Candle Jar Graphic In Illustrator CS3 - Digital Art and Design

In this tutorial, we will create a graphic of a jar candle in Adobe^R Illustrator^R CS3. We will use the Inner Glow effect to give the jar a transparent glass appearance.

Let's start a new Print Document in Illustrator. This graphic may be used in a print project. So we will set the Raster Effects to 300 ppi. Set the Width and Height to 500 pixels and the Color Mode to RGB.
Now we will draw the shape of the jar with the Pen tool. It may help if you use the grid to guide you as you draw the outline of the jar (View – Show Grid). Set the Stroke to black and 1 point width. Set the Fill to white. Draw the jar in a shape something like this. At this point, the outline of the jar is made up of a group of lines and angles. But a glass jar has smooth angles and not the sharp angles that we have now. We need to smooth these angles.
To smooth the angles, we will select the anchor points and convert them to a smooth angle. With the Direct Selection Tool, draw a selection around one of the anchor points. From the Control Panel, click on the Convert Selected Anchor Points to Smooth icon. Note– When you convert the anchor points at the top and bottom of the sides of the jar (points 2, 3, 5 and 6), the side will curve outward. Drag on the handle of the Direction Line to straighten the side of the jar.

Finally, we need to smooth out the bottom anchor points. With the Direct Selection tool, draw a selection around the bottom two anchor points. From the Control Panel, click on the Convert Selected Anchor Points to Smooth icon. This time when the bottom curves downward, we do not want to straighten it. We will keep the bottom of the jar curved.
Now, we need to cut out the oval opening at the top of the jar. The jar should not be selected. With the Ellipse tool, set the Stroke to black (1 point) and the Fill to white. Draw an oval at the opening of the jar. The oval should be the same width as the opening.

Select both the jar and the oval. In the Pathfinder panel (Window – Pathfinder), click the Divide icon. The jar and oval should still be selected. From the Menu bar, click Object – Ungroup. Deselect the jar and oval.

With the Direct Selection tool, select only the two halves of the oval. Click Edit – Cut to remove the oval and create the opening of the jar.
Now, it is time to give the jar a glass appearance. Select the jar. From the Menu bar, click Effect – Stylize – Inner Glow. Set the following values in the dialog box.

Color Square: 4d4d4d
Mode: Normal
Opacity: 80%
Blur: 40 px
Edge

There we have our jar. In the next tutorial, we will add more detail to the jar and fill the jar with a wax candle.