THR - Image Matters

The apple shape is perhaps the first thing to be drawn - a process involving whatever tools you need and have available in your draw package.

Sometimes you can take generic shapes and combine them additively and subtractively, or perhaps you may choose to draw your shape with freehand lines and then use Bezier curve node adjustments to fine tune the curves. This first yellow shape is as good a starting point as any.

Having generated a suitable "apple" shape, we copy that shape to get a further total of three profiles and layers - shown here out of register so they may be better seen as separate entities.

These we color with red and greys such that, by adjusting transparency values and layers, we can overlay them and start to get some form. We will treat this as stage 1 for convenience.

By putting the elements from the previous image into register with each other, we can begin to see the formation of our piece of fruit - this completes main stage 1 of construction proper.

It is as yet incomplete and requires the addition of other colors - but we will make use of the same shape by making copies and pasting these so that different fill colors and qualities may be employed on them.

So - using the common shape and further copies, and incorporating the first yellow form, we now produce another five layers, which are stage 2.

We show the full yellow part, orange with transparency and brown with transparency. A white highlight is also produced to give the effect of light reflection - and finally we have the basic shape which is transparent except for a pattern of spots added - this is produced specially, see next picture.

This image is shown solely to demonstrate the spots on their own.

They have to be drawn on the basic profile, so that only the spots themselves show. Thus, the profile is itself made transparent and finally the spots grouped with the profile to make a complete object and entity layer.

Put the stage 2 layers into register so that they are all in the same plane - and we have main stage 2 of the construction.

Now we see a more three dimensional look again and the "spots" give an extra sense of realism. To take this a step further, to produce stage 3, we now have to overlay stages 1 and 2, in the correct layer order, so as to get closer to the final effect we want.

Stage 3 now is achieved by combining the main stage 1 and main stage 2 elements, overlaying them in register and with layers in the right order.

This is now getting very close to the required final result. To make it complete, we will need something to portray a stalk on the top, which requires another set of drawings and layers..

The stalk and a leaf, comprise several discrete drawn elements - and I show these in a sort of "exploded" view, to let you see the various components separately.

With all combined, we get the composite effect of a stalk and leaf - shown in the lower right of this picture - call this stage 4. All that is required then is to group these into one object and locate onto the main apple shape achieved after stage 3, to progress to the final stage 5.

And so - we arrive at the final stage 5 - we have put all elements together, including the stalk and leaf - and finish up with a presentable representation of a shiny, attractive, and almost tasty looking eating apple, of 3 dimensional form - if perhaps stylized.

As mentioned, the original is courtesy of MicroGrafx®, but the "dismantling" and separation I have done, has permitted a dissection that shows how the whole may be constructed and built up.