In this article, I will show How to make a heart in Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator is one of the most versatile drawing software of this age. It contains tools that allow you as an artist to create unique shapes that would have otherwise required manual drawing.
Even though the software does not offer a specific tool to create a heart shape, it provides an avenue for customization in different ways.
Think of a heart? How easy or hard would it be to draw it perfectly? Given its curvy nature. Do you think the ellipse tool will hack it? You are right, however, this tutorial seeks to get into an alternative way to develop a heart from the rectangle tool. Rectangle tool? I know what you are thinking.
We will combine the rectangle tool and the round corner rectangle to create a heart. This will be done with the help of the shape builder tool.
Now, using the selection tool click on the small circles inside the rectangle near the edges and drag the pointer toward the center. Make the edges as rounded as per the diagram.
Then Fill the rectangle with a solid color of your choice, without any strokes around the edges. Reduce the color opacity to range between 40-50%. This is mainly to allow you to capture the end-to-end of the shapes the moment they start to overlap.
How to Make a Heart in Illustrator
First step: Create a rounded-edged rectangle.
Using the selection tool, select the rectangle option from the basic shapes tool. Or grab it quickly on a shortcut by pressing the letter M on your Keyboard and drawing a portrait-indented rectangle.
As demonstrated in the image below, make sure the length is greater than the width.
Tip: fill the rectangle with your favorite color, it is recommended as it allows you to view the end-to-end edges of the shape. Please note, do not stroke the shape.
Next, we make the edges of the rectangle by clicking on the circles within the rectangle. Drag them slowly towards the center as you hold the Shift key to ensure the uniformity of the rectangle. Make the rectangle as round as possible.
Duplicate the Round edged-Rectangle
Duplicate the shape by dragging the shape as you hold the ALT key. It instantly duplicates and now we have two shapes on the artboard. Awesome, let’s call them Rectangle A and Rectangle B
Using the selection tool, rotate rectangle A while holding the shift key up to 45 degrees clockwise. Then rotate the other rectangle -45 degrees in an anticlockwise direction. Now the rectangle crisscrosses as shown.
Select the two shapes, using the align function align them vertically and horizontally towards the center.
It will result as per the image shown- cross-like rectangles but if you can look at it critically you will notice a heart formed within the rounded rectangles.
Trim off using the Shape Builder Tool
We are in the final step to making the heart. First, select the two rectangles
Use the shape builder tool, or simply click the Shift + M to remove the extra areas surrounding the rounded rectangles. Holding onto Alt as you click to remove the excess areas.
Using the Pen tool connect the lines through the shape to combine the two into a heart.
Now that we are done, with the drawing, you can bring the opacity back to 100%. Save your heart, in the best format of your choice!
In these tutorials, a number of tools working together have enabled us to create a heart from scratch in adobe illustrator, within the shortest time possible.
Following these 3 easy steps, Adobe Illustrator is on top of its game as other vector-designated applications are slow and tedious. The shape builder tool is a game changer for artists who need to create artwork on a timeline as it is efficient.
If you encounter difficulty or you would require further explanation leave it down here in the comment section. If you need to hire a freelancer to do it for you, just contact me on Fiverr.
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