Illustrator Quick Tips #1 - Complex Symbols with Pathfinder ListThumbs
Illustrator Quick Tips #1 - Complex Symbols with Pathfinder
Last week I posted an article showing some great logos using 3D effects and colorful gradients. There are quite a few ways to do create those effects in Illustrator, however for most of them you will have to use the Pathfinder tools. Because of that I will show you an example based on a few logos from that list.
References
When I was looking for references for a logo design project that I'm still working on, I selected some awesome logos. Below you can see some of them. You can visit the sites of these logos at:
- Qwell - http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/14996
- Terra - http://www.terra.com.br
- South Creative - http://southcreative.com.au/
- Aramova - http://aramova.com/
Step 1
Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. With the Ellipse Tool (L), create a circle.
Step 2
Duplicate the Circle and resize it, but just the width. Align it to the Left. Also change the Blending to Multiply and use cyan for the color.
Step 3
Repeate the same process of the previous step, this time however reduce the height of the new circle. Also use green for the color. Use the image below for reference.
Step 4
Repeat the Step 2 again, this time align to the right and use yellow for the color.
Step 5
Repeat the Step 3 just aligning the new ellipse from the top. Use red for the color.
Step 6
Select all ellipses and go to the Pathfinder panel (Window>Pathfinder). Click on Divide, it's the first option in the Pathfinders. This command will divide all the elements allowing us to use different colors for each one.
Step 7
Playing with the Abduzeedo colors.
Step 8
You can try gradients with the Gradient Tool (G) to create a nice 3D Effect.
Step 9
If you need the logo in one color over light or dark backgrounds, the best thing to do is add a stroke to the elements.
Conclusion
Even though it looks complex, this technique is quite simple and it results in a very nice effect. That's why we've seen more logos using it. Also one of the coolest things is that you can try different shapes and colors that will result in another type of effect. If you seen thee logos I used for reference, Terra, Qwell and South Creative, they use this effect just changing shape sizes and colors, while the Aramova, uses the same technique but forming a triangle instead of a circle.
About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
62 Comments
hace dos días intenté hacer algo similar. y claramente no me salió. gracias
wow! thanks for the tips
wow, simple and fun
Really good. Thanks!
Thank you, now i dont have to explain it to people who ask "how did you get the shapes to do that?"
Thank you very much - these are my favourite blog articles. We need more of these!
Clément - www.easidesigns.com
Wow.... awesome..
thanks!!
quite good
thx alot
It doesn't make sense when you say to only change the width or the height because in your screen shots the ellipses are clearly shrunken in both height and width - just not evenly.
Excellent technique :o)
really nice and practicle,,,thanks !!!!
Thanks man!
Wow, great way of doing this!
Thanks
The aramova link in References is broken ;)
Hi..
sorry, i've a question.. i can use the "pathfinder" tool in Photoshop?
Very thank's :D
Greats tips, very useful
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Awesome! Thank you so much! I also was using the live paint technique for this effect, here is what i've got :)
http://picasaweb.google.ru/itolmach/VLQtwG#5303469724675413426
wow man that's great to see on abduzeedo!
where can i find the multiply tool?!?!?
thank you. i was looking for this. i'd like to know the name of the font you used for the "Pathfinder"
hey. great tut. useful!
i made this today =)
http://www.fuctastic.com/2009/02/wie-erstellt-man-blumen-oder-diamantena...
this is absolutely a sick and useful tip
Absolutely brilliant. Really needed this!!! Thank you!
Nice tutorial, pretty colourful
reminds me of the google chrome logo
nice! thank you!
hei esta genial.,
je ., en fin ya tenia una idea
de como se hacia esto.,
buen tuto.,
Adyoz.,
Thanks Dudes
Great logo! Thanx!
Simple and nice.
Good.
Really nice tutorial man!
But I have one problems while doing it, how come when I did this tutorial in RGB mode, the blending effect of multiply cannot be work on RGB color itself while it can work on CMYk, I m really curious. Ur help is really appreciated by helping me solving this doubt!
