Tricky drop shadow in Illustrator

Question

Working on this mark I wanted to try a subtle drop shadow under the negative-space "tick". Unfortunately the tick is not an object. It was and object, but I have already subtracted it from the "box" behind it.

Below you can see the effect of an inner glow effect on the lower half of the box. It almost works, but of course applies the effect all the way around.

Can anyone think of a way of getting a drop shadow under a non-existent object, or do I need to backtrack to keep that tick shape.

Risking a double question, if I do need the tick object in order to apply a drop shadow to it, is there a fast way to turn that negative space I have now back into the object?

Answer 1

• Make a shape for the drop shadow, fill it black, and in the Appearance panel, add a Gaussian blur effect.
• Copy the underlying darker blue shape, paste it in place and bring it to the top.
• Select both the shadow, and the top shape, apply as a clipping mask using Object > Clipping Mask > Make

• In the appearance panel set the blending mode to multiply, and reduce the opacity a little.

Answer 2

What about making a blend using two paths 0,1 pt weight:

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To preserve the two shapes using pathfinder make a compound shape: holding Alt click the pathfinder button