How to create a punk kid illustration using illustrator

September 4th, 2023
Tutorials

In this tutorial we will be using illustrator to create an illustration of a “punk kid”. This tutorials is perfect for illustrator newbies, or even veteran users of illustrator. We’ll be working with the basic shapes to start, then use a variety of gradients to add depth and details to our illustration. The concept is based on the popularity of punk style and of course I’ve made a couple of sketches on the paper first. We are using illustrator for the tutorial, but the same result can be achieved in almost any vector editor.

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Final Image Preview

Step 1

Set up a new document in Illustrator, any size you like. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a circle.

Next, Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), click on the right anchor point of the circle to select it, and modify the shape by dragging that handle. Make the same thing with the left anchor point.

Make this shape a bit taller.

Select the path, make it no stroke and apply a gradient to this path, from a darker skin color to an usual skin color. ( I’ll be using # F4D09A and # F4D9B5 further).

Step 2

Draw the ears, select the Ellipse Tool again and draw an ellipse and fill it with skin color.

Select it, go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the Offset to -12px.

Give the resulting ellipse the a gradient from #C2B59B to skin color, but place it horizontal now.

Group these two ellipses by selecting them and pressing Ctrl+G. Place the on the head.

Copy this group, reflect it ( right-click, go to Transform > Reflect, check Vertical and press ok) and move it to the left. Place this group under the head sublayer.

Use Pen Tool (P) to draw the main part of his hairstyle.

Give it a blue to green gradient.

With your Pen Tool again, draw the second part of the hairstyle and a apply a gradient with darker shades of the same colors.

Step 3

Use the Pen Tool or Rounded Rectangle tool to draw an eyebrow. Apply then a gradient to the with any colors you like.

Make a copy of this eyebrow and move it to the left.

Step 4

For the eyes, draw two small ellipses and fill them with 80% gray. Place them under the eyebrows.

Step 5

Make a copy of the eye ellipse, scale it down, fill it with a dark brown and drag it into the brushes panel to define a new brush. Check the Scatter Brush and click ok. Enter these values:

Draw some lines on kid’s head using this brush.

Step 6

Using Pen Tool draw a path as you see below, this will be the mouth.

Select the main head path, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F to make a copy of it and place it in front of the original. By Shift-clicking select the newly drawn path and the copy of the head and press the Intersect button in the pathfinder panel.

Fill this path with 90% gray.

Select the Ellipse Tool and draw an ellipse intersecting the mouth path. Select the mouth path again, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F, with the copy still selected, by shift-clicking select the ellipse that you’ve just drawn and press Intersect button in the pathfinder panel. Apply a gradient from a darker pink to an usual pink to the resulting path.

Use the same method to create the second part of the tongue.

Use the same method to create teeth.

Step 7

Use Pen Tool to draw an earring. Fill it with a gradient from 30% gray to 60% gray.

Copy this path and put the copy under the main path. Move it up a little.

With the Pen Tool again draw a bigger earring in the right ear.

Draw a skull somewhere, fill it with 90% and place it on the ear.

Drag a copy of this skull on the second ear.

Draw a small circle, fill it with the same gradient as the earrings but make it radial. Place this path of the right ear and a copy of it on the tongue.

Step 8

Draw two small ellipses for the nostrils.

Step 9

You can now rename Layer 1 to Head and create a new layer under it and name it Body. We’ll start by drawing the neck. Use rectangle Tool (M) to draw punk’s neck. Apply on it the same gradient as we used for head.

Step 10

Use Pen Tool to draw a t-shirt.

We need to make his left sleeve more visible so draw a path like you see below

duplicate the main t-shirt path, select the copy and the new shape and click on the Intersect button in the pathfinder. Give the resulting shape the same gradient but adjust the position.

Create a bigger copy of the skull earring and pace it on the t-shirt.

Select the main t-shit path, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F. Select the copy and the skull path and click Intersect button once again.

Step 11

Create another layer and name it Legs and Hands. Draw a line under the t-shirt and give it a 30pt stroke.

Draw the second legs bent.

Draw a circle with the same color and place it under the legs.

Select the first leg, got o Object > Expand to expand it. Select the expanded leg and the and circle and click on the Unite button in the pathfinder panel to unite them.

Apply a gradient from a dark blue to a a blue.

Expand the second leg and apply the same gradient to it.

Step 12

Draw an ellipse an fill it with white. Press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+B to paste a copy of it in back. Make the copy slightly bigger and fill it with a dark red.