In this Adobe Illustrator CS4 tutorial we’ll create a vector lightbulb.

We will take a few days to cover everything in this illustrator tutorial. Today we’ll focus on the basic bulb shape and the base screw like shape. Things to think about when making your lightbulb are what kind of transparency you want if any, and how realistic you’re trying to make this lightbulb. In other words, rarely have I seen a bright yellow lightbulb during my lifetime. I was looking for a more graphical representation than a realistic representation. I’ll leave that choice up to you, there are only minor color and transparency adjustments to be made to make this look like  real lightbulb.

To start drawing the basic bulb shape we need to go to view, show grid; and view, snap to grid. Next go get your ellipse tool and follow along in video tutorial to the right. After I published this video I can see that it’s very hard for you to see the big square outlines. So i’ll elaborate a little further in case you are unfamiliar with the grid. The grid is comprised of larger squares (what I call big squares in the video) and each of those larger squares is divided into smaller squares. So when I’m referencing 1 above or two below the big squares I mean the slightly bolder outlines that make up the edges of those bigger squares.

Ok after you have your basic lightbulb shape you can choose your colors. As you can see I chose yellow. So i filled my lightbulb with yellow and stroked with a darker yellow and set the stroke to a thickness of 2pt.

Now for the base we’re going to use a light gray as our fill color with no stroke. Don’t worry about the exact color cause we’re going to produce multiple gradients on top of it.

Below the bottom left anchor point of basic lightbulb shape using the pen tool (p) go ahead and click and drag down 2 small squares. Then move over 6 small squares, which should be exactly the width of the lightbulb shape we made in the video, and click and drag up 2 small squares. Option click the anchor point and go down 5 small squares and click to create an anchor point. Option click the anchor point and drag down 2. move over left 6 small squares and click and drag up 2. Option click the anchor point and then go up to the anchor that will close out the shape and option click. You should have a shape that looks like the one on the right.

Now go back and get your ellipse tool and draw out a shape, which when subtracted from the base shape will leave the bottom corners looking like how i have it on the bottom left. Once you have that shape in place select it with the selection tool and shift select the base, then click the minus front button in the pathfinder panel. Repeat for the other side and your shape should look something like mine. Then when we move the base shape up to connect to our bulb shape it should look like the picture on the right.

Ok let’s work on the highlights and inner bulb components.

First get your ellipse tool and draw a slight ellipse in the middle of the bulb and fill with a radial gradient where the outer color matches your current bulb color and the inner color is a very light almost whitish yellow. Next draw another ellipse near the top of the bulb and fill with a linear white to black gradient with the white on the top. We want the bottom of the ellipse to fade into the center of the bulb so let’s make a mask by first coping this ellipse then going to our transparency panel and doubling clicking to the right of the icon and pasting in front. Click the left icon on the transparency panel to get back to normal editing mode and set the blend mode to overlay and opacity to 45%.

Now paste in front again, (you should have the second ellipse still on the clip board, if not select it and copy). Fill this ellipse with a radial gradient with white for both the outer and inner colors. Then set the inner color to an opacity of 0. Next draw an ellipse over the top of it off center so when we subtract that shape from the shape below it we have the crescent moon shape as seen on the right. When you have your ellipse just right select it with the selection tool (v) and shift click the ellipse below it with the transparent radial gradient and click the minus front button in the pathfinder panel. You should be left with the something that looks like the moon shape on the right.

For this next step, I used the pen tool to draw out the small highlight on the right side of the bulb. Do your best to replicate the shape you see on the right.

Now on to our inner components. First we’ll start with the tall center piece. This is very simple. Just take the pen tool (p) and click out the anchor points replicating my shape to the right. No dragging out handles, just the anchor points. I set a brownish yellow fill with a dark brown stroke (1pt) and set the opacity to 40%.

To create those two gray filament holders we’ll start with the left one and get our pen tool and click to make an anchor point, then move up diagonally left and click another anchor point (this will be our 6 o-clock reference anchor. Click and drag and anchor at 9 o-clock to start the circular portion. Finally click and drag an anchor at 4 o-clock. Stroke with a light grey at 1pt and set to 50% opacity. Copy this piece and move it to the right side, click object/transform/reflect, and reflect along the vertical axis.

We want to make it seem as though the brightness of the bulb is making the center of these parts almost disappear. To do that we need our ellipse tool again. Let’s draw out a small ellipse and fill with a radial gradient with both the inner and outer colors set to the color of our very first ellipse’s inner gradient color. Next set the outer opacity to 0 and move the diamond shape in the gradient panel to around the 85% position (closer to the outer color).

Use the same process we used to create the two inner gray filament holder pieces to create these two longer dark grey filament pieces. We just need to create that bend after the straight section. Stroke 1pt dark grey and set the opacity at 40%. Copy to the other side and reflect along the vertical axis.

Lastly we need to make the filament. I drew out an ellipse, copy and pasted in front. Used my selection tool to select the top one holding shift and option click and drag the corner in a bit, then shift click the first ellipse. Click the minus front button in the pathfinder panel. Select the knife tool, (you can find it by clicking and holding on the eraser tool), and click and drag through the top and bottom as shown on the right. Fill the left shape with a reddish color and the right shape with a muddy orange color. Copy and paste this group until it reaches the right most filament holder. Group them together and set the group opacity to 40%.

For the base of the bulb graphic the first thing we need to do is to bring the base up to the top. Go in your layers panel and drag the base layer above the bulb and highlight layers.

Now make another base graphic the same way we made the first one but DON’T knock out the corners. Click ‘Object/Transform/Reflect’ and reflect along the horizontal axis. Nudge up slightly and set the opacity in the transparency panel to 30%. Cut off anything that sticks out at the bottom and bring the layer just behind the inner bulb components.

Back to the very top layer, our solid base graphic, we need to copy this and paste in front, CMD C, CMD F, (ctrl c & f on windows) then with out pen tool create a slight arc through the bottom of the base and click below the base to complete the shape. Select this shape with the selection tool (v), and select the top base shape and press CMD 7 (ctrl on windows) on the keyboard to create a clipping mask. Fill with a very dark gray.

The only thing left to draw is the outer rings. Unfortunately there isn’t any grid setting that I found, which would produce the outer rings the way I wanted. So get your pen tool and tinker with it until you get a ring that looks like mine. When you do, make two copies and space them accordingly. Fill each one with a radial gradient light gray in the center and dark gray at the ends. Group the three outer rings together. Copy the base graphic shape, and the outer ring group. Select both copies with the selection tool and click the minus front button in the pathfinder panel (the outer rings should be the front shape). Fill each of the inner rings with a radial gradient with a dark gray on the inside and a lighter gray on the outside.

That’s it. You should have a similar lightbulb to mine. I hope you enjoyed making it. Till next week then.