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Want to give a floral theme to your posters, cards, brochures, and more? Let's learn how to create a flower with heart-shaped petals using the basic features of Illustrator.
Before you proceed with designing a flower
Look at the basics of Illustrator:
Set the following options:
- View > Smart Guides
- View > Snap to Points
- Assign no fill color and stroke in black with 5pt.
Step 1: Create the first petal
Use the Ellipse tool
Let's create a circle with the Ellipse tool.
Press L to use the Ellipse tool, or long press the Rectangle tool () and then select the Ellipse tool () from the drop-down list.
To create a perfect circle using the Ellipse tool, press the Shift key and then draw the circle.
Design journey of a petal
a.
Press Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (macOS) and drag the first circle from its center to create a duplicate.
b.
Merge the two circles using the Unite shape mode in Pathfinder
(Windows > Pathfinder).
c.
Remove extra anchor points from the bottom of the circle using the Delete Anchor Points tool.
d.
Press the Shift key and drag the handles of the bottom-most anchor point to form the heart-shaped petal.
Watch this animated illustration to see how these steps work:
If you are working with Illustrator 24.1.2 version, press the Shift key when you delete anchor points, else the path shape will change.
Step 2: Create the flower structure
Use rotate and duplicate features
- Select the first petal using the Selection tool.
- Click the Rotate tool from the toolbar.
- Hold Alt and click right below the petal shape to open the Rotate settings dialog.
To maintain symmetry in the petal arrangement, ensure you click vertically below the center of the shape. - In the Rotate dialog, specify the angle as 90 degrees and click Copy.
- Now, press Ctrl+D or Command+D to create duplicate shapes.
Step 3: Create components of the flower
Fold lines
A Pollen
A Sepal
- Create a straight line using the Pen tool and then select it using the Selection tool.
- Choose Width Profile 1 (leaf shape) and change the Stroke to 5.
- Click the Rotate tool. Alt+click at the bottom point on the line to open Rotate settings. Specify Angle as 12 degrees.
- Press Ctrl+D or Command+D to form a circular pattern.
Convert strokes to path
We have now got a collection of strokes and now will expand appearance to convert your strokes to a path. To do this, select all strokes and choose Object > Expand Appearance.
Note: Alternatively, if you don't want to convert strokes to a path, set the General > Scale Strokes and Effects preference.
- Select the Star tool from the toolbar. Press Alt and click to open the Star settings. As we have 4 petals, let's create a 4-point star with Radius1 as 25px and Radius2 as 100px.
- Use the Ellipse tool to create a small circle at the center of the flower shape.
Step 4: Add color to flower components
Add color to the flower and its different components using the Color panel.
See also: Paint with fill and strokes.
Step 5: Arrange the flower components
Prerequisites
- Create a petal group: Select the petals and then right-click and choose Group.
- Create a compound path:
- Select the petal group and create its copy. Keep it aside.
- Choose Object > Compound Path > Make or press Command+8 or Ctrl+8.
See also: Combine objects. - Select the fold lines and the compound path. Align them using the Align panel (Horizontal and vertical Align Center). Ensure that Align to key object option is enabled. Ensure that the petal comound path is on the top.
Create the clipping mask to clip the fold lines inside petals:
- Select the petals and flower folds and choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.
See also: Edit clipping masks.
To control the visibility of objects, right-click the objects and choose Arrange > Send to Back or Bring to Front.
To derive the final shape for the fold lines, trim the clipping mask using the Trim option in Pathfinder.
See also: Cut, divide, and trim objects
Arrange the components to form the flower
Select all the components and align them using the Align panel (Horizontal and Vertical Align Center). Ensure that Align to Selection option is enabled.
The final artwork. You did it!
Recap of tools and features used
Try it yourself
Download the sample files to try out this creation at your end.
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