How To Create An Espresso Machine Icon Inside Adobe Illustrator

May 9th, 2011
Illustrator

Thousands of people can’t imagine their mornings without a cup of coffee. Espresso machines are the best friends of hardly working creative’s around the world. In this Illustrator tutorial I will guide you through the process of creating an espresso maker icon using simple illustration techniques.

Step 1

Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document about 600 by 600px

Next, create a smaller copy of thi s path and paste in the back of the original one.

Select the Pen Tool and connect these two paths to create an illusion of unity.

Select the newly created path and the smaller base path and press the Unite button in the Pathfinder. Press Ctrl + [ to move this path under the original base rectangle. You should end with something like this.

Fill the second path with horizontal (linear) gradient from #642500 to #D35E29 to #642500 again.

Step 2

Select the main base path, create a copy and then paste in place, then create another copy and move it down with about 5px (depending on size of your path). Select both copies and press the Minus Front button in the Pathfinder panel. You should obtain a very tiny path which we’re going to transform into a highlight. Fill it with white, select Overlay as blending mode and reduce its opacity to 40%.

Create a reflected copy of this path, paste it at the bottom of the base, fill it with black and change the blending mode to Multiply. This is now a shadow.

Apply Drop Shadow effect to the base with these setting (again, they may vary).

Use Ellipse Tool to create two small, black, legs under the base.

Step 3

Since the base is ready we are moving on to the middle and the top part of the body. Use Pen Tool to trace a path as you see in the image below. Fill it with radial gradient from #D35E29 to # 642500.

Use Ellipse Tool to create the top part of the machine, and then fill it with the same gradient as the main base path.

Create the highlight and the shadow for this path, just like you’ve done with the base path.

Make another copy of this path and paste it in the back. Then, make it a little wider and fill with linear gradient from #642500 to #D35E29 to #642500 again.

Create another bigger highlight just like you made the first one, but reduce opacity to 15% this time.

Step 4

Good, now that we’re done with the body itself, we can start adding details. Type the word “espresso” on the base of the machine and then expand it. The font I used is Brush Script.

After this, using Pen Tool try to draw a kind of tail at the end of “o” and Unite the text with it from the Pathfinder panel.

You may now fill the text path with a vertical gradient from 20% gray to 40% and apply a drop Shadow effect with these settings:

Step 5

Try to obtain a power button using Pen Tool or Ellipse Tool + Line Segment Tool. Fill it with #FFA476 and apply the same shadow effect on it.

Now we’ll be creating a small lattice on the base of the machine. Use rounded rectangle tool to draw a wide rectangle and then Free Transform Tool to make it narrower at the top.

Fill this path with the same 20 to 40% gray and the create small shadow inside it to add depth.

Create a couple of horizontal lines on it with 70% gray set as stroke color.

Step 6

Draw a very thick rounded rectangle as you see in the image and then rotate it 90 degrees. Place it under the top part of the body and fill with horizontal gradient from black to #C2B59B to black and C2B59B again and then 80% gray. You will end up with something like this :

Draw a shadow for it (opacity set to about 80%).

Make three smaller copies of these paths and stack them.

Step 7

Somewhere on your artboard create two overlapping rounded rectangles and fill them with linear gradients : black to #C2B59B for the smaller one and black to #C2B59B to black for the bigger one.