Making a Basketball in Illustrator CS2

1. Look on the internet for an image of a basketball to replicate. An image is provided below just in case you can’t find a suitable graphic.
2. Open Adobe Illustrator CS2 and create a new document at your specified size.
3. Select the Ellipse tool from hidden tools in the Rectangle tool area.
4. Draw a circle on the canvas to make the outline for the basketball.
5. Now select the pen tool and begin creating the paths within the circle outline to resemble the lines on a basketball. (Make sure your curves are smooth looking)
1. Lines within an image can be smoothed using the Smooth tool hidden under the Pencil tool in the Tools window.
2. To use the Smooth tool: Select the path you want to edit, and then select the smooth tool. Now trace the path as you want it to look and Illustrator will automatically smooth out the jagged edges.

1. Select every section of paths within the object.
2. Click on the Live Paint Bucket Tool in the Toolbox.
3. Double click on the Color Fill in the Toolbox and select the desired color of the basketball.
1. Color Example: R: 216; G: 122; B: 9
4. Now select every path in the object again, and then click Edit => Copy. (If not already selected.)
5. Then click on Edit => Paste In Front to put a copy of the image on top of the original image.
6. Select the Gradient tab in the Colors Palette to the right and choose the Radial gradient type.
7.  Click on the color marker to the bottom left in the Gradient window and then double on the fill color in the Tools palette.
8. Make this color white or a much lighter orange to produce a lighting effect on the ball.
9. Select the color marker to the bottom right in the Gradient window. Make this color the same as the original basketball color in Step 8.

1. Now select the Gradient tool. Drag and hold from the top-right corner to the middle of the ball then release the left mouse button.
2. Click on the Transparency tab in the Colors palette. For the Blending mode select Multiply to get final image of the basketball with lighting.
3. You can add other effect to the object or your own touch of design to make the image presentable to you.