Creating a bird nest with eggs in Illustrator is a fun and easy project through this step-by-step tutorial. You will also learn how to create complex gradients using the Gradient Mesh Tool. At the end of this tutorial, you will gain insight on using the Mesh tool effectively, creating symbols and adjusting colors as you please. Let’s get started.
(Ambien)
Difficulty: AdvancedRequirements: Adobe Illustrator
What will you get?
- Instant download of PDF e-book (38 pages, 134 steps)
- Comes with Ai file for easy reference
- Detailed step by step tutorial to draw a nice realistic bird nest
Tutorial Preview:
Drawing the Bird
1. Create a new document in Illustrator. To do this, open Illustrator and open File > new. At first, we need to set up the workspace. For this, place a reference image of a bird with eggs. You can copy and paste the following image in your document. Another option is to drag it to your document or go to the File menu and choose option Place.
2. After placing the reference image, we need to lock it. Select this image and press CTR+2 or go to the Object menu and select Lock from the submenu. You can resize and position this reference image before locking. To make further changes after the image has been locked, you can unlock it by pressing Ctrl+Alt+2.
3. Start drawing with the pen tool. The next step is to draw using the Pen tool. From the toolbox, select Pen tool or just press P to automatically use the tool. Using the pen tool, draw the lines and fills. We are going to make lines on the Bird’s body without any strokes.
4. Continue drawing lines around the bird’s body as shown below.
5. When you have already filled the bird as shown in the above screenshot, you may find it difficult to identify the boundary of the bird’s body. You can remedy this by temporarily turning off the fill color from the toolbox. Later, you can change the color of this fill.
6. Complete the fill. Now, finish filling the drawing as shown below. This time, fill the bird with a grey color.
7. Draw the main tail of the bird. Next, we are going to create the main tail feathers of the bird. In this step, we will create only the complete shape of the tail. Later, we can apply gradients on it to define tail feathers.
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