An Illustrated Pear: Pattern Brushes

This is another pear in my series of learning what's new in Illustrator CS6. I wanted to try some of the new pattern brushes.  I built both pear and leaf shapes and then created a series of arcs and positioned them over the pear. Then I selected an Arc and chose Edit>Path>Divide Objects Below to cut the pear along the arc. I continued that for each arc until the pear was cut into a series of stripes.

I then filled each stripe with color and placed another arc on top and applied one of the new pattern brushes that came with Illustrator - there are so many! A clipping mask keeps the patterns from extending beyond the edge of the pear. Since it looked so much like a Christmas ornament, used two rounded rectangles and a circle filled with gradients to create a hanger.  (Click to enlarge.)

Created a gradient background and cut it up with the knife tool. Added a few more gradient layers to create a little more drama for the background and to imply it's hanging in a Christmas tree.

There are so many pattern brushes that come with Illustrator, and they are so easy to create, that one could build hundreds of ornaments and they'd all be unique.