Dexter is probably one of those cartoon characters that don't need an introduction, but anyway, for those who never heard about him, Dexter is boy genius that has a giant secret laboratory filled with his great inventions. In this simple tutorial I will show you how to draw this character inside Adobe Illustrator.

Final Image

With Pen Tool(P) draw the face.

Fill with a gradient (#fddacc to #f6bda6) and stroke it with black color of (3pt).

With Pen Tool(P) draw the ear and use the same style that we used for the face.

Now draw the hair.

Fill with #f79e35 color and give ti the same stroke.

For the shadow, make the copy of the face and with pen tool draw a shape as you seen in the image.

Select this shape and the copy of the face and in PATFINDER panel click Intersect, Fill with #f8c9b7 and put this shape behind the hair.

Select the Pen Tool again and add some details.

Now draw the glasses with Pen Tool.

Stroke them with Artistic_Calligraphic brushes -  oval of 3pt.

In the Brushes panel click on the right corner on the arrow, select Open Brush Library, select Artistic and Artistic_Calligraphic. Select the glasses and press on the oval brush of 3pt (nr. 5 on the image).

With Pen tool(P) draw the glasses and fill with gradient #b1dcf4 to #8cc1e8.

Draw the eyes and fill them with black color.

With Pen tool draw the highlights, fill them with white color and change the opacity to 50% in the Transparency Panel.

With Pen tool(P) draw the nose and use the same style that we used for the face and the ear.

For the beard draw as you see in the image below.

Stroke this path with "Tapered Stroke" of 1pt.

With Pen Tool draw the teeth and fill with white color.

Now draw the gown.

Fill with a gradient from #ffffff to #f2f3f3 and give it a 6pt black stroke.

Draw the second part of the gown and fill it with a gradient #e7e7e8 to #ffffff.

With Ellipse (L) tool draw the buttons and fill them with black.

Use Pen Tool again to draw the gloves and fill them with gradient from #674f9e to #46317e.

With Pen tool draw the feet and fill them with black.

Use Ellipse Tool to create a shadow under his shoes and fill this path with #d0d1d3.

Final Image

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Office life is very boring, what keeps us alive in our offices? You're right, those hot and strict secretaries. This simple tutorial shows you how to create a beautiful female character using Illustrator.

Final Image Preview

With Pen Tool(P) draw the outline of the face.

Fill it with a gradient from #fdc173 to #faaa59 and give it 1pt black stroke.

Now try to achieve the form of the eye as you see in the image below.

Make the copy of the face path (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F) Select this copy and the eye. In the PATHFINDER palette press the Intersect button.

Fill this shape with white and give it 1pt black stroke.

With Pen Tool(P) draw the same shape as you seen in the image for the iris.

The same way we've created the eye path, draw the iris path now and fill it with black.

Use Ellipse Tool (L) to create a highlight on the eye.

Repeat all those steps to create the second eye.

Draw the nose path and fill it with #a74f31 color.

Make a bigger copy of the nose path, fill it with #e88b47  and put it behind the nose path.

Use Pen Tool(P) to draw the form of the lips.

Fill it with a gradient from #cc2035 to #8f182d.

Create a smaller path inside lips path and fill it with black.

With Pen Tool draw the teeth (use the same method that we used for the Iris).

Now let's make up the girl.

Сut the superfluous and fill this shape with a gradient from #539f8c to #25b191 and put this path behind the eye path.

Repeat this step for the second eye.

Make the copy of face path, with Pen Tool(P) draw the form of the cheeks.

Select this shape, and the copy of the face and in the Pathfinder Panel press Intersect button. Fill the resulting path with #f48373.

The same way create the second cheek.

Create the outline of the hair path using Pen Tool.

Fill this path with black.

Create now the fringe path and also fill it with black.

For the neck draw a line with Line Segment Tool(\) and stroke with 15pt with #f9ac5b.

For the body draw a triangle and fill it with #f9ac5b color.

To create the clothes, first of all make a copy of the body path. Then draw the same shape as you seen in the image below.

Select both paths (body and shirt) and press the Intersect button in the Pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting path with white.

Use Pen Tool to draw the sleeves.

To add some contrast create a shape under all the sub layers and fill it with a color (I used #bdeafb). Block this sub layer.

