Hello everyone. I’m glad you could join us on this fantastic day. I thought today I would show you how to make a nice cheerful sun to live with the clouds we made in the last tutorial.

Step 1:
Let’s start with our standard 600px by 600px Illustrator canvas. Like I said last time, you can really set your canvas to whatever size you like; but if you use a different sized canvas, the numbers I use throughout the day may not work as well for you as they do for me.

Step 2:
Now we’re just going to drop in a nice little circle using the Ellipse tool (l). I put this right in the center of my canvas, but you can put it wherever you like. You know what, it doesn’t even need to be a circle. You can put down an oval if you want. Always remember, this is your sun, so have fun with it.

Step 3:
Next you’re going to make larger circle around your first circle. The way I do this is by selecting my first circle, holding down ALT, and hitting either the LEFT key to duplicate my shape. Then I hit the RIGHT key to move it right back over top of the first circle, and then scale it out and make it bigger. Once it’s a size I like, then I hit CTRL + SHIFT + [ to send the big circle back behind our little circle.

Remember now, this is just the way I like to do it. If you have a different way, use it. And let me know, we’re all learning together here.

Step 4:
Ok. Now that your circles are happy together, make sure your outer circle is selected, and give it a nice Zig Zag effect (Effect>Distort & Transform>Zig Zag).

I set the size to 3%, clicked the relative circle, and gave it 7 ridges per segment. I picked relative so that no matter what size we make our sun in the end, the size of the halo will stay the same. I also make sure to set the points to corner to give good definition to my sun’s halo. Maybe you want more points, or less, or a smooth wavy halo. It’s your world, let your imagination run wild.

Step 5:
Next we’re going to set a light yellow to yellow radial gradient on the inner circle. Since this is a cheerful sun, I’m making sure the face of our sun has a nice bright gradient. Now we’ll use the gradient tool (g) to pull the gradient down from the upper right part of the sun’s face and give a hint of depth.

Step 6:
We’re going to go crazy now. Let’s select our outer halo and set a yellow to orange radial gradient. Grab the gradient tool (g) and have some fun with the size and position of your gradient.

Step 7:
To finish up, I used the sky and some of our cloud friends from the last tutorial to give a home to our new sun. I took the stroke off all these guys to make everything look much softer. All of the clouds have a little drop shadow on them, just like the last time, so they look like they’re just floating right along without a care.

Now I think we’re going to call this one done. I hope you had a fun time today, I know I did. From all of us at ClickPopMedia, have fun with Illustrator, and God bless you.

Hello Springtime! In recognition of the change of seasons, our vectors for this week were all pulled from a spring day. We’re also having a CONTEST!

But first, our vectors. To start off we netted four clouds, one happy, one sad, one whistling, and one furious. Then we put on our oven mitts and plucked the smiling sun from the sky. We also pulled up an evergreen tree, and snagged a cutiful little bunny. As always, have fun and let us see anything wonderful you make.

Download the Spring Day vector pack (.ai and .eps)

And now, without further ado:
THE CONTEST!

Our first official contest is a test of raw awesomeness. First some ClickPopMedia free vectors, then make either a fantastic still composition or awe-inspiring animation and send it to us design@clickpopmedia.com.

For the rules and super-cool prize, hit the jump.

Rules:

1. You can only use ClickPopMedia vectors and elements you personally create. In most cases, we really have no way to check this; so we’re on the honor system people.
2. The composition can be either still or animated.
   • Send us stills as png’s or jpg’s.
   • Send us animations as either swf’s, or mov’s.
3. The composition can be any size and shape. Use common sense with this rule. If you send us a 1px by 1px image, we probably won’t look at it. Likewise, if you send us a 100 ft by 100ft submission, it’s safe to say it won’t be considered.
4. Send your submissions to design@clickpopmedia.com with your contact details.
5. Deadline is April 5th
6. HAVE FUN.

We will be judging on hipness, coolness, mad skill level, and general breathtakingness.

The Prize:

The winner of this contest will receive a shiny pair of our custom ClickPopMedia dice. These little beauties come in a beautiful transparent case complete with moocard. The winner can choose either a blue dice/black dice or a pink dice/black dice combination.

Disclaimer: By submitting to this contest, entrant grants ClickPopMedia the right to display entries on http://www.clickpopmedia.com.

Update: Our friends over at VectorVault gave us a nice little write up. Thanks!

Update #2: Kelly c raises a very good point. The question of the deadline… Let’s say… April 5th! Deadline is now officially April 5th, so if you’re procrastinating on sending your entry in, think twice friend.

GodBless:ClickPopMedia