Creating convincing liquid effects in vector illustration can be a tricky business. Luckily, Jing Zhang has provided us with this tutorial that shows you how to make a real splash with your art.
You’ll learn numerous Illustrator techniques to create vector liquid, by playing around with Illustrator’s Mesh tool, Warp tool and layer blending properties.
The Mesh tool is often overlooked, but it is one of Illustrator’s most powerful tools. You can use it to create realistic 3D effects and it allows you to give your work a unique finish.
Step 1 Fire up Illustrator and using the Pen tool (P), draw a basic shape of a water splash. Speed up your tracing progress by using keyboard shortcuts as you draw, such as the Selection tool (A), Direct Selection tool (V), Convert Anchor Point (Shift + C), Pen tool (P), Add Anchor Point (+) and Delete Anchor Point (-).
Step 2 Copy the object you just created and use Ctrl/Cmd + F to paste it in the same place twice. The more layers there are, the better the effect will be. Next, click on the Warp tool (Shift + R) and using the default setting, warp the top and the middle layer as shown in the picture above.
Step 3 Colour all the objects in blue, either using the Pantone shades shown above, or by creating your own – just make sure the outer layer is in the darkest colour and the inner one the lightest.