Illustrator: Diamond Solitaire Necklace

To create the "Diamond Solitaire Necklace" I took the diamond symbol I made in the previous assignment and filled it with gradients using the "Live Paint Bucket" tool. I created various ellipse and rounded rectangle shapes and filled them with metallic gold gradients to create the necklace components. To give the diamond a little more depth I added a circular shape above the diamond and filled it with a radial white-to-transparent gradient and positioned the center of the gradient near the top-left of the shape. Also, I used the star tool to create small 'diamond sparkles' to make the diamond pop.

To create whatever the following is (I didn't have much of a plan, I just wanted to play around and see what I could do!) I duplicated the diamond multiple times and arranged it around the perimeter of the original. I changed the color of the diamond in the original to red and created various 'diamond holders' with metallic gold gradient fills. Also, to give the 'diamond' a little more depth, I added a circular shape filled with a linear white-to-transparent gradient which I blurred with the "Gaussian Blur" filter.