Happy New Year, dekeOtopians. To start this year of right (if a few days late), this week’s Deke’s Techniques episode is all about creating a snazzy New Year greeting in Illustrator, using just a few simple shapes and then dynamically transforming them like crazy, until you’ve created a veritable virtual celebration.

The trick is to take this rather simple collection of shapes….

And use Illustrator’s Transform effect to dynamically produce this wheel of fun and fortune. Along the way, you’ll see how Deke creates the rather sophisticated pattern and the cut out numbers. If you’re a member of lynda.com, you’ll see how he adds the sunburst and alternate patterns inside the little circles. It’s a New Year miracle, courtesy of Illustrator.

If you’re not a member of lynda.com, start the new year off right by going to lynda.com/deke and signing up for a free week’s subscription. With it, you can test out hand-crafted video training on a variety of subjects. Or just absorb the continuing creative wisdom of the last three years worth of Deke’s Techniques.