How to Make a Spotlight in Illustrator

The drama of a spotlight illuminating a performer on a darkened stage adds to an audience's anticipation of a song or soliloquy. Analyzing how a spotlight interacts with the air, the stage floor and the performer serves as the first step toward incorporating its light into your Adobe Illustrator artwork. The spotlight's bright beam shows up in the air as a shape that lightens what falls behind it. The beam casts an elliptical bright spot on the stage floor. Finally, the performer herself appears in the spotlight's glow. Adding the look of the brightest light on the big stage to your Adobe Illustrator artwork requires two simple shapes, a few added layers and a teaspoon of transparency.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Illustrator artwork to spotlight

Instructions

1. Open the Layers panel by choosing "Layers" from the Window menu if the panel isn't already visible. Click on the name of the layer than contains the artwork you want to appear in the spotlight, then click on the "Create New Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new layer above your existing artwork. Double-click on the new layer's name and rename it "Light Beam."

2. Create another new layer and drag it below the layer that contains your master artwork. Double-click on its name in the Layers panel and rename it "Spot."

3. Choose the Ellipse tool from the Adobe Illustrator toolbox. Draw an elliptical shape on the "Spot" layer. Make your spot wider than it is tall and draw it so it falls at the base of the artwork you want to appear in the light. Copy your ellipse to the clipboard. Click between the eyeball and the layer name on the "Spot" layer's entry in the Layers panel to lock the layer.

4. Click on the "Light Beam" layer's name in the Layers panel to switch to it. Choose "Paste in Front" from the Edit menu to place a copy of the ellipse from your "Spot" layer on the "Light Beam" layer in exactly the same location as the original vector object. Choose "Lock" from the Object menu to lock the duplicate ellipse.

5. Choose the Pen tool from the Adobe Illustrator toolbox. Verify that Smart Guides are active by looking in the View menu for a check box in front of the "Smart Guides" item.

6. Draw a narrow straight line in the document canvas above your active artboard. Click once with the Pen tool above your ellipse and slightly to the right of its left edge, then hold down the "Shift" key and click again slightly to the left of its right edge.

7. Continue drawing your new shape by clicking directly on the right-side anchor point of your duplicate ellipse. The Smart Guides feature will display the message "Anchor Point" when the Pen tool reaches its target.

8. Move the Pen tool until it's directly above the lefthand anchor point of the duplicate ellipse. Click again to add another anchor point on your path.

9. Move the Pen tool over the first anchor point you drew. You'll see a small circle next to your cursor, indicating you will close your path when you click. Complete the path by doing so.

10. Choose the Selection tool from the Adobe Illustrator toolbox. Find the ellipse sublayer on the "Light Beam" layer and unlock it by clicking on the lock icon next to the sublayer name. Shift-click on the path you just drew to add it to your active selection.

11. Open the Pathfinder panel by choosing "Pathfinder" from the Window menu if the panel isn't already visible. Click on the "Add to Shape Area" button at the left end of the top row of Pathfinder buttons. Adobe Illustrator combines the path you drew with the duplicate ellipse into a single object.

12. Click on the Fill color swatch in the Adobe Illustrator toolbox and set its color to white. Click on the lock icon on the "Spot" layer to unlock it. Marquee around the ellipse to select it and the combined object on the "Light Beam" layer. Click on the foreground color swatch to set both objects' fill color to white. Lock the "Spot" layer again by clicking between the eyeball and the name on its entry in the Layers panel.

13. Open the Transparency panel by choosing "Transparency" from the Window menu if the panel isn't visible. Set the blend mode of the combined object on your "Light Beam" layer to Screen and its opacity to 30 percent.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with the opacity of your light beam to change how much it brightens the object it lights up.

• Add a slight blur effect to your light beam to give it a less-stylized appearance.

• Add an Outer Glow effect to your light beam to make it look as if it's cutting through smoky or dusty air.

• Neither your spotlight nor your light beam will be visible if they don't appear over a background darker than white.

References

• Adobe Systems: Using Adobe Illustrator CS5
• "The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book"; Sharon Steuer; 2010
• "Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies"; Jennifer Smith, et al.; 2010
• "Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide"; Elaine Weinmann, et al.; 2011