Draw the skirt path and fill it with black.

For the feet, use Pen Tool(P) to draw the shape as you seen in the image below and fill it with a gradient from #fdbd6f to #f9a455.

Use Pathfinder's Intersect button once again to draw shoes.

Make a copy of this foot and place it near.

With your Pen Tool selected draw the hands and fill the paths with gradient from #fdbd6f to #f9a455.

Create a rectangle for the folder and fill it with gradient from #1ab291 to # 1a9b81.

Now draw the fingers on the folder and fill them with a gradient from #fdbd6f to #f9a455.

Add some details to the illustration. Use Pen Tool to draw details on the shirt and fill them with 30% gray..

Draw a belt that is similar to that one in the image and fill it with gradient from #b9244e to #ed1f61.

Add details...

And the holes...

Final Result

The cocktails are probably the only drink that can get any color in this world. The variety of colors, shapes and ingredients of these drinks is just amazing. In this simple tutorial I will show you how to create a colorful cocktail icon inside Illustrator.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Open Illustrator, set up a new document and give it a background by drawing a rectangle of the same size as your art board. I used #4E1123 for it. Lock the background sublayer.

Step 2

Select the Pen Tool (P) and a path that will be a half of the glass. This will probably take a couple of tries till you get the needed shape. Give this line a 2pt white stroke and no fill.

Make a copy of this path and reflect it to create a glass. Move your copy to the left a little if your glass is too wide ( that's the most common mistake ).

Select both paths and click the Unite button in the Pathfinder palette to create one single path.

With the resulting path still selected go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter -8 pixel for as Offset value and hit Enter.

Select the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the anchor points that are highlighted in the image below.

Delete the right part of path that we've just cut.

Step 2

Select the main glass path and select the Offset Path command again. Set -15 pixel as the Offset value this time.

Select the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) and delete the whole lower part of the newly created path.

Press M to select the Rectangle Tool and draw a rectangle that intersects the smallest path.

Select the smallest path and the rectangle and press Minus Front button in the Pathfinder palette.

Apply a linear, vertical gradient from #6D1241 to #C62E68 .

With this path still selected go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow and enter these settings.

Step 3

Create a copy of the liquid path. Select the Pen Tool (P) and draw a random path as you see below. The top part of the liquid itself will be frozen.

Select the ice path and the liquid copy path and press the Intersect button in the Pathfinder palette. Give the resulting path a linear gradient from #D195B9 to #FCE5EF .

Using Star Tool that is located under the Rectangle Tool draw a small star somewhere near the glass. Use Eyedropper Tool to apply the same gradient as we used for the ice on it but make i radial this time.

Select the star and go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and enter 5 pixel Radius value.

Make another three copies of this star and place them on the glass.

Step 4

Use Pen Tool (P) to draw a straw. Move straw sublayer under the ice sublayer.

Select Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a circle on the straw. Use Eyedropper Tool (I) and click on the liquid to apply the same settings to the circle and then make the gradient radial.

Now draw another, smaller, white circle.

Go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 30 pixels.

Step 5

Use Pen Tool again to draw white highlights on the glass.

Draw a white highlight on the circle and set it's opacity to 70%.

Final Result

We're only one week away from catching Santa Claus in our houses.  This tutorial will show you how to create a Crazy Santa illustration from sketch that I've made for it. This is also a complex guide for creating characters from sketch. Intermediate knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is advised.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Always start creating your character from sketching him on the paper, even if are not going to scan your sketch and use it later. Sketches help you to focus on you character and implement your best ideas. Here is the sketch of the Santa that I'm going to illustrate (click to view full-size).

It always better to scan your images at a high resolution. My cropped sketch is  717x965 pixels which is pretty well.

Step 2

Open Illustrator, create a new document an import you sketch. Go to File > Place, you can either import your image, adjust the size, reduce the opacity and lock the layer or you can just check the template box if the image already has the right size. My doesn't so i did it first way.

The process of transforming a sketch to a vector image isn't easy and requires Pen Tool drawing skills.

Create a new layer and name it Body. Open layer options and set the magenta as the color for the paths.

Select the pen tool and start tracing the body paths.

Then draw the legs and hands.

