How to make a sword | UI/Game Art for Beginners [Tutorial]

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