How to Make Festive Vector Gift Boxes in Illustrator

Final Image Preview

 

Step 1

Using basic shapes, draw a Christmas ornament that will become the pattern in the wrapping paper of the gift boxes. If you want each gift box to have a different patterns then be sure to make those designs at this point too. Merge the shapes together using the Pathfinder.

Step 2

Open your Brushes Palette by pressing F5. Drag the shape into the Brushes Palette. Select New Scatter Brush and press OK.

Step 3

Move the sliders around to suit your liking. I usually set each of the options (Size, Spacing, Scatter and Rotation) with extreme values so my pattern has enough variation.

Step 4

Select your newly created Scatter Brush from the Brushes Palette. Using the Paintbrush Tool (B) draw, in one continuous stroke, an S shape (or whatever shape you desire.) You can change the scale of the pattern by adjusting the weight of your stroke in the Strokes Palette. If you want tweak the overall pattern more, simply double-click the Scatter Brush in the Brushes Palette.

Step 5

Open your Symbols Palette by pressing Command + Shift + F11. Drag the Scatter Brush art into the Symbols Palette. Under Type select Graphic and press OK.

Step 6

Draw the basic shape of the gift boxes and ribbons. Give them a light grey fill instead of a dark color. A dark color will make it difficult to see the dimensional effect we will apply in the next step. Very important, make sure to group the entire graphic below before you apply the 3D effects! If you don’t group everything shown below, each piece will have a different vanishing point, which is not what we want.

Step 7

Go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel… Enter the values below then click on Map Art…

Step 8

Under Symbol, scroll down to the bottom of the list and select the Christmas ornament pattern. Click Scale to Fit, then fine tune the pattern using square the nodes in the corners and on the sides. Apply the pattern to each of the visible sides of the gift boxes by selecting the Surface that you desire. If you created multiple patterns then select the other patterns from the Symbol list when appropriate. Click OK.

Step 9

In order to color the pattern and gift boxes you will first need to Expand them. Go to Object Expand.

Step 10

Ungroup the entire graphic by repeatedly going to Object > Ungroup. Ungroup until you cannot ungroup any more.

Step 11

You will notice that there are shapes that fall outside of the surface of the gift boxes. To quickly get rid of them select the object and click Trim in the Pathfinder Palette.

Step 12

Making curly ribbons is easy, when you have an expert knowledge of Illustrator’s tools. To quickly make flowing ribbons open your Artistic Brushes by going to Window > Brush Libraries > Artistic > Artistic_Calligraphic. Select one of the angled brushes, then using the Paintbrush Tool (B), draw a curly ribbon in one continuous motion. Since you are using an angled brush the line you draw automatically has some variation in it, which makes it look like a ribbon!

Step 13

Draw other ribbons that will flow down from the gift boxes.

Step 14

Create a complex gradient that has multiple highlights and shadows. Drag the corner of the Gradient Palette down so you can get a better idea of what you’re doing.

Step 15

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw two horizontal ribbons across the top of the highest box. Start applying the gradient.

Step 16

Observe how the ribbons have several highlights and shadows.

Step 17

Create another gradient that has several shades of the same color, but not as many as the ribbon. Usually wrapping paper is not as shinny as ribbons.

Step 18

Apply the gradient to the wrapping paper. Apply the gradient to the ornaments on the wrapping paper and make them a little darker to differentiate it from the overall color of the paper. Make the ornaments darker by selecting them and going to Edit > Edit Colors > Adjust Color Balance… and enter values that suit your liking.

Step 19

Give the rest of your presents gradients that compliment each other. The top surface of each box is generally a little lighter in color than the other sides. Make the top of the boxes lighter by repeating the previous step using positive values.

Step 20

To give the curly ribbons a gradient you will first need to expand them by going to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 21

Interweave your ribbons between the boxes to make the illustration more visually appealing. Apply a gradient to the ribbon.

Step 22

For longer sections of ribbon you will need to Divide the ribbon up so you can apply the gradients to each section as the ribbon twists and turns. The dotted line represents where I’ve divided the ribbon.

Step 23

Notice again that the ribbon is divided here too. I’ve applied the complex gradient to each divided section of the ribbon. You will need to vary the angle of the gradient to achieve a convincing reflective effect. This would not be possible if you didn’t divide long ribbons into sections.

Step 24

Give the edges of the presents a white highlight by drawing a small white shape along the edge. Adjust the Opacity as you see fit.