For the hands, draw just two paths, we'll give them strokes later to achieve the needed result.

Take advantage of other Illustrator tools, use rounded rectangle tools for drawing gloves. Adjust the radius of the corners by pressing up and down arrows on your keyboard.Do the same to the second glove.

Draw Santa's belt.

Step 3

We're now moving to the head. Create a new layer and name it Head and Face. You can also set the same options for this layer as we did with the last one. It's a good idea to take into consideration the sequence of the shapes you're drawing in order to have less stuff to adjust later.

Our lowest sublayer will be the ear sublayer.

Then goes the head.

Now draw the Santa's whiskers.

Trace now the beard path. This is probably the hardest path from our image because of the swirls.

Draw the right (Santa's left) mustache first and then the left side.

Draw the nose.

Start drawing the hat from it's main part then go with details.

Draw the eyebrows.

Use ellipse tool to draw a cheek and the eyes. Draw just the outline stroke of the eyes, we'll add details later.

Step 4

Now we'll draw the chair. The chair will be separated on two layer because a part of it is hiding Santa's legs. Create two new layers, name Chair 1 the first one and Chair 2 the second. Drag the Chair 1 layer under the Body layer and make Chair 2 the top layer.

Select Chair 2 layer and start tracing the chair.

Select now the Chair 1 layer and continue drawing the parts hidden after Santa.

Add some details.

Step 5

We've made it to the most interesting part of the tutorial. We're now adding color! Remove the sketch or make it invisible. Press Command + A to select everything and give it a 1pt stroke so now everything is visible. You'll be removing strokes one by one when filling paths with colors.

At this point he maybe looks a bit strange but it's fine. Since our layers and sub layers are structured correctly you can start coloring from whatever you want, but I prefer starting from head of the body.

Step 6

Select the head path and give it a gradient from #EF896E to #F9BAA0, adjust it's position and don't forget to remove the stroke.

As I said before, we'll draw the eyes and details. Select the left eye, by using the Offset Path command (Object > Path > Offset Path ) create two smaller circles inside this one. I used -5 and -6 pixels as the Offset value.

Fill the biggest circle with white, the smallest with 90% gray and the middle one with a radial gradient from #2B3990 to #27AAE1 .

Draw another two small circles intersecting the middle and the smallest eye circles. These will be he highlights.

Delete the second eye and place a smaller copy of the first one instead.

Select the cheek circle, and give it a red ( 80% opacity ) to transparent radial gradient.

Give a linear gradient from #C45567 to #EF6280 to the nose.

Draw a small white circle on the tip of the nose and give it a 6.6 pixels Gaussian Blur.

Select a mustache and give it a linear gradient from #ABCAD3 to #EAF7F9 .

Select the beard path and give it the same gradient but make it radial this time.

Apply the same linear gradient to whiskers.

Select the ear shape and using Eyedropper Tool apply the face gradient to it and make radial.

Select the white hat details and give them both a radial gradient from 10% gray to white.

Select the hat itself and give it a linear gradient from #A12027 to #CE242E .

For the gloves use the same gradient as we've for the hat.

Select the eyebrows and apply the mustache gradient to them.

Select the body path and apply the same gradient that we've applied to hat but adjust it's position.

Select the hands paths and give a 9pt bright red ( from gradient ) stroke.

Select the inside part of the dress path and fill it a dark red.

For the main belt path will use a linear gradient from 90% gray to 80%.

For the second belt shape apple a radial gradient from #FBB040 to #F9ED32 .

Select both legs paths and apply the same gradient as we used to the body and adjust their position.

For the boots use a black to 90% gray linear gradient.

Step 7

Since we've finished with coloring Santa himself, we move to the chair.

Select all metallic details of the chair, select the Eyedropper Tool and click on Santa's golden belt shape to apply it's gradient to all selected paths.

Select chair paths one by one and start applying the same gradient to them ( from #27AAE1 to #1C75BC ) adjusting their positions according to the general light that we have in our illustration.

Select the chair legs and apply a dark yellow to usual yellow linear gradient.

Select the last leg and give it a dark yellow fill.

Select those small lines on the chair, make them no stroke and give them a dark blue fill.

