OK What have we done here? Let's see, I placed the enveloped type over the golden sphere and applied a Stained Glass Transparency, about 40%, if I remember correctly. I created a four-sided star with the Quick Shapes Tool, applied a pale yellow and white Circular Fill to the star with the Reverse Rainbow option, and applied a Circular, Bleach Transparency. The stars were duplicated and added here and there. I made the sea and reflection into a bitmap and applied a tiny Linear Transparency (about 1/4" from start to finish) to the top portion to soften the top edge of the bitmap (the horizon line). And that's about it. What? Oh, the droplets on the gold sphere? Those! I made a small composition of silver droplets, used the Fisheye Lens technique, placed them over the golden sphere and applied a Flat, Mix Transparency, 30%.
The gold and silver shapes really look cool on a black background. Kind of like a black velvet painting, only not as tacky. The Fractal Clouds technique creates some fairly credible clouds too, although I preferred the stark, cloudless sky. As for the whale that swims minnow-small? He (or she) is in there some place. Only she/he is so minnow-small that we cannot see him/her/it.
Comments, criticisms and suggestions for future tutorials are always welcome. If you get this far, click here and drop me a note. Let me know how am I doing. Too easy? Too hard? Too little, too late? Too much? I need feedback. Plus, I can show your responses to my sponsors to let them know that somebody is actually doing these tutorials and encourage them to continue to sponsor this site. And if there are any publishers out there, there has never been a better time to publish the big Xara book!
Gary W. Priester
Host of the Trompe L'Oeil Room