Step 25

Observe how my line goes over the top of the ribbons too.

Step 26

Create a shadow for some of the flowing parts of the ribbon by duplicating the ribbon and giving it a black to white gradient.

Step 27

Go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and enter a number that produces the desired effect.

Step 28

In the Transparency Palette set your mode to Multiply so the shadow blends nicely with the colors behind it.

Step 29

Add small white highlights to the edge of the ribbons to create even more dimension. There is no real formula for where I apply the highlights. I usually just make them where the artwork needs more visual interest and/or where I definitely know light should be reflecting from.

Step 30

Make the end of the ribbons into triangles by using the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) located by clicking the Flyout Menu under the Pen Tool. Add an extra anchor point to the flat edge of the ribbon. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A) move the point inward to create the triangle tip.

Step 31

Easily create a shadow by drawing a shape around the bottom of the gift boxes. Go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and enter a number that looks good to you.

Final Image

Place the shadow under the gift boxes and you’re done!
Creating vector gift boxes can be done easily when you have a solid understanding of Illustrator’s Tools. Try different angles and patterns to create your own unique holiday gift boxes!

How to Create a Vector Goldfish in Six Steps in Illustrator

Final Image Preview

 

Step 1

Draw the goldfish and scan the drawing. Now open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document (Command + N) at 600 px by 600 px. Insert an image in the document by going to File > Place, then Lock the layer with the scanned image of the goldfish drawing.

Step 2

Make a new layer on top. Start by tracing the outline of the goldfish using the Pen Tool (P). For comfort of work we’ll place different elements in separate layers. Pay attention that the tail of the fish consists of two paths.

Step 3

In this step we’ll paint the body of fish using the Mesh Tool.
In order that to get a beautiful Mesh under the path of the fish, first create a rectangle (Rectangle Tool (M)) with an orange (C=0; M=87; Y=100; K=0) fill and without stroke. Select the rectangle and path of the fish, then make Clipping Mask (picture 3a).
Before we move farther, I urgently recommend you lock all layers you aren’t currently working with so that nothing gets inadvertently moved. In picture 3b all layers except for a rectangle are noted as locked. We’ll make this rectangle into a Mesh shortly.

picture 3a

picture 3b

Create the specks of light on the body of the fish. Add a point to the mesh by using the Mesh Tool (U) and clicking anywhere in the shape’s area (picture 3c). After converting a shape into a mesh, you can select points with three tools: Mesh Tool, Direct Selection Tool, and the Lasso Tool.
All you have to do now is to add color to the mesh by selecting a color from the swatches palette. I took colors from the Swatch library > Metal. Get creative with color in this stage to get an excellent result.

picture 3c

Step 4

Now we’ll create an eye, gill and mouth of the fish. The eye consists of five ellipses located one over another, below the biggest and further in each ellipse decreases in size. The ellipses are filled in by various kinds of gradient and solid colors as shown below. The mouth and gill is filled in by a linear gradient.

Step 5

Now we’ll work on the fins. Fill them in with a linear gradient and Opacity of 70% (picture 5a). Let’s place lines in the fins. Create a brush by first using the Ellipse Tool (L) to make a circle 3px by 3px in any color and without stroke. Drag the right anchor point to the right by means of the Direct Selection Tool (A), while holding Shift to constrain. Convert the selected anchor point to a corner (picture 5b). Transfer the created shape to the Brushes palette and select New Art Brush. Along the edges of a fin drawn two curves (Pen Tool (P) and apply to them the just created brush.
Select both curves and make a Blend, by going to Object > Blend > Blend Options Spacing: specified Steps set to 16, then Object > Blend > Make (Alt + Command + B) (picture 5c). Make Object > Blend > Expand and ungroup our curves. Now let’s correct the bottom ends of the fin edges (picture 5d). Correct this using the Direct Selection Tool (A), moving the bottom anchor points.
Now select all the curves and go to Object > Expand Appearance, Object > Path > Clean Up. Now fill it in with a linear gradient, Opacity set to 70% (picture 5e). Use a similar workflow to make our other fins.

picture 5a

picture 5b

picture 5c

picture 5d

picture 5e

Step 6

Now let’s create the scales. Make a new layer on top. Open our Symbols palette, in the library search for Artistic Textures and select Stipple large. Grab the Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift + S), spray a texture (in our case we’ll be 5-6 clicks will be enough).
Take the tool Symbol Stainer Tool from the Symbol Sprayer Tool submenu, choose a color and paint a texture (picture 6a). Now use the excellent Symbol Screener Tool,select the texture, and very quietly in the corners we’ll click with this tool.
In the middle the texture has turned out non-transparent and along the edges it is hardly visible. Now change the blending mode of the texture we just put on the fish to Lighten and Opacity to 60% (picture 6b). Copy the texture, change blending mode to Color Dodge, set the Opacity to 100% and slightly rotate it (picture 6c).

picture 6a

picture 6b

picture 6c

Conclusion

The goldfish is ready! Have fun using these techniques to make a whole school of vector fish!

