Some time ago, I published a tutorial outlining the steps of how to create a silhouette logo mark in Adobe Illustrator by tracing a photograph. Today, I want to show you my process of creating a logo mark from sketching all the way through to the final piece of vector artwork to be shown to a client. Once again, I am using a fictional company called Lyons Den.
This tutorial is for learning purposes only. I, in no way, relinquish my rights to these images and you are not granted to use this logo, in part or whole, as your own. If you wish to purchase this logo, you can do so at Brandstack.
The sketching process never gets old
As I mentioned in the previous post, the sketching process is your best friend. Before I sit down in front of Adobe Illustrator to flesh out my logo, I will open my sketch pad and start doodling ideas. For this particular fictional company, I want to tie into the play on words that is the name of the company (of course I did this on purpose). I will generally have pages of ideas and concepts. Below are the concepts that are getting closer to what I would like to achieve.
I know I want to have a lion’s head, with a mane, as the logo mark. But, I don’t want it to be a detailed illustration. I want the mark to be more of a symbol. So, using the above sketches as a basis, I will start to further flesh out that concept. This can take as many versions as necessary and I almost never settle on the first version. In this instance, I made 18 iterations before I was satisfied. Below you will find the sketch I will be using for my guide in Adobe Illustrator.
The Tutorial
Now, the fun part begins. If you would like to follow along, you will need Adobe Illustrator CS3 or CS4 and a working knowledge of the Pen and Pathfinder Tools. Download the low resolution version of my final sketch and my Illustrator Logo Template. Fire up your application and let’s roll up our sleeves.
Step 1: Setting up your document
Once you have Illustrator open, from the File menu, select the New From Template option. This will open a new dialogue window. Simply navigate to where to saved the tutorial files and and select the logo template and click New.
Once the document is open, you will notice that there are two guides dividing the canvas in half both vertically and horizontally. Also, notice that there are two layers already created for you. Making sure that the “Scanned Artwork” layer is selected, select Place from the File drop down menu. This will also open a new dialogue window. Navigate to the final sketch and select Place. This should place the sketch on the center of the canvas. If not, select your placed image and line it up with the guides so that they are dissecting the image.
Once you have your scan perfectly centered, double click on the “Scanned Artwork” layer and select the Lock and Dim options. You can leave the dim option at 50%, or whatever percentage you are comfortable with.
Step 2: Create the lion’s mane
Let’s create the lion’s mane by using the basic shape tool in Illustrator. Select the Logo layer and then the Ellipse Tool from the Shapes Palette. Making sure your have your Stroke is set to 1 point with no fill color, hold down your shift button and drag a perfect circle over the sketch. Be sure to line up your circle so it covers the circular shape of the mane from the sketch. Once you are satisfied, select the shape and align it to the center of the canvas.
Let’s finish off the mane by selecting the circle you just created. Start dragging your selection straight down by simultaneously holding the Shift and Option key and stopping when the top of the circle lines up perfectly with the bottom of the mane in the sketch. What you have done here is created an exact copy of the circle and placed it below the mane so we can quickly create that bottom curve.
Now, with both the top and bottom circles selected, choose Subtract from Shape from the Pathfinder Tool Palette. Once the action has completed, select Expand to convert this newly formed shaped into its own path
Lastly, let’s select the new shape and change the Stroke to none and the Fill to black. The mane is now complete.
Step 3: Create the lion’s head
First, let’s turn off the sub layer containing our mane, by selecting the Eye icon directly to the left of the layer, so we can see the sketch again. This will also insure that you don’t accidentally select this layer while we create the remaining portion of the logo.
Select the Pen Tool and, once again, make sure your Fill is set to none and your Stroke is set to 1 point. Zoom in on the sketch as much as you are comfortable (I am zooming in at 300%). Start tracing the sketch from the top center, working your way counter clockwise around the left half of the head only.
When you are done, you should have the entire left portion of the head traced. With this path selected, choose the Reflect Tool. Your cursor should change into what looks like cross hairs. Place this registration mark at the center of the canvas by clicking on the center guide. In the same way we created a duplicate circle, we are going to hold the Shift and Option keys simultaneously and drag a copy to right side of the head. If done correctly, the path should rotate, reflect and snap into place on the right.
Select both left and right halves and from the Pathfinder Tool Palette choose the Add to Shape option. Don’t forget to select Expand to convert the shape into a Path.
Finally, select the head Shape and change the Stroke to none and the Fill color to white. Turn off the sub layer so we can finish tracing the eyes, nose and mouth.
Step 4: The eyes, nose and mouth
Repeat the same method we used to create the head to create the eyes. Zoom into the image and trace the left eye. Select the eye you traced and reflect a copy to the left. These are already paths, so all you have to do is change the Stroke to none and the Fill color to black.
Trace the left side of the nose. Reflect this path to the right, add to shape and expand. Change the Stroke to none and the fill to black.
Now all that is left is the mouth. With the Pen Tool selected, change your Fill color to none and your Stroke color to black. This time, we will change the Stroke weight to 5 points. Create a path on the line that divides the face, just below the nose. With that path selected, choose Object » Path » Outline Stroke from the top menu. Repeat the same process for the mouth.
Go ahead and turn the head and mane sub layers back on. Your logo should now look like the following:
Select the mane, head, eyes nose and mouth and group them together (Command + G). Your mark is now complete.
Step 5: Type Treatment
Normally, I spend hours deciding on a type treatment for a logo while I am sketching. Will I be customizing a typeface? Will I be creating a type treatment from a sketch? Should I use a serif or sans serif font? And so on. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ve decided to use Humanist Slabserif 712 by Adrian Frutiger because I want a face that will not get overpowered by the mark and, conversely, will not overpower the mark. After some slight customization, here is my final result.
And there you have a 5 step process of taking a logo mark from a sketch to vector artwork. Hopefully this has demystified the Adobe Illustrator Pen Tool and gets you comfortable with using your own custom artwork for logo marks.
Purchase this logo
I’ve decided to sell this logo. If you are interested, please drop by Brandstack and purchase the exclusive rights. With your purchase, you will receive a free color style guide, the source Adobe Illustrator file and a name change, if needed.
Nice tutorial and thanks for the link to pen tool guide
@Danny,
Thanks for the compliment. The pen tool can be difficult to master when you first start out. The best bit of advice I received when I was a newbie was to practice, practice, practice. You should also read Vector Tuts’ Illustrator’s Pen Tool: The Comprehensive Guide.
Hey great tutorial!
I am fairly new to Illustraot and i dread teh Pen tool! any other tips would def help!
have a great day!