Adobe Illustrator

1. Open Adobe Illustrator
2. Select Print Document
3. Set the page orientation to landscape, leave the other settings at their default value

A lot of work in this image will be done with the ellipse tool. This tool can be found in the tool panel which defaults to the left hand side of the screen. The ellipse tool can be selected by left clicking and holding whichever of the geometric shape tools is presently displated in this toolbar. A flyout menu should appear after a moment allowing selection of the ellipse tool which is usually the third tool from the top of this list.

1. Often when working with Illustrator it will be important to use a specific few named colours. This illustration uses Pantone 2765c and Pantone 3155c.
2. To open the Pantone solid coated book locate the Swatches panel, usually found in the right hand nest of tool panels. With swatches selected click on the panel menu option control to be found at the top right of the panel directly under the X control.
3. With the panel menu open select open swatch library which will display another menu from which colour books can be selected, this in turn allows access to PANTONE solid coated.

1. Using the ellipse tool click and drag out a circle on the artboard, keeping the shift key held down during this operation will ensure a perfect circle.
2. Locate and open the gradient tool panel, usually found in the right hand nest of tool panels.
3. Select radial in the Type drop-down box.
4. Drag the Pantone 2765c swatch out of the Swatches panel and onto the right hand small gradient slider at the foot of the gradient panel under the gradient bar. Repeat this stage for the left slider. This should activate the colour panel, also in this same right hand nest of tool panels (hereafter RHTP) usually towards the top. Type '30%' into the box to the right of the slider and hit return.
5. Select the gradient manipulation tool from the left hand tool bar (hereafter LHTB) and click and drag from off centre of the ellipse releasing the mouse button to set the new gradient. Repeat until the gradient looks like the one in the diagram.

1. Copy the ellipse and paste a new one alongside the original. Select one ellipse and make it slightly smaller positioning it to the upper left side of the larger. Send the smaller ellipse behind the larger by holding down Shift + Ctrl + [. These ellipses will form the body of the fly.
2. To creat the eyes, create a new ellipse this time making a lozenge shape as shown in the diagram. Add a gradient to this lozenge as before but this time the gradient should be coloured black to dark grey.

1. Zoom into the black lozenge with the Zoom tool found in the LHTB.
2. Draw a new smaller lozenge using the ellipse tool.
3. With the new smaller ellipse selected, click the white swatch in the Swatches panel
4. Using the Align panel, usually found in the RHTP, vertically centre the white ellipse over the black gradient ellipse.
5. Select the white ellipse and copy it. Select the new white ellipse in addition to the pervious white ellipse by holding shift whilst clicking each in turn.
6. Use left aling and top align in the Align panel to center the two white ellipses over each other whilst also keeping them centered over the black gradient ellipse. Do not click off and deselect these ellipses!
7. Locate the Transparancy panel in the RHTP and select it. From the panel menu options of the Transparency panel, select Make Opacity Mask.

The transparency mask panel works in a very similar way to the layer masks in photoshop. The main portion of the panel is given over to two thumbnails, the thumbnail to the left is the image to be manipulated and the thumbnail to the right is a view of the mask.

Opacity masks apply a black and white mask to an image or shape. This mask is more opaque the whiter it is and more transparent the blacker it is.

1. Select the right hand thumbnail in the Transparency panel. Whilst this thumbnail is selected any and all operations performed in illustratior will only affect the opacity mask and will have no effct upon the rest of the illustration.
2. Click the white ellipse on the artboard and select the Gradient panel. Apply a black and grey gradient to the ellipse as before this time making the grey lighter and having the brightest part of the gradient at the very top of the ellipse.
3. Draw a new smaller ellipse over the gradient ellipse. With this new ellipse selected choose the black swatch from the swatches panel.
4. Arrange the new black ellipse more or less centrally over the gradient ellipse as shown in the diagram (the black ellipse should not appear on the artboard but the original gradient ellipse should be visible in it's place).
5. Draw new white circles over the black ellipse to resemble those in the diagram.

1. Return to the Transparency panel in the RHTP and select the left hand thumbnail image deselecting the opacity mask.
2. Click on both the white highlight area and the surrounding black gradient ellipse and press CTRL + g to group these objects together.
3. Copy the new group and paste a copy alongside the original. As with the original purple gradient circles, make one of the lozenge groups smaller and place it behind the larger with CTRL + Shift + [ and place them as shown.
4. With both sets of lozenges selected, press CTRL + t to select free transform mode. Then click and drag the corner handles which should now be visible (as shown in the diagram) so that the lozenges are slightly inclined.

1. With the black lozenges still both selected call up the drop shadow menu by using the main menu at the very top of the illustrator window in this order Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow.
2. Set the Drop shadow panel as shown in the diagram. This completes the fly's eyes.

1. To build the legs, select the outline swatch in the LHTB to bring it to the front and select black from the Colour panel and clear any fill colour by selecting the solid colour swatch to bring it to the front and then clicking the clear icon which is the right most of the three small icons directly below the colour swatches.
2. Select the Pen tool from the LHTB and click on the artboard to create a dot, then click a second point and with the left mouse button held down drag out a béziere curve.

1. Keep creating new points as in Step 10 until a shape such as show in the diagram is formed.
2. Select the Direct selection tool from the LHTB and working with one point at a time manipulate the point and the curve handles to tidy up the shape until it looks something like the diagram.
3. Click the curved arrow to the upper right of the fill and outline swatches in the LHTB so that the black outline becomes a black fill.

