Custom blend exercise

This little illustration was, I think, the most interesting exercise I've done for my classes to date. This method is often used in technical drawings. The technique for this was using custom blends, by putting several different shapes of various shades next to each other and literally clicking a button that blends them together. It's deceptively easy, and produces a great result.

The cord was made by layering strokes of various shades and widths and blending them. For example, replicating the cord path three times and changing the bottom to a 9-point dark stroke, then a 6-point medium stroke, and 2-point light stroke on top of it.

The shapes were traced by hand over a photograph and the colors were eye-droppered from the same photo. I can't wait till I have time to use this technique again!