How to Make Mud Splashes in Illustrator

Mud splashes form a common byproduct of an active lifestyle.

Stains and splashes form interesting shapes that can be challenging to draw. Fortunately, the mud splashes you create in Adobe Illustrator don't require laundry detergent to remove. You can experiment with freehand Pen tool drawings to create the ideal set of mud splashes, but drawing these kinds of irregular shapes can become time consuming. Simplify your task by starting with simple geometric forms and using Adobe Illustrator's effects to distort them into twists and turns.

Instructions

1. Set the fill color in the Adobe Illustrator toolbox by double-clicking on its color swatch to bring up the Color Picker. Set the color formula to 30 percent cyan, 50 percent magenta, 70 percent yellow and 35 percent black for a muddy brown. Adjust as you desire.

2. Select the Ellipse tool from the Adobe Illustrator toolbox. Click and drag to draw an ellipse on your current artboard.

3. Choose "Roughen" from the "Distort & Transform" fly-out menu of the "Effect" menu. Set the size to four percent, the detail to six per inch and the points to smooth. Turn on the "Preview" check box to audition your settings. Click on the "OK" button to apply your effect.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with various ellipse sizes and effect settings until you find an ideal combination at each splash size you want to draw.

• Distortion effects include a degree of randomness. You won't obtain the same result from the same settings twice. If you craft a splash you really like, save it and duplicate it to reuse it.

• Avoid corner points and high distortion settings, as these effect parameters produce spiky distortions that don't make believable splashes.

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