
and in the spacing choose specified steps and 20 in the box beside it. Then select the first and the resized one to start blending it.
Step 15:
if you don’t want drop shadow in the back one, go into isolation mode in the back until in the appearance box (shift+F6) there is drop shadow effect, and you can delete it
Step 16:
Now you must have noticed, the first stone must be a little out of the line, then mask it again. If you use lock object, you must unlock it first with alt+ctrl+2. This is the final result.