Give your image a background and a shadow and our illustration is ready! Is Santa crazy or is he a genius? you decide.

Final Result

This tutorial guides you through the process of drawing Christmas bells in Illustrator. Use them for decorating your web-site's header or desktop. Let’s get started.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Set up a new document, take the Pen tool(P) and draw the body of the bell.

Fill with linear gradient of three colors (#a8a798,  #808076, #a8a798).

With Ellipse Tool (L) draw an oval (lower part of the bell) and fill and fill it with radial gradient (#1c1c1c to #646464).

Step 2: Highlights

Select the Pen Tool (P) again and draw the highlights, fill them with white color and set the opacity: 25%.

Draw the highlight from the left side with Pen Tool (P) fill with white color and put 30% of opacity.

Select the body of the bell and make a copy (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F), now select this copy and the highlight and in PATHFINDER panel press Intersect.

With Pen Tool draw another highlight (we will name it "Center highlight"), fill with white color and set 30% opacity.

Make a copy of Left Highlight (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F) and select this copy and "Center highlight". In PATHFINDER panel press Intersect.

Now draw the right highlight and make the same actions that we do for Left highlight.

Step 3: Clapper

With Rectangle Tool (M) draw a rectangle and under this rectangle with Ellipse Tool (L) draw an ellipse.

Select this shapes and in the PATHFINDER panel press Unite. Rotate the resulting shape 18 degrees cw.

To remove excess of this shape select lower part and make a copy (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V) and select this copy and the shape. In PATHFINDER press intersect.

Apply a radial gradient (#808080, #333333).

Make a circle with the Ellipse Tool (L) and apply a radial gradient (#ffffff, #7a7861).

With Pen Tool make the shadow, draw a shape as you see below, fill with black color and put layer in Soft Light Mode.

Step 4: Details

Select the Pen Tool and draw the same we've drawn the highlights a line and fill with gradient (#daa233, #d88212, #e0be17). Put line sublayer under the highlights sublayers.

Make the copy of this line and put it above.

Step 5: Bow

With Pen Tool draw a shape as you see in the image and fill it with a radial gradient (#f8a56f, #dd2a26, #80192c).

Now draw the second part and fill it with a radial gradient (#ac252b, #630f27).

Select this two shapes and duplicate them (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F). Go to Object > Transform > Reflect... (select vertical and press Ok).

Use Pen Tool to draw the node and fill it with gradient (#dd2a26, #630f27).

With pen tool make the ends of the bow and fill them with the same gradient that we've used for the node.

Step 6: Shadows

Draw the shadows with the Pen Tool, put these paths in the back of bow, fill it with #636152 color and set the opacity to 80%.

Final Image Preview

It's winter! It's snowing! Thousands of kids get out to play with snow and make a snowman. These fragile being don't live much so we have to hurry up! In this simple tutorial I will explain the process of drawing a snowman in Illustrator using mostly basic shapes and pen tool.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Create a new document, take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an ellipse, make it a little oblate.

Apply a three color gradient to it. (#5EBFD3 # B9E1EB #F7FCFD)

Select the pen tool (P) and draw a path as you see below, fill it with #F2F9FA

Select both paths and press Ctrl+G to group them.

Step 2

Select this group and by Alt-dragging make a copy of it, scale it down.

Now make another copy of this group and make it even smaller.

Step 3

Since we have the basic body shape we'll be working on details now. Draw an ellipse again, this time a vertical one and fill it with linear gradient from #86C9D3 to #AADEE4 .

Now draw another, smaller ellipse, fill it with white, rotate it ccw and place it on the ellipse we've just drawn.

Use pen tool to draw the second highlight and also fill with white.

Select them main ellipse, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B to make a copy of it behind the original. Make it slightly bigger and fill with #23B5C5 .

Select all these paths, press Ctrl+G to group them together. Place this group on the middle part of our body, then make a copy of it, scale it down and also place on the middle part.

Step 4

Now we'll draw a scarf for our snowman. For this, move the "head" or the top shape of snowman body up a little.

Draw an ellipse and place this sublayer between the middle body path and top body part sublayers.

Fill this path with a radial gradient from a darker red to red. Adjust then it's position.

Use the pen tool to draw a path as you see here. Fill it with  a bright red.

