Happy Fire Artwork – Adobe Illustrator Tutorial

CREATE THIS HAPPY FIRE ART FROM SCRATCH IN ILLUSTRATOR CC! | Learn to work with shapes, the Pathfinder, global color, CMYK, and much more in this graphic design tutorial!

Inspiration for this tutorial: MBE on dribbble: https://dribbble.com/shots/3161658-Fire

In this Adobe Illustrator tutorial, we will create this happy fire illustration inspired by the incredible artist, MBE (whose dribbble link I have posted above.) We’ll use basic shape tools and manipulate them using the pathfinder. We’ll layer on shapes to create a complex fire shape and then we’ll create a series of global colors using the Color panel and create a gradient from these colors that will help make our fire look a little more like fire should. Hopefully you will learn a thing or two about Illustrator and enjoy the video at the same time! Thanks for watching!

Tags: Illustrator tutorial, tutorial, illustrator, design, logo, graphic design, how to, logo design, adobe illustrator (software), drawing, graphic design tutorials, adobe illustrator, logo design tutorial, graphics, graphicdesign, adobe illustrator tutorial, illustrator tutorials, adobe, illustrator tutorials, tutvid, nathaniel dodson, AI

Tutorial Recording Notes:

Disclaimer: these are the actual notes I used to record this video and are written in a language you may or may not understand. Hopefully, you find them useful or cool.

1. Create new document 2560×1440
2. Create background shape and fill with C:100/M:80/Y:0/K:80
3. Create 350×350 ellipse and align to center
4. Create rectangle 350×700 and align center adjust fill so it’s visible and move it beneath the ellipse we just made
5. Select both shape and Divide and then ungroup and get rid of bottom piece and set both fills to white and Merge
6. Create a rounded rectangle 50×500 with a 100px corner radius
7. With Smart Guides turned on, snap this into place and then duplicate and drag 7x copies across the shape we just merged
8. Duplicate one extra copy and set aside (is this needed?)
9. Select #2, #4, and #6 one at a time and nudge them downward to random heights
10. Select #2, #4, and #6 and also select the underlying shape and Minus Front these to cut out the rounded rectangle shapes
11. Select all the remaining shapes and fill with same color and go to the Pathfinder Options and choose to remove Redundant points and then Merge all together
12. Use Direct Selection tool to select tops of rounded bits and lower them so they’re a bit random, too
13. Duplicate the rounded rectangle and drag it over above the left-most flame bit and size it down (so it looks like this)
14. Fill the rounded rectangle you set aside with a 15% gray or so and duplicate it and move so it’s filled into each of the three center cutouts
15. Fill the original rounded rectangle with a 55% gray and drag it behind the #2 slot on the left (as I have in the screenshot here)
16. Select the #2 rounded rectangle (15% gray) and the teardrop shape and divide them. Ungroup and re-merge the teardrop pieces together, delete the extras and then repeat this for the other shapes that overlap.
17. Create a small rounded rectangle 50x15px and copy/paste and rotate to create a little plus icon
18. Merge both of those shapes together
19. Duplicate this plus 4x for the left side and 5x for the right side and randomize the size, etc…
20. Create a few small ellipses for each side as well
21. Create a yellow swatch C:0/M:15%/Y:100%/K:0 and create a pink swatch C:0/M:100/Y:35/K:0 and create a gradient for the teardrop shape
22. Set gradient to yellow → pink and move the pink color stop to the 75% position and set it to 90º angle.
23. Create two new swatches C:85/M:100/Y:25/K:40 and also C:35/M:100/Y:45/K:10 and then create a gradient the fill the three filling rounded rectangles and the taller one in the back with this gradient. Set to 90º angle.
24. Adjust the color handles if you feel it in the moment
25. Create a new rounded rectangle 20x55px and fill with white and drag this into place for a small highlight on the left side
26. Set to Soft Light blend mode and reduce opacity to 65%
27. Duplicate this shape and create a few highlights on the left side
28. Add some gradients and colors that we’ve already used to the “sparks” and mix things up to keep them interesting
29. Create a 20×20 ellipse and duplicate it and shift it 50px to the right
30. Fill with a dark blue (preferably one we’ve already used)
31. Duplicate one of these ellipses and paste in place and nudge toward the middle of these eyes 25px to center it up and nudge downward 10px
32. Dump the fill and get a 5pt stroke in place and resize the ellipse using the Transform panel to 15x15px
33. Use the Direct Selection tool and get rid of the middle top anchor point and add rounded end caps using the Stroke panel
34. Group these three shapes together and use the transform panel to upscale the whole bit to 100px wide and 43px height
35. Add a 20x20px ellipse and fill it with C:0/M:100/Y:100/K:0 and center it below the left eye and nudge 25px to the left and reduce the opacity to 50%
36. Duplicate this shape and nudge over so it’s nudged 25px to the right of the right eye
37. Create a 350x50px ellipse and fill it with C:100/M:70/Y:0/K:90 and position it so it looks like a nice, sharp little shadow.
38. That’s it!