Lotus Flowers with Illustrator Card Design, Best Wishes

 Lotus flower has often been described as the most exquisite wishes of the Mother Nature for the mankind. 

The Meaning Of The Word Lotus

My Illustrator  card design

 Lotus flowers have been influential in cultures across the world from ancient times until today,
from ancient Egypt and India to all across Asia. They have been associated with the human soul, gods and goddesses and featured in stories and legends.  

 To the ancient Egyptians, a lotus bud was a symbol of rebirth and fertility. It closes in the evening and falls to the water, but in the morning it opens and is lifted above the surface.Its behaviour emulates that of the sun. Because of this rising and setting, it is also a symbol of death and rebirth.


 The lotus( The blue water lily) was commonly used in art as a symbol of Upper Egypt. It was combined with  the long stems papyrus flower (the symbol of Lower Egypt) as a representation of the unification of the two lands ( Upper and Lower Egypt).It  was shown throughout Egypt in tombs and temples to symbolize the union of Upper and Lower Egypt, but the blue water lily had a much deeper significance to the Egyptian people.


 The god of the blue water lily was Nefertem, a god not just linked to the sun but to beautification and healing.It was he who brought a water lily to the sun god Ra, to help ease the suffering of his aging body. The perfume of this flower was not only pleasing to the Egyptians, but they saw it as healing as well .Scenes show women holding the water lily and people being offered the flower at parties, smelling its divine fragrance. Some people today believe that the Egyptians used this plant as a narcotic both for its healing qualities and as a recreational drug when soaked in wine, though this is a hotly debated topic.

 The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality -  the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily.
 The flower wasn't just used at parties, but it was used at funerals.Tutankhamen's innermost gold coffin had blue water lily petals scattered over it along with a few other floral tributes.The Egyptians looked forward to their souls coming to life "like a water lily reopening", thinking that the deceased died as the water lily closed awaiting opening with the morning sun. The Book of the Dead has a spell to allow the deceased to transform into one of these flowers.  
 As a general The Lotus flower basically symbolizes the clarity of heart as well as the mind. In other words the Lotus flower represents strength, good luck, long life as well as honor and respect. Some scholars have even talked of the lotus flower being a universal representation of the spiritual presence in human lives. 


The Appearance:
 In Egypt, two native species of lotus grew, the white lotus and the blue lotus. A third type, the pink lotus was introduced to the country from Persia during the Late period. All three species were depicted in Egyptian art the pink lotus showed up in Hellenistic artworks, however the sacred blue lotus was the flower most commonly used and the one depicted in the hieroglyph. 

The Card Design. 
This is Illustrator design.
Open a new Illustrator document with dimensions of 300 x 600 px.

The new today is How to apply round corner to the text. 

• Open new document with the dimention you like for the shape of your card .Here I designed longtudinal card to be folded from the middle and upper picture.
• Draw a rectangle all around the artwork with no stroke and any color .  
•  Select the style you like to add to your card from the Graphic styles panle just click it , it will come to the document .Here I had selected Arched Aqua .
• Select the symbol you like from the Symbols Panle .Here I had chosed the lotus flower [ Symbols libraries menu-flowers -lotus] .
• Change the color of the flower if you like I had a video to help you doing that in my videos page The name of the video is Assin new colors to selected artwork in Illustrator. 
• Ad your text with the Type Tool . Add rounded corners to the text [ Effect Menu - stylize -round corners. and select the amount you like - OK] .
• Save your work . 

Thank you

MR

Manal Raafat