Make a copy of the ellipse by pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F. Then draw a path as you see below that will intersect the first one.

With you scarf path copy and the intersecting path both selected press the Intersect button in the pathfinder panel. Give the resulting path a slightly darker shade of the red color, that's the shadow on our scarf.

Take the pen tool and draw this path under the scarf.

Fill it with a linear gradient from #EEBA32 to #EED64E .

Make a copy of the penult scarf path and place it behind the snowman's body. Fill it with a darker red color.

Draw another scarf end like you did before or edit the first one.

Step 5

Use pen tool to draw a hand, place it behind the middle body path and a reflected, bigger copy of it on that path.

Give them a 4pt 30% gray, rounded stroke.

Draw some other small lines and give them a 2pt stroke with the same settings.

Step 6

For the eye, draw an ellipse and fill it with a 90% gray to 70% gray gradient.

Draw two highlights on it.

Select the main shape and make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B. Make the copy a little bigger and fill it with #23B5C5 .

Group all these paths, place the eye on the head and make a slightly smaller copy of it.

Draw two light blue circles under the eyes.

Step 7

Use pen tool to draw a carrot and fill it with #CE4327 .

Make a copy of this shape, make it thinner and fill it with a white to transparent gradient.

Draw some small lines on the carrot to add detail to it.

Step 8

Use pen tool to draw a smile on snowman's face. Give this line a 2pt 70% gray stroke.

Press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B to make a copy of the smile and place it under the original one. Give this copy a white stroke instead, rotate it ccw a little.

Step 9

Last thing we need is a hat for our snowman. Draw an ellipse and fill it with a three color linear gradient (60% gray 9% gray and 60% gray ).

Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B, make the copy a little bigger and fill it with 50% gray.

Draw a path as you see below a fill it with 90% gray to 70% gray gradient.

Place this path under the previous two hat paths we've made and make a copy of it.

Draw an ellipse that is intersecting the last path.

Select this path and the copy that you've made and press Intersect button in the pathfinder panel.

Draw an intersecting path with no fill that we'll use to create highlights.

Make sure that you've made a copy of this path, because we need to make two highlights. Now use this path to create highlights on hat.

Group together all hat paths and place the hat on snowman's head.

Draw a white to transparent highlight under the hat.

Give a background to your illustration and you're done!

Final Result

USB flash drive, they are now everywhere, slowly replacing compact disks. In this tutorial, I will show you how to draw an USB flash drive in Illustrator. Advanced Illustrator skills needed.

Final Result

Step 1

Set up a new document in Illustrator, any size you like. Select the Pen Tool (P) and draw the top of the USB flash.

Fill with gradient: #f2f2f2 to #cccccc.

With pen tool draw the top of the side and fill with the same gradient.

Draw now the side and fill with gradient #f2f2f2 to #dddddd.

Create the front face and fill with gradient dark gray #333333 to black #000000.

Step 2: USB connector

With the pen tool try to draw the top of the connector.

Draw the side and fill with gradient #e6e6e6 to #adadad

Now Draw the front and fill with with black color of with gradient #4d4d4d to #000000.

Create some details of the USB connector and fill with #444444 color.

Draw the top and fill with gradient #303030 to #232323.

Create a metallic case around the the last path.

It already looks ok but we have to add some details to make it look even better.

With Pen Tool draw the same shape, stroke with #bbbbbb color and fill with linear gradient #e6e6e6 to #9b9b9b.

For the holes draw  two rectangles with pen tool and fill with #333333.

Create two copies of that rectangles but fill them with gradient #b1b1b1 to transparent.

With the pen tool draw three shapes, those will the the top stroke of the body, and fill with gradient #c8c8c8 to #b5b5b5.

Step 3: Highlights and shadows

On the top of the USB flash draw a path as you see below and fill it with white.

Set the opacity to 20% for this shape.

For the highlights of the corners draw some lines and give them a white stroke.

Now apply Blur effect (Effect> Blur > Gaussian Blur). (In CS3 > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) with radius 0.8px and press ok, after that reduce the opacity to 60%.

Apply the same effect to the rest of the corners.

For the shadows make a new layer and put it before current layer. With your pen tool draw a shadow path and fill with black color.

