Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Bug Tutorial

I start with placing a scanned pencil sketch in Illustrator. Go to File > Place and choose the sketch file. I usually use 72 dpi grayscale scans.

Next, I use the pen tool to trace over my scan. I like to use a color stroked line because it is easier to see. I also close all my paths, so each piece is an individual complete shape.

I remove the sketch once I’m finished tracing.

After I finish tracing, I change the colors. All the objects have a fill color and a 1 point black stroke. The black objects don’t have a stroke.

Next, I open my Brushes palette. Go to Window > Brushes.

I select the eyes, wings and body and click on the brush I want to use in the palette. This gives my line weight a varied look. I didn’t want to use the brush on some of the smaller details, so I just left the plain 1 point stroke.

Now, you’ll want to flatten transparency. Select all the objects and go to Object > Flatten Transparency.

A dialogue box will appear. Set the Raster/Vector balance to 100 and click OK. This will make all your strokes into outlined objects. It also separates the colored shape from the stroked line giving you two shapes.

After that, I start drawing my shadow shapes with the pen tool. Remember to close the path on those too, so they are complete shapes. Think of this step as drawing a cookie cutter that you’re going to use to cut up a shape.

A good tip for drawing your shadow shapes is to copy and offset the original shape. You can do this by holding down the OPTION key and dragging the shape. This will make sure your curves are the same since it is a duplicate.

Before I start cutting things up, I need to duplicate the the bug’s body. I start by selecting the gray body shape, then double click on the rotate symbol in the tool bar. This will bring up a dialogue box. I set the degrees to 0 and click COPY. This will create a duplicate gray shape in the exact same spot.

Next, I select my shadow shape and go to Object > Arrange > Send to Back.

With the shadow shape still selected, I shift click on the gray body. Now that I have both shapes selected, I go to the pathfinder palette and click on Minus Back Button. This cuts out the top shape with the underneath shape.

I fill this new shape with a slightly darker color to make it look like a shadow.

I repeat the last few step with the the eyes and wings. I also add a highlight shape.

I wanted to add some extra detail to the wings, so I selected the light blue parts and Offset the Path on them. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path.

A dialogue box will appear. I set the offset to -6 points. This creates a new shape inside the wings. I filled it with white and gave it a black stroke. Then, Flattened the Transparency or Outline the stroke to make the stroke a shape.

That’s it. Here’s what the final looks like.

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