
Welcome to the fourth tutorial of the UI/Game Art for Beginners series. In this tutorial, we will be learning how to make a sword in Adobe Illustrator.
- Create a new document that is 600 pixels wide and 600 pixels high
- Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw out a rectangle 600 pixels square
- Remove the border
- Fill the rectangle with a dark gray (#383838)
- Open the Layers Panel and rename Layer 1 as “background” and lock the layer
- Make a new layer above the background layer and name it “blade”
- Select the Rectangle Tool (M) and click once on the Artboard
- Make a rectangle that is 30 pixels wide and 280 pixels high
- Fill the rectangle with a light gray (#dbdbdb)
- Use the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) and add an anchor point on the top-center of the rectangle
- Use the Direct Select Tool (A) and move the new anchor point up 50 pixels (use the SHIFT and up-arrow keys)
- Offset the blade (Object > Path > Offset Path) by -7 pixels
- Fill the inset part of the blade with a lighter gray (#efefef)
- Make a copy of the inset blade (CTRL + C) and paste it in back (CTRL + B)
- Use the right-arrow key and move the copy over 2 pixels
- Open the Transparency Panel and change the Blending Mode to Multiply
- Make a copy of the original inset blade (CTRL + C) and paste it in back (CTRL + B)
- Use the left-arrow key and move the copy over 2 pixels
- Open the Transparency Panel and change the Blending Mode to Screen
- Use the Lasso Tool (Q) and select all three anchor points at the tips of the insets
- Make sure you have Align to Selection chosen and then choose Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center
- Use the Line Segment Tool () and draw a line down the center of the inset (hold down SHIFT to make a straight line)
- Change the border to white
- Open the Stroke Panel and change the Profile to Width Profile 3
- Lock the blade layer and make a new layer named “hilt”
- Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and make a rectangle 90 pixels wide and 10 pixels high
- Remove the stroke and fill the rectangle with a blue-gray color (#657f7d)
- Make a copy of the rectangle (CTRL + C) and paste it in back (CTRL + B)
- Use the down-arrow and move the copy down 2 pixels
- Fill the copy with a darker blue-gray (#526664)
- Make a copy of the original rectangle (CTRL + C) and paste it in back (CTRL + B)
- Use the up-arrow and move the copy up 2 pixels
- Fill the copy with a lighter blue-gray (#728e8b)
- Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and make a rectangle 7 pixels wide and 23 pixels tall
- Fill the rectangle with a dark blue-gray color (#42514f)
- Align the rectangle with the left edge of the three previous horizontal pieces (from steps 23-27)
- Make a copy of the vertical rectangle and move it to the left of the original vertical rectangle
- Resize the new vertical rectangle to 5 pixels wide and 18 pixels high
- Select both of the rectangles and make a copy (CTRL + C) and paste them in front (CTRL + F)
- Move the copies to the right side of the hilt (Hold down SHIFT to keep them aligned)
- Rotate the right-side copies (Object > Transform > Rotate – 180o)
- Select all the sections of the hilt and group them together (Object > Group)
- Align the hilt with the bottom of the blade
- Lock the hilt layer and make a new layer named “grip”
- Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and make a rectangle 30 pixels wide and 85 pixels high
- Fill it with the same blue-gray color as the hilt (#657f7d)
- Use the Rectangle Tool (M) and make a rectangle 50 pixels wide and 15 pixels high
- Fill it with the dark blue-gray color from the hilt (#42514f)
- Align this rectangle to the bottom of the previous rectangle (from step 41)
- Make a copy of the rectangle (CTRL + C) and paste it in front (CTRL + F)
- Resize the copy to 35 pixels wide and 10 pixels high
- Move the copy below the original rectangle (from step 43)
- Use the Rectangle Tool and make a rectangle 5 pixels wide and 85 pixels tall
- Fill it with the dark-gray color (#42514f)
- Align it to the left side of the rectangle (from step 39)
- Make a copy of the rectangle (ALT + SHIFT) and align it to the right side of the rectangle (from step 39)
- Select all the parts of the grip and group them together (Object > Group)
- Align the grip to the hilt