Spiral Flowers

The following tutorial was written by deebs, a regular contributor on our Expression Design newsgroup. Thanks, deebs! If you haven't already done so, grab a copy of Microsoft Expression Design and follow along. You'll also want to download the .design files deebs provided for this tutorial.

Spiral Flowers

As some of the effects used in this tutorial depend on the size of the basic shape used to create a clipping group the attached .design file (001.design) will form the basis of this walk through tutorial. The tutorial will use a basic shape as a starting point to go from this:

to this

to this

and finally to the grouping of shapes you see at the top of the page. The tutorial adventures through some important compositional concepts within Expression Design.

Stage 1 – Part A

A1 – Open the attached file called 001.design

A2 – Select the basic shape

A3 – CTRL+C > CTRL+F > CTRL+F (there should now be three objects in the layer; CTRL+C copies the selected shape and CTRL+F pastes the shape onto of the original shape.)

A4 – Change object names from “basis” by double clicking on the name of the object in the Layers panel and typing in a new name. It is helpful to name the uppermost object as “Petal clipper”, the middle object as “Petal stroke” and the one at the foot of the stack as “Petal fill”.

A5 –Select the Petal clipper object and remove the stroke and fill. To retain positional precision there are benefits to making selections using the Layers panel.

A6 – Select Petal stroke object, ensure no fill has been applied to the object. Apply Gaussian blur and adjust blur radius to 1.5.

A7 – Select Petal fill object remove the stroke and apply a gradient fill.

A8 – Details of gradient fill:

Radial gradient
White at 22% along the gradient bar at 100% Stop Alpha
Colour #009BFF at right hand end stop, Step Alpha set to 62%
Midpoint set to 70%

A9 – Save the gradient swatch just in case it needs to be used later.

A10 – Adjust the gradient fill using Gradient Transform tool alternatively the numerical settings are as shown.

A11 – The results should look something like this:

A12 – Select Petal stroke and Petal fill objects then CTRL+G to group.

A13 – Select Petal clipper and the Group then CTRL+7 to create a clipping mask.

A14 – Save the file under a different file name.

These are the principles that may be used to give an inner glow effect.

Part A is more focussed on the techniques and mechanics rather than creating an aesthetically pleasing object (Base: fills, middle: strokes, uppermost: clipper). Aesthetics will come next in Part B aiming for something like this:

Stage 1, Part B

B1 – Open 001.design file.

B2 – Select the basic shape.

B3 – CTRL+C > CTRL+F and create five copies (there should now be six objects called “basis” onscreen.

B4 – Select the object at the foot of the stack and rename it Petal Fill.

B5 – Remove the stroke from Petal Fill.

B6 – Apply a gradient fill to Petal Fill object using the gradient saved to your swatch at step A9.

B7 – Adjust the gradient fill to same settings as before.

B8 – Apply a Multiply blend mode to “Petal Fill” object.

B9 – Select the object above Petal Fill and rename it Petal Stroke 1.

B10 – Ensure that it has no fill. Then apply stroke colour 0091ED and increase stroke size to 9 pts. Apply Gaussian blur with Radius adjusted to 2.2

B11 – Apply a Multiply blend mode to Petal Stroke 1.

B12 – Lock Petal Stroke 1 and rename the object above it to Petal Stroke 2.

B13 – Ensure that Petal Stroke 2 has no fill. Then adjust its stroke colour to 0091ED, stroke size to 17 pts and apply Gaussian blur set to Radius 4.8. Apply a multiply blend mode to Petal Stroke 2 then lock Petal Stroke 2.

B14 – Select the object above Petal Stroke 2 and rename to Petal Stroke 3.

B15 – Ensure that Petal Stroke 3 has no fill. Then adjust its stroke to colour 230FD2, stroke width to 3 pts, blend mode to Multiply and Gaussian blur set to radius of 1.5 then lock Petal Stroke 3.

B16 – Select all four lower objects in the stack (Petal Stroke 3 to Petal Fill inclusive) then CTRL+G to group. If you needed to unlock to perform this operation make sure to lock the group after naming it Petal Group.

B17 – Select the object above Petal Group and rename it Petal Clipper. Ensure that Petal Clipper has no stroke and no fill. Apply a Multiply blend mode.

B18 – Select Petal Clipper and Petal Group then CTRl+7 to create a clipper. Rename the clipper group as Petal Clipping mask.

B19 – Delete the topmost object in the stack as it is no longer required.

B20 – save the file under a different file name and prepare for Stage 2.

Stage 2