1. Select the Eyedropper tool from the LHTB and with the béziere shape selected click the eyedropper over the outside edge of one of the eye lozenges completed in Step 10.
2. Using the Gradient manipulation tool, found in the LHTB, manipulate the gradient on this new shape until it resembles the diagram.
3. Select the Ellipse tool from the LHTB and draw out a new lozenge. Colour the lozenge black and using Free transform (CTRL + t) arrange as shown.
4. Add an outer glow to the black lozenge. Call up the Outer glow panel (Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow) and apply a slight glow to the edge of the black lozenge.
5. Move the black lozenge behind the béziere shape with CTRL + [ and then group both objects with CTRL + g.

1. Copy and paste this new group of objects to form a second leg and position as indicated in the diagram. Make the second leg slightly smaller than the first and adjust it's angle slighly with Free Transform (CTRL + t).
2. Group both legs with CTRL + g and then copy and paste this group to form a second pair of legs.
3. Select this new leg group and flip them by clicking Object > Transform > Reflect and clicking okay to all the default options in the Reflect panel.
4. Make the second pair of legs slightly smaller (Free Transform again - CTRL + t) as they will be positioned further away from the viewer and then use CTRL + Shift + [ to send these legs behind the purple body ellipses.

1. Moving onto the wings, select the Ellipse tool from the LHTB and drag out an ellipse as shown. Colour this ellipse with Pantone 3155c by selecting it from the Swatches panel whilst making sure that the Fill swatch is uppermost in the LHTB.
2. Copy and paste this ellipse as describe previously and then with both wing ellipses selected bring them together by clicking center align and vertical align in the Align panel from the RHTP.

1. With both these wing ellipses selected use the Transparency panel in the RHTP to create an opacity mask as described before. Click the right hand, mask, thumbnail in the Transparecy panel to select the opacity mask for editing. Set the mask to contain a gradient which runs mid-light-grey to mid-dark-grey and use the Gradient manipulation tool to arrange the gradient as shown, more or less repeating the initial stages of Step 8.
2. With the mask selected on the artboard, add a solid white border by selecting the Outline swatch and making sure it's uppermost in the LHTB. Next select white from the Swatches panel in the RHTP.
3. Open the Stroke panel usually found in the RHTP, set the Weight 2pt and then select the middle icon on the row entitled Align stroke to move the stoke wholly inside the ellipse.

1. Select the Outline swatch ,making sure it's uppermost in the LHTB, then select white from the Swatches panel in the RHTP.
2. Select the pen tool from the LGTB and draw a series of Béziere curves as described in Step 13 to reseble those in the diagram.
3. Adjust the weight of these Béziere curves and their end type in the Stroke panel to be found in the RHTP.

1. Select the Transparency panel in the RHTP and select the leftmost thumbnail, deselecting the opacity mask.
2. Use Free Transform (CTRL + t) to adjust the angle of the wing to roughly what is shown in the diagram.
3. Copy and paste the wing. Adjust the size and angle of the newer wing by using Free Transform and then moving it below it's counterpart with CTRL + [.
4. Select and group both wings with CTRL + g and then using CTRL + [ move the new group downward through the stack of objects until they arrive under the topmost body ellipse and over the bottommost body ellipse.

1. Copy and paste the wing group to create a counterpart pair of wings and using the Reflect panel (Object > Transform > Reflect) and then Free Transform (CTRL + t) arrange the second set of wings as shown.
2. In a carbon copy of how the legs were created, send this second pair of wings to the back of the stack of objects by using CTRL + Shift + [. This completes the fly's wings.

1. Add antenna to the fly by duplicating one of the fly's legs (either double click into the leg group until one leg and it's shadow ellipse are isolated and then copying them, or duplicate a leg group and use CTRL + Shift + g to ungroup the leg components isolating just one leg. This will become the antenna.
2. Change the angle of the antenna with Free Transform (CTRL + t) and the Reflect panel if a left leg was used to create it.
3. Select the stalk of the antenna and set its fill colour to black using the Swatches panel from the LHTB.
4. Draw a black circle using the Ellipse tool from the LHTB and arrange over the end of the stalk as shown in the diagram.
5. With both the stalk and the circle selected open the Pathfinder panel usually found in the RHTP and using the third icon from the left on the second row down in this panel, combine the circle and the stalk to form a single shape.
6. Add the gradient back to the modified stalk by using the Eyedropper tool from the LHTB as before and sampling one of the legs. Adjust the gradient on the stalk until it is as shown using the Gradient manipulation tool in the LHTB.
7. Slightly mute the black ellipse at the base of the stalk by selecting it and then opening the Transparency panel in the RHTP. In the upper right of this panel type 70% into the Opacity entry box and press return.
8. Duplicate and resize the antenna in the same way as for the legs, eyes, body segments and wings. Arrange the second antenna modifying slightly as before so as to get a little variation between the two.

1. Select eyerthing so far created with CTRL + a and combine into a single group with CTRL + g.
2. Duplicate and resize the fly taking time to adjust slghtly the position of individual elements of each duplicate. End with six or so flys of varlying sizes as shown.
3. Add trails to the flys by creating Beßziere curves as described in Steps 11 and 12 and then adjusting their properties in the Stroke panel in the RHTP.

1. Take a break, the illustration is complete.