Adobe Illustrator How to Make a Cartoon Tutorial
Beginner tutorial going step by step on how to make a cartoon in Adobe Illustrator. We will be going through inking using the pen tool following our anchor point guides. We have two versions of this tutorial with a black and white and full color tutorials with shadows and gradients.
Anchor Point Guides
Anchor point guides are designed to make life easier as you are learning where to place anchors and how to adjust handles.
Using Pen Tool
We will be using our 2 step approach to the pen tool. The first is using straight lines to just get down our anchor points. We will then be using the convert anchor tool to create curves and handles.
Adding Flat Color
Using live paint for a fast way of getting down color without having to use pathfinder to create shapes.
Inking your Cartoon in Adobe Illustrator
Using Resource Folder
1. Place the anchor point guide into NEW illustrator document and scale to fit the 5″x 5″ artboard. In your layers menu select Template Layer. Create a New layer ABOVE IT for inking.
Using the Pen Tool
2. Trace the image using the shape and pen tool. There should be no fill when using the pen tool. Use straight line and the convert anchor point tool to create your curves.
Custom Brushes
3. Add OUR custom brushes library to create variation in your lines. Expand the lines and use the eraser tool to erase overlapping or unwanted lines. Unite brushes in pathfinder panel.
Using Live Paint
4. Select All – Object- Live Paint. Fill in flat colors wIth our color palette or find others on https://color.adobe.com/ Object – Expand live paint. Ungroup (3X) or until you can select individual shapes.
Flat Color Tutorial
Advanced Coloring using Colored Lines & Gradients
Try our Adobe Illustrator Challenge Series