Muito bom. Parabéns
I'm bad student ..... i did all steps but ... i got bad result.Doesn't like your Pathfinder...
Great tutorial, you explained it really good. Keep up the good work
Later
Great Tutorial- it's great to see how something that looks so complex in it's final form can come from such a simple process.
Only complaint is your first blue circle is definitely decreased in size both horizontally and vertically.
Some other shortcuts people might be missing:
I think the easiest way to make the green circle is just to copy and paste the blue one, rotate 90 degrees, and then center + bottom align with white circle.
Also it's easy to shade your inner shapes, just copy paste in place over the flat colored shape, fill pasted shape with a black > white gradient and turn the object's transparency to multiply. Probably what you meant, in less words.
Overall, great stuff.
Muito bom Fábio, bem simplificado e ótimo o resultado Parabéns.
Has anyone managed to get this working...as i cant work it out. Anyone care to send me their illustrator file so i can see what you've done?
Thank you for the tutorial! I referenced Streubie's post for live paint to get the colours correct, but I still don't know how to achieve the 3D appearance? You suggested using a gradient, it would be nice to know how to do it (step by step) on this logo example. I'm hoping you will post further insight ~ I would love to be able to finish this ~ Thx! :)
Great and efficient tip! thanx for sharing ;)
Nice tutorial. But you need to more clear instruction for us.
Good Luck
Very good tute man, thks!
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/16/colorlogo.jpg
Thank you very much for the comments, I'm really happy you liked the tut. I love to play with the pathfinder in Illustrator I think it's a great tool for logos.
Interessante Informationen.
Great tutorial... so simple... but so smart! Useful and practical. This is what the world needs more of.
How do I change the blending to multiply. Please help.
Nice tutorial, the logo is almost an exact match of that of a renowned swedish design company (how ironic):
http://www.linkinmedia.se/
Hey man, thanks so much for that.
Good evening. I need your help.
I am from Saudi and also now am reading in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Ex - american airlines, continental, united, ata, delta, alaska airlines."
Thank you so much for your future answers :D. Lombard.
This is really nice , if you have time please share the name of fonts, they are great.Like terra.
blending to multiply? align to the left? and the circles are distorted. why are these comments being ignored and unanswered? you can adjust the transparency/opacity is this what you mean? and why is this called a pathfinder excercise besides dividing the paths once? sorry if om the only confused one
Ok make one big even circle alt/shift, make an uneven circle centered on the bottom middle of the main circle, copy that and paste, rotate 90 degrees, change color, do 3 more circles the same way copy, rotate 90 degrees, change color, on each circle go under transparency, right next to opacity it will say normal, click the tab change to multiply
Watch this, is a diferent example http://www.daltons.es
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I am from East and now study English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Description - levothyroxine is a synthetically prepared levo isomer of thyroxine, levothyroxine is used in the treatment of primary hypothyroidism of all causes."
Regards :-D Alyson.
La verdad es muy sencillo de hacer, el truco esta en que los pasos 2 y 4 son modo es multiplicar, y los pasos 3 y 5 son modo es oscurecer, asi me funciono a mi, muy chevere de hacer :)
Sorry. Howard Hughes was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it.
I am from Moldova and learning to read in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Allergic reactions occur to normally harmless environmental substances known as anti leukotrienes, such as montelukast singulair or zafirlukast accolate."
THX :D, Ram.
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Great tutorial. Thanks.
I've tried 3 times to do this tutorial. But I think I'm not smart enough. :(
I'm having trouble dividing this sample...
i'm doing something wrong... hmm.. please help!!
Thanks for the tut but I have a problem. When I Divided the ellipses I find it not working when I am trying to pick two parts and making them the same colour. They keep having different colours.
Anyone who knows what Im doing wrong?
This tutorial seems great but when I do the shapes I don't get any 3d shape after the pathfinder, I've tried doing it in both RGB and CMYK what am I doing wrong can you send me a PSD? Thanks for any help
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