How to make these color effects?

Question

I am trying to design a logo that makes the color blend as on the image beneath. How do I do that? Any design guides or tips you can give me?

http://www.colourlovers.com/business/trends/branding/7880/Papeterie_Haute-Ville_Logo

Answer 1

This should be quite easy in Adobe Illustrator.

1. Create the shape for your logo.

2. Apply a thick stroke to it. The intention is to get the shape right, but only be black and white at this point.

3. Choose Object > Path > Outline Stroke to create an object from the stroke. You now have the logo as a complete black and white outline.

4. Create some shapes that split the object into the parts you'd like to shade differently. Make sure they overhang the edge of the logo object by quite a bit (this doesn't matter, and we'll be removing them later. You can use any tool to create these: Rounded rectangle, ellipse, freeform path, whatever.

5. Once you have all the sections worked out, select everything and use the Divide button in the Pathfinder panel. This will cut all the parts into separate objects.

6. Delete the parts you don't need (the ones that aren't the main logo shape.

7. Apply linear gradients to each object.

Easy :)

Extra bonus points awarded if you keep the initial logo as a base, so the joins between the sections receive better antialiasing (there's several ways to do this, depending on you competency). You could also keep the shapes in tact and use masking instead of the Pathfinder tools, but that may be a little more confusing.

It would also be possible to create these logos in Photoshop, but I'd take a different approach. Or, even better, create the paths you need in Illustrator, then move them across to Photoshop to apply the colours.

Answer 2

There are a few different techniques to use. Try this tutorial it should be a good starting point. The tutorial discusses the Shape Builder Tool and rich gradients in Illustrator CS5 to achieve a similar look for Celtic Knots. You should be able to transfer this over to the logo design to get the desired effect (you really only need the rich gradient component as @Burnso suggests but the using the Shape Builder Tool/Warp tool would achieve the desired twisting effect).