In this week’s free Deke’s Techniques episode, Deke shows you how to start with a simple circle (you don’t even have to draw it yourself, just command Illustrator to do so) and transform it into a dynamically effective multi-colored, multi-petaled flower.

Along the way, you’ll see some useful Illustrator tricks: letting Illustrator calculate things for you by entering a mathematical equation into a dialog box field, setting the rasterization of your effects higher than Illustrator deems initially necessary, and resetting the Layers panel so that you can actually see the contents in the layer thumbnail. All good stuff.

But what struck me most about this project was that the interim steps to creating the flower seemed like useful things to know in and of themselves. Of course, you can watch the movie to get the particulars, but check out my snapshots from along the way:

For those of you who are members of lynda.com, Deke’s got an exclusive movie this week in which he shows you how to add a stroke to this creation for an entirely different feel.

If you’re not a member of lynda.com and would like to check this and the other 300+ Deke’s Techniques out, you can get a free week’s trial by signing up at lynda.com/deke. Flower power to the Illustrator people!