How to Shine a Light in Illustrator
A great way to add a touch of realism to your Illustrator drawings is to shine a light across the contents. You may think you need an image editing program like Photoshop to add lighting, but it's really easy to shine a light in Illustrator.
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Instructions
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Choose your light source. It can be an object within the illustration or come from somewhere to the side of the artboard. Imagine the shape and direction of the light from the source.
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Use the pen tool to draw the cone or ellipse cast by your light source. If the light source is off stage, zoom out and draw the cone from the imagined point off to the side of the artboard. Extend the light fill past the opposite side of the artboard. Fill the path with white and no stroke
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Open the transparency palette. Set the path blend mode to "Soft Light" or "Overlay." Soft light produces a denser fill; overlay mixes the white with the background. Lower the layer opacity to dim the effect.
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Choose "Gaussian Blur" from the Effect menu Blur submenu. Set the radius to at least 10. Increase the radius for more diffused light. Change the fill color if you want a different color cast.
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Add shadows to your illustration objects. Make sure they match the light source. Duplicate an object's outline, fill with black and reduce the opacity. Tweak the shadow with the "Gaussian Blur" and "Distort" effects.
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Add highlights to objects to reflect the light source. An easy way to add a highlight is to draw the reflection shape with the pen tool and fill it with the reflecting object's color. Duplicate and reduce the size of the object and fill the copy with white. Make an object blend with the two objects.
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Tips & Warnings
Study photos and illustrations to learn how light interacts with surrounding objects. Bare bulbs, shaded lamps, windows and flashlights project different shapes.
