Illustrator Tutorial for Flowers

Adobe Systems created Illustrator as a graphics editor program. Illustrator is used to create logos, T-shirt designs, billboards, web buttons, comics and much more. The powerful "pathing" intelligence allows illustrators and designers to create these images. In Illustrator, a path is synonymous with an adjustable object or image. Paths allow users to change the color, shape, size, direction and nearly any other quality of an object. Using paths and a few other tools in Illustrator, you can create a flower in a straightforward process that won't take you but a few minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Illustrator

Instructions

Instructions

1. Open Illustrator and choose to create a CMYK basic document. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key, or black. These colors are used in printing and the web to create sophisticated and high-quality images that are also easy to make.

2. Choose a name for the new document you're making, such as "flowers tutorial," and click "OK" on the art board window. The art board is the canvas upon which you'll draw your flower.

3. Note the tool bar on the left-hand side of the art board window. Click the rectangle icon and hold the cursor down. A list of new icons will appear. Choose the ellipse icon. This icon is a tool that let's you draw ellipses.

4. Click near the center of the art board, hold down the "Shift" button, and drag away from the point you originally clicked at. Holding the "Shift" button and dragging will create a circle. Choose a size for the circle that you like and let go of the cursor. The circle is the stamen and anther of your flower.

5. Note the overlapping squares at the bottom of your tool bar. Double-click the one on the left. This action opens a color swatch window. Choose among the many colors to fill in the circle with that color. This is the central color of your flower.

6. Click on the art board again and draw an ellipse with the cursor. Do not hold down "Shift" this time. Click the black pointer icon on the tool bar and drag the ellipse so that a point of it is tangential to the circle. This is a petal. Double-click the left square that opens the color panel and choose a color for your petal.

7. Click on your petal to select it. Click the "Edit" button in the menu at the top of window and then click the "Copy" button to make a stored copy of the petal. Now click the "Paste" button to paste a new copy of your petal on the art board.

8. Click the "Object" button in the menu at the top of the window. In the list that appears, click the "Transform" button and then the "Rotate" button. Choose 45 degrees and press "OK." Note how the copy of the petal has been rotated 45 degrees. Drag this copy next to the original petal on the circle of the flower. Note the blue lines that appear around the petal. This is the path protocol. Click the blue line to move the petal. Continue this process until petals surround the circle of the flower.

9. Click the pencil tool in the tool bar. Now click on the circle of the flower and drag downward to create a long stem. Undulate your cursor to create a wavy stem or keep the cursor straight for a more linear stem.

10. Click the left square that opens the color panel and choose a greenish color for the stem. Note the stroke panel on the panels at the right of the window. The stroke panel looks like three horizontal parallel lines. Click this panel to open it. Choose a thickness for your stem. Play around with a thickness until you find something you like. Now right-click on the stem. Click the "Arrange" button on the window that appears. Click "Move to Back." This forces the stem behind the flower so the flower is in full view.

References

• "Adobe Illustrator CS4 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques"; Karlins, David; 2008