How to Illustrate Deliciously Realistic Grapes using Simple Techniques in Illustrator

Final Product

 In this tutorial we will learn how to illustrate a bunch of grapes using basic Adobe Illustrator tools. You will learn how to render multiple light sources and how to model a complex object using simple shapes and techniques. Let’s get started.

 

Step 1

Create a new document. We will start our illustration by drawing a single grape. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create an ellipse with a blue fill color (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) – this will be the basic color of the grapes.

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Step 2

Now create a grape cluster by duplicating the first ellipse. You can easily duplicate the shape by holding down the Alt key and dragging the ellipse with the mouse.Then create an arbitrary contour of grape cluster by using the Tool (P). The grape cluster will be formed gradually by filling in three levels with the ellipses: the lower, the middle and the upper. Start with the lower level, arbitrarily positioning berries along the contour of the cluster.

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Step 3

Determine the light source. In order to bring more volume to the grapes let’s assume that we have two light sources: direct light – the first one (1), and reflected light – the second one (2).

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Step 4

Change the solid fill color of the berries to a radial gradient. Start with the berries located closest to the first light source. Fill the berries with a radial gradient from blue (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) to a light-blue color (C= 62, M= 44, Y= 27 and K= 2) then use the Gradient Tool (G) to properly arrange the colors according to the location of the light source.

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Step 5

Repeat the previous step with the berries located closer to the second light source. The intensity of the second light source is less than that of the first one, so the second gradient will be darker. So fill the berries with radial gradient from blue (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) to blue (C= 68, M= 54, Y= 33 and K= 9).

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Step 6

Using the previous technique, introduce the third reflected light source, fill the upper berries with a radial gradient in the upper right corner of our image. Now group up all the berries of the lower level and name the group "Level 1".

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Step 7

Create the middle and the upper layer of the berries using the same technique.

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Step 8

So far, we have achieved a pretty good result, although our image requires some further editing. First, let’s fill the gaps in the cluster. With the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) change the shape of the cluster’s contour so that it doesn’t protrude out from the berries. Keep the contour selected and go to Object> Arrange> Send to Back and fill the shape with the color (C= 75, M= 74, Y= 58 and K= 76).

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Step 9

Let’s get down to more personalized settings. Move the berries around to make the gaps more realistic and balanced, some berries may have to be deleted, or added.

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Step 10

Adjust the gradient. Start working with the berries that don’t overlap the other ones. As these berries are the closest to the light and don’t have any shadows, they will be lighter than the others. Add a new slider in the gradient palette as shown in the figure below. Now remove the leftmost slider and drag the central slider to its place. Do not forget that our berries are grouped, so use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select them.

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Step 11

Darken the shadowed berries that overlap other berries. To do this, select the left slider in the gradient palette and change its color to a darker one, increasing the value of K in the color palette. Repeat this process for the rest of the berries. This work is painstaking, but very exciting.

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Step 12

We will now create abrasions and scratches on the berries. Using the Pen Tool (P) create a ‘jellybean’ shape on the surface of the berry and fill it with white. Using the Mesh Tool (U) set a grid point in the center of the created shape. Change the color of this point to (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Using the Selection Tool (V) select the shape again and change the Blending Mode to Multiply in the Transparency palette.

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Step 13

Use the Pencil Tool (N) to create scratches. Adjust this tool before you start working. Double-click on the Pencil icon in the Toolbar, type the values shown in the figure below into the dialog box. Choose the color of the stroke (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Let’s start drawing scratches. Diversify the scratches by changing the transparency and stroke width.

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Step 14

To give the grapes a more realistic look, put abrasions and scratches on some of the berries.

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Step 15

It’s time to create some water drops on the grapes. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create an ellipse with a linear gradient from blue (C= 75, M= 62, Y= 58 and K= 8 ) to dark blue color (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Now create another ellipse smaller than the first one with a radial gradient fill from white to blue color (C= 75, M= 62, Y= 28 and K= 8 ). Finally, create another ellipse, smaller than the second one. Set the same radial gradient fill, but change the center location. This is a very simple and effective way to create a water drop.

