Isometric Cube Pattern Effect – Illustrator Tutorial

Learn all kinds of shape building tips and tricks in this Adobe Illustrator tutorial!

Learn about creating isometric shapes and patterns in this Adobe Illustrator tutorial!

We’ll create a cool isometric cube pattern that is highly customizable by using shape tools, transforming, pathfinders, grouping, masking, gradients, snapping, and much more!

Tags: illustrator, adobe illustrator, adobe illustrator tutorial, graphic design, tutorial, illustrator tutorials, how to, illustrator cc tutorial, graphic design tutorials, vector illustration, step by step, adobe, adobe creative cloud, tutvid, shape tools, isometric, drawing, isometric design, illustrator isometric, isometric drawing, isometric view, 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. New AI doc: 2560×1440
2. Create a background rectangle filled with 27% gray
3. Lock that background layer and create a new layer
4. Create a 95×100 rectangle and shear to a -30º vertical angle
5. Transform the shape to flip and move horizontally the width of the shape
6. Expand this and ungroup it
7. Turn on Smart Guides and use the Pen Tool to draw a triangle
8. Transform and flip this triangle upward to copy the shape and build the top of the cube
9. Expand this shape and use Pathfinder to join the shapes together
10. Fill the top with 10% gray
11. Fill the front side with 55% gray
12. Fill the left side with 42% gray
13. Turn Snap to Point and duplicate the top of the cube down and use the Direct Selection Tool to snap the shape to the front edge and duplicate this over to the left side of the cube and snap it into place as well
14. Fill both shapes with a black(transparent) to black gradient
15. Front gradient: set midpoint to 75% and 120º angle at 25% opacity
16. Side gradient: eyedropper this gradient over to the side and set angle to 60º at 7% opacity
17. Duplicate the top of the cube down and align this to the front of the front shadow
18. Use the Direct Selection tool and select and delete the left-most anchor point
19. Select the open points and Join them
20. Transform this shape and flip/duplicate it over and Expand/Ungroup it
21. Fill left triangle with 40% gray and right triangle with 32% gray
22. Duplicate these two triangles and paste in front
23. Fill both with a black(transparent) to black gradient, left stop at 0% location, right stop at 90% location and midpoint at 75%
24. Set gradient in left triangle to -110º and 50% opacity
25. Set gradient in right triangle to -90º and 35% opacity
26. Select all the shapes we’ve created for this cube and group them up
27. Go Object>Pattern>Make
28. Preview it and hit the little “Done” button up in the top bar
29. Copy the background shape and paste it into the new layer in front
30. Fill this shape with the new pattern we made
31. Paste the shape in front again and fill with 70% gray and set to Overlay blend mode and reduce opacity to 0%
32. Paste the shape in front AGAIN and fill this shape with any color you wish
33. Set the shape to the Blend Mode “Color”
34. Change the color to change the entire scene’s color
35. Boost the opacity of the Overlay shape to darken the scene if needed.