Create a 3D Product Display in Illustrator – Easy Gradient & Shadow Tricks

You've probably seen vector product display designs like this before. So, how can you create this kind of dimensional look? In this video, I'll show you several techniques you need to know. Okay, let's get started. First, I'm going to create the wall and the floor. I'll start by drawing a rectangle that covers the entire artboard. Then, apply a black to white gradient to the fill. And don't forget to make sure the stroke is set to none. Press G once to bring up the gradient annotator. Then click and drag vertically from top to bottom. Next, change the colors by dragging the light blue color from the swatches panel onto the white gradient stop. And replace the black stop with dark blue, like this. Press CTRL plus C, followed by CTRL plus F. This copies the object and pastes it directly in front of the original in exactly the same position. Then reduce the height until it looks like this. This section will become the floor, but we need to swap the colors so that the top is darker and the bottom is lighter. Just click the reverse gradient button and you'll get something like this. Press G on the keyboard again. I'll adjust the gradient by moving the slider slightly upward. This creates the feeling that the light is coming from the front, while the area farther back appears darker. One thing to keep in mind is that the gradients on these two objects shouldn't be exactly the same, because that would make them look like a single flat surface. Adjust them slightly differently to create more depth. The wall and the floor naturally receive light differently, so their gradients shouldn't be identical. Open the Layers panel, then double-click Layer 1 and rename it Wall and Floor. Create a new layer, then lock the Wall and Floor layer. Draw a circle on the wall, then make one copy of the circle and keep it aside for later. Next, draw a vertical rectangle, and apply a gradient with three color stops. Place light blue in the center, with dark blue on both the left and right sides. Set the gradient angle to 0 degrees, and it should look like this. Make a copy and place it right next to the original, making sure the edges touch. Then press Ctrl plus D repeatedly to duplicate the shape across. Now, make the shapes thinner, then copy them to create another two or three sets beside them. Select all of these shapes, right-click and choose Group, then move the entire group over the circle. Now, I'll open the Layers panel, so you can see the layer order. The group of connected rectangles is currently on top, so I'm going to move it behind the circle. Press Ctrl plus left bracket to move the object back one step each time you press it. Then, select both the rectangles and the circle, right-click and choose Make Clipping Mask. Next, take the circle we copied earlier, and place it directly over the original circle where we created the texture. Then, apply a black to white radial gradient. There should already be a default preset for this in the Gradient panel. I think everyone should have the same one. Press G once again, then drag the gradient downward, so that the darker area sits closer to the bottom of the circle, like I'm doing here. If the shadow looks too dark, you can reduce the opacity. I'm using 70% here. Double-click the name Layer 2 and rename it Wall Backdrop. Create a new layer. I'll name this One Product Display, and don't forget to lock the Wall Backdrop layer. Draw a vertical rectangle. Use the Ellipse tool and start drawing from the center point of the rectangle. Hold down Alt while dragging outward, and make sure the left and right edges of the ellipse line up perfectly with both sides of the rectangle. Then, move the ellipse to the top, make one copy, and place it at the bottom. Next, select the rectangle and the bottom ellipse, then open the Pathfinder panel. Click the Unite button to combine the shapes into a single shape. Right-click and choose Arrange, Send Backward. Alright, bring up the Gradient Annotator again and manually drag the gradient to adjust it. Move the rightmost color stop slightly inward, then copy the color from the left stop and place it on the far right. To copy a color stop, hold down Alt, then drag the stop to create a copy, like this. For the darker color, I'll add another stop on the far left, like this. You can adjust the gradient to match what you see here. Then, select the top shape. I'll adjust its gradient by simply dragging straight downward, like this. I'll adjust the height a little. Using the Direct Selection tool, drag across the bottom anchor points to select them. Then move the base upward to make the shape shorter. Next, select the top shape and go to Object, Path, Offset, Path. Enter around 5 pixels or any value you prefer. The purpose of this is to create a thicker raised edge around the top. Hold down Shift and select the rectangle. Now we have both shapes selected, like this. Switch to the Shape Builder tool, then hold down Alt. You'll see the cursor change from a plus sign to a minus sign. Click the area outside the shape to remove it. Now, use the Selection tool to select the raised edge. Use the Eyedropper tool and click on the rectangle to sample its color and gradient settings. At this point, you'll see that both shapes have the same color, which is exactly what I want as a starting point. Next, I'll make the entire shape brighter by clicking Recolor Artwork. Adjust the brightness using the slider at the bottom. Move it slightly to the right. As you can see, the colors of the entire shape become brighter. Select the rectangle. Press Ctrl plus C, followed by Ctrl plus F to copy it and paste it directly in front. Move the bottom edge upward, then select both shapes. Click Divide in the Pathfinder panel, then right-click and choose Ungroup. Click on an empty area to deselect everything, then select the bottom piece. Click Recolor Artwork and move the Brightness slider to the left. This will make the color darker. Select the top piece, make a copy, and move it to the side, then change its color to black. Press Ctrl plus C, followed by Ctrl plus B. This copies the object and pastes it directly behind the original. Scale the back copy up and change its color to white. Select both shapes, then go to Object Blend Make. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply. Then use the Direct Selection tool to select the outer ellipse and reduce its opacity from 100% to 0%. This will make the shadow look softer. Place the shadow underneath the display stand, then right-click and choose Arrange, Send to Back. If the shadow looks too dark, reduce the opacity from 100% to 70%. I want the shadow to extend farther to the right, so use the Direct Selection tool to select the outer ellipse of the blend and drag it to the right. You can also adjust the anchor points to fine-tune the shape of the shadow. Now, select the entire display stand, right-click and choose Group. Make another copy and place it beside the original. Of course, you can arrange the position however you like, but I want to adjust the height. To do that, I'll double-click the display stand to enter Isolation Mode. This lets us edit only the display stand. As you can see, I can't select any of the other objects. This makes it much easier to edit a specific object without accidentally affecting anything else. Now I can simply drag over the area I want to select without worrying about selecting other objects, then drag it downward like this. When you're done, double-click on an empty area to exit Isolation Mode. I'll make one more copy, place it on the left, and adjust the height using the same method so that each display stand has a different height. Now, lock the product display layer and create a new layer. Draw a rectangle the same size as the artboard and set the fill to white. Select the Mesh tool, then click along the edge of the rectangle to create horizontal mesh lines like this, continuing all the way down to the bottom. Next, use the Direct Selection tool to select the mesh points along the edge and apply black to them. Repeat this on alternating lines, just like you see in the video. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply in the Transparency panel. Next, select the Free Transform tool and choose Perspective Distort. Click and hold the bottom right corner, then drag it outward like this. After that, rotate the rectangle so it angles downward. Now it looks like a shadow cast by some kind of light opening from above. Next, draw a rectangle the same size as the artboard. Select both the rectangle and the shadow, then right-click and choose Make Clipping Mask. I might adjust the shadow a little here. I think moving it slightly to the side will look better. And reduce the Opacity to 30% to make it just a little darker. Okay, this is exactly what I want. I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next tutorial.