Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Illustrator is unique in its ability to peel off a single attribute,

such as the blue fi ll, and blend it independently of other attri-

butes associated with that same object. Which is admirable,

to be sure. But as Figure 8-37 makes plain, it’s still not right.

13.

Set the gradient fi ll to the Overlay mode. Once again in the

Appearance panel, select the second Fill item, which contains

the white-to-black gradient. I’m not altogether sure what to

do with this fi ll, so let’s try a few blend modes, all available

from the Transparency panel:

•

Change the blend mode to Luminosity. Disappointingly,

this does nothing. Because we overrode the colors in-

side the Hairs path with the blue fi ll above, the gradient

scribbles no longer have an underlying color to interact

with. The result appears identical to that in Figure 8-37.

• Set the blend mode to Screen. This keeps the white tip

of the gradient in the soul patch but altogether wipes out

the dark areas from the sideburns on up.

• What I need is a blend mode that splits the difference

by lightening the hair with the light portion of the gra-

dient and darkening the hair elsewhere. Enter the three

contrast modes—Overlay, Soft Light, and Hard Light—

which enhance contrast by mapping luminance values

like a texture onto the layers in the background. Select

the most successful of these, Overlay, to turn the gradi-

ent into a kind of natu