The Xara Trompe L'Oeil Room Page 6
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Select the center rectangle and apply a Flat pale blue fill.

This bottom section represents the clear, non-frosted portion of the glass bulb and the glass element inside the bulb that holds the thin wires that hold the filament.

The first part of the illustration is now complete. Name and save your drawing and take a break.

 

Next we will add the eyeball element to the light bulb. Why an eyeball in a light bulb, why to represent bright ideas of course.

The technique I devised for creating the iris is thanks in part to Ross Macintosh and Steve Newport , both of whom unknowingly contributed bits of technique that I was able to incorporate into my method.

Begin by drawing and centering two circles to the sizes shown.

 

The pupil, the black hole in the iris, is not a flat shape, but more of a soft opening in the iris.

So instead of applying a black fill and saying that will work, we'll create a subtle three color Circular Fill using the three colors shown. Colors 2 and 3 will soften the outside edge of the pupil. The lighter gray will make the center of the pupil a tiny bit lighter.

TIP: Having trouble dragging and dropping colors onto the fill path? You can double click on the fill path with the Fill Tool cursor to add a color station as well.

 

Steve Newport used this modification of a Fractal Clouds fill to create his image of flames. Ross Macintosh also used a Fractal Clouds fill for the iris in his eyeball fill. So I'd be foolish to reinvent the wheel when Steve and Ross have laid such good groundwork.

Create a small rectangle about one third the width of the iris and apply a two color Fractal Clouds Fill.

Drag the fill path arrows until they are the size and angle shown. This does a pretty fair job replicating the colored, fibrous muscles of the iris.