Now go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur with radius 7px and reduce the opacity to 40%.

Now if you want add some text or your logo.

Final Result

In this tutorial, I will take you through the process of drawing a nice punk kid in Illustrator.We’ll be working with the basic shapes to start, then use a variety of gradients to add depth and details to our illustration. The concept is based on the popularity of punk style and of course I've made a couple of sketches on the paper first.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Set up a new document in Illustrator, any size you like. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a circle.

Next, Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), click on the right anchor point of the circle to select it, and modify the shape by dragging that handle. Make the same thing with the left anchor point.

Make this shape a bit taller.

Select the path, make it no stroke and apply a gradient to this path, from a darker skin color to an usual skin color. ( I'll be using # F4D09A and # F4D9B5 further).

Step 2

Draw the ears, select the Ellipse Tool again and draw an ellipse and fill it with skin color.

Select it, go to Object -> Path -> Offset Path and set the Offset to -12px.

Give the resulting ellipse the a gradient from #C2B59B to skin color, but place it horizontal now.

Group these two ellipses by selecting them and pressing Ctrl+G. Place the on the head.

Copy this group, reflect it ( right-click, go to Transform -> Reflect, check Vertical and press ok) and move it to the left. Place this group under the head sublayer.

Use Pen Tool (P) to draw the main part of his hairstyle.

Give it a blue to green gradient.

With your Pen Tool again, draw the second part of the hairstyle and a apply a gradient with darker shades of the same colors.

Step 3

Use the Pen Tool or Rounded Rectangle tool to draw an eyebrow. Apply then a gradient to the with any colors you like.

Make a copy of this eyebrow and move it to the left.

Step 4

For the eyes, draw two small ellipses and fill them with 80% gray. Place them under the eyebrows.

Step 5

Make a copy of the eye ellipse, scale it down, fill it with a dark brown and drag it into the brushes panel to define a new brush. Check the Scatter Brush and click ok. Enter these values:

Draw some lines on kid's head using this brush.

Step 6

Using Pen Tool draw a path as you see below, this will be the mouth.

Select the main head path, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F to make a copy of it and place it in front of the original. By Shift-clicking select the newly drawn path and the copy of the head and press the Intersect button in the pathfinder panel.

Fill this path with 90% gray.

Select the Ellipse Tool and draw an ellipse intersecting the mouth path. Select the mouth path again, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F, with the copy still selected, by shift-clicking select the ellipse that you've just drawn and press Intersect button in the pathfinder panel. Apply a gradient from a darker pink to an usual pink to the resulting path.

Use the same method to create the second part of the tongue.

Use the same method to create teeth.

Step 7

Use Pen Tool to draw an earring. Fill it with a gradient from 30% gray to 60% gray.

Copy this path and put the copy under the main path. Move it up a little.

With the Pen Tool again draw a bigger earring in the right ear.

Draw a skull somewhere, fill it with 90% and place it on the ear.

Drag a copy of this skull on the second ear.

Draw a small circle, fill it with the same gradient as the earrings but make it radial. Place this path of the right ear and a copy of it on the tongue.

Step 8

Draw two small ellipses for the nostrils.

Step 9

You can now rename Layer 1 to Head and create a new layer under it and name it Body. We'll start by drawing the neck. Use rectangle Tool (M) to draw punk's neck. Apply on it the same gradient as we used for head.

Step 10

Use Pen Tool to draw a t-shirt.

We need to make his left sleeve more visible so draw a path like you see below

duplicate the main t-shirt path, select the copy and the new shape and click on the Intersect button in the pathfinder. Give the resulting shape the same gradient but adjust the position.

Create a bigger copy of the skull earring and pace it on the t-shirt.

Select the main t-shit path, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F. Select the copy and the skull path and click Intersect button once again.

Step 11

Create another layer and name it Legs and Hands. Draw a line under the t-shirt and give it a 30pt stroke.

Draw the second legs bent.

Draw a circle with the same color and place it under the legs.

Select the first leg, got o Object -> Expand to expand it. Select the expanded leg and the and circle and click on the Unite button in the pathfinder panel to unite them.

Apply a gradient from a dark blue to a a blue.

Expand the second leg and apply the same gradient to it.

