Post pobrano z: How to Create a Cozy Winter Character in Adobe Illustrator

Funny warm beanies, pretty mittens, warm chocolate beverages, and a Christmas mood—it’s all about December.

Today we’re going to create a cozy character design illustration using simple shapes and various tools of Illustrator. For example, we’ll work with the Shape Builder Tool, the Pathfinder panel, Zig Zag effect, and more.

So make yourself a cup of hot cocoa, throw a bunch of marshmallows into it, and let’s start. 

If you’re looking for winter inspiration, pop on over to GraphicRiver where you can find thousands of winter-themed vectors.

1. How to Prepare a Document and Make a Background

Step 1

First, set up a New Document (File > New) following these settings:

• Number of Artboards: 1
• Width: 800 px
• Height: 600 px
• Units: Pixels
• Color Mode: RGB

With the help of the Rectangle Tool (M), make an 800 x 600 px rectangle and color it in light beige (#e8dcc5).

Also, turn Smart Guides on (View > Smart Guides).

Step 2

Create a navy blue (#134854) circle by using the Ellipse Tool (L) and align it to the Artboard with the help of the upper Align panel.

Our background is done! Now let’s make a cute character. 

2. How to Make a Girl’s Face

Step 1

Create a yellow (#f9ba48) 100 x 115 px rectangle by using the Rectangle Tool (M) and round both bottom corners to the maximum.

Make two orange (#f68b1e) 30 x 30 px circles and place them on the face as cheeks. 

Step 2

Then, a nose and a mouth.

Make a small 20 x 15 px oval of the same color as the cheeks (pick the color with the Eye Dropper Tool (I)). Add two smaller dark brown (#2f2920) ovals under it as nostrils.

Place the nose on the face.

With the help of the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\), make a 30 px width burgundy (#d3370d) line. Set 4 pt Stroke and Round Cap in the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke). Drag the middle of the line a bit down with the help of the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C).

Make a 30 x 30 px red (#f15a2a) circle and place it beneath the line. Select both the line and the circle, choose the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M), and click on the unnecessary bottom part of the circle while holding Alt. Place the mouth on the face.

Step 3

And now we’re going to make ears. 

Create a 35 x 35 px orange (#f68b1e) circle and place a small burgundy (#d3370d) circle with no Fill and 1 pt Stroke on it.

Group them (Command-G) for your convenience. Paste one ear from one side of the head and one from the other.

3. How to Create a Beanie Hat

Step 1

To make a beanie, create a blue (#80b5c5) 45 x 45 px rectangle with corners rounded to 5 px.

Create a 70 x 55 px beige rectangle (pick the color from the background) and round its upper corners to the maximum. 

Place the blue one on the beige (on its lower side) to form a hat.

Step 2

Let’s add a pompom.

Start with an 80 x 80 px blue circle (pick the color from the hat). Make a smaller 15 x 15 px one and place it on the top of the big circle. 

Select the small circle, choose the Rotation Tool (R), and click on the middle of the big circle while holding Alt. 

In the pop-up Rotate panel, set Angle: 360/20 (where 20 is the desired amount of small circles) and click Copy.

Then, Command-D as many times as needed to repeat your last action.

Step 3

Select all the small circles and merge them using the Unite option in the Pathfinder panel.

Copy the resulting shape, delete its inner part (by clicking on any anchor point and pressing the Delete key on your keyboard), and set a 1 pt light blue (#b0cdcc) stroke. Make this element smaller and place it on the pompom. Place two more smaller copies on the pompom.

Add our newly made pompom at the top of our hat base.

Step 4

Add a small light blue vertical line on the blue stripe on the hat. Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. In the Zig Zag menu, set 4% size, Relative, 4 Ridges per segment, Smooth points, and click OK.

Copy this curved line and paste the copied one on the other side of the blue shape. 

Select the Blend Tool (W) and click on both lines. Then, click twice on the Blend Tool thumbnail and set Specified Steps: 10.

Well then, now that we have a pretty knitted ornament on the beanie, let’s put it on our character’s head. We all know that it’s better to cover your ears in winter, but her ears are too awesome for it, aren’t they?

4. How to Make a Scarf and a Coat

Step 1

Start with a 260 x 90 px blue rectangle (the same color as the hat) and round its corners to 15 px. Turn the shape a bit, copy it, and paste the copied one in the same place (Command-Shift-V). 

Move the copied rectangle beneath the original (you can press Command-[), color it in a darker blue shade, and Reflect it Vertical. Delete the unnecessary parts of the bottom shape by using the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M).

Add two more vertical copies of the first rectangle, color them in darker shades of blue, and place them as scarf edges. 

Step 2

And now we’re going to quickly apply a basic dots pattern.

Just Copy the upper part of the scarf and paste in the same place. Then, go to the Swatches panel and click twice on the Swatch Libraries menu > Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphic Dots. Choose the 6 dpi 10% pattern. Once you click on its thumbnail, the pattern will fill the shape.

Step 3

Let’s make the pattern a bit bigger. Go to Object > Transform > Scale. Choose Uniform: 150% and click OK. Also set up Overlay blending mode and 15% Opacity in the Transparency panel.

Now you just need to create a copied layer for other parts of the scarf and copy this pattern fill by using the Eye Dropper Tool (I).

Step 4

Create a 190 x 200 px red (#f15a2a) rectangle—it’ll be the body. Add a forearm by using a 60 x 170 px red rectangle. Select its bottom right anchor, choose the Free Transform Tool (E), and drag the anchor a bit to the left while holding Command-Alt-Shift. As you can see, it’s an easy way to move two anchors symmetrically.

Rotate the forearm a bit and place it next to the body.

Step 5

Let’s continue with the arm.

Make another, thinner rectangle and color it in light red (#fc6e47). Round its upper corners to the maximum and connect it with the first part of the arm.

Step 6

And mittens!

Start with a 25 x 45 px blue rectangle with corners rounded to 5 px. Also make a 70 x 55 px rectangle colored in beige and round its corners to 10 px. Place them next to each other. 

Make a 35 px height burgundy line with 4 pt stroke. Form a snowflake by using four copies of this line. Place the snowflake on the mittens. 

Step 7

Add the mittens to the arm and copy all their parts. Group them (Command-G), Reflect Vertically, and place on the other side of the body. 

5. How to Make Hair and a Cup of Cocoa

Step 1

Well then, our girl is waiting for a cup of hot cocoa (she’s also waiting for hair, but let’s make the cup first).

Make a 90 x 90 px light grey (#f2f2f2) rectangle, and round its bottom corners to 20 px. Then make an 80 x 50 px oval with 10 px light grey Stroke and light blue Fill. Place this oval on the rectangle base to form a cup. Go to Object > Expand to expand the oval.

Step 2

Create a 1 pt light brown (#493d38) line and place it between the Stroke and the Fill of the oval. Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Set 4% size, Relative, 4 Ridges per segment, and Smooth. Make two more copies of the line and place them under the first.

A small piece of the last line goes over the edge of the oval’s stroke, so delete it by using the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) as we did before with the scarf.

Step 3

Copy the blue oval, paste in the same place, and recolor it in dark brown (#2f2920). Select the upper line and the dark brown oval and then delete the unnecessary upper part of the oval by using the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M).

Make the handle of the mug from a 45 x 45 px light grey circle with 10 pt Stroke and no Fill.

Place the mug into the hands of the girl.

Step 4

And hair!

Make bangs from three 45 x 45 px dark brown circles. Then, form hair from a bunch of 55 x 55 px dark brown circles on the left side. Use Alt-Drag to make copies of circles quickly. 

Make a shape inside the circles to fill the hole. Unite all the parts by using the Pathfinder panel.

Step 5

Copy the hair shape, make the copied one smaller, and set 1 pt light brown Stroke and make no Fill. You may quickly copy these stroke settings from the cup’s light brown lines by using the Eyedropper Tool (I). Place two of these shapes on the hair to give it a more interesting and ornate look. 

Copy the hair and Reflect it Vertically.

6. How to Insert the Character on the Background

Step 1

Select all the parts of our character and place them on the big navy blue circle.

Then, select only the body of the girl and the big circle. Delete the unnecessary part of the body by using the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M).

Step 2

Make a simple shiny star from a 10 x 10 px yellow circle and a 30 x 30 px bright yellow (#ffde1a) circle with 10% Opacity. Group (Command-G) them and spread them around the girl. All the stars should be on one layer.

Step 3

Finally, we’re going to make a Clipping Mask. 

Create a copy of the big navy blue circle and paste it in the same place. Select the layer with the stars and the copied circle. Right-click and choose Make Clipping Mask.

We’re done!

What a Warm, Cozy Mood!

We all did a good job. So I hope that it was as funny and joyful a process for you as it was for me.

Share your results in the comments. I’m always happy to see them. And feel free to experiment with colors and details.

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Flat Winter Scene in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we’ll be creating a cozy
winter forest scene in a trendy flat style. We’ll be using various basic shapes
and Pathfinder operations of Adobe Illustrator, building a lovely scene that
can be used as a header for your blog or website, as a greeting card or an
illustration for print. The process is very easy and comprehensive.

Flat vector scenery has become a very popular design
element that is widespread in advertisement banners, website layouts and brochure
templates. You can find plenty of it on Envato Market and combine several
different concepts into a series. In this tutorial we will make one piece of such a set of scenes: a flat winter forest. 

If you’re interested, you can purchase the end result and the different variants of this flat style forest vector illustration, you can buy it on GraphicRiver.

1. How to Make a Flat Fir Tree

Step 1

Let’s start by making a trunk for our first
tree. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and
make a thin stripe of 7 x 90 px size. 

Fill
it with brown color. Use the Live
Corners feature to make the corners of the stripe fully rounded by pulling
the circle markers to the center. If you’re using an earlier version of Adobe
Illustrator, feel free to use Effect
> Stylize > Round Corners.

Add another thin shape with rounded corners
of 7 x 60 px for the fir branch, and
fill it with light-blue color.

Step 2

Hold Alt-Shift
and drag the created blue shape to the right to make a copy. Press Control-D a few times to make more copies. And let’s add some
diversity to the branches. Copy the
first one and Paste it in Front
(Control-C > Control-F). Squash the shape, making it shorter, but
preserving the initial width of 7 px.

Step 3

Make each stripe a bit longer then the
other by selecting their bottom anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and dragging them down. Leave the width
the same for all the shapes. Add shorter copies on top of each stripe.
Recolor the stripes, gradually darkening the lower shapes, as shown in the
screenshot below.

Step 4

Group
(Control-G) the pieces of each stripe to form the branches, and place our
stripes vertically. And now let’s select the upper branch and double-click the Rotate Tool (R) to open the Options menu. Set the Angle value to 30 degrees and repeat the same action for every stripe, rotating it
at the same angle.

Step 5

Place the rotated branches on the left side
of the tree, Group (Control-G) them
and double-click the Reflect Tool (O)
to open the Options menu. Select the
Vertical Axis and click Copy to flip the mirrored group to the
other side of the trunk.

Step 6

Finally, let’s make the trunk a bit more
detailed. Copy the trunk shape and Paste it in Front (Control-C>Control-F). Make the copy a bit lighter. Take the Scissors Tool (C) and click the top and bottom anchor points to split
the shape into two halves. Delete the left half of the copy.

Wonderful! Our first tree—the winter fir—is ready! Let’s move on to the next one!

2. How to Render the Second Tree

Step 1

Let’s make the second tree taller. Start by
forming a two-colored trunk. You can make a new shape, changing its length and width to your liking, or
just copy the trunk from our first tree and make it taller.

Take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and make two small light-blue shapes on top
of the trunk, forming a stylized crown of the tree.

Select the blue shapes together with the
trunk, and use the Align panel to
align the shapes, selecting Align to Key
Object and clicking Horizontal Align
Center.

Step 2

Duplicate both blue shapes (Control-C > Control-F) and make their color a bit darker.
Then use the Scissors Tool (C) to
split the upper copies apart by clicking their side anchor points and deleting
the unneeded halves.

Here is how the second tree should look in comparison with our first tree. We make it taller in order to make the whole composition more diverse. 

Step 3

And let’s add a couple of branches to this
tree as well. First of all, duplicate one of the rounded pieces from the crown
and place it at the right side of the trunk. Then take the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment
Tool (\) and make a squared shape.

Set the Stroke color to brown in the Color
panel, and head to the Stroke panel.
From here, set the Cap and Corner to the middle positions, making
the corner and the ends of the line a bit rounded. And set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt.

You can make the corner even more rounded
using the Live Corners feature.

Step 4

Let’s add some more branches here.
Duplicate the one that we’ve made and vary the sizes and positions of the
copies. We may need to make the tree even taller to have more space for the additional branches.

Step 5

Let’s add a small, rounded bush, consisting
of two circles made with the Ellipse
Tool (L). Attach a dark-brown trunk. This little fellow will help us to fill in some blank spaces of our illustration.

3. How to Make a Bushy Oak

Step 1

We’ll start by making the crown of our oak.
Form a 90 x 45 px rectangle of a
light-blue color and make its corners fully rounded. Make two more rounded
rectangles of a smaller size and form a pyramid, placing one on top of the
other.

Step 2

Group
(Control-G) the shapes and duplicate them (Control-C > Control-F), making the
top copy a bit darker. Keeping the top group of shapes selected, take the Eraser Tool (Shift-E), hold down Alt, and stretch the selection over the
right half of the tree-crown to delete it.

Step 3

Add a dark-brown tree-trunk in front. Take the Polygon Tool and set the Sides value to 3 to make a tiny triangle. Copy the created triangle and spread
the copies over the left side of the crown and over the trunk, making the tree
textured.

4. How to Make a Fancy Pine

Step 1

Let’s use the very first tree that we made in this tutorial—the fir—to form a tall, detailed pine. First of all, make its
trunk much taller, dragging its bottom anchor points down with the Direct Selection Tool (A). 

Then select all the branches,
except the top ones, and press Enter
to open the Move window. Set the Horizontal value to 0 px and the Vertical value to 10 px
in order to move the selected group of branches 10 px down.

Deselect the upper branches from the group
that we’ve just moved and repeat the same action, moving the rest of the branches 10 px down.

Step 2

Now recolor the branches, applying a brown tint to make them fit the trunk. And let’s start forming the pine
needles. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to
place a tiny vertical shape at the left side of the upper branch.

Step 3

Move the created needle beneath the branch (Shift-Control-[). Hold Alt-Shift and
drag it to the right and up a bit, making a copy. Press Control-D
several more times, filling the upper branch with stylized needles. Vary the
shades of blue, making the branch more diverse.

Step 4

Group
(Control-G) the needles that we’ve made for the
upper branch, copy the group and paste it multiple times to fill all the empty branches. Make
the bottom needles a bit longer by selecting their bottom anchor points with the Lasso Tool (Q) and moving them down with the Down Arrow key.

You can make the left side of the pine a
bit darker to make it look more detailed. And let’s move to our last tree!

5. How to Make a Stylized Fir

Step 1

Finally, let’s make another needle-leaved
tree, but this time it will be very simple and stylized. To start with, make
three triangles, using the Polygon Tool.
Vary the size and the color of the triangles, making the top one small and
light blue and the bottom one large and dark blue.

Combine the triangles, placing them one
beneath the other, forming a pyramid.

Step 2

Add a trunk and Send it to Back
(Shift-Control-[). Finally, make a set of tiny dark-blue triangles and
speckle them above the blue shapes of the fir-tree, adding a textured touch.

6. How to Make a Winter Forest Scene

Step 1

Let’s place our trees in a row, duplicating
some of them and varying the sizes to form a well-balanced composition. Add a long horizontal stripe with the Rounded Rectangle Tool at the bottom of the forest, forming the ground.

You can
rearrange the trees, placing one object above the other by using the Control-[ and Control-] key combinations.

Select all the trees and head to the Align panel. From here, select Align to Key Object and click Vertical
Align Bottom.

Now all the trees are aligned evenly to the ground! 

Step 2

Let’s add a light-beige rectangle for the
background beneath the trees so that we’ll be able to make some white, snowy
details. Recolor the horizontal ground to white and add a small white
circle at the left side of the ground shape. Press Alt-Shift and drag the white circle to the right, making a copy.
Press Control-D several times to
create more copies, covering all the ground shape with circles.

Step 3

Keeping the circles selected, Unite them in Pathfinder. Take the Eraser
Tool (Shift-E), hold Alt and drag the selection rectangle over the bottom half
of the circled shape in order to delete it.

If you combine the circles with the ground
stripe, it should look like this.

Step 4

And now let’s add a few finishing details
to the sky to fill the empty space of our composition. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to form a 50 x 15 px shape. Place a smaller shape on top, moving it to the left
and thus forming a stylized cloud.

Make more clouds and distribute them at the
top part of our illustration. Now it looks complete!

Congratulations! Our Winter Forest Flat
Illustration Is Finished!

Great job, everyone! Our flat-style winter
forest scene is ready! We’ve added a tiny finishing touch here: snowflakes
falling from the clouds to make the illustration look more detailed. I hope you’ve discovered some new tips and tricks that you can use in your future work.

You can get the source file for this flat winter forest vector illustration to check out how it was made and see what other color schemes you can apply to it in order to make the image more diverse and to expand its field of use. Following this example, you can try recoloring the image, depicting various seasons of the year or different lighting, or showing day and night scenes.