Illustrator On Mac : Creating Logo With Vector Graphic

How to Create Logo with Vector Graphic

Normally when you talk about creating a logo, I will start the idea with pencil + paper and then later only come the interesting part, Vector Graphic. I prefer to use Adobe Illustrator to create a simple but cool + nice logo. Here I’ll share with you a simple step by step tutorial on how I come up with Eshark Design logo using the powerfull vector graphic sofware.. Adobe Illustrator.

At first you need to draw/sketch your logo on paper, then roughly you’ll know how’s your logo looks like. If you dont know how to draw or not even have any talent to draw a simple sketch then you dont deserve to read this!

STEP 1 : Once you have finish sketch your idea on paper then roughly you will know what to do next in Illustrator, and this is what I’m about to share with you guys. Start with opening a new document and choose the correct color mode CMYK or RGB. In this case I choose RGB, document size would be A4 and units is set to Centimeters.

STEP 2 : Create one round shape using the ‘Ellipse Tool’ (Mac:Apple+L / PC:ctrl+L) on the tools bar and hold shift key until you have one perfect round shape like this.

STEP 3 : Fill the Fill area with any color you prefer by selecting from the Swatches or Color, in this case I choose dark blue for the fill color.

STEP 4 : Create another round shape simply by copy ( Mac:Apple+c / PC:ctrl+c ) and place in front of the previous round shape ( Mac:Apple+f / PC:ctrl+f ) or go to ( Edit>Copy>Place In Front ). Reduce the size about 30 percent using ‘Scale Tool’ ( Apple+s / PC:ctrl+s ). Then put the smaller round shape at the lower part of the big round shape and fill it with Light Blue color.

STEP 5 : At this point you have two round shape, select both shape using ‘Selection Tool’ then go to ( Object>Blend>Make ) or press ( Mac:apple+alt+b / PC:ctrl+alt+b ), now see the magic of Illustrator.. Waalah!!

STEP 6 : Now you have one round shape with nice gradient fill color, next step is to create another round shape by selecting the big round shape using ‘Direct Selection Tool’ then copy ( Mac:Apple+C /PC:ctrl+C ) then place in front ( Apple+F / PC:ctrl+F ) or go to ( Edit>Copy>Place In Front ). Then reduce the size about 90 percent using ‘Scale Tool’

STEP 7 : Again create another round shape (follow Step 6). Select only the 2nd round shape then resize it by holding alt/option key to be like this. Now, select both round shape and go to Pathfinder toolbar ( Window>Pathfinder ) and press ‘Subtract’ while holding alt/Option key and see the effect. At this point you have two new shape like this.

STEP 8 : Ungroup both shape ( Edit>Ungroup) or ( Mac:Apple+shift+G / PC:ctrl+shift+G ). Then select the upper shape using ‘Selection Tool’, fill the ‘Fill’ area with gradient colors ( Dark Blue, Blue & Light Blue ) go to ( Window>Gradient ) and the angle is set to 90. After that set the Transparency mode ( Window>Transparency ) from Normal to Screen mode.

STEP 9 : Now select the lower part, fill the ‘Fill’ area with the same gradient colors ( Dark Blue, Blue & Light Blue ) but this time the angle is set to -90. Then the Transparency mode is set to Lighten mode and the Opacity is reduce to about 15 percent.

STEP 10 : Waalah!! Now you see one nice round shape something like a web button. Next step is to create an Outline outside this round shape ( follow step 2 ) and fill only ‘Outline’ area with Dark Blue and make the stroke slightly thicker by setting the weight to 3 pt.

STEP 11 : Now, at this point you need to choose any letter/text to put in the middle of the round shape with lighter colour, type a word using ‘Type tool’. In this case I choose the letter ‘E’ from the word ‘ESHARK’ using my preferred font type and I choose White colour, then place it in the middle of the round shape.

STEP 12 : But first you have to convert the text into an outline ( Type>Create Outlines ) or press ( Mac:Apple+Shift+O / PC:ctrl+shift+O ), then select the text to ungroup ( Object>Ungroup ) or press ( Mac:Apple + Shit + G ), and drag only the letter ‘E’ towards the centre of the round shape and set the Transparency to Screen mode. In this case I enlarge the size of the letter ‘E’ and rotate it slightly to the right just to make it a little more nice. There you go!

Master this simple basic vector graphic, then you’ll crazy to make any logo using Adobe Illustrator.. just like me.