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Step 16

There’s no such thing as two identical water drops. With the technique we used before, create a few different variants of the drop. The more variants you have, the more realistic your image will be. Position the drops on the lower part of the cluster, they can be scaled, rotated and changed in transparency depending on the illumination intensity. Name the current layer "Grape".

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Step 17

Create a new layer on top of the "Grape" layer and name it "Leaf ". Using the Pen Tool (P) create the shape of a leaf. Fill the leaf with a radial gradient consisting of three shades of green – 1 (C= 72, M= 22, Y= 100 and K= 6), 2 (C= 68, M= 7, Y= 100 and K= 0), 3 (C= 50, M= 20, Y= 100 and K= 2).

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Step 18

Divide the leaf into several parts. Create five lines as shown in the figure below with the Pen Tool (P). Select all the lines and the shapes of the leaf and press the Divide button in the Pathfinder box. Ungroup the leaf elements and adjust the gradient fill of each segment with the help of the Gradient Tool (G). This operation will add realism to our image.

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Step 19

Select all the segments of the leaf and go to Effect> Artistic> Sponge. Set the following values in the dialog box: Brush Size 5; Definition 8; Smoothness 1.

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Step 20

Create the veins on the leaf. Using the Pen Tool (P), create the vein shape. Drag the shape into the Brushes palette, select the Art Brush you have just created in the dialogue box.

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Step 21

You will now create the veins of the leaf with the Pen Tool (P). Once you have made the veins, select them and click on the Brush you made in the previous step, this will turn your lines into stylized brush strokes that should look just like veins on a leaf. Select the veins and go to Object> Expand Appearance. With the veins still selected, click Add from the Pathfinder box and then Press Expand. Fill the veins with a radial gradient consisting of four colors: 1 – Brown (C= 25, M= 68, Y= 100 and K= 13), 2 – Green (C= 41, M= 23, Y= 100 and K= 2 ) 3 – Green (C= 35, M= 20, Y= 94 and K= 1), 4 – Green (C= 37, M= 21, Y= 97 and K= 2).

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Step 22

Create a stalk shape and fill it with a linear gradient consisting of three colors: 1 (C= 54, M= 50, Y= 65 and K= 27, 2 (C= 50, M= 35, Y= 65 and K= 10), 3 (C= 49, M= 15, Y= 100 and K= 1). Using the Pen Tool (P) create a stem between the leaf and branch, and fill it with the same gradient as the leaf veins.

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Step 23

To add volume to veins on the leaf, take the Pen Tool (P) and create reflections of light and shadow on the veins. Use the following colors for the linear gradient reflection: 1 – (C= 23, M= 15, Y= 87 and K= 0) 2 – (C= 27, M= 17, Y= 89 and K= 0). Colors of the linear gradient shadow: 1 – (C= 36, M= 30, Y= 95 and K= 4), 2 – (C= 42, M= 43, Y= 96 and K= 15), 3 – (C= 29, M= 20, Y= 90 and K= 0).

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Step 24

Using the Pen Tool (P) make a grape tendril. Create a curved line without a fill, the color of the stroke doesn’t matter at this stage.

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Step 25

Create a New Art Brush. Create a shape similar to the one shown in the figure below and drag it into the Brushes palette. Apply the brush to the line created in step 24. Keeping the tendril selected, go to Object> Expand Appearance and then to Object> Path> Clean Up. Fill the shape with a linear gradient consisting of seven colors: 1 – (C= 50, M= 20, Y= 100 and K= 2), 2 – (C= 25, M= 68, Y= 99 and K= 13) 3 – (C= 41, M= 23, Y= 100 and K= 2), 4 – (C= 23, M= 15, Y= 87 and K= 0), 5 – (C= 35, M= 20, Y= 94 and K= 1), 6 – (C= 27, M= 17, Y= 89 and K= 0), 7 – (C= 38, M= 21, Y= 97 and K= 1).

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Step 26

Create dimension on the grape tendril using the technique and gradients described in step 23.

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Conclusion

To finish your illustration, add a soft gradient to the background. The key to making a realistic illustration is to pay close attention to the details, the human eye is great at picking up on things that don’t look right. If your illustration isn’t as ‘real’ as it could be, try looking at some reference images and adding (or even subtracting) some detail. Best wishes.