Step 12

Draw an ellipse an fill it with white. Press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B to paste a copy of it in back. Make the copy slightly bigger and fill it with a dark red.

For the second shoe draw another ellipse and fill it with an even darker red color.

Step 13

For the left hand draw a rectangle and apply the same gradient as we've used for the head.

For the fingers, draw four lines and give the a 5pt skin color rounded stroke.

For the second hand draw another rectangle and also fill it with gradient.

The same way we've draw fingers last time draw fingers of the right hand. Using Rounded rectangle tool draw a bottle and place it in the hand.

Step 14

Draw a background and a shadow and our punk is ready!

Final Result

Hello, today I'll show you how to draw a samurai in Illustrator using shapes, free time and desire ... keep your force and soul balanced and let's start!

Final Image Preview

Step 1: Helmet

With Pen tool (P) draw a half of the helmet and fill with black color. To obtain a symmetrical character, we will draw only half of the shape and then duplicate it.

Duplicate this shape. Make sure that the shape are selected and go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok.

Move the reflected copy to the right to obtain the result:

For the highlight duplicate the second half of shape and fill with gradient white to transparent.

Now with pen tool draw the roots of the helmet.

Duplicate this shape. Go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis, press Ok and fill with dark gray (#2e2e2f).

Now with pen tool draw details and fill with gradient (#494949 to 2b2b2c), you should obtain this:

Duplicate this shape. Go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and put it on the edge of second half of helmet.

Now make the highlight, use pen tool and fill it with radial gradient (#999999 to cacaca).

For the better effect draw another path with pen tool and fill with white color and apply “Gaussian Blur Filter” (Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur…) with radius set to 1.5px.

Step 2: Face

Create a new layer and name it “Face”.

With pen tool and black color, draw a half of face.

Duplicate this shape. Make sure that the shape is selected and go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok.

Put in the right of the shape and fill with gray color (#3E3E3E).

Now with pen tool draw details of the face, and fill with gradient (#333333 to #000000).

Duplicate this shape. Make sure that the shape are selected and go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok. Apply radial gradient (#d2d2d2 to #737373).

Now with pen tool draw eyes.

Duplicate this shape. Make sure that the shape is selected and go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shape. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok. Put in the right of the shape.

Now with pen tool draw eyebrows.

With Ellipse tool (L) draw the iris and pupil, black circle for Iris and a smaller white one, for pupil.

Now draw the inner shadow, with pen tool draw a shape and fill with radial gradient (#e3e3e3 to cccccc)

For the shadow select the white shape of the eye. Duplicate it and paste in back (Edit > Copy / Edit Paste in Back). Fill this shape with gray color (#808080) and increase it about 2-3px in height.

Duplicate all the components of the eye and go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F).

Now reflect this shapes. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok. Put in the right.

Step 3: Body

Create new layer and name it “Body” and drag it under the “Face” and “Helmet” layers.

With pen tool draw the half of body and fill with radial gradient (#000000 to #4c4c4c)

Now with pen tool draw the armor and fill with radial gradient (#ff8b0c to #ff5c0c)

Now make the collar, make the copy of the armor (Edit > Copy / Edit > Paste). After that make a path that will be intersect the armor and you will obtain a collar.

Select the copy of the armor and the path that we created and in PATHFINDER press Intersect and fill with #ff5c0c.

Select all the components of the armor and body and make a copy and reflect them.

For the second half of armor use the lighter gradient (I used #ff9d11 to #fff4b5) for the armor and (#ffcc6a to #ff711e) for the collar.

Step 4: Weapons

With pen tool draw a giant pen in his hand.

Now draw the metallic arrow. With pen tool draw a path as you see in the image and fill with gradient light gray to white.

Now draw a circle inside of this path.

Select the both shapes and in PATHFINDER choose Minus Front to cut this circle from the first shape.

With Pen Tool draw a triangle as you see in the image.

Select the both shapes (Press Ctrl) and in PATHFINDER choose Minus Front.

Select all the components of the weapon, and make a similar copy and put in the right hand.

Go to Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C) and Edit > Paste in Front (Ctrl + F). Object > Transform > Reflect… Choose Vertical Axis and press Ok.

The samurai is ready to